Central European Academy Law Review

Corporate compliance versus the right to silence of legal entities in Romania: The case of certain tax evasion offences

2025-01-03T10:17:04+00:00

The concept of ‘corporate compliance’ is difficult to translate into Romanian through a comprehensive formula. As yet, there is no specific regulation, although some incipient legislative framework could be applied. On the other hand, the right to silence of legal persons is not expressly regulated by law either. This circumstance generates two alternatives. Some believe that this right can be exercised, others do not. But, maybe more important points of view hold that the right to silence is only available to natural persons, not to legal persons, as expressed even by the European Court of Justice in its decision on 2 February 2021, DB v National Commission for Companies and the Stock Exchange (Consob), C-481/19. In these circumstances, we intend to analyse the relationship between prevention and compliance. We will try to argue that the exercise of a form of silence of the legal person should still be specific to legal persons, especially when discussing subjects with a major impact on the social environment, and the crimes provided in Law no. 241/2005, especially Articles 3, 4 and 5. Furthermore, we are trying to address the effect of implementing the SAF-T system in Romania, from the perspective of the efficiency of the right to silence for legal persons. In the end, all persons – irrespective of their nature – do have certain legal rights that are recognized as such by law. So, both natural and legal persons should have the right to silence and the right not to self-incriminate themselves, especially in criminal cases.

Lift-Off of Space Governance in Spain: The Creation of the Spanish Space Agency

2025-01-03T10:17:04+00:00

The space sector represents a strategic industrial cluster in global terms that makes a major contribution to industry, environment, communications, and defence, amongst other domains. Outer space holds enormous potential, which has already been noticed by private operators who regard it as an appealing business opportunity. The importance of the space sector for the Spanish industry has remained constant and has only increased over the last few decades, making apparent the pressing need to bring together under a single public body the competences in space matters which are institutionally dispersed in our country. After several years of persistent demand from the Spanish space industry, the National Security Strategy was adopted in December 2021. This document raised the sector’s hopes by announcing, as one of its lines of action, the intention to establish a Spanish Space Agency to promote the national industry and international cooperation with other similar organisations and/or organisations of interest in the field. In this context, since the adoption of the said Strategy, the Spanish space sector has been the target of a recent regulatory and institutional development, culminating in the creation of the long-awaited Spanish Space Agency on March 7th, 2023. Such an administrative evolution is the subject of this paper, whose main purpose is to conduct an analysis of all the provisions approved during the years 2021 to 2023 that concern our national space sector as a reference for those interested in the topic regarding what has happened in the Spanish space industry throughout recent years.

Considerations Regarding the Model of Polish Preparatory Proceedings

2025-01-03T10:17:04+00:00

The subject of this article is the analysis of selected issues of the Polish model of preparatory proceedings. The author begins his considerations by highlighting historical and model issues, whereafter he discusses the goals of preparatory proceedings resulting from the Code of Criminal Procedure 1997. The next segment analysed is the forms and phases of preparatory proceedings. Further on, the article discusses the prosecutor‘s supervision of preparatory proceedings and the role of the judicial factor in this phase of preparatory proceedings. The last substantive subsection deals with the options for the termination of preparatory proceedings. It concludes with a final assessment of the model—divided into its advantages and disadvantages. In addition, the author derives de lege fereneda conclusions, which would contribute to the improvement of the current model of Polish preparatory proceedings.

The Recognition of a Foreign Adoption– The Human Rights Principles and Croatian Reality

2025-01-03T10:17:04+00:00

Any person crossing a border wants to have his or her civil status recognised in the host country. Reasons of a personal nature primarily drive such an endeavour. Recognising one’s personal status may also play a significant role in exercising many other rights. When a host state refuses to recognise the personal status or family ties already enjoyed in the territory of another state, this may constitute a breach of the individual’s right to respect for private and family life and be contrary to the standard on the prohibition of discrimination. The difficulties arising in cross-border status recognition mainly stem from the pluralism of national legal systems. The Republic of Croatia has ratified many international documents whose provisions guarantee the right to personal status and has been bound by the EU’s acquis communautaire. The national law, dispersed in several acts, has regulated the mere recognition of personal status acquired abroad. This research starts with an overview of the national legal regulation of cross-border recognition of status in the Republic of Croatia, focusing on recognition of the adoption established abroad. The research puts the national legal framework into the context of the human rights principles derived from the international and EU legal framework.

Torture in respect to imprisonment: A Croatian perspective

2025-01-03T10:17:03+00:00

The discussion of strengthening prisoners’ rights is rooted in human rights principles and the recognition of inherent dignity. Historically, torture was widely accepted, but enlightenment ideals led to its condemnation. International efforts and universal legal documents shaped global attitudes towards the prohibition of torture. This comprehensive analysis explores the safeguarding of individuals deprived of liberty, primarily from an international perspective, with a focus on the European Convention on Human Rights and its pivotal Article 3, which explicitly prohibits torture and inhumane or degrading treatment. The examination encompasses material and procedural obligations imposed on states, providing a nuanced understanding of the fundamental rights tied to human dignity and physical integrity. Significantly, the study delves into the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, emphasising cases involving Croatia and revealing persistent shortcomings in prison conditions.

