Brexit: Is It Really Breaking Free? The Implications of the UK’s Withdrawal from the European Union in the Field of Competition

Globalisation has not only increased international competition but also led to an increasingly more integrated and evolving legal system. On 23 June 2016, 52 percent of British voters opted to leave the European Union in the hope of ‘regaining their freedom’. The United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union has triggered an important political crisis at the same time as raising various questions as to the implications of such a withdrawal. This referendum leaves much uncertainty about the future in many areas, such as competition. Brexit raises particular problems for competition policy and law because of the influence of the European Commission in this field. Indeed, the Commission is the major direct actor, while the national authorities mainly operate within the European framework. Many authors have argued that the implications of the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union depend on the type of agreement that is secured by the UK. However, this article argues that whatever the type of agreement the UK strikes with the EU, EU competition law will still play a predominant role

Global regulation of international intellectual property through Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS): The European Union and Brazil

Purpose – This paper focuses on the regulation of copyrights at international level by comparing the situation under the TRIPS agreement in Brazil and in the European Union. Methodology/approach/design – This article analyses standards and literature on regulation, as well as the role of TRIPS agreement. Attention was specially drawn to the market failure theory for justifying regulation, advocated by Baldwin & Cave. The TRIPS agreement will be analysed through Baldwin’s five criteria for good regulation. Findings – The TRIPS agreement substantially widened the scope of governance of copyrights but imposes the WTO view on the matter. Notwithstanding its flaws, the TRIPS agreement remains the most comprehensive international agreement on intellectual property. According to Baldwin’s theory, the TRIPS agreement as a regulation is a good regulation. Indeed, it achieves the major part of the goals it set. However, some of the declared goals have never come to existence and had been replaced by other goals. On the overall, the TRIPS agreement has the capacity to regulate international intellectual property. Originality/value – This paper analyses the TRIPS agreement as a way forward in the harmonization of the rules on intellectual property

Acceptance sent through email; is the postal rule applicable?

Purpose - This paper focuses on the application of the postal rule to email, due to the controversy surrounding the application of the “instantaneous” test to emails. Methodology/approach/design - This article analyses standards and literature on the formation of contract under English law. Findings - Although the postal rule is an invention of its time, this rule could still play a role regarding emails. Indeed, due to the difficulties in applying the “instantaneous” test to emails, emails would still be subject to the postal rule. Of course, the postal rule in its current form is no more fitting the reality. However, the benefits that such rule provides should not be lost, instead a new rule could be drafted based on the postal rule. Practical implications - This article discusses the possible improvements to the already existing framework. Originality/value - This paper analyses the use of the postal rule to electronic contracts in the UK, a topic that is not much researched but could have great importance when doing electronic business

The Single European Sky: What about the Liability Aspect?

Following the liberation of European air transport in the 90s, the Union has tried to implement dramatic changes by enacting the Single European Sky Regulations (SES). The cornerstone idea of the SES Regulations is to create so-called functional airspace blocks or FABs. These FABs will normally satisfy the growing capacity requirements of all airspace users and minimise delays by managing air traffic more dynamically. This will have as immediate consequences an increase in efficiency. This article will examine each of the Treaties establishing the FABs in detail with regard to the liability aspect only and, while acknowledging their advantages, it will point out the differences in the protection they offer and the consequences the author sees happening. This article will also suggest several improvements. The primary focus of the article is the liability aspect in the FAB Treaties, but references to agreements between ANSPs will also be included. Through showing the advantages of the proposal, this article highlights the hypothesis that the Single European Sky will not bring any changes to the current liability framework; to the contrary, it will further blur the general picture by adding a layer of fragmentation

Consumer law in Constitution: a big mistake? The specific case of aviation in Brazil

