REGULATORY APPROACHES OF THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACCESS IN THE ARAB STATES

Purpose – However, the Right to Access to Information (RTI)[1] is guaranteed by article 91 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and more than 120 have adopted such a right, fewer Arab countries; mainly in Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Algeria, whose constitutions included the right of people to access information. Hence, the purpose of this research is to assess and provide an in-depth study of the status quo of the right to access to public information in the Arab region as well as to highlight whether the adopted laws have met people need of information. Methodology/Approach/Design – In order to achieve the purpose of this research project, a ‘non-doctrinal’ empirical socio-legal research type of qualitative method has been undertaken to examine the right to access and request information in Arab States. Findings – The paper findings shows that Arab countries are not keeping the pace on adopting and implementing the Right to Access to Information laws where culture of secrecy prevails and overcomes the openness in the Arab World.   1 The term “Right to Access to Information” RTI will be used in this article interchangeably as the right to information RTI, Freedom of Information FOI, and Right to Know RTK. Calland 2010 refers to the terminology point by stating that civil society activists, advocates and authors do not prefer using the ‘Freedom of Information’ terminology of choice in this field; instead, ‘the right of access to information’ (ATI) or ‘the right to know’ RTK have gained a kind of ascendency in the past years

Post-WTO China Tax Law System Reform and the Rule of Law: Progress and Prospects

A close examination of China\u27s accession commitments reveals that effective economic reform and trade liberalization call for substantiations from a matching legal infrastructure reform. For example, taxpayers\u27 rights protection should be viewed in terms of broader political and civil rights reform. Indeed, a number of the values featured in the WTO principles and the rule of law framework encourage China\u27s further integration into both the global trade network and the international human rights regime. This is particularly evident in the Chinese tax law context. WTO principles and the rule of law requirements must be introduced and evaluated together in tax law reform proposals. WTO principles of transparency, uniform and impartial administration, judicial review match the instrumentalist\u27s rule of law elements of consistency, generality, predictability, enforceability, stability and congruence, and the substantive rule of law framework\u27s requirements of democracy, limited government, accountable administrative decision-making, and judicial independence. China\u27s accession to the WTO requires reform not only of China\u27s substantive laws, but also of its institutional arrangements, to which the Chinese government has given inadequate consideration. Without real institutional reforms creating an independent and functional administrative framework or judiciary, any substantive economic reforms are likely to fall in nascent or vague - the tremendous economic success will be held back when ill-designed incentives are spoiled or exploited. The transparency requirement scattered in various provisions of the WTO Accession Agreement is an elevated burden for China. The uniform and impartial administration principle demands the removal of subtle trading barriers such as local protectionist practices. More importantly, independent judicial review of administrative actions challenges the status quo of slow judicial reform in China - requiring that China\u27s courts meet WTO standards of independence, impartiality and non-arbitrary enforcement of judgments. China\u27s tax law system is administrative in nature but this characterization is complicated by legislative and judicial functions in the tax law. In this sense, the tax law reform benefits from as well as is circumvented by the post-WTO legal reform. The accession to WTO bounds China calling for transparency, consistency, simplicity and certainty in terms of tax legislations at both national and local levels. The hierarchical tax administration structure should not impede enforcement of tax laws. Uniform and impartial administration of tax regulations at various local levels should be improved to a level acceptable to guarantee wellgrounded tax administrative decisions and facilitate tax judicature independence. Given the growing awareness of taxpayers\u27 rights, tax authorities should not dwell at the stereotype monitor position proclaiming obligation to pay tax, rather, a workable system of protections should be established and honored. Moreover, the tax treatment of the nonprofits sector as the third sector of the society should be formulated and enforced. China\u27s tax reform cannot be expected to fit any pre-designed, transplanted model. The project here is to build a versatile tax system, which takes opportunities to streamline, track, and propel economic development

