Bibliographie sélective OHADA

Ao longo dos últimos anos, relevantes transformações no regime jurídico das Assembleias Gerais e do exercício do direito de voto ocorreram no Brasil e no mundo. É cada vez mais frequente a adoção de sistemas de votação a distância e participação remota em Assembleias Gerais, bem como a utilização de elementos de tecnologia para aperfeiçoar os procedimentos em pedidos públicos de procuração e em outros aspectos das Assembleias Gerais. Nesse sentido, a LSA foi alterada pela Lei nº 12.431/2011, que promoveu as inclusões: (i) do artigo 121, parágrafo único, da LSA, a fim de reconhecer e legitimar, nas companhias abertas, a possibilidade de participação e voto a distância dos acionistas em Assembleia Geral; e (ii) do artigo 127, parágrafo único, da LSA, que considera presente em Assembleia Geral o acionista que registrar a sua presença a distância. Adicionalmente, as regulações e atos normativos da CVM também têm sido revistos, destacando-se - por exemplo - a Instrução CVM nº 481/2009, com diversas alterações recentes. Alguns países modernizaram a forma como as Assembleias Gerais são realizadas, admitindo encontros não presenciais, nos quais a interação entre os participantes do conclave é realizada apenas remotamente. Entendemos que a adoção de tecnologias nas Assembleias Gerais é bem-vinda e deve ser feita como uma forma de ampliação de horizontes, e não como um limite ao exercício de direitos. Sem prejuízo, somos contrários à redução das Assembleias Gerais a encontros exclusivamente virtuais (não presenciais) onde não ocorram debates e discussões e/ou com limitações de interação entre participantes presenciais. Tradicionalmente, as Assembleias Gerais desempenham um importante papel, na medida em que permitem que os acionistas se envolvam e monitorem coletivamente os negócios sociais, por meio de 3 (três) funções em especial: (i) Função de Informação: os acionistas recebem da companhia informações sobre relevantes e diversos temas pertinentes à companhia e à sua atividade; (ii) Função de Fórum: é oferecido aos acionistas um local para discussões e formulação de questões pertinentes à companhia; e (iii) Função de Tomada de Decisões: os acionistas reúnem-se para, coletivamente, tomar decisões e formar a vontade social. Estas 3 (três) funções têm sofrido importantes transformações recentes e, indiscutivelmente, precisam ser repensadas, a fim de evitar a obsolescência do Direito Societário. É inconcebível pensar que os avanços tecnológicos não produzirão reflexos nas relações entre os acionistas, os administradores e/ou na dinâmica organizacional das grandes companhias. Diante dessas mudanças, tornam-se essenciais estudos dedicados à compreensão de institutos clássicos do direito societário brasileiro, a partir do cenário da Quarta Revolução Industrial. Portanto, a análise da aplicação das tecnologias às Assembleias Gerais de sociedades anônimas é inovadora e de extrema relevância para a comunidade jurídica e para o mercado de capitais, pois o desenvolvimento tecnológico tem potencial para encurtar distâncias entre acionistas, colaborar para o ativismo societário e contribuir para o combate ao absenteísmo - alterando as práticas societárias e, consequentemente, impulsionando mudanças legislativas e jurisprudenciais. Sendo assim, este trabalho tem como objetivo oferecer as seguintes contribuições originais à ciência jurídica: (i) de forma imediata - analisar os reflexos nas Assembleias Gerais das mudanças promovidas pelos mecanismos de voto e participação a distância e, também, pelas modificações nos pedidos públicos de procuração (cf. artigos 121, parágrafo único, e 127, parágrafo único, da LSA e Instrução CVM nº 481/2009); e (ii) de forma mediata - ponderar sobre os potenciais efeitos a serem obtidos com a adoção de tecnologias e mecanismos modernos nas Assembleias Gerais, como blockchains e smart contracts, a fim de reduzir a necessidade de atuação humana em aspectos burocráticos do procedimento assemblear. Este trabalho também analisará algumas adequações sistêmicas a serem realizadas na legislação societária, de modo a adequá-la ao padrão evolutivo e viabilizar a adoção de tecnologias nas Assembleias Gerais. A relevância do presente trabalho reside na colaboração para compreensão das atuais tendências e novas formas de exercício de direitos de acionistas no âmbito das companhias abertas, de modo a (i) identificar obsolescências na legislação societária atual; e (ii) auxiliar na elaboração de atualizações e revisão da legislação societária brasileira, à luz das novas tecnologias.

