The “abuse of right” in EU company law and EU tax law: A re-reading of the ECJ case-law and the quest for a unitary notion

This article discusses whether, in light of the developments of the ECJ case-law in different areas, and in particular in the areas of EU company law and EU tax law, it is possible to identify a unitary concept of “abuse of rights” in EU law, and whether the prohibition of abuse of right based on such concept has reached the status of “general principle” of EU law. Through a re-reading of the ECJ case-law, it is argued that it is possible to identify a unitary concept of abuse of rights, and that the prohibition of abuse of rights could be described in terms of a “general principle with a sui generis aspect”, which general principle, in the author’s view, should be seen as complementary to the prohibition of abuse of rights spelt out in Art. 54 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights for consistency of the (post-Lisbon Treaty) EU legal order

Corporate governance in the European community: A (proposal for a) re-reading of the key defining elements in the light of EC law, and the scope for a slightly “refined” definition

This papers, written at the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the EC Treaty and at a time of perceived importance of corporate governance at a world-wide level, offers an answer to the question whether a conception about the corporate objective and corporate governance can be seen as implied in EC law. The paper argues that the most widely accepted definition of corporate governance can be dividend into three key defining elements, and that, as regards each of these elements, key indications can be deduced from the EC Treaty and from the secondary legislation. By reassembling these indications, the paper extrapolates a conception about the corporate objective and corporate governance which calls into discussion the traditionally opposed theories, and which advocates a new start in corporate governance related research and debates

Corporate governance: The OECD principles, the scope for a “model of the successful company”, and a new challenge for the company law agenda and the broader regulatory agenda

The OECD Principles of Corporate Governance, and the Methodology for assessing their implementation, seem to support those academic contributions which overcome the classic distinction between the shareholders primacy and the stakeholders’ models of companies; they also appear to require a re-conceptualisation of the interests involved and not simply a model of company, but a model of the successful company. This paper proposes such a model, and asserts its validity from a property rights perspective and from a human rights perspective. It subsequently argues that shaping of a corporate governance framework based on this model would raise a key challenge for company law legislators and for the broader regulatory agenda, and that satisfactory responses to this challenge – for which some first hypothesis are proposed - would be fully compatible with the increasingly global corporate social responsibility concern, while opening new themes for academic research and for decision-makers choices

The success of the company in s. 172(1) of the UK companies act 2006: Towards an 'enlightened directors' primacy' ?

This paper argues that S. 172(1) of the UK Companies Act 2006, which, by incorporating the concept of enlightened shareholders value, requires a director of a company to have regard to several non-shareholders groups, can be read from a particular managerial perspective, and that directors could end up having a personal interest ‘to internalise’ exactly this perspective in their approach to S. 172(1). The article submits that, when this occurs, this managerial perspective can offer an input to the legal reasoning and to the model of companies underpinning UK company law, by turning the enlightened shareholders value into an approach that may be defined ‘enlightened directors’ primacy’ and that would benefit the long-term survival and development of the business activity. This outcome would be fully in line with the OECD Principles on Corporate Governance, and with the ‘interest of the company’ as identified in some continental Europe jurisdictions

The cross-border mobility of companies within the European Community after the Cartesio ruling of the ECJ

This paper, in the field of European Company Law, analysis the current state of affairs concerning the cross-border mobility of companies within the European Community after the ECJ's Cartesio ruling, and indicates the potential impact of the latest case-law on future developments

Corporate governance and the protection of investors: A comparative and critical perspective on the legal responses to the ultimate concern and on potential developments

This paper, after reviewing the mechanisms for the direct and indirect protection of minority shareholders in the US, France, Germany and the UK, assesses these machanisms in light of a "subjective" aspect of minority shareholders protection (protection of weaker shareholders vs. stronger shareholders and/or management) and in light of an "objective" aspect of minority shareholders protection (conditions for the long-term success of the company) that can both be extrapolated from the OECD Principles. In this assessment, the paper, after evidencing the factors pushing towards formal convergence both within the EC and at the wider international level, and the need for functional convergence, calls into discussion the usefulness itself of international comparisons based on the formal rules in place in one jurisdiction commonly used as a yardstick, and suggests that a new minority shareholders protection index could be identified, taking into consideration both the subjective aspect and the objective aspect of investors protection

