The Implementation of Public E-services for Immovable Property Contracts in Lithuania: Legal Aspects

This article analyzes the implementation model of Public E-Services in The Immovable Property Contracts (PESIPC)between Lithuanian State Enterprise (SE) “Centre of Registries†(Centre of Registries) and notary, and its legalaspects. the PESIPC informational system in Lithuania was instituted to simplify the contract conclusion andregistration procedures by eliminating appearance in person of the interested parties directly in the Centre ofRegistries, because all contract procedures would be completed at the notary office. All the official informationconcerning registry and cadastre of immovable property required for concluding and confirming the contract, must bedelivered through the Internet directly to notaries and interested parties. Both the preparation of contract documentsand the registration of varied legal facts and contracts themselves in the register of immovable property shall becomeautomatic. This is one of the first the PESIPC systems introduced in Europe, thus it is especially important to analyzethe legal aspects of practice of the above-mentioned informational system

Elektroninės komercijos apmokestinimas pridėtinės vertės mokesčiu

Straipsnyje nagrinėjama elektroninės komercijos ir pridėtinės vertės mokesčio suderinamumo dilema. Daugiausia dėmesio skiriama naujai sukurtai ir nuo 2004 m. gegužės 1 d. Lietuvoje įsigaliojusiai apmokestinimo schemai, kuri taikoma specialiai elektroniniu būdu teikiamoms paslaugoms. Pardavėjams, užsiimantiems elektronine komercija, keliami dideli reikalavimai, todėl pabrėžiama, kad pareigos, kurias įtvirtina teisės normos, neatitinka galimybių, kurias suteikia informacinės technologijos. Net ir nauji pridėtinės vertės mokesčio pokyčiai ne iki galo suderino mokesčių institucijų ir elektronine komercija užsiimančių pardavėjų tarpusavio santykius. Naujoji schema – tai tik pirmas, tačiau reikšmingas žingsnis siekiant tradicinį pridėtinės vertės mokestį efektyviai pritaikyti naujai komercijos formai.Value added tax in electronic commerceIrmantas Rotomskis, Darius Štitilis SummaryElectronic space is steadily gaining popularity as an attractive environment for business organisation. Electronic dispatch of goods in a digital form allowing to avoid traditional checking procedure, increased level of anonymity of operations carried out within internet, introduction of electronic currency, and considerable mobility of electronic commerce account for the governmental institutions’ concern about effective application of tax rates that have existed up until now. Special attention is given to the value added tax (VAT) as its regulation by current legislation has become largely ineffective in terms of newly-introduced business models.Criticism of VAT for its poor effectivity in the area of electronic commerce was based, to a degree, on the circumstance that identification of the second party of a deed, that is the buyer, was impossible. Most authors argue that information technologies allow to identify only the IP of a computer system, not a subject who used it. The main objective of this article is to analyse the dilemma of e-commerce and value added tax (VAT) compatibility. A search for effective ways of imposing a VAT tax on electronic commerce lasted in the European Union up till 2000. In 2002, the adoption of the Sixth Directive “On Value Added Tax” consolidated a new pattern applied to the taxation of services rendered exclusively in an electronic way. Requirements of this Directive are in force also in the Republic of Lithuania since 1 May 2004.High demands are raised to the e-commerce sellers, therefore the focus is set on inadequateness between obligations which are definite in legal norms and opportunities which e-commerce provides. Even the new changes applying VAT does not wholly balance the relationship between tax institutions and e-commerce sellers. The new scheme is a first step to the efficient application of traditional VAT to the new form of commerce

Distribution of nanoparticles in the pregnant rat: the morphologic and spectroscopic study

The nanoparticles (NP) applications in industry and biomedicine are growing despite of superficial understanding about the mechanisms of NP biological interactions and the possible toxicity. The beneficial NP applications in medicine, as well as potential adverse effects, first of all depend on the NP accumulation and localization in the organism. The human in pre-natal stages is more sensitive to toxic materials than the adult organism and, therefore, it is physiologically protected from harmful agents by the selective transport across the placental barrier. However, there is a lack of studies on the NP penetration through this barrier and the accumulation in foetus. In this study fluorescence spectroscopy and confocal microscopy methods were employed to investigate the distribution of polyethylene glycol (PEG) coated semiconductor quantum dots (QD) in the pregnant rat model. The main results indicate that QD are systemically distributed in the body and can be found in all the investigated organs, including placenta and uterus 3 h after the intraperitoneal injection. However, QD could not be detected in the foetal tissues (embryo, yolk sac placenta, umbilical cord). The study shows that QD mainly accumulate in the maternal blood sinuses of the placenta and the QD passage to the foetus is prevented by the placental barrier