Esta tese analisa os efeitos da falência sobre a arbitragem. A falência constitui um regime complexo, formado por regras materiais e processuais, criado para lidar com o problema da insolvência empresarial. Tem natureza de execução coletiva, reunindo todos os credores do falido e todos os seus bens, que devem ser liquidados a fim de pagar os credores. Para a consecução dos seus objetivos, a decretação da falência opera efeitos diretos sobre a pessoa do devedor, seus bens, seus contratos e seus processos. O processo falimentar realiza-se mediante procedimento administrado pelo Poder Judiciário, centralizado, público, com a finalidade de lidar com os diversos interesses envolvidos. Diversamente, a arbitragem é meio privado de solução de controvérsias pelo qual partes capazes elegem um terceiro, da sua confiança, para resolver litígio versando sobre direitos patrimoniais disponíveis. Tem natureza jurisdicional e caracteriza-se por constituir alternativa privada, rápida, flexível e especializada de dirimir demandas que admitem transação. Seu procedimento tem natureza de processo de conhecimento, terminando com a prolação de sentença, e constitui processo descentralizado, privado, usualmente sigiloso, no qual as partes têm ampla liberdade para definir as regras materiais e processuais aplicáveis. Enquanto a falência constitui sistema que visa lidar com interesses de ordem pública -- sendo, portanto, controlado pelo Estado, centralizado, público e coletivo --, a arbitragem pauta-se na autonomia da vontade, na descentralização do sistema de resolução de litígios, lida com interesses privados e é usualmente sigilosa. Considerando as relevantes diferenças entre os dois institutos, questiona-se em que condições a falência e a arbitragem podem coexistir. O que se propõe neste trabalho é, portanto, analisar quais são os efeitos que a falência opera sobre a arbitragem e como esses efeitos impactam na convivência entre os dois institutos. Para tanto, este estudo organiza-se em duas partes: parte I, na qual são apresentadas noções introdutórias da falência e da arbitragem, que servem para assentar as premissas utilizadas na análise; e parte II, na qual são analisados os efeitos propriamente ditos da falência sobre a arbitragem. A parte I está dividida em dois capítulos, nos quais se trata, sucessivamente, da falência e da arbitragem. Já a parte II está dividida em três capítulos, nos quais se trata, sucessivamente: (i) dos efeitos da falência sobre a convenção de arbitragem; (ii) dos efeitos da falência sobre o procedimento arbitral; e (iii) dos efeitos da falência sobre a sentença arbitral. Ao final, conclui-se que, apesar de a falência operar efeitos sobre alguns aspectos da arbitragem, impondo-lhe limites no contexto falimentar, isso não as torna incompatíveis. Aduz-se que a falência não invalida a convenção arbitral celebrada antes da falência, nem impede sua celebração pelo administrador, que, entretanto, depende de autorização judicial. Comprovase, também, que o advento da falência não atrai nem suspende os procedimentos arbitrais, mas impõe condições para que o processo possa se desenvolver. Por fim, evidencia-se que a sentença arbitral, uma vez proferida, deve ser submetida a verificação no processo falimentar.

Os reflexos de práticas de corrupção na esfera patrimonial das companhias abertas e de seus acionistas deram margem, nos últimos anos, a questionamentos sobre a caracterização de danos e de sua imputação aos administradores. O aumento do ativismo e da litigância societária fazem com que se tenha que retomar conceitos elementares à teoria da responsabilidade societária. Nesse sentido, analisa-se os elementos caracterizadores da relação entre administradores e companhias abertas, com o intuito de identificar as hipóteses em que o patrimônio pessoal dos administradores pode vir a responder por atos praticados no exercício de seus cargos. Verificado o fundamento para a imputação da obrigação de indenizar aos administradores, examina-se as formas pelas quais a reparação pode ser obtida, estudando-se mecanismos como ação civil pública, o termo de compromisso e as ações judiciais e os procedimentos arbitrais. Por se tratar de responsabilidade patrimonial, examina-se o patrimônio como o objeto do dano, fazendo-se remissão a entendimentos da doutrina de direito civil confrontados com pronunciamentos do direito das sociedades anônimas. Busca-se definir a partir daí a linha divisória entre os danos que podem ser recuperados, de forma direta, pela companhia aberta e aqueles que poderão ser objeto de pleitos reparatórios formulados pelos acionistas em face dos administradores.

