Archive

 

Number 2

Year 2023

Liability of content sharing platform providers and other intermediary service providers for copyright infringement in the light of the Digital Services Act

Author: Proffessor PhD Grad-Gyenge ANIKÓ

Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, Budapest University of Technology and Economics

DOI: 10.24818/EBLJ/2023/2/2.01

Abstract: The internal copyright market of the European Union has been shaped by more than two decades of intense legislative activity. The most recent, decisive step in this process was the adoption of the so-called CDSM Directive, which also marked the end of the copyright reform process announced in 2010. The Directive is a mixed piece of legislation which has amended the copyright acquis on a number of points and opened new areas of harmonisation. Although the Directive has a horizontal scope, covering a wide range of copyright topics, it has only addressed a limited, but crucial, aspect of the operation of content sharing (platform) service providers. Research on this topic is in its infancy. Within the framework of the research programme, this paper examines – primarily from a copyright perspective – the question of how intermediary service providers, covered by the E-commerce Directive, the (partially) exempted service providers and the service providers covered by the CDSM Directive are affected by the DSA and what consequences this may have for the development and operation of copyright content providers, in particular with regard to the access to copyright content.

Keywords: liability, E-commerce, Digital Services Act, Copyright infringement, intermediary service providers

VAT in the Digital Age Proposals: critical views

Author: PhD Christian Amand

Tax lawyer, Xirius, Brussels

Former chairman of the Indirect tax subgroup of the CFE Tax Advisers Europe

DOI: 10.24818/EBLJ/2023/2/2.02

Abstract: On 8 December 2022, the European Commission submitted to the Council a package of proposals as regards VAT rules for the Digital Age: pillar I concerns Digital Reporting, pillar II the Platform Economy, and the pillar III the Single VAT Registration. They intended to be implemented by the Member States as from 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027 and 2028. They raised multiple reactions from the stakeholders, the Social and Economic Council, the European Parliament and the academic and professional experts. The author summarises the Proposals and some issues raised pursuant the International Conference “Perspective of Tax Law and Round table with business environment” organised on 28 to 30 September 2023 by the Universities of Alba Iulia, Bucharest and Timisoara. He suggests that it would be essential for the European Commission to review its working methods, which currently do not allow the Council to take well informed decisions.

Keywords: VAT, Single VAT registration, e-invoicing, Digital Reporting Requirement (DRR)

Poland’s tax treaty policy in the post-BEPS era an overview

Author: Professor PhD. Habil Ziemowit KUKULSKI

Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Lodz

DOI: 10.24818/EBLJ/2023/2/2.03

Abstract: This paper deals with Poland’s tax treaty policy in the post-BEPS era. The author analyses the impact of the MLI, and changes introduced to the OECD and UN Models in 2017 on tax treaties Poland is party to in post-BEPS era. The study concentrates around the research question of whether these tax treaties could be seen as a pattern for the future in the area of implementation of anti-BEPS measures.

Keywords: bilateral tax treaty, Multilateral Convention (the MLI), OECD Model, UN Model, tax treaty policy and practice, anti-BEPS measures.

Brief commentaries on disciplinary sanctions, with emphasis on the written warning elements of comparative law

Author: Lecturer PhD Mihaela Emilia MARICA

Faculty of Law, Bucharest University of Economic Studies

DOI: 10.24818/EBLJ/2023/2/2.04

Abstract:

Since the field of work discipline is complex both in terms of legislation and case law, this article reviews the disciplinary sanctions provided for in the Labour Code, with a focus on the doctrinal and case law issues identified in the case of written warnings, as the simplest of the disciplinary measures that may be imposed by the employer. In addition, in order to provide a clearer technical and legislative overview of the institutions relating to disciplinary sanctions, the regulations of other countries are also relevant to this objective, and comparative law elements will be closely examined. Thus, the legal systems of Bulgaria, the United Kingdom, Israel, Switzerland, and Belgium are considered. Most of the legal systems analysed divide disciplinary sanctions into different types, which highlights quite different patterns of disciplinary sanctioning even if the determining factors of employee disciplinary liability are similar.

Keywords: disciplinary sanctions, written warnings, labour contract, comparative law

So-called ‘Estonian CIT’ as an alternative system of corporate income taxation in Poland – findings after three years of validity of the new provisions

Author: Assistant professor Phd. Aneta Nowak-Piechota

Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Lodz

DOI: 10.24818/EBLJ/2023/2/2.05

Abstract: This article presents a new corporate income taxation system in Poland – the lump sum tax on the income of companies, known as ‘the Estonian CIT’. This form of taxation was introduced into Polish laws in 2021. According to the explanatory memorandum to the amendments of 2020 to the Polish Corporate Income Tax Act, regulations in this matter are of a pilotage nature. Now that three years have passed since implementing these provisions, it is possible to draw some conclusions based on theoretical analysis and practical findings.

