HOW DOES THE LAW PROTECT THE CROWD? ABOUT CROWD INVESTOR PROTECTION MECHANISMS INTRODUCED BY THE EU REGULATION 2020/1503

Crowdfunding services provide an unconstrained pool of investors who all receive investment proposals at the same time, and they mainly entail the raising of capital from individual people, including those who are not high-net-worth individuals. Crowdfunding allows a company to raise capital without conducting a formal public offering procedure. Equity crowdfunding, as a relatively new form of raising capital for business ventures, raises many doubts in the field of corporate governance. The fundamental advantage of crowdfunding from an entrepreneur’s perspective is that the founder of the company does not have to cede as many rights to crowd investors as he or she would if the investor were a venture capital or private equity fund. As a result, a crowd investor is a passive investor by definition. To unify rules among Member States and create mechanisms of protection for this completely new type of investor, the Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 was enacted. This paper aims to analyze the main investor protection mechanisms included in Regulation 2020/1503 and compare them with MIFID II provisions, which constitute the main protection mechanisms for traditional retail investors. This analysis enables an answer to whether crowd investors are offered a higher level of protection than traditional retail investors. The author of this paper claims that protection mechanisms introduced by Regulation 2020/1503 regarding non-sophisticated investors are an example of increasing paternalism in the financial markets. However, the characteristic of the equity crowdfunding market justifies a higher-level paternalism and intervention in order to protect non-sophisticated investors

Zrównoważony rozwój w Konstytucji Rzeczpospolitej Polskiej : geneza

Konstytucja Rzeczpospolitej Polskiej była jedną z pierwszych konstytucji w Europie, w których zawarto zasadę zrównoważonego rozwoju. Została ona wyrażona w artykule 5, który wskazuje na główne cele państwa. W wielu europejskich konstytucjach brak jest regulacji dotyczących wprost celów państwa. W latach dziewięćdziesiątych środowisko naukowe w Polsce miało problem z dokonaniem tłumaczenia terminu sustainable development, które oddawałoby istotę tego pojęcia. Również doktryna prawa przez lata zmagała się z interpretacją zasady zrównoważonego rozwoju. Część prawników uważa, że zasada ta ma zastosowanie jedynie do ochrony środowiska. Wiele głosów w doktrynie skłania się jednak do szerszej interpretacji tej zasady, obejmującej również kwestie społeczne i ekonomiczne. Analiza Biuletynu Komisji Konstytucyjnej Zgromadzenia Narodowego może wskazać na motywy i inspiracje, które przyświecały twórcom polskiej konstytucji przy formułowaniu zasady zrównoważonego rozwoju.Polish Constitution was one of the first fundamental laws in Europe containing principles of sustainable development. The principle was mentioned in Article 5 of the Polish Constitution, with the goals of the state. In the 1990s in Poland scientists were not sure how to translate the term sustainable development into Polish language, what makes question about law makers' intension even more reasonable. Over many years Polish legal doctrine has been divided in opinion how to understand the sustainable development term. Some lawyers argue that this idea should be only interpreted with connection to environmental protection issue. Other representatives of law science consider sustainable development in a definitely wider context, including economic and social issues. Even the case law of Polish courts is inconsistent in understanding that principle. The overhaul of Bulletin of Constitutional Committee of the National Assembly can give answer what exactly constitutional makers understood by the principles of sustainable development. Records form the work on Article 5 shows which legal acts and global events were kind of benchmark for Polish legislators. This allows us to formulate some guides how to interpret the principles of sustainable development in the Polish Constitution