L’effervescence intellectuelle et culturelle qui caractérise le siècle des Lumières favorise l’éclosion d’un public friand de connaissances. Cette demande s’additionne à la nécessité pour les auteurs de vivre de leurs créations pour constituer le cadre dans lequel le droit d’auteur a été conçu. Les réflexions philosophiques et juridiques qui ont permis la conceptualisation de ce droit posent le caractère consubstantiel du lien entre le droit d’auteur et l’accès à la connaissance. Ce lien qui se confirme encore lors de sa consécration est remis en cause sous l’effet des pratiques du droit d’auteur dans le numérique. La mise en œuvre de la protection octroyée par ce droit dans un tel contexte semble justifier des pratiques de nature à remettre en cause la relation entre le droit d’auteur et l’accès à la connaissance. Il apparaît alors que la légitimité de ce droit est intimement liée à sa faculté à favoriser l’accès à la connaissance. L’équilibre que le droit d’auteur garantit entre les intérêts du public et ceux des auteurs se présente comme un élément essentiel de sa justification. Même si les sources de la crise du droit d’auteur se trouvent, pour la plupart d’entre elles, dans l’exploitation au sein de l’univers numérique des œuvres protégées, le renouvellement de ce droit peut emprunter la même voie. Dans ce sens, des initiatives qui s’inscrivent dans le mouvement de l’accès libre s’orientent vers un meilleur accès à la connaissance via les œuvres à caractère scientifique ou pédagogique en exploitant les possibilités offertes par l’univers du numérique. Dans le même temps, l’américanisation du droit d’auteur pourrait permettre l’introduction d’une certaine dose de souplesse dans le droit d’auteur à condition que ce phénomène accentué par la révolution numérique ne dévoie pas ce droit en le « dépersonnalisant ». The intellectual and cultural effervescence that characterizes the enlightenment century fowours the blossoming of a public fond of knowledge. This demand, more and more higher added to the necessity for authors to live off the fruit of their creations constitute the framework in which copyright has been conceived. Thus, the environment in which philosophical and legal considerations have permitted the conceptualization of this rink between copyright and the access ton knowledge. This link definitely confirms itself through the consecration of this right is questioned under the impulsion of copyright practices namely the digital one. The implementation in this context of the protection granted by this right seems to justify practices that can question the relationship between copyright and the access to knowledge. It therefore appears that the legitimacy of this right is closely linked its faculty to favour access to knowledge. Thus, the balance that copyright maintains between public interest and those of authors presents itself as an essential element of its justification. Although the source of the crisis of copyright are found (for the vast majority) in the exploitation of the digital world of protected woks, the regeneration of this right can definitely follow the same path. In this light, initiatives that feature in this movement of the free access to knowledge through scientific or pedagogic works by exploiting precisely the possibilities offered by the digital world. In this same perspective, the americanization of copyright could enable the Introduction of a certain dose of flexibility in the copyright on the condition that this phenomenon accentuated by the digital revolution does not mislead this right by “depersonalizing” it.

تعتبر البنوك التجارية من أهم المحطات المالية التي تقوم بعمليات قبول الودائع ودفعها عند الإستحقاق كما تساهم في عملية خلق النقود بكميات كبيرة هذا ما جعلها الأكثر عرضة لجريمة غسيل الأموال والغاية من هذا هو معرفة كيف تكافح هذه البنوك لجريمة خطيرة مثل هذه والتي سادت كل العالم هذا ما أدى إلى دراستنا لهذا الموضوع الذي إعتمدنا فيه على المنهج الوصفي التحليلي و بالتالي عند دراستنا له توصلنا إلى مجموعة من النتائج تتجلى في معرفة الظاهرة بأنها ظاهرة خطيرة سريعة الإنتشار ،عرضة البنوك بهذه الظاهرة كونها تقوم بعدة عمليات ،وجوب على الدولة أن تكافح هذه الجريمة وذلك بوضع قوانين تشريعية تعاقب كل من قام بإرتكاب هذه الظاهرة الخطيرة. Commercial banks are considered one of the most important financial stations that carry out the processes of accepting and paying deposits at maturity and also contribute to the process of creating money in large quantities. This led to our study of this subject, in which we relied on the descriptive and analytical approach, and therefore upon our study of it, we reached a set of results that are evident in the knowledge of the phenomenon that it is a dangerous and rapidly spreading phenomenon. The banks are exposed to this phenomenon as they carry out several operations. Legislative laws punishing anyone who committed this dangerous phenomenon.

A presente tese objetiva discutir a colocação dogmática da colaboração entre agentes econômicos nos contratos empresariais. Mediante uma revisão da literatura jurídica, coadjuvada por aportes conceituais da economia, identificou-se a colaboração como uma operação econômica pela qual um agente econômico disponibiliza um ativo específico a outro agente que o explora no âmbito de um projeto comercial comum. Essa operação econômica se estrutura juridicamente em um sinalagma indireto, com obrigações instrumentais e obrigações finais ligadas por um vínculo de complementaridade programada ou equacionada para atingir o fim comum almejado. Esse vínculo permite caracterizar o contrato de colaboração como um tipo contratual geral, cujo fundamento é o instituto da causa do contrato e não o princípio da boa-fé objetiva. O contrato de colaboração merece então receber regime jurídico próprio, ainda por ser dogmaticamente construído, oferecendo o presente estudo um contributo representado por dois efeitos específicos: 1) o reconhecimento do dever de colaboração, dever secundário, no interesse da prestação, distinto do dever de cooperação, dever lateral ou anexo, decorrente do princípio da boa-fé objetiva; 2) a demonstração do poder de controle do contrato, prerrogativa conferida a um dos parceiros contratuais, com vistas à consecução do projeto comum. A tese é finalizada com a exposição de duas questões técnicas, com remissão a estudos doutrinários e análises jurisprudenciais em que se discutem os dois efeitos jurídicos assinalados ao contrato de colaboração, bem como um caso prático, que ilustra a estrutura e o regime jurídico do tipo contratual geral exposto ao longo da pesquisa.