Limitations of the concept of permanent establishment and e-commerce

The concept of permanent establishment introduced over a century ago became obsolete in the XXI age. It is completely irrelevant in terms of modern online business. Recent OECD initiatives are only a late reaction to the internationally observed legal loophole in taxing profits of e-commerce companies. Steps taken by the international community over the last few years reveal considerable diversity in approaches towards the concept of permanent establishment. Even the key principles to be followed in the development of the new concept of permanent establishment have not been agreed so far. The present article is an attempt to propose the major principles to be followed in updated interpretations of the concept of permanent establishment equally effective in terms of both big multinationals and SMEs

National cyber security strategies: management, unification and assessment

Cyber security has become an important issue both on the EU and the national level. Cyber security is now perceived as a part of national security. The newly emerging cyber security policy, comprising national cyber security strategies as an important constituent part, has been recently paid considerable attention. Speaking of national cyber security strategies, a positive thing is that the majority of EU member states have already approved such strategies. However, the approved strategies differ considerably in terms of their content and implementation. The present article aims at identifying reasons for differences in individual national strategies and analyses aspects of their unifications in expectation to find out an optimum balance between the degree of unification and the need to retain differences arising from intrinsic national singularities. To this end, the article analyses the issue of national cyber security on the basis of Lithuania's cyber security strategy as a sample in the context of ENISA good practices for the development of cyber security strategies and by application of ENISA developed KPIs and testing ENISA cyber security strategy evaluation tool. Finally, the article suggests recommendations on further development of national cyber security strategies in terms of their unification and national singularities

Ginčų su vartotojais sprendimas elektroninėje komercijoje*

Plintant globaliai elektroninei komercijai, atsiranda naujos rizikos ir grėsmės. Todėl kyla būtinybė efektyviai spręsti ginčus su vartotojais. Teisminis ginčų su vartotojais elektroninėje komercijoje sprendimas dažnai esti per daug brangus, turi ir kitų trūkumų. Straipsnyje nagrinėjami ginčų su vartotojais sprendimo elektroninėje komercijoje aspektai. Visų pirma, aptariamos šiuolaikinės ginčų su vartotojais sprendimo elektroninėje komercijoje tendencijos ir būdai, išskiriami alternatyvių ginčų sprendimo būdų pranašumai ir trūkumai. Nagrinėjama situacija Lietuvoje sprendžiant ginčus su vartotojais, kylančius iš elektroninės komercijos santykių: analizuojamos susijusių teisės aktų nuostatos ir praktiniai šių ginčų sprendimo būdai. Aptariamos alternatyvių ginčų su vartotojais elektroninėje komercijoje sprendimo būdų Lietuvoje galimybės ir tendencijos. Consumer Disputes Resolution in Electronic CommerceIrmantas Rotomskis, Darius Štitilis SummaryAs electronic commerce continues its unprecedented expansion on a global scale, along with new opportunities come new risks and liabilities. The need for effi cient and effective dispute resolution in this context has become crucial. At least for the time being, for most consumer e-commerce disputes the cost of legal redress by litigation is not proportionate to the value of the claim. Despite, dispute resolution schemes in Lithuania at that moment are mainly concerned with resolution of consumer disputes in court or out-of court (based on written procedure) and any initiatives related to innovative consumer dispute resolution mechanisms are not appreciable yet. Abroad a large number of Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) schemes are concerned with the resolution of consumer disputes arising from e-commerce transactions conducted on the Internet. Such schemes and the issues involved in Lithuania shall be analyzed. Also, as result of the research, electronic commerce consumer disputes resolution model in Lithuania will be suggested

Interaction of Water-Soluble CdTe Quantum Dots with Bovine Serum Albumin

Semiconductor nanoparticles (quantum dots) are promising fluorescent markers, but it is very little known about interaction of quantum dots with biological molecules. In this study, interaction of CdTe quantum dots coated with thioglycolic acid (TGA) with bovine serum albumin was investigated. Steady state spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering methods were used. It was explored how bovine serum albumin affects stability and spectral properties of quantum dots in aqueous media. CdTe–TGA quantum dots in aqueous solution appeared to be not stable and precipitated. Interaction with bovine serum albumin significantly enhanced stability and photoluminescence quantum yield of quantum dots and prevented quantum dots from aggregating