Digital technology-based solutions for enhanced effectiveness of secured transactions law:the road to perfection?

This article has two objectives. First, the article examines how the incorporation of specific digital technologies to the different stages of secured transactions could mitigate the imperfections of the secured transactions system and enhance its effectiveness. To begin with, an envisioned integrated ecosystem of smart property and self-executed smart contracts for security agreements could effectively reduce verification and monitoring costs. Next, a fully automatic electronic—maybe, blockchain-based—registry fed by a (IoT) network of interconnected assets would dramatically improve the accuracy of consistently-updated registered information. Furthermore, implanted AI-based solutions could be used to detect changes of circumstances and deviations from agreed provisions. Finally, AI-guided smart contracts could assist in decisionmaking to prevent breaches and automatically enforce remedies.8 Second, given this backdrop, the article focuses on some of the legal implications for secured transactions legal system and assesses whether the current legal framework is prepared to face the challenges inherent to these new technologies, to exploit the multitude of opportunities presented by the technologies, and to manage the involved risks. Alternatively, if the current system is incapable of taking on this challenge, this article will consider an appropriate legal response.Research Project Reform of Spanish Laws of Security Rights in an international context (DER201677695-P)

The legal anatomy of electronic platforms:a prior study to assess the need of a law of platforms in the EU

Digital economy is nowadays a Platform economy. This pervading expansion of platforms has been triggered by their value-creating ability and trust-generation potential. The emergence and increasing popularity of disruptive models, such as sharing-based economy, crowdfunding or fintech variants, have been greatly accelerated by platformbased solutions. Platforms have also transformed social, political, public and educational contexts by providing participative and collaborative environments, creating new opportunities, facilitating the creation of communities, mobilizing resources and capital, and promoting innovation. Along with these visible social and economic disruptions, platforms are also legally disruptive. Their self-regulating power, the internal relational complexity, and the potential role of platform operators for infringement prevention and civil enforcement in a possible policy shift towards an increasing intermediaries’ responsibility have triggered regulatory interest. The aim of this Paper is to examine the platform model in order to explore the legal anatomy of electronic platforms and identify the key issues to consider for possible legislative actions in respect of the same within the context of the European Union (EU) Digital Single Market. First, the analysis concludes that existing transaction-oriented rules are insufficient to fully cover all legal angles of platforms and do not capture its ‘institutional dimension’. Regulations would have to define operators’ obligations in relation to users’ protection, transparency, prevention or private enforcement. Then, the first key regulatory issue to consider is the role that platform operator may or should play. Second, the analysis reveals that the binominal division of information society service providers is not entirely consistent with the actual role of platform operators for the purposes of the application of the specific intermediary liability rules. Thus, the adoption of a set of uniform criteria under which the platform operator might be deemed as an intermediary, and the devising of a common liability regime for platforms would be critical areas to focus regulatory attention on. Third, as the community-based architecture of platforms enables the articulation of decentralized trust-generating mechanisms (reputational feedback systems, recommender systems, rating and listing), it would be pertinent to consider the elaboration of uniform concepts regarding those decentralized reputational systems, speculate on possible common criteria in design and operation (good practices, standards), and ultimately clarify liability scenarios

The background of the Digital Services Act : looking towards a platform economy

The E-Commerce Directive laid the foundation of the EU legal framework for digital services. Since its adoption in 2000, the legal framework has remained largely unchanged, while the digital economy has undergone a profound transformation. The digital economy is today becoming a platform economy. Rules and legal solutions underpinning the Directive effectively accommodate the structural, operational, and behavioural features of a preliminary stage to the platform economy. Thus, the cornerstone of the EU digital services legal framework now requires a thorough revision. Despite its merits, noticeable limitations on facing new challenges surface. The aim of this Paper is to highlight those legal issues that call for attention in the Digital Services Act package

Legal challenges of artificial intelligence : modelling the disruptive features of emerging technologies and assessing their possible legal impact