Les entreprises se doivent de respecter le cadre juridique en matière de santé et sécurité au travail. Ce cadre, même s’il est fondé sur une logique de prévention des risques professionnels, est du fait de sa complexité, difficile à maîtriser pour un employeur.La première étape de notre travail de recherche a été de révéler ce cadre juridique en le décortiquant, en en expliquant les subtilités et en le confrontant à la réalité du terrain. De plus, dans de nombreux cas, les employeurs ne découvrent le cadre juridique qu’au moment de l’engagement de leur responsabilité. Nous avons alors réfléchi à comment proposer aux employeurs des solutions effectives afin de les aider à mieux le respecter et par la même, à développer la prévention des risques professionnels au bénéfice des travailleurs.Ainsi, la seconde étape de notre travail de recherche a consisté à mettre à disposition des employeurs un guide de bonnes pratiques composé de deux types d’éléments : Une sélection après analyse, des solutions mises en œuvre par la négociation collective, pouvant avoir un effet réel et tangible en matière de prévention des risques professionnels et ainsi correspondre au critère d’effectivité posé par la jurisprudence, Des dispositifs leur permettant d’autoévaluer leur niveau de respect des obligations générales ainsi que particulières en matière de santé et sécurité au travail et de les satisfaire à l’aide de fiches de mise en conformité. Companies must respect the legal framework in terms of health and safety at work. This framework, even if it is based on a logic of prevention of professional risks, is due to its complexity, difficult to master for an employer. The first step in our research work was to reveal this legal framework by dissecting it, explaining its subtleties and confronting it with the reality on the ground. In addition, in many cases employers do not learn about the legal framework until they take responsibility. We then thought about how to offer employers effective solutions in order to help them to respect it better and at the same time, to develop the prevention of professional risks for the benefit of workers. Thus, the second stage of our research work consisted in making available to employers a guide to good practice made up of two types of elements: A selection after analysis, of the solutions implemented by collective bargaining, which can have a real and tangible effect in terms of prevention of professional risks and thus correspond to the effectiveness criterion set by case law, Devices allowing them to self-assess their level of compliance with general as well as specific obligations in terms of health and safety at work and to satisfy them with the help of compliance sheets.

The idea that a contract should affect other people than the parties has seemingly always been a provocative notion. A contract binds the contracting parties – and only them – together in a legal relationship, and yet according to contemporary law a contract can have various legal effects for third parties, i.e. non-parties. The parties can conclude a contract for the benefit of a third party, and third parties can be affected by the contracts of others pursuant to both statutory law and uncodified general principles of law. The legal theme of contractual third party effects involves both theoretical and practical challenges. This doctoral dissertation addresses a number of these challenges, by examining (mainly) Swedish and Nordic private law sources. The study explores third party contracts and direct claims, as well as the relationship between these two legal figures, by placing them in a historical and theoretical context and by performing a series of contextualizing readings of sources revealing developments in both case law and legal scholarship. The research is based on a legal scientific methodology, enriched by theoretical and methodological imports pillaged from the classical teachings and contemporary scholarship on rhetoric. The result can be characterized as a form of rhetorically infused, topically oriented, hermeneutic study of contemporary legal discourse on third party effects of contract.

Profili introduttivi. La nascita ed evoluzione dell'arbitrato internazionale in materia di investimenti: gli accordi precedenti ai BITs. L'arbitrato ICSID. La giurisdizione del centro: l'articolo 25 della convenzione ICSID. Il riconoscimento del lodo arbitrale straniero. L'esecuzione dei lodi arbitrali e l'impatto su di essi della sentenza Achmea. Considerazioni preliminari sul caso Achmea.