The shaping of the tax audits regime in the new common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB) legislation: Proposed solutions for substantives and procedural provisions

The European Commission has been pursuing, since 2001, the project to introduce a common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB) as a systematic solution to overcome the tax obstacles to cross-border business activity in the EC internal market, and, after some years of consultations and technical work on the shape of this new corporate tax regime, a Directive introducing the CCCTB seems finally bound to come out in the near future. This would be the most far-reaching piece of EC tax legislation ever introduced, and one of the key aspects of its working concerns the shaping of the tax audits regime for eligible businesses. Numerous and key questions are being raised by the shaping of this regime (e.g.: which tax authoriy can conduct the audit ? How can tax authorities of Member States concerned collaborate with each others ? Should there be particular criteria for selecting the businesses to be subject to tax audits ?): this paper (which was first submitted for an international conference on the CCCTB co-organised on 21-23 February 2008 by the Austrian and International Tax Law Institute of the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration and by the European Commission, and subsequently approved for publication as a book chapter) aims at proposing responses to these questions and to further issues, and at identifying possible solutions which may reconcile the attractiveness of the new regime from the viewpoint of businesses with the need to prevent distortions in the functioning of the EC internal market. The book which includes the paper - Lang/Pistone/Schuch/Staringer (ed.) Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB), 2008, Linde Publishing House (Vienna) - is forthcoming

LOS ESTUDIOS DE POSGRADO EN LA UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DEL SUR: CONSIDERACIONES ACERCA DE SU EVALUACIÓN Y ACREDITACIÓN.

En las últimas décadas el conocimiento se presenta como uno de los insumos productivos más eficiente y dinámico, sentando las bases de una nueva economía mundial basada en la información y el conocimiento, siendo la educación un componente esencial para la generación y transmisión del conocimiento. La educación históricamente ha evolucionado a la par de los cambios socio-tecnológicos, en la actualidad los avances en las tecnologías de la información y comunicación promueven un nuevo paradigma educativo, en el cual los postgrados - ámbito de especialización disciplinaria y de apertura de nuevos espacios de saber- ocupan un lugar destacado. Si bien los estudios de posgrado surgen al mismo tiempo que las universidades presentan en los últimos años, asociada a la generación de nuevas áreas disciplinarias, una notable expansión caracterizada por la internacionalización y el mejoramiento de la calidad. La finalidad de esta ponencia será analizar la evolución de los estudios de posgrado en la Universidad Nacional del Sur en el marco de este nuevo paradigma educativo con especial atención en los procesos de acreditación de los mismos

Indicadores de calidad en la evaluación de instituciones de educación superior. Algunas consideraciones críticas.

En la evolución de la educación superior y de la Universidad como institución de educación superior a lo largo del siglo XX pueden distinguirse diversos momentos, en los que la calidad, la pertinencia y la articulación del sistema educativo con el contexto social económico al que pertenecían presenta características diferentes. La preocupación por la evaluación de la calidad de la educación superior y de las instituciones que la imparten es relativamente reciente y puede relacionarse con el desafío que enfrentan estas instituciones en la sociedad del conocimiento. Esta preocupación con diferente extensión y profundidad está presente tanto en la agenda de los gobiernos como de las universidades de diversos países. La evaluación es un proceso integrado por una serie de instancias sucesivas como son el diagnóstico de las características que configuran el objeto, la evaluación del mismo, la estrategia a implementar a partir del diagnóstico con vistas a alcanzar, en última instancia, los objetivos propuestos. En esta ponencia se indagará acerca de la utilidad de algunos indicadores e instrumentos utilizados para medir el desempeño de las instituciones de educación superior para lograr los objetivos de calidad