Keywords: income taxation, CIT system, resident taxpayers, revenue limits

Unshell directive proposal – a Pandora box of unrealistic benefits, unjustified reasons and unforeseen indirect consequences

Author: Visiting Lecturer Mădălina COTRUT

Faculy of Law, Bucharest University of Economic Studies

DOI: 10.24818/EBLJ/2023/2/2.06

Abstract: The author raises questions on the reasons and benefits specifically declared by the European Commission in the documents prepared for promoting the Unshell Directive Proposal among EU Member States with the view to assess if they prove sufficient for its implementation. Furthermore, the overview is supplemented with the analysis of consequences that may indirectly affect the taxpayers on the EU market and the tax authorities from all the EU Member States. The author questions if this proposal is really needed considering that it brings many uncertainties for both taxpayers and tax authorities.

Keywords: tax avoidance, tax planning, shell entities, anti-avoidance measures, GAAR, ATAD

Name Rectification. Jurisprudential Perspective

Author: Assist. prof. PhD Oana-Nicoleta RETEA

Faculty of Law, University of Craiova

Lawyer, Dolj Bar

DOI: 10.24818/EBLJ/2023/2/2.07

Abstract: The name identifies the individual in family and in society; thus, regardless of the civil status, any registration of some mentions regarding the civil status of the owner, respectively correction of material errors made during the civil status registrations, also covers the name in its role of identification attribute.

Keywords: name, civil status, rectification, change, case law

Fr(a)nd(ly) Licensing at the Crossroads

Author: Teaching assistant, PhD Student, Ramona Daniela STÂNGACIU

Faculty of Law, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iași

DOI: 10.24818/EBLJ/2023/2/2.08

Abstract:

Patents declared standard essential have a special regime regarding licensing, as three conditions have to be met, precisely they have to be licensed on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms (FRAND). This has been one of the most discussed topics in the past couple of years in the field of patent licensing, as tech giants have started intensely debated lawsuits, especially before the UK Courts. Problems have arisen mostly from a Competition Law perspective, as illustrated by the Huawei v. The ZTE case, decided by the European Court of Justice (in terms of the possibility of qualifying the refusal to licence as abuse of a dominant position). Nevertheless, courts deal also with the problem of establishing royalties and with the issue of jurisdiction. 

On this background, through our study, we aim to clarify the landscape of standardisation and its ramifications regarding concluding licensing agreements. Moreover, considering the recent proposal for a Regulation on standard essential patents, we will emphasise on the importance of establishing a unitary legal framework. At the same time, we will analyse the main dispositions of the proposal, considering the response of the industry and the possible advantages and disadvantages that it implies.

Keywords: standard essential patents; FRAND; proposal for a Regulation on SEP; competition; royalties;

Relevant procedural aspects in the case of challenging documents issued by fiscal authorities

Author: Research assistant, PhD. George-Bogdan IONIŢĂ

Faculty of Law, Bucharest University of economic Studies

Lawyer in the Bucharest Bar

DOI: 10.24818/EBLJ/2023/2/2.09

Abstract: The present study aims to analyse the procedural peculiarities of the “administrative appeal” institution, regulated by Law no. 207/2015 regarding the Fiscal Procedure Code. In this sense, the preliminary conditions for filing the appeal, the object and the cause, who can file such an appeal, the settlement procedure and also the solutions that can be pronounced by the competent body will be observed in particular. In this sense, the observation of the current legislation in the matter, the specialised literature, and the relevant jurisprudence pronounced in the matter will be considered.

Keywords: administrative appeal, Fiscal Procedure Code, particularities of a procedural nature, preliminary conditions, jurisdiction

Caught between giants: how the anticompetitive conduct of the big market players that operate IP-law protected content affects the small content creators and what remedies they have at their disposal. overview of the ECJ case-law from google to android cases

Author: PhD Student Iulian BĂICULESCU

“Nicolae Titulescu” University, Bucharest

10.24818/EBLJ/2023/2/2.10

Abstract:

From the very beginning of its existence, marked by the emergence and operation of the Coal and Steel Economic Community and the European Economic Community, the European construction (currently reached the European Union phase) has been concerned (under the impetus of American economic-legal ideas, at least in the opinion of the author Ernst. B. Haas) of ensuring the existence of as fair, open, functional competition as possible, which would achieve the decartelisation of the main economic branches and protect both economic agents of small and medium magnitude and consumers from the effects harmful effects of a competitive environment vitiated by the culpable conduct of large economic agents. However, as the world economy as a whole and the European one in particular went through a seemingly natural transition from the preeminence of the industrial sector to that of information and services (constitute, in other words, a new economic stage, called in the specialised literature and in the institutional practice of the knowledge-based economy), the magnitude and effects of the anti-competitive practices previously used with a preponderance in the hard branches of the economy have also become evident in the soft ones. And, as many of the latter activities use copyrighted content, the legal remedies offered by the European Union’s institutional and jurisdictional mechanisms have inevitably had to straddle the border between the fields of competition and intellectual property, using, in their evolution, elements from both these branches. We will refer to this winding, creative, and not infrequently challenging course in the study that we are now submitting to your attention.

Keywords: EU, IP law protected content operators, Google, Android.

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