Les technologies de l’information et de la communication impactent largement de nombreuses branches du droit. Le droit des obligations n’y fait pas exception et de nombreux contrats sont désormais conclus en ligne, quel que soit le terminal utilisé. Le recours à ce moyen de communication n’est pas sans influence sur la perfection du contrat, en particulier sur les modes d’expression de la volonté dans l’univers numérique. En effet, ce dernier offre de vastes perspectives en termes d’instantanéité, d’immatérialité et d’automatisation de l’expression du consentement contractuel, conduisant à s’interroger sur la validité des contrats formés par voie électronique. L’observation des pratiques qui se sont installées sur l’internet permet de mesurer aujourd’hui le net impact du numérique sur l’expression du consentement contractuel, c’est-à-dire sur les volontés des internautes cocontractants, ainsi que sur le mécanisme de rencontre de celles-ci. Les volontés individuelles se sont ainsi vues soumises à un processus constitué d’une série d’étapes obligatoires, supposées limiter les cas dans lesquels la perfection de la convention interviendrait par erreur. Ce découpage ouvre toutefois la voie à l’automatisation de l’expression des volontés et de leur rencontre, annonçant alors l’ère de contrats conclus voire exécutés en un trait de temps grâce aux récentes avancées de l’intelligence artificielle appliquée au domaine juridique. La traditionnelle dichotomie entre formation et exécution du contrat révèle alors ses limites, et la théorie de l’autonomie de la volonté, envisagée comme seul fondement de la force obligatoire du contrat, se heurte à l’apparition de modes inédits d’expression du consentement.

The Competition Act 89 of 1998 applies equally to all firms with regard to anti-competitive behaviour regardless whether it is privately or publicly owned. Therefore it applies to stateowned enterprises (SOEs) if their actions fall short of the Act. There is however one aspect relating to SOEs which is not covered by the application of the Competition Act but may have a significant impact on free and fair competition and can be of big concern for private competitors of SOEs. Since discriminatory policies during Apartheid have created a huge inequality gap in post-Apartheid South Africa, the government has to be actively involved in the economy to address the inequality. Therefore the government uses SOEs as vehicles to achieve its developmental goals. As a result SOEs in South Africa which are active market participants may always rely on the financial support of the state. They may do so purely because of their crucial governmental mandates regardless of financial mismanagement, poor corporate governance and deep seated corruption in almost every SOE. Even though the fundamental need for the existence of SOEs in South Africa is acknowledge, it is argued that state financial aid could qualify as a state-initiated constraint on competition in South Africa as it creates an uneven playing field between SOEs and their private competitors, which is always skewed in favour of the SOEs. It may create warped incentives and SOEs may not compete efficiently if they know that they are protected by a state sponsored safety net. This dissertation asks the question whether the time has not arrived in South Africa for state aid to SOEs to be subjected to a certain degree of scrutiny in order to bring about a level playing field between SOEs and their private competitors. It is recognised that privatisation of SOEs is not always the better option as it could threaten the delivery of basic services and goods to poorer South Africans. Hence, the dissertation investigates whether a state aid control model, based on the European Union state aid rules, is not perhaps a solution to address the potential distortion of free and fair competition by state financial aid. It proposes a customised state aid control regime for South Africa which provides for an active role by the competition authorities in state aid decisions and it presents draft legislation which could be used as a basis for the implementation in South Africa of a regulated system of state financial aid to SOEs (and even private enterprises where applicable).

On 1 July 2017, the Commission of the European Union (Commission) announced that investor state dispute settlement (ISDS) was dead. Apart from the fundamental public distrust of ISDS, its rejection by the European Union (EU) is a symptom of several underlying causes, the foremost of which is the need to protect the autonomy of the EU legal order and its right to regulate public policy objectives, as well as to avoid jurisdictional conflicts. With this backdrop EU state aid law, which enjoys public policy status, has emerged as a major example of the conflict between investor protection and the right to regulate. As state aid law imposes measures on the EU Member States that conflict with these states’ international obligations to foreign investors under bilateral investment treaties (BITs), they have become subject to claims and substantial liabilities. This dilemma can arise in any setting that involves the EU or one or more of its Member States. It also includes relations with non-EU countries, as the web of international investment agreements (IIAs) operates, in different forms, on an international scale. Therefore, this dilemma and the EU’s responses to it is analysed through the different forms in which EU state aid law appears, dependent on the EU investment policy aspect utilised as a platform for analysis. Utilising a doctrinal analysis by studying, discussing and analysing the impact of EU state aid law on the EU Member States’ BITs and EU Trade Agreements, this dissertation provides an insight into the function and logic behind international treaties involving the EU’s competition and investment policy. This is done by utilising the research question: How does the European Union (EU) state aid law affect the future of EU investment policy in a global context? Further, this thesis puts forward three arguments in which EU state aid law is affecting the future of EU investment policy in a global context. First, state aid law applies in the EU’s incorporation of clauses promoting fair competition and state aid policy in international trade agreements. Second, state aid law and policy has contributed to recent EU internal development, which led the EU Member States to terminate their bilateral agreements with each other (intra-EU BITs) by the end of 2019. Third, the EU has been working towards replacing the existing BITs between the EU’s Member States and third countries (extra-EU BITs) with the EU’s own trade agreements, which are aligned with EU legislation. Essentially, this thesis golden thread is a debate on who gets to decide on the scope of state aid law now and in the future. In other words, is it the EU that sets the borders and the status of state aid law and policy law regarding investment protection or the international investment tribunals by their legal practice? Hence, this thesis offers a glimpse of a conceivable future of EU investment policy in a global context. An analysis of the relevant literature, and observation of recent policy changes on its subject matter, as reflected in the Commission’s policy documents, the EU’s international agreements and declarations by the Member States, leads to the findings of this dissertation. A conflict situation that originated from legal conflicts within the EU, the EU experience of investment protection and state aid regarding intra-EU BITs, provided some lessons to learn for the EU organs. These lessons learned have found expression on a global scale. By incorporating fair competition and state aid policy in international trade the EU is reasserting that it is the EU that decides on state aid law and policy law regarding investment protection. Indeed, the EU is attempting to tame investment protection in such a way that fair competition and investment protection can peacefully coexist in international trade. Ultimately, the interplay of state aid and the EU’s investment policy within the internal market reflects on the external trade relations of both the Member States and the EU through this practice. Thus, state aid law affects and will continue to affect the future of EU investment policy in a global context.

