The Legal Regime of Trader's Liability, Regulated by the Laws on Consumer Protection - a New Paradigm

The traders are assigned ex lege a number of acknowledged professional obligations, like the obligation of registering in the Trade Register. Besides these traditional obligations, new and complex obligations have been regulated for traders, obligations that are specific to the tradersconsumers relation. These regulations are subordinated to the Consumer Law domain, which in Romania represents a contemporary creation, a result of the process of transposing the communautaire acquis. Consumer protection is regulated by general and specific rules, the latter ones referring to the following sub domains: advertising; informing about the prices of the products offered to the consumers for sale; unfair clauses from the contracts concluded between the traders and the consumers; the contracts negotiated away from business premises; concluding and executing distant contracts related to financial services; consumer credit; packages of tourism services; protection of the contracts related to the right to use some immovable goods for a limited period- timeshare; selling of the products and warranties associated; general safety of the products; responsibility of the producers for the damages generated by the defective products; unfair commercial practices and ways to cease the unlawful practices in respect of the protection of consumers’ collective interests. New obligations for the traders are established through the content of both general and specific regulations, obligations that are effected in imperatives and especially in interdictions.The legal regime of the obligations that resulted this way transcend the regime of the traders’ traditional obligations, making up the new paradigm of the traders’ activity and it represents the theme of this paper. Our research focused on determining the obligations set-up for the traders through both categories of rules and through their legal regime. As a result of the research carried on this theme, we conclude that setting-up this new category of obligations for the traders represents an actual means of achieving the aim of ensuring the consumer protection, adding-up to other legal means set-up in this regard.traders; professional obligations; Consumer Law; unfair practices; misleading and aggressive practices ; consumer credit; advertising.

Mapping and analysis of changes in the riparian landscape structure of the Lockyer Valley Catchment, Queensland, Australia

[Abstract]: A case study of the Lockyer Valley catchment in Queensland, Australia, was conducted to develop appropriate mapping and assessment techniques to quantify the nature and magnitude of riparian landscape structural changes within a catchment. The study employed digital image processing techniques to produce land cover maps from the 1973 and 1997 Landsat imagery. Fixed and variable width buffering of streams were implemented using a geographic information system (GIS) to estimate the riparian zone and to subsequently calculate the landscape patterns using the Patch Analyst (Grid) program (a FRAGSTATS interface). The nature of vegetation clearing was characterised based on land tenure, slope and stream order. Using the Pearson chi-square test and Cramer’s V statistic, the relationships between the vegetation clearing and land tenure were further assessed. The results show the significant decrease in woody vegetation areas mainly due to conversion to pasture. Riparian vegetation corridors have become more fragmented, isolated and of much smaller patches. Land tenure was found to be significantly associated with the vegetation clearing, although the strength of association was weak. The large proportion of deforested riparian zones within steep slopes or first-order streams raises serious questions about the catchment health and the longer term potential for land degradation by upland clearing. This study highlights the use of satellite imagery and geographic information systems in mapping and analysis of landscape structural change, as well as the identification of key issues related to sensor spatial resolution, stream buffering widths, and the quantification of land transformation processes

Assessing spatial information access, use and sharing for catchment management in Australia

Spatial data plays an important role in many social, environmental, economic and political decisions and is increasingly acknowledged as a national resource essential for sustainable development. One of the potential areas where spatial data can make a positive impact is for improved decision making to support catchment management. Reliable spatial data infrastructure (SDI) is needed to record the environmental, social and economic dimensions of catchment management. By building an appropriate SDI, disparate spatial data can be accessed and utilised to facilitate the exchange and sharing of spatial data between stakeholders across catchment communities. The aim of this paper is to identify the factors/variables contributing to spatial information access, sharing and use across catchment management areas and evaluate the current status of spatial information access, sharing and use among Australian states from a catchment management authority perspective. A survey method was used to collect primary data from 56 regional natural resource management (NRM) bodies responsible for catchment management in Australia. Descriptive statistics method was used to show the similarities and differences among Australian states. The key factors which influence sharing and access to spatial information are also explored. We found there is significant for spatial information access, use and sharing to contribute to SDI development

Analysis of spacing for spotted gum plantations for maximising merchantable logs' volume in South East Queensland, Australia

Spotted gum (Corymbia citriodora subspecies Variegata) has the potential to be the major hardwood species for large-scale plantations in South East Queensland, Australia, but production research is limited due to the lack of age of research plots. Optimal spacing is a major subject of concern. Based on time series data from a spotted gum experiment site, growth performance is analysed for five spacing levels: ─11.3 m x 11.3 m (78 stems per hectare), 7.4 m x 7.4 m (182 sph), 5.4 m x 5.4 m (343 sph), 3.6 m x 3.6 m (771 sph) and 2.9 m x 2.9 m (1189 sph). The major objective was assumed to be to maximise total merchantable log volume. A growth model was produced, and the mean diameter at breast height (dbh) and total merchantable log volume for each spacing levels at a range of harvesting ages was estimated. From the analysis, the spacing level of 5.4 m x 5.4 m was found to be optimal for maximising merchantable log volume to 10 cm small-end diameter. Further analysis of mean dbh, height and volume of the largest 200 and 250 trees from this spacing level indicates that merchantable log volume could be maximised by retaining the 250 largest trees per hectare. The total financial revenue from the best spacing level in 25 and 30 years are predicted to be $13,637 and$17,779 per hectare, respectively. If full rotation data could be obtained, more reliable models could be produced, and a more accurate financial estimate could be made