Search

This paper will present and discuss the farmers' rights to seeds and all the main legal issues related thereto. It will deal with the legal aspects of the IP rights of the breeders and corporations who own patented seeds or registered plant varieties as opposed to the farmers' historical and customary right to set aside, sow and share those protected seeds for future harvests, thus also ensuring crops' resilience to climate change and biodiversity. The contribution will present the current international, EU and national legislations on the farmers' right to seeds and the conflicting IP rights of breeders to prohibit farm saved seeds, or to claim endless royalties on successive harvests. The border between these two rights is very controversial and faces two categories of economic operators (farmers and breeders) having uneven contractual, economic and political powers, thus raising not only complex legal issues but also a tremendous impact on social aspects of rural life, especially in developing countries' communities. The scope of the paper is to examine whose rights shall prevail and to explore whether the legal concept of abuse of right may be used as discernment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the analysis of the remedy of ineffectiveness present in the 2007/66 Directive and supported in the European Commission document concerning the Remedies Directive reform, this paper will explain how the remedy of ineffectiveness was implemented in Portuguese law in 2010. Although the Portuguese legislator replicated the Directive in some of its details, Portuguese provisions raised some interpretational issues. Therefore, bearing in mind the revision project subjected to public discussion in August 2016 and the effective Directives' transposition, it will clarify how these issues of interpretation may be overcome. Furthermore, it will explain how the judicial protection is set out for a full functioning of the remedy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to describe the role of monitoring committees (MCs) in the next programming period of EU cohesion policy. It beginns with the analysis of the main changes that MCs are facing (in terms of regulatory changes), and secondly describes to what extent changes have already been made or are envisaged by five Dutch MCs. From the analysis it follows that although the Common Provisions Regulation (Regulation EU No 1303/2013) has laid down more comprehensive competencies for MCs, a stronger role for MCs in (substantive) monitoring and evaluation is still a long way off. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article takes stock of the evolution of the partnership and multi-level governance concepts to date under cohesion policy, particularly as seen by local and regional authorities. In particular it will assess how they have fared in the protracted policy formulation and legislative negotiation process of the 2014-2020 programming period. Drawing on the most recent available evidence it also anticipates how they are likely to be implemented through the 2014-2020 period, notably through an initial assessment of the Partnership Agreement negotiations and the formulation of the new territorial development instruments such as Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) and Integrated Territorial Investments (ITI). The central thesis is that these separate but interconnected negotiations illustrate both the potential and limits of the Partnership Principle and how Multi-Level Governance works in practice: Not as normative concepts that enable reaching rational policy outcomes via the interaction of actors, but rather as a descriptive paradigm of how EU institutions, Member States, local and regional authorities, and civil society stakeholders interoperate to maximise individual influence, limiting liabilities by either forming issue-based tactical coalitions, or more stable policy communities to achieve common interests. A further finding is the activist role of the Commission that drives policy innovations and delivery improvements rather than merely responding to demands from other actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the developments in the European Union in carbon and climate law issues. It outlines the proposed amendment to improve the registry system of the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). It notes the recommendation filed by the European Commission to create formal negotiations with Australia. It also emphasizes the approval of two regulations on reporting and monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and forestry.