La recherche a essayé d’affiner les phénomènes juridiques de la libéralisation des biens et des services, dite de première génération, en faveur d’une politique d’intégration économique régionale, sous l’emprise de la mondialisation, afin d’établir la Communauté économique de l’ASEAN. Cependant, la question de l’existence des règles substantielles de droit est sous-estimée au regard des juristes internationaux, et est pertinente pour l’Association ; autrement dit, l’ASEAN se fonde principalement sur le soft-law, ASEAN Way, qui a ralenti effectivement la réalisation de sa politique d’intégration économique. Afin de surmonter de ces défis, cette thèse a opté une approche de droit international public afin d’examiner le mécanisme d’élaboration des règles conventionnelles ainsi que non conventionnelles de cet Association. De plus, le droit international économique est également un choix méthodologique pour ce travail de recherche sur les questions techniques essentielles dans le processus de la création du marché unique de l’ASEAN. En résultat, nous avons découvert que le droit matériel de l’ASEAN est bien existé et continue à développer progressivement au sens propre du droit international. D’ailleurs, les mécanismes institutionnels administratifs ainsi que juridictionnels sont été observés dont leur fonctionnement est impliqué de manière pragmatique pour la mise en œuvre de ces règles matérielles en matière de la libre circulation des biens et services. Malgré que ces règles de droit connaissent les critiques tant à ses effectivité et efficacité à cause de sa caractère souple et non contraignant, l’harmonisation juridique sectorielle est achevée vers la direction de la construction du droit communautaire de l’ASEAN. En conclusion, la régionalisation économique de l’ASEAN se fonde effectivement sur son cadre juridique propre, en basant sur le pluralisme juridique et est conforme au droit international.

En décembre 2010, l'entreprenant faisait son apparition dans le droit des affaires de I'OHADA. L'AUDCG présente ce nouvel acteur comme un entrepreneur individuel qui, sur simple déclaration, exerce une activité civile, commerciale, artisanale ou agricole. C'est un professionnel qui exerce, en son nom propre, une activité civile ou commerciale. Comparativement aux autres entrepreneurs individuels, il est censé bénéficier de facilités aussi bien dans ses démarches administratives que dans ses obligations. C'est en s’inspirant de l'auto-entrepreneur (désormais appelé micro-entrepreneur) qui a connu un grand succès en France que le législateur africain a créé ce statut particulier. Il espère par ce moyen, séduire les opérateurs du secteur informel et les inciter à se formaliser. Pres d'une décennie après l'adoption du nouveau statut, très peu de pays de I'OHADA l'ont rendu opérationnel et, contrairement à l'auto-entrepreneur français, il est loin de susciter l'engouement des opérateurs du secteur informel. A cause de son accès conditionné et des innombrables règles auxquelles il oblige à se soumettre, ce statut est loin d'être avantageux pour des personnes habituées à I 'informalité.

La communauté maritime apparaît peuplée d'acteurs qui interviennent autour du navire mais aussi qui interagissent pour sa vente, sa future exploitation, et ses performances de navigation. Ces opérateurs sont stimulés par les enjeux logistiques et financiers, d'où cette diversité des recours qui démontre la complexité des liens concernant les contrats attachés au navire, depuis sa construction, sa vente jusqu'à sa mise en exploitation. Le constructeur naval est l'opérateur clé dans ce domaine. Les obligations du chantier naval, déjà lourdement obéré par le régime procédural de la garantie des vices cachés, sont multiples et contraignantes si bien qu'il est tenu de garantir la navigabilité du navire depuis sa recette jusqu'à son exploitation. La subtilité du régime juridique du navire réside dans son statut réel si particulier qui emprunte des règles issues à la fois du droit spécial et du droit commun si bien que le cadre contractuel révèle le particularisme du droit maritime. Ainsi, le navire représente une opération de grande envergure car il fait l'objet de grands enjeux économiques et financiers. L'on observe que le navire est plus sophistiqué, plus onéreux, et par conséquent, les opérations qui en découlent sont sources de litiges fastidieux qui appellent à des mécanismes procéduraux complexes dont les juridictions étatiques et arbitrales s'efforcent de maîtriser.