The extensive use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and systems and its extraordinary relevance in a multitude of social and economic domains must be framed into the broader context of a second wave of digital transformation. AI embodies the transformative force and the disruptive potential of a second generation of technologies that are ushering in a new stage of the digital evolution of our societies and economies. The acceleration and accumulation of technological developments pose unforeseen challenges to the twenty-first century’s law. A systematic, extensive, and wisely combined application of these emerging technologies, such as AI and advanced robotics, Internet-of-Things (IoT), and DLT, offers fascinating possibilities and announces great disruptive effects. The aim of this paper is to devise an analytical framework to identify the disruptive features of AI, as one of the most illustrative exponent of the second-generation technologies, and assess the potential impact on certain existing principles, rules and concepts

The layers of digital financial innovation : charting a regulatory response

The increasing penetration of digital technologies in financial markets is evidenced by promising adoption rates among users, expanding presence of fintech firms and bigtech providing techfin services, and the growing use of fintech solutions by incumbents. The increasingly popular term "fintech" captures the accelerated transformation of contemporary financial markets driven and enabled by technology, and encapsulates its multifarious potential impact on services, market structures, and business models. This Article first aims to devise and propose an analytical framework to understand the digital challenges to financial regulation based on the "layers of digital financial innovation" theory. Accordingly, digital innovation (fintech) is stratified in three layers: the structure layer, activity layer, and players layer-each of which identifies and analyses the impact of digital innovation on a financial-market dimension. Consequently, a multi­layered regulatory response is proposed. This Article will consider different regulatory strategies devised to face each layer of fintech, as risks and benefits differ in each layer. This Article's starting premise is that any attempt to approach fintech as a single, global phenomenon will sink in the vast complexity of a multifaceted, open process phenomenon and is bound to fail. Our understanding is that the intricacies in embracing the impact of fintech on financial markets and the difficulties in apprehending its consequences for regulation and supervision are largely exacerbated by the lack of perception of its multi-layered nature. Based on a three-variable function to assess the adequacy of regulation and devise a fit-for-purpose regulatory response, a taxonomy of policy challenges will be addressed, and a multi-layered regulatory strategy is proposed accordingly

The Rule of Legal Ignorance in Spanish Law: Relevance, Meaning, and Scope

The rule ignorantia juris non excusat constitutes a historical principle in Spanish law as a key pillar of the collective organization of the legal system. The rule embodies the assumption that the effectiveness of the laws cannot rely on subjective elements, such as knowledge or ignorance, interest or carelessness, but it is based on an objective and social component of the legal system aimed to ensure that the enforcement of the laws is general and unconditional. Today, it is still inspiring the legal system and expressly enshrined in Article 6.1 CC, but their meaning must be duly contextualized in the current exuberance of legislation and regulations. Last decades, continuous efforts have been made to enhance the publicity of laws, improve comprehensibility, and implement technological solutions aimed to ensure accessibility of legislation, case law, and public authorities’ decisions. This article traces the origin and the evolution of the principle in Spanish law and the current expressions and applications of legal ignorance in private law. The analysis of the state of the doctrinal debate and the latest case law invites two reflections. First, the excessive use of legal ignorance as an invalidating mistake as a tool to alleviate contractual unfairness, inadequate institutional practices, or commercial abuse blurs its contours, debilitates the principle of contract preservation, deteriorates legal certainty, and discourages transactions. Second, the regulation of increasing information duties as a strategy to attenuate the impact of legal ignorance is making preand contractual processes complex, overinformed, and formalistic, with the risk of inviting purely formal compliance.This Article has been prepared in the framework of the Research Project Reform of Spanish Laws of Security Rights in an International Context (DER2016-77695-P)

La etapa precontractual en la contratación mercantil

En el tráfico mercantil, el contrato, como acuerdo de voluntades, es esencialmente el resultado de un proceso de aproximación de posturas que tiene lugar en un determinado contexto transaccional. La extensión y la complejidad del proceso de deliberación, negociación de condiciones y formación del contrato dotan de una significativa relevancia a los tratos preliminares y al conjunto de situaciones previas conducentes a la perfección del contrato. En el Anteproyecto de Ley de Código Mercantil, se incluyen dos disposiciones (artículos 412-1 y 412-2) que, aunque escuetas, representan la primera expresión normativa en nuestro derecho positivo de los deberes propios de la fase preparatoria en la contratación mercantil