The article conducts a law and economics analysis of the regulation that obliges public procurers to divide large procurement contracts into lots, that is to determine the effect of this regulation on economic efficiency. At least the reasoning behind those provisions that are in force in some EU member states suggests that economic efficiency is increased. The type of regulation under discussion is one of several others worldwide (eg set-aside in the US) to promote small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) through public procurement. The predominant reason to promote SMEs, in turn, is the assumption that a larger share of SMEs in the economy leads to the growth and prosperity of the economy. Since this effect on economic efficiency is only mediated through SME promotion and, in addition, relies on two assumptions, the actual effect on economic efficiency of the measure is distinctly unclear. The derived results of the analysis do also allow for comparative conclusions about different regulations on the obligation to divide procurement contracts in the EU. Consistent with EU directive provisions, 5 some member states provide a rather strict obligation; others provide no such obligation at all. Which way is economically more desirable, or should regulations pursue a completely different approach? The conclusion includes a recommendation that provides for a Pareto improvement6 regarding both types of regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intellectual property rights enable their holders to create a dominant position on a relevant market which shall not be abused. Collecting societies are copyright management organisations established to protect the copyrights of their members. When collecting societies have a dominant position, they have to avoid any exploitative practice and, subsequently, they cannot demand excessive royalties from users of copyright works. However, are possible exploitative practices worth prosecuting? And if so, how to establish if royalties are excessive? This article claims that the common approaches to excessive pricing are not always suitable for collecting societies. The judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union do not sufficiently solve the situation, even though certain clarification was presented in the recent case C-177/16 AKKA. Thus, in order to address the issue, this article chooses the approach of applying the methods of calculation known from standard essential patent holder's fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) commitment, to the case of collecting societies. In particular, this article focuses on the concrete methods known from determining FRAND terms which are subsequently applied to the Slovak collecting societies. The aim is to show that there are lessons to be learnt from FRAND terms in establishing the excessiveness of royalties by collecting societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reform of the EU rules on Public Procurement (PP) of 2014, inter alia, brought about numerous changes, additions and updates of previous rules in order to increase flexibility in terms of procedural issues. However, perhaps more importantly, especially as regards long-term perspectives, it also introduced a more flexible notion of Public Procurement which is intended to promote public procurement as a policy instrument. A major part of this new policy approach pertains to so-called 'strategic public procurement' comprising green, social and innovative public procurement. Such a policy approach is seen as a way to achieve targets of Europe's 2020 Strategy for Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth. This article seeks to illustrate the Commission's approach to strategic public procurement by indicating the existence of opportunities and tools available at EU level, as well as the scope and objectives of the Commission's policy. It aims to give an overview of strategic public procurement in the context of the new legal framework, to explain the shift toward strategic procurement and finally to give an indication of the further steps the Commission intends to take. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses plant species Cannabis sativa L., aspects to botanical classification, secondary metabolism, phytochemistry and breeding, and legal uncertainties related to lack of regulatory frameworks for hemp and cannabis-derived foods at European Union (EU) level. Topics discussed include classified based on qualitative and quantitative contents of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), Italian Case, and hemp foods need a harmonised legal framework.

Today the European Union has taken on both the challenge of energy security and that of food security. In the last decade the European legislature has specifically focused its attention on ensuring energy security in the European Union, probably thinking that the problem of European food security had already been solved. Having a secure supply of energy is crucial for the well-being of European citizens and the economy. Increasing energy production in the EU includes further deployment of renewable energies. In this context the appeal of Agro-Energy has increased: Agro-Energy is an alternative energy source which guarantees maximum energy security while at the same time having a less disruptive environmental impact. Policies aimed at providing incentives for Agro-Energy crops combined with the lack of foresight of the European legislature in defining the contents of the medium-term CAP reform have implied a considerable shrinking of other crops directly or indirectly used as food. Growing crops for bioenergy or biofuels is increasingly viewed as conflicting with food production. Balancing the needs of eco-compatible energetic production of agricultural origin with the need to safeguard the basic rights of food is indispensable. The new CAP tries to take that into account. Even if today the primary sector is also expected to diversify energy supply sources, it is necessary, however, to ensure that the increased attention given to Agro-Energy issues does not imply a decrease in attention to what is known as food security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the food law provisions that could address the food loss and waste in the European Union (EU). Topics include a general overview of the problem in EU countries, the economic and environmental impact of food waste, and the EU food waste prevention policies. Also mentioned is information on the announcement of a publication entitled "Setting up a European Retail Action Plan" by the European Commission to help retailers adopt waste reduction measures.

The article focuses on the proposal of the European Commission (EC) to simplify, rationalise and standardise food controls in European Union (EU) countries. It mentions that the EC has presented four legislative proposals in areas of animal health, plant health and plant reproductive material, in which the Commission offered 50 directives on its proposal on animal health. It states that the proposal aims to protect the food market and to guarantee high level of health protection.