Law Commons^™

Reflections, Asil Newsletter, William James Adams, Susam Baer, Lee C. Bollinger, Jacques Bourgeois, David D. Caron, Roger C. Cramton, Tomas Dumbrovsky, Claus-Dieter Ehlermann, Rosalyn Higgins, Nicholas Calcina Howson, Jon Henry Kouba, Panos Koutrakos, Peter Kresák, Hans Christian Krüger, Jeffrey S. Lehman, Pierre Mathijsen, William I. Miller, John A.E. Pottow, Li Qian, John Reitz, Gerald M. Rosberg, Joseph L. Sax, Detlev Vagts, Michel Waelbroeck, John M. Walker

Faculty Scholarship

The American Society of International Law Committee recommended that the Manley 0. Hudson Medal be awarded to Professor Eric Stein for his lifetime of significant contributions to international and comparative law. Stein, the Hessel E. Yntema Professor of Law, Emeritus, at the University of Michigan Law School, had been an active supporter of ASIL as Honorary Vice President, Counsellor, and Honorary Editor of, and frequent contributor to, the American Journal of International Law. His many books and articles established him as a leading thinker and writer on European Community law and on what he described in a famous article …

The New Technology Transfer Block Exemption: Will The New Block Exemption Balance The Goals Of Innovation And Competition?, Maurits Dolmans, Anu Bradford

Faculty Scholarship

Licensors and licensees have long enjoyed the benefit of block exemption regulations for technology licensing. Block exemption regulations were adopted in the mid-80s for patent licensing and know-how licenses. These were combined and replaced in 1996 by a unified Technology Transfer Block Exemption Regulation (TTBE). This block exemption is currently under review.

DG Competition is writing a draft for a new T'BE. It is expected to be ready for review by the member states in September, and to be published for comments in October. The Commission hopes to have the new block exemption adopted and published in the first quarter …

European Economic And Monetary Union: Will The Emu Ever Fly The Euro: A New Single Currency For Europe: Legal Framework, Roger J. Goebel

Faculty Scholarship

The title of this article represents a pun, but a pun with a point that responds to the tensions between these dreams of EMU's success and fears of its failure. The emu is a large Australian bird, but, like the better-known ostrich, the emu does not fly. However, it can run very fast. The point is, that during the early stages of planning for the EMU there were some very high-flying aspirations for what it might attain, and what its attainment might mean for the political future of the European Union. Since then, these aspirations have been considerably chilled by …

Regulatory Cooperation Between The European Commission And U.S. Administrative Agencies, George Bermann

Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines the policies and practices of the European Commission toward various forms of bilateral regulatory cooperation with administrative agencies of the United States. To place this Article's findings in a proper perspective, it is essential to understand both (A) the selection of the European Community (E.C.) as an appropriate overseas regulatory jurisdiction for such cooperation and (B) the reasons for focusing on the European Commission among the various E.C. institutions. Those questions are taken up in this Introduction. Part I describes in some detail the organization and functioning of the Commission. Part II – the core of this …

Foreword, George A. Bermann

Faculty Scholarship

The appearance of the Columbia Journal of European Law is a response to the phenomenal growth of interest in European law among Americans; it will also prove, I hope, to stimulate still further growth in that interest. European law has traditionally played a key role in comparative law teaching and writing in this country, due in part to Europe's deep civil law roots, and it continues to play that role. At the same time, European law figures prominently in the conduct of international transactions and the practices of international trade. Finally, the European Community has proved to be a powerful …

Taking Subsidiarity Seriously: Federalism In The European Community And The United States, George A. Bermann

Faculty Scholarship

For a principle that has dominated discussions of European federalism for over five years, subsidiarity has received surprisingly poor academic mention. Subsidiarity has been criticized as "inelegant . . .Eurospeak," "the epitome of confusion," and simple "gobbledegook." It has been described by some as nothing new and by others as quite novel and actually quite dangerous. The President of the Commission of the European Communities, said to be an enthusiast of subsidiarity, finds it used at times as an "alibi," and more specifically as "a fig leaf ... to conceal [an] unwillingness to honour the commitments which have already been …

Subsidiarity And The European Community, George Bermann

Faculty Scholarship

The notion of subsidiarity in European federalism labors from all manner of burdens. It seems elusive by nature, commentators claiming that they do not know what subsidiarity means or, if they do, that they do not see in it anything new. At the same time subsidiarity has been presented at least in some quarters as a panacea for the Community's current malaise. It clearly is not that. Even if subsidiarity has not been oversold, it is almost certainly overexposed, a condition that the present Article is unlikely to cure.

My purpose in this Article is simply to help make some …

The Political Ecology Of Takeovers: Thoughts On Harmonizing The European Corporate Governance Environment, Ronald J. Gilson

Faculty Scholarship

Economic policy debate in the United States during the 1980s focused on the dynamics of bidder and target tactics in hostile takeovers. Confronted with the largest transactions in business history, financial economists took advantage of developments in econometric techniques to conduct virtually real time studies of the impact on firm value of each new bidder tactic and target defense. For courts and lawyers, hostile takeovers subjected standard features of corporate law to the equivalent of a stress x-ray, revealing previously undetected doctrinal cracks. Congress held seemingly endless hearings on the subject, although managing to enact only relatively innocuous tax penalties …

Introduction, George A. Bermann

Faculty Scholarship

As recent pages of this journal and and any other number of indicators would suggest, legal developments in the European Community (EC or Community) have sparked unprecedented interest on the part of the American legal profession. That this journal, five or ten years ago, would have devoted an entire issue to these developments, while not unimaginable, was unlikely. Today, however, changes in the world legal community's focus make the choice of topic seem quite obvious. The question now