Four takeaways from Albania’s EU visa liberalisation journey for Georgia

New rules allowing Georgian citizens to travel to the Schengen Area without a visa will come into full effect today. As Max Fras writes, EU visa liberalisation has been presented by the Georgian government as a major success story, but drawing on the experience of Albania, he presents four lessons that the country’s politicians should keep in mind now the new system is in place

Theoretical Lidar Point Density for Topographic Mapping in the Largest Scales

When ordering LiDAR data, LiDAR point density per surface unit is important information with decisive influence on the price of the LiDAR survey. The paper first deals with the theoretical calculation of the minimum LiDAR point density, necessary for the acquisition of topographic data of the largest scales. For this purpose the sampling theorem is used. However, since topographic objects (roads, water bodies, etc.) and phenomena represented on topographic maps and in topographic bases are in many cases located under vegetation, also the rate of laser beam penetration through vegetation for the area where the topographic data are to be gathered has to be known. In a research on a test case conducted in the area of the town Nova Gorica we calculated the rate of laser beam penetration for four different vegetation types: scarce Mediterranean vegetation, thick thermophilic deciduous forest, mixed vegetation (meadows, orchards and forest) and built-up area. By connecting the theoretic minimum LiDAR point density with the rate of penetration, we defined the minimum LiDAR point density for the needs of data acquisition on topographic maps of the largest scales or in topographic bases of comparable detail (from 1 : 1000 to 1 : 10,000)

Prime Minister Edi Rama takes total control in Albania, but who can keep him in check?

Albania held parliamentary elections on 25 June, with the ruling Socialist Party led by Edi Rama winning a majority of seats. Max Fras gives his take on the outcome, arguing that while Rama’s victory will be a positive development for Albania’s EU accession aspirations, his now dominant position could pose a risk to the country’s democratisation process

Weak but stable: the future of the EU's Eastern Partnership ahead of the 2017 summit

On 24 November, leaders from the EU's member states and the six Eastern partner countries will gather in Brussels for the 2017 Eastern Partnership summit. Max Fras previews the summit and assesses what the future might hold for the Eastern Partnership given the delicate situation between the EU and some of its Eastern neighbours

TRANSFORMING CAPITAL

No abstract available

Contemporary European Normative Tendencies Regarding the Essence and Typology of Insurance Contracts

"Liverpool Law Review" (2019), s.1-18 (online first)In the light of different approaches to the question of regulating economic insurance law in specific legal systems, formulation of a model definition of the insurance contract, although necessary for further investigations, is merely theoretical. Specific lawmakers approach the question of specification of the content of the insurance contract at the statutory level with varying degree of consequence. Insurance relationships are a heterogeneous category, and attempts to develop uniform systematics with the use of comparative legal methods are still hindered by differences between individual legal systems. There is a lack of consistence between the distinctions adopted in private law systems and solutions characteristic of public law, which exert much influence on the market of insurance services as a part of insurance supervision

The directive 2016/97 on insurance Distribution (idd) and private international law

Clear normative grounds for the information obligation are visible in the Directive (EU) 2016/97 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 January 2016 on insurance distribution (hereinafter: IDD). One of the challenges before insurance law is to answer the question of whether and how one should sanction violations of disclosure obligations resulting in the absence of the desired insurance protection. In this aspect important legal problem is the law applicable to the assessment of liability for violation of disclosure obligations by the insurer. The second important problem is the law applicable to the assessment of liability for violation of disclosure obligations by third parties vis-a-vis the insurer. Some remarks concerning jurisdiction in matters relating to the loss of chance to become insured have different practical implications