Extraterritorialität im Bereich Wirtschaft und Menschenrechte: Extraterritoriale Rechtsanwendung und Gerichtsbarkeit in der Schweiz bei Menschenrechtsverletzungen durch transnationale Unternehmen

Schweizer Unternehmen können an Menschenrechtsbeeinträchtigungen im Ausland beteiligt sein. Entweder direkt durch Aktivitäten im Ausland oder in der Schweiz mit Auswirkungen im Ausland oder indirekt, wie beispielsweise durch Tochtergesellschaften, Minderheitsbeteiligungen oder Vertragspartner. In der international geführten Diskussion über Menschenrechtsverletzungen durch privatwirtschaftliche Aktivitäten ist die Frage nach der extraterritorialen Wirkung staatlicher Schutzpflichten zentral. Die neue Studie des SKMR zeigt auf, wo die Schweiz derzeit Regulierungen mit extraterritorialen Wirkungen kennt, wie sie im internationalen Vergleich steht und welchen Spielraum sie bei der Umsetzung der UN-Leitprinzipien zu Wirtschaft und Menschenrechten hat. Die Schweiz erfüllt die gegenwärtig vorhandenen, völkerrechtlich verpflichtenden Vorgaben. Gleichzeitig lässt sich auf internationaler Ebene eine fortlaufende Dynamik und Weiterentwicklung der völkerrechtlichen Rahmenvorgaben beobachten. So sind namentlich die UNO-Leitprinzipien aus dem Jahr 2011 zwar nicht rechtsverbindlich und dem sogenannten „soft law“ zuzurechnen. Trotzdem ist davon auszugehen, dass die Frage der Verantwortung von Schweizer Unternehmen bei Menschenrechtsverletzungen durch wirtschaftliche Aktivitäten im Ausland zunehmend wichtiger wird. Auch in den kommenden Staatenberichtsverfahren der Schweiz in der UNO dürfte die Frage der Extraterritorialität einen wichtigen Diskussionspunkt darstellen. Die Schweiz hat sich in der Entwicklung der internationalen soft law-Instrumente engagiert und die Notwendigkeit eines so genannten „smart mix“ aus rechtlich unverbindlichen Massnahmen und ergänzenden gesetzlichen Vorschriften betont (vgl. Bundesrat,  CSR Positionspapier , 1. April 2015, pdf, 48 S.). Dies erhöht die Erwartung an die Schweiz, in diesem Bereich wenn nötig regulativ tätig zu werden. Die Studie macht deutlich, dass eine generelle und abschliessende Regulierung der Extraterritorialität zu kurz greift. Besser ist eine Mischung unterschiedlicher Regulierungsmassnahmen, welche den verschiedenen Formen von Menschenrechtsbeeinträchtigungen durch Aktivitäten von Schweizer Unternehmen im Ausland Rechnung tragen kann. Nur so lassen sich rechtliche Konflikte und unerwünschte Konsequenzen für Schweizer Unternehmen vermeiden

Integration Framework of MES Toward Data Security Interoperation

© 2020, Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The core problem of the application of MES (Manufacturing Execution System) in intelligent manufacturing systems is integration, which solves the problem of the data interoperation between the distributed manufacturing systems. The previous researches on MES integration rarely considered the problem of system data security access. A three-level data security access mechanism based on the independence of the system administrators, security administrators, and security auditors is proposed which integrated into the MES integration framework to guarantee the business and engineering data security access for the related distributed clients. The principle is using the domain to make the logical isolation for different clients and data sources and applying the pre-defined data sharing rules for safe access. In the proposed MES integration framework model, the data interoperation between MES and the engineering software systems is discussed which includes ERP (Enterprise Resource Management), CAPP (Computer Aided Process Planning), DNC (Distribution Numerical Control), WMS (Warehouse Management System), and SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition), etc., the implementation method of personalized data display GUI is discussed as well. The study is based on the KMMES developed by Wuhan KM-Software of China, and it has been deployed in over forty companies from the sections of aerospace, automotive, shipbuilding and other industries

Rituximab Maintenance for the Treatment of Patients With Follicular Lymphoma: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Trials