L'importance des secrets d'affaires dans l'essor de l'économie mondiale n'est plus à démontrer. Ils sont, selon les indicateurs les plus fiables, la partie la plus importante du patrimoine des sociétés qui détiennent les plus grandes fortunes du monde. Mais force est de constater que leur protection dans l'arbitrage commercial international est peu effective. Ils sont victimes de divulgations licites ou illicites qui les exposent. Pour une meilleure protection des secrets d'affaires durant une procédure arbitrale, des mesures correctives sont nécessaires. Ces mesures doivent concourir à redéfinir un cadre juridique pratique dont le fondement et la justification est la protection de l'information qui a une valeur commerciale et économique. Pour ce vaste chantier, la contribution des usagers et praticiens de l'arbitrage commercial international est indéniable mais celle des États est indispensable.

This thesis examines the impact of adoption of IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) on two aspects of the operation of capital markets. Firstly, the impact of adoption of IFRS on financial reporting comparability, market liquidity, and cost of capital. Secondly, the impact of adoption of IFRS on seasoned equity offering (SEO) underperformance. To examine the impact of adoption of IFRS on financial reporting comparability, market liquidity, and cost of capital, the study used meta-analysis of empirical studies published since 2000. Meta-analysis provides an objective view of the empirical results, in contrast to narrative reviews, which offer subjective conclusions. From meta-analysis of 55 empirical studies with 1,259 effect sizes, the study finds that IFRS adoption has increased financial reporting comparability, market liquidity, and reduced cost of equity. For cost of debt, a decrease is observed only for voluntary adoption. The meta-regression analysis shows how the results differ across mandatory and voluntary adoption of IFRS and that the measurement choices, type of control variables, study design, and strength of empirical results explain the variation in the observed effect of adoption of IFRS. To examine the impact of adoption of IFRS on SEO underperformance the study analyses a large sample of SEOs from 51 countries over the period 1992-2017. Given that the empirical literature on SEOs has established that information asymmetry contributes to SEO underperformance, it is important to assess whether adoption of IFRS has reduced the uncertainties surrounding SEOs and, thus, subsequent underperformance. The study employs a control sample of non-IFRS adoption countries and applies a difference-in-difference (DiD) design to test for the incremental change for IFRS adoption countries over non-IFRS adoption countries. The study finds that SEO underperformance reduces for IFRS adopters relative to non-IFRS adopters in the post-adoption period. The reduction in SEO underperformance is influenced by increased disclosure, increased comparability, and number of accounting changes. The study also finds that the impact of adoption of IFRS on SEO underperformance exists only for firms in countries with strong enforcement, and is conditional on the implementation credibility of countries. The findings are robust to the application of a different measure of SEO underperformance. Overall, the study suggests that IFRS has had a positive impact on capital markets. However, increased disclosure, comparability, and credible implementation play important roles in realising the benefits of adoption of IFRS. Thus, policymakers of weak enforcement countries are encouraged to strengthen their institutional environment in order to reap the benefits that adoption of IFRS can provide to their capital market.

This study examines and critiques New Zealand intellectual property protection for industrial designs, taking into account that many New Zealand industrial design owners outsource manufacture of their designs to China. Industrial design, which refers to improving the aesthetics of products to increase their marketability, is evolving conceptually and practically. In New Zealand, copyright and registered design laws each protect, respectively, the visual expression and the “eye appeal” of an original design. As design practices evolve with advances in technology however, it is increasingly evident that industrial design is about more than just visual expression or “eye appeal”. Many designers are not focusing solely on product stylisation and decoration, but on the provision of a more holistic product experience for the consumer. The development process of industrial designs from concept to marketable product is also changing, with many New Zealand industrial design owners employing increasingly efficient design development strategies. The fast-paced, cost-effective infrastructure of China is often utilised by New Zealand businesses for the manufacture of industrial designs. This study therefore sought to determine how to appropriately protect New Zealand industrial designs, in light of: a. foreseeable advances in technology; and b. the fact that many New Zealand industrial designs are manufactured in China. To answer these questions, this study examined and analysed New Zealand’s copyright and registered design laws, taking into account not only existing protections, but also factors that are likely to be of significant relevance in the future, such as the impact on industrial design from developments in 3D printing and virtual reality. The Chinese intellectual property regime for industrial designs was also examined because China is a major trading partner and often, as noted, the locus of manufacture. The study included an empirical investigation, in the form of interviews with designers and design academics as well as legal practitioners specialising in intellectual property law. The input of the interviewees, together with the legal analysis, informed a series of suggestions and recommendations for New Zealand policy and its law-makers regarding how industrial design protection can be improved. A key finding of this study was that existing legal protections do not appropriately protect increasingly holistic designs, as well as new types of designs emerging from developing fields such as virtual reality. In assessing the appropriateness of protection, the interests of industrial design owners were balanced against the public interest in protecting the public domain. It is suggested that to achieve equilibrium copyright law should be expanded to protect design expressions for all senses. Moreover, new categories of copyright protected works should be introduced to accommodate emerging design. The definition of design in registered design law should also be reconceptualised in order to acknowledge new types of designs and evolving design practices. Industrial design owners who outsource manufacturing to China can protect their designs via copyright as well as design patent. However, enforcement of intellectual property protection is unsatisfactory in many areas of China. Therefore, New Zealand industrial design owners should also employ non-legal protection strategies. Interviews with successful businesses, in the course of the empirical investigation for this study, revealed that the leveraging of existing relationships of those with already established operations in China, and intentionally splitting an industrial design’s component parts for manufacture among several factories in different locations, are useful strategies to employ.