Globalisation, alongside with the growth in trade and wealth has influenced the considerable development of consumer law over the last 50 years. In some countries, consumer rights have been embraced at the highest Constitutional level. For instance, in Brazil, consumer protection has been given a constitutional value. This constitutional value has been reinforced by the approach taken by the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil with regard to that nation’s Consumer Code (CDC). In spite of the existence of a specific federal agency with its own rules to govern civil aviation, the services rendered by airline companies are also subject to the Consumer Code. For an obscure reason, and even though logic would favor application of the Montreal Convention, Brazilian judges prefer to apply the Brazilian Consumer Code to international air service, in cases involving consumers. The conflict between the Montreal Convention and the CDC is limited to one area, which is one of the most important areas regulated by the Convention, namely the civil responsibility of the carrier. This paper demonstrates that the inclusion of consumer rights as Constitutional rights does not improve the standard of consumer protection but instead put a heavy burden on airlines and in the case of the CDC even creates legal uncertainty

The regulation of a project of the deregulation: UBER in Brazil and the European Union

Purpose – This paper focuses on the regulation of Uber at regional level (Sao Paulo and Brasilia), national level (European Member States) and supranational level (The European Commission initiative), which are often too restrictive. Methodology/approach/design – This article analyses standards and literature on regulation, as well as the role of competition. Attention was specially drawn to the market failure theory for justifying regulation, advocated by Breyer, Ogus and Baldwin & Cave. Due to the fact that there will be an evaluation of the regulations in place, consequentialism, welfarism and Pareto are briefly mentioned. Findings – None of the current regulatory responses, at the exception to Sao Paulo and the initiative by the European Commission that are not based exclusively on market failure theory, are working. Indeed, Uber is still banned in various cities. In others, the regulatory burden is so high that it takes away any incentives that Uber created. Regulation is not the only exit to market failure, competition must play a role. Uber is based on deregulation of the market and to try to regulate such concept with conventional theories will only lead to failures and restrictions. Practical implications – This article discusses the possible improvements to the already existing regulations. Originality/value – This paper correlates the regulation of Uber in Brazil and in Europe, explaining the difficulties these regulations are creating for Uber

Between Control and Constraint: Charting Three Rhetorics of Patient Agency

As we enter an era of so-called Do it Yourself health, “patient agency” has become a dominant theme in public discourses of health and medicine. Despite increased salience, patient agency remains a vague term that is capable of being operationalized and moralized in ways that escape attention. To illustrate this, I chart common rhetorical configurations of patient agency in public discourses of health and medicine, and in doing so find that patient agency is commonly rhetoricized as one of three overlapping patient capacities: the capacity to know, the capacity to prevent, and the capacity to decide. Ultimately, I argue that these three rhetorics of patient agency can be deployed to cultivate health subjectivities imbued with untenable ideals of individual control that constrain, rather than open, patients’ rhetorical choices

A Genuine Artifice, A Specific Vagueness: Psychotherapy, Performance, and the Practitioner

The following is a literature review and research project aimed at examining the performative choices psychologists make when interacting with their patients. The goal for this research is to begin to understand the “essence” of a psychologist‘s experience as they present themselves in their work. Drawing from published literature on the therapeutic alliance, social constructionism, postmodern feminism, art, and aesthetics, the author argues that the therapeutic frame taken by a particular therapist can be understood as a performative act. This author examines the implications of this idea and what can be learned from conceptualizing the therapeutic alliance through a performative lens. Following this argument and review of relevant literature, the author reviews a qualitative study he conducted aimed at exploring this idea in greater depth. Using interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) this writer interviewed various clinical psychologists in order to more completely understand their goals, thoughts, and performative choices as they work. In doing this, the active ingredients of psychotherapy can be better understood, psychological interventions can be improved, and our understanding of both the art and science of psychotherapy is increased

Patients receiving ambulatory care: a problematic autonomy situation

International audienceThis article addresses the issue of the autonomy of patients who are not treated in standard situations of hospitalisation in institutions, but who receive ambulatory care. Academic and institutional discourses both suggest that the development of out-of-hospital care delivery models promotes patient autonomy. Through a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews of cancer patients treated using ambulatory chemotherapy in a French hospital we show that some of the constraints usually encountered by patients receiving care in institutions are also observed in patients receiving ambulatory care. They experience a form of cognitive isolation regarding access to information about their health, and their social life appears to be institutionalised