Background Follicular lymphoma is characterized by slow growth and an initially high rate of response to treatment, but patients typically relapse and experience progressive disease. Rituximab in combination with chemotherapy has been shown to improve overall survival in patients with follicular lymphoma compared with chemotherapy alone, but data from randomized clinical trials evaluating rituximab maintenance treatment in these patients are limited. We aimed to evaluate the effect of maintenance treatment with rituximab on the overall survival of patients with follicular lymphoma. Methods We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials that compared rituximab maintenance therapy with observation or treatment at relapse (no maintenance therapy). We searched The Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMBASE, LILACS, conference proceedings, databases of ongoing trials, and references of published trials. Two reviewers independently assessed the quality of the trials and extracted data. Hazard ratios for time-to-event data were estimated and pooled. Results Five trials including 1143 adult patients were included in this meta-analysis. Data for 985 patients with follicular lymphoma were available for the meta-analysis of overall survival. Patients treated with maintenance rituximab had statistically significantly better overall survival than patients in the observation arm or patients treated at relapse (hazard ratio [HR] for death = 0.60, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.45 to 0.79). The rate of infection-related adverse events was higher with rituximab maintenance treatment (HR = 1.99, 95% CI = 1.21 to 3.27). Patients with refractory or relapsed (ie, previously treated) follicular lymphoma had a survival benefit with maintenance rituximab therapy (HR for death = 0.58, 95% CI = 0.42 to 0.79), whereas previously untreated patients did not (HR for death = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.37 to 1.25). Conclusions These results suggest that maintenance therapy with rituximab, either as four weekly infusions every 6 months or as a single infusion every 2-3 months, should be added to standard therapy for patients with relapsed or refractory (ie, previously treated) follicular lymphoma after successful induction therapy. The higher rate of infections with rituximab therapy should be taken into consideration when making treatment decision

Semantic Virtual Factory supporting interoperable modelling and evaluation of production systems

Modelling, simulation and evaluation of manufacturing systems are relevant activities that may strongly impact on the competitiveness of production enterprises both during the design and the operational phases. This paper addresses the application of a semantic data model for virtual factories to support the design and the performance evaluation of manufacturing systems, while exploiting the interoperability between various Digital Enterprise Technology tools. The paper shows how a shared ontology-based framework can be used to generate consistent 3D virtual environments and discrete event simulation models, demonstrating this way how the proposed solution can provide an interoperable backbone for heterogeneous software tools

Rituximab Maintenance for the Treatment of Patients With Follicular Lymphoma: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Trials

In a previous systematic review and meta-analysis of five randomized controlled trials comparing rituximab maintenance with no maintenance (observation or rituximab at progression) for patients with follicular lymphoma, we reported that rituximab maintenance treatment improved the overall survival of patients. In this study, we did a similar search of the electronic databases updated through December 31, 2010, and included nine trials and 2586 follicular lymphoma patients. Hazard ratios (HRs) for time-to-event data were estimated and pooled using the inverse variance method. Risk ratios for dichotomous data were pooled using a fixed effect model. Patients treated with rituximab maintenance had improved overall survival (pooled HR of death = 0.76, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.62 to 0.92) compared with patients in the no maintenance group. Patients with refractory or relapsed (ie, previously treated) follicular lymphoma treated with rituximab maintenance had improved overall survival (pooled HR of death = 0.72, 95% CI = 0.57 to 0.91), whereas previously untreated patients had no survival benefit (pooled HR of death = 0.86, 95% CI = 0.60 to 1.25). The rate of infection-related adverse events was higher in the rituximab maintenance group (pooled risk ratio = 1.67, 95% CI = 1.40 to 2.00). These results further support the use of rituximab maintenance in the standard of care for refractory or relapsed follicular lymphom

Single agent rituximab in patients with follicular or mantle cell lymphoma: clinical and biological factors that are predictive of response and event-free survival as well as the effect of rituximab on the immune system: a study of the Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research (SAKK)

Background: Predictive factors of rituximab efficacy and its effect on the immune system are still not defined. Patients and methods: Three hundred and six patients with follicular or mantle cell lymphoma received four weekly doses of rituximab (induction) and no further treatment (arm A) or four more doses at 2-month intervals (arm B). Results: Response rate to induction was 44%. Independent predictive factors for response were disease bulk <5 cm, follicular histology, normal hemoglobin and low lymphocyte count. Factors associated with event-free survival (EFS) were having responded to induction, having received not more than one line of therapy, Ann Arbor stage I-III, high lymphocyte count, disease bulk <5 cm, Fc-gamma receptor genotype VV and receiving prolonged treatment. B cells were suppressed by treatment but recovered after a median of 12 months in arm A and 18 months in arm B. The median IgM level after 1 year was normal in arm A but was decreased to 73% of baseline in arm B. We observed 24 serious adverse events, equally distributed between arms. Ten patients receiving induction only and six patients receiving prolonged treatment developed a second tumor. Conclusions: We defined the characteristics predicting response and EFS to rituximab. Prolonged treatment results in longer EFS at the cost of a longer reduction in B cell and IgM levels, but without additional clinical toxicit