La ratificación de España del Protocolo de Luxemburgo al convenio de Ciudad del Cabo: la entrada en vigor del régimen jurídico internacional para la financiación de material rodante ferroviario

The deposit of the instrument of ratification by Spain to the Luxembourg Protocol on international interests related to railway rolling stock, the second protocol to the Cape Town Convention, put into motion the entering into force of the Protocol once the International Registry will be fully operative. The Spanish ratification is of great importance for the expansion of the Cape Town system, for the position of Spain as a Contracting State, and for the access to credit in the railway sector. This Paper studies the ratification of Spain to the Luxembourg Protocol, enabling it to enter into force, analyzes the declarations made by Spain to the Protocol within the framework of the Cape Town system and considering the equipment-specific provisions.El depósito del instrumento de ratificación de España al Protocolo de Luxemburgo sobre garantías internacionales sobre material rodante ferroviario, segundo protocolo del Convenio de Ciudad del Cabo, pone en marcha el régimen de entrada en vigor de este Protocolo, que se completaría con la plena operatividad del Registro Internacional. La ratificación de España al Protocolo Ferroviario tiene una gran importancia para la expansión del sistema uniforme de Ciudad del Cabo, para fortalecer la posición de España como Estado parte y para la financiación del sector. Este trabajo está dedicado al estudio de la ratificación de España al Protocolo de Luxemburgo, que permite su entrada en vigor, analizando las declaraciones realizadas al Protocolo en el contexto de las disposiciones y soluciones específicas con las que el Protocolo se integra en el sistema general de Ciudad del Cabo para atender las necesidades de financiación de la industria y adecuarse a las características particulares del sector ferroviario

The new Pretoria protocol on international interests in mining, agricultural, and construction equipment: the expansive force of the cape town convention

El 22 de noviembre de 2019, en la ciudad sudafricana de Pretoria, se adoptó el cuarto Protocolo al Convenio de Ciudad del Cabo sobre garantías internacionales en equipo móvil. Con la adopción del Protocolo de Pretoria, el exitoso sistema uniforme de Ciudad del Cabo (Convenio y Pro­tocolos) se extiende, de acuerdo con su peculiar fórmula de delimitación del ámbito de aplicación, a los sectores agrícola, minero y de construcción. Con ello, el sistema de Ciudad del Cabo muestra una ex­traordinaria fuerza expansiva gracias a la maleabilidad de sus soluciones, la flexibilidad que le confiere su original estructura modular (Convenio-Protocolos) y, sobre todo, el potencial armonizador de un mo­delo de base sectorial, sensible a las diversas tradiciones jurídicas, pero contundente en la formulación de conceptos autónomos y soluciones uniformes, y cercano a las prácticas de financiación del sector, adecuado a las características de los equipos y consistente con las necesidades del mercado. Este trabajo ofrece un análisis detallado y en profundidad del Protocolo de Pretoria, desde su elaboración hasta su aprobación, en el contexto del sistema de Ciudad el Cabo al que pertenece, desde esta perspectiva del equilibrio entre consistencia y flexibilidad, entre la necesidad de buscar fórmulas innovadoras y adapta­das a las nuevas necesidades de los sectores minero, agrícola y de construcción y mantener la coherencia con las soluciones vertebrales del Convenio y la lógica material y operativa subyacente.On November 22, 2019, in the South African city of Pretoria, a fourth Protocol to the Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment was adopted. The adoption of the Pretoria Protocol entails the expanding of the successful Cape Town system, as per the singular scoping formula, to the mining, agricultural, and construction industries. Thus, the Cape Town system proves an extraordinary expansive force thanks to malleable solutions, a flexible modular structure (Convention-Protocol), and, fundamentally, the harmonizing potential of its sector-specific approach, sensitive to legal traditions, but conclusive in formulating autonomous concepts and uniform solutions; and close to sectoral financing practices, suited to characteristics of equipment, and consistent with market needs. This Paper aims to provide a thorough and in-depth analysis of the Pretoria Protocol, from its elaboration to its final adoption, in the context of the Cape Town system, it belongs to, from the perspective of the balance between consistency and flexibility, the advisability to devise innovative for­mulae better adapted to the targeted sectors, and the need to maintain consistency with the foundational solutions of the Convention and its material and operational logic