Most OECD countries’ value-added tax (VAT) systems apply reduced VAT rates to a selection of expenditure items in order to achieve distributional goals, and – to a lesser extent – social, cultural and employment-related goals. This thesis investigates the distributional effects of the VAT in OECD countries, and the merits of using reduced VAT rates to achieve distributional goals. The research adopts a microsimulation modelling approach that draws on household expenditure microdata from household budget surveys for an unprecedented 27 OECD countries. A consistent microsimulation methodology is adopted to ensure cross-country comparability of results. Non-behavioural VAT microsimulation models are first built to examine the overall distributional impact of the current VAT systems in each country. The research assesses the competing methodological approaches used in previous studies, highlighting the misleading effect of savings patterns on cross-sectional analysis when VAT burdens are measured relative to income. Measuring VAT burdens relative to expenditure – thereby removing the influence of savings – is found to provide a more reliable picture of the distributional impact of the VAT. On this basis, the VAT is found to be either roughly proportional or slightly progressive in most of the 27 OECD countries examined. Nevertheless, results for a small number of countries (Chile, Hungary, Latvia and New Zealand) highlight that broad-based VAT systems that have few reduced VAT rates or exemptions can produce a small degree of regressivity. Results also show that even a roughly proportional VAT can still have significant equity implications for the poor – potentially pushing some households into poverty. Behavioural VAT microsimulation models are then built for 23 OECD countries to investigate whether reduced VAT rates are an effective way to support poorer households, and whether the use of targeted cash transfers would be more effective. The behavioural microsimulation methodology follows the Linear Expenditure System based approach of Creedy and Sleeman (2006). Complementing this approach, a Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System (QUAIDS) is estimated specifically for New Zealand, thereby providing the first estimates of a QUAIDS model based on New Zealand data. Simulation results show that, as a whole, the reduced VAT rates present in most OECD countries tend to have a small progressive impact. However, despite this progressivity, reduced VAT rates are shown to be a highly ineffective mechanism for targeting support to poorer households: not only do rich households benefit from reduced rates, but they benefit more in aggregate terms than poor households do. When looking at reduced VAT rates applied to specific products, results are found to vary considerably. Reduced VAT rates specifically introduced to support the poor (such as reduced rates on food consumed at home and domestic utilities) are generally found to have a progressive impact, though rich households still receive a larger aggregate benefit than poor households. In contrast, reduced VAT rates introduced to address non-distributional goals (such as reduced rates on restaurants, hotels, and cultural and social expenditure) often have a regressive impact. Additional simulation results show that an income-tested cash transfer will better target support to poorer households than reduced VAT rates in all countries. Furthermore, even a universal cash transfer is found to better target poorer households than reduced VAT rates. However, results also show that it is very difficult for an income-tested cash transfer to fully compensate all poor households for the removal of reduced VAT rates. This is due to the significant variation in the underlying consumption patterns across households. While a small number of poor households lose out from replacing reduced VAT rates with targeted cash transfers, those that receive support are instead determined by income and family characteristics as opposed to consumption tastes – thereby increasing horizontal equity. Furthermore, many households are lifted out of poverty as revenue previously transferred to richer households is now transferred to poorer households. These results empirically confirm the theoretical expectation that, where available, direct mechanisms (whether via the income tax or benefit system) will better achieve distributional goals than reduced VAT rates. Countries that currently employ reduced VAT rates to achieve distributional goals should therefore consider removing these reduced rates and adjusting their income tax or benefit systems to achieve these distributional goals instead. Countries should also consider removing reduced VAT rates aimed at non-distributional goals where a more effective instrument is available to achieve the particular policy goal. At a minimum, the merits of these reduced VAT rates should be reassessed in light of their negative distributional impact.