Post-WTO China Tax Law System Reform and the Rule of Law: Progress and Prospects

A close examination of China\u27s accession commitments reveals that effective economic reform and trade liberalization call for substantiations from a matching legal infrastructure reform. For example, taxpayers\u27 rights protection should be viewed in terms of broader political and civil rights reform. Indeed, a number of the values featured in the WTO principles and the rule of law framework encourage China\u27s further integration into both the global trade network and the international human rights regime. This is particularly evident in the Chinese tax law context. WTO principles and the rule of law requirements must be introduced and evaluated together in tax law reform proposals. WTO principles of transparency, uniform and impartial administration, judicial review match the instrumentalist\u27s rule of law elements of consistency, generality, predictability, enforceability, stability and congruence, and the substantive rule of law framework\u27s requirements of democracy, limited government, accountable administrative decision-making, and judicial independence. China\u27s accession to the WTO requires reform not only of China\u27s substantive laws, but also of its institutional arrangements, to which the Chinese government has given inadequate consideration. Without real institutional reforms creating an independent and functional administrative framework or judiciary, any substantive economic reforms are likely to fall in nascent or vague - the tremendous economic success will be held back when ill-designed incentives are spoiled or exploited. The transparency requirement scattered in various provisions of the WTO Accession Agreement is an elevated burden for China. The uniform and impartial administration principle demands the removal of subtle trading barriers such as local protectionist practices. More importantly, independent judicial review of administrative actions challenges the status quo of slow judicial reform in China - requiring that China\u27s courts meet WTO standards of independence, impartiality and non-arbitrary enforcement of judgments. China\u27s tax law system is administrative in nature but this characterization is complicated by legislative and judicial functions in the tax law. In this sense, the tax law reform benefits from as well as is circumvented by the post-WTO legal reform. The accession to WTO bounds China calling for transparency, consistency, simplicity and certainty in terms of tax legislations at both national and local levels. The hierarchical tax administration structure should not impede enforcement of tax laws. Uniform and impartial administration of tax regulations at various local levels should be improved to a level acceptable to guarantee wellgrounded tax administrative decisions and facilitate tax judicature independence. Given the growing awareness of taxpayers\u27 rights, tax authorities should not dwell at the stereotype monitor position proclaiming obligation to pay tax, rather, a workable system of protections should be established and honored. Moreover, the tax treatment of the nonprofits sector as the third sector of the society should be formulated and enforced. China\u27s tax reform cannot be expected to fit any pre-designed, transplanted model. The project here is to build a versatile tax system, which takes opportunities to streamline, track, and propel economic development

The New Energy Geopolitics?: China, Renewable Energy, and the Greentech Race

The issue of China\u27s support for renewables has taken center stage in the United States, thanks to an investigation by the United States Trade Representative (USTR) that commenced in October 2010. That investigation began with a complaint alleging that China unfairly subsidizes its greentech industries, in violation of its obligations as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Well before that investigation began, numerous Americans believed the United States was less engaged in greentech promotion than China. China has come very far in a short amount of time to promote renewables, and many feel the United States is falling behind. New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman has been perhaps the most active proponent of this view, but he has plenty of company (including President Obama, as shown by the quote above). In this article, I will use greentech to refer to renewable energy technologies such as solar and wind power (the subject of many articles), even though some commentators discuss other technologies such as hybrid and electric vehicles

China – The New Developmental State?

The central focus of this analysis is whether the economic growth of China can be attributed to an emulation of the development models of Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Based on the developmental state theory, an East Asian developmental state model is set up as a benchmark. The thesis uses an empirical analysis of the auto industry to highlight the performance outcome of China’s development strategy. The author confirms that China has evolved into a developmental state similar in its core characteristics to the three leading East Asian states. The model of development in China, however, is an innovative combination of factors from the developmental states, the legacies of the past command economy as well as of the adopted market economy mechanism including international capital flows

The Southern Engine of Growth and Hard Commodity Prices : Does China Lead to Disruptive Development