Financial Autonomy of Local Self-Governments in the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Poland – Comparative Analysis

2025-01-03T10:17:03+00:00

This contribution deals with the concept of financial autonomy of the local self-governments in the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Serbia. The main aim of this contribution is to confirm or disprove the hypothesis that in the abovementioned countries current legal system is in line with the financial autonomy requirements stipulated by the European Charter of Local Self-Governments. The research is conducted by applying basic methods of legal science, especially the method of scientific analysis. First, it provides a brief overview of the Charter’s role, constitutional background of Serbia and Poland. Second, it present the regulation on local taxation in the abovementioned countries and its place within the local budgets. Third, it confronts the results of previous analysis with the requirements of the Charter. The authors argue, that in both countries, the requirements of the Charter are only partially met.

Prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment in the Polish legal system from a criminal law perspective

2025-01-03T10:17:03+00:00

The purpose of this chapter is to analyse the Polish legal system in relation to the prohibition of torture and inhuman treatment from constitutional and criminal law perspectives. These issues will be presented based on the analysis of current regulations, as well as through the interpretation of the hitherto developed doctrine, in addition to the opinions of Polish authorities in the field of the protection of human and civil rights and freedoms. As part of these considerations, conclusions are also presented from an analysis of Polish jurisprudence regarding the prohibition of torture in correlation with the use of violence by public officials to extort confessions, the abuse of a person deprived of liberty, and the abuse of power, which are subject to a separate classification under Polish criminal law.

‘Making the Invisible Visible’: Legislation on Transboundary Aquifers

2025-01-03T10:17:03+00:00

This article addresses an area of international law that is not often discussed, namely, the challenging management of transboundary aquifers. Following a short introduction to the importance and topicality of transboundary aquifers and how universal international law instruments deal with them, this article dives into an analysis of existing bilateral and multilateral cooperations of transboundary aquifers by systematically examining these systems based on the forms of cooperation, their institutional structures, whether they employ quantitative and qualitative measures and how they resolve disputes. Drawing from the experiences of the analysed cooperations, the article proposes a step-by-step path to improve the management of these resources. The article argues that it is possible to successfully prevent wasting resources by invoking the idea of giving more attention to these resources, establishing an international instrument to provide a minimal level of protection to transboundary aquifers and setting up cooperations to manage the given resources.

An Overview of Ethical and Legal Considerations of Assisted Reproductive Techniques

2025-01-03T10:17:03+00:00

With the constant evolution of technology in the field of medicine, new ethical questions must be answered. In particular, medically assisted reproduction triggers bioethical disputes nowadays, despite the idea that reproduction without sexual intercourse is not newfangled. When discussing techniques such as artificial insemination, gamete donation, post-mortem fertilisation, in vitro fertilisation, and surrogacy, the traditional concepts of parenthood, genetic filiation, reproductive autonomy, and human dignity are placed under exposition. The sensitive nature of these bioethical issues is present in the diversity of the legislation in Europe and is markedly enstamped in the hesitant attitude of the European Union and the Council of Europe.

Conceptualising Torture in Domestic Violence Cases: The ECHR’s Dynamic Approach

2025-01-03T10:17:03+00:00

From 2007, when the first judgment strictly related to domestic violence was enacted before the ECHR, domestic violence is considered to be a human rights violation. The possibility for such a conceptualisation was previously rooted in positive obligations doctrine which shifted the postulates of human rights law. From the obligation to merely refrain from the abuse, states now have an obligation to protect an individual from the abuse of another individual. Enabling the horizontal effect of the rights from the Convention, the ECHR broadened up the scope of human rights tackling all sorts of cases which occur between individuals, such as domestic violence. However, certain elements of such constructs remain uncoherent and some immature aspects of this doctrine may cause some challenging issues in its practical implementation. Although the ECHR has established criteria on assessing whether a conduct is torture, degrading or inhuman behaviour, such an assessment lacked in the recent domestic violence judgments. Clearly, the dynamic and evolutive approach of the ECHR did not yet followed a substantial change in before mentioned domestic violence conceptualisation. In this paper, author analyses an early ECHR jurisprudence regarding Art. 3. of the Convention as well as the structure and the content of positive obligations which enabled domestic violence to be perceived as human rights violation. The author provides a brief review of the development of domestic violence concept as violation of torture.

The issue of surrogate motherhood in Poland: a coherent analysis of the branches of Polish law

2025-01-03T10:17:03+00:00

The article was devoted to the analysis of the surrogacy phenomenon in Polish law. The author evaluates the regulation of the phenomenon from the perspective of various legal branches. The analysis is directed at identifying problems with the regulation of the surrogacy phenomenon. For the Polish legislator has not yet attempted to regulate surrogacy. Thus, following one path of interpretation, it can be assumed that everything that is not forbidden is allowed. However, the situation becomes more complicated at the level of surrogacy contracting. The analysis is intended to polemicize over the interlocking fields that, if regulation is made, will also require amendment.

Agreement between Croatia and the European Space Agency

2025-01-03T10:17:03+00:00

This article aims to present an agreement between Croatia and the European Space Agency that was concluded in 2018. The Agreement is the first act establishing formal cooperation between the European Space Agency and the Republic of Croatia, making it a significant step in the process of Croatia’s entry into the framework of European cooperation for space exploration. Therefore, after a brief introduction, this article begins by explaining the nature of the different types of connections between the European Space Agency and states. Thereafter, the position of the Agreement in the wider framework of space law is recalled, mentioning the specificities of Croatia (not) being party to core treaties that form space law. Subsequently, the Agreement is examined, highlighting some of the articles which seem more interesting from the perspective of general international law. Finally, an overall assessment of the Agreement is given, especially when considering what it may mean for Croatia to position itself in the European states’ network for the exploration of outer space.