The 2003 to 2008 commodity boom was the longest period of rising commodity prices seen since the Second World War. The main drivers of base metal prices were increasing Demand from China, Inflexible Supply from within the Global Mining Industry and the increased participation of Financial Actors in commodity markets.This research examines the role of the main drivers in the 2003 to 2008 commodity boom,and their impact on the future behaviour of hard-commodity prices. The persistence of these drivers,despite the interruption due to the financial crisis towards the end of 2008, leads us to conclude that the Boom is the start of an expansionary phase of a commodity Super Cycle.China's increase in base-metals consumption has directly led to demand disruptions in the global commodity markets. Indirectly, it has affected the global mining sector and influenced a change in perception of financial actors. China's growth has been a disruptive element in traditional commodity price behaviour.Given the commodity pessimism since the 1950s, the current rise in commodity prices has implications for development policy. The orthodoxy of deteriorating terms of trade of commodities relative to manufactures, price volatility, the low income elasticity of demand and the nature of the global mining industry, are all challenged by the rising trend in commodity prices.Hard-commodity-exporting countries have an opportunity to benefit from the current and expected growth of commodity prices in the medium term. For base-metal ore abundant countries,commodity optimism may well define the next fifty years of global economic development

China: New Engine of World Growth

Twenty-five years of reform have transformed China from a centrally planned and closed system to a predominantly market-driven and open economy. As a consequence, China is emerging as the new powerhouse for the world economy. China: new engine for world growth discusses the impact and significance of this transformation. It points out risks to the growth process and unfinished tasks of reform. It presents conclusions from recent research on growth, trade and investment, the financial sector, income and regional disparities, industrial location and private sector development. Ross Garnaut is a Professor of Economics in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, and Chairman of the China Economy and Business Program at The Australian National University. He was Australia’s Ambassador to China in the 1980s. Ligang Song is a Fellow in the Asia Pacific School of Economics and Government, and Director of the China Economy and Business Program at The Australian National University

Competitive dynamics and economic growth in China : the case of Shenzhen

China is poised to become one of the dominant economic forces in the world and today with the ability to affect the financial stability of every country in an interconnected global system of trade and finance. This study was conducted to understand what incentives, structural and social and political phenomena shaped the competitive dynamics leading to meteoric economic growth in China. Cities and clusters is where state and market forces interact most directly; to understand key insights, patterns of growth, future risks and opportunities we decided to focus the analysis on the case of Shenzhen, China’s fastest-growing, experimental city. Since there are numerous theories and frameworks to understand competitive dynamics, we created a threelayered conceptual taxonomy of 16 index variables based on salient aspects that emerged from an extensive literature review. To gain further qualitative understanding of the proposed conceptual model, we conducted a survey distributed to people living and working in Shenzhen and China. The research found the major causal factor for extraordinary economic growth was central and local government adaptive efficiency which ushered in reforms and capital injections from Beijing. Shenzhen is a striking example of successful competitive dynamics and market-oriented reforms. However, factors like the debt burden, lack of transparency, corruption within institutions and fragile foreign affairs are likely to impact the long-term competitive sustainability.A China está prestes a se tornar uma das forças econômicas dominantes no mundo e hoje pode afetar a estabilidade financeira de cada país. Este estudo foi realizado para entender que incentivos, estruturais, sociais e políticos moldaram a dinâmica competitiva levando ao crescimento econômico meteórico na China. Cidades e clusters é onde as forças do estado e do mercado interagem mais diretamente; para entender os principais padrões de insights de crescimento, riscos futuros e oportunidades, decidimos focar a análise no caso de Shenzhen, a cidade experimental e de crescimento mais rápido da China. Já que já existe um número imenso de teorias e frameworks para entender a dinâmica competitiva, criamos um sistema de taxonomia conceitual de três camadas composto por um conjunto de 16 variáveis de índice com base em aspetos salientes emergidos pela extensa revisão da literatura. Além disso, para obter insights qualitativos do modelo conceitual proposto, realizamos uma pesquisa distribuída às pessoas que vivem e trabalham em Shenzhen e na China. A pesquisa concluiu que o grande crescimento econômico foi impulsionado pela eficiência adaptativa do governo central e local, abrindo reformas e injeções de capital em Pequim. Através da evolução mostrada por suas variáveis econômicas, Shenzhen é um exemplo marcante da realização de uma dinâmica competitiva bem-sucedida e de uma reforma orientada para o mercado. No entanto, desvantagens como o peso da dívida, a transparência e a corrupção das instituições e a fragilidade dos negócios estrangeiros são suscetíveis de impactar a sustentabilidade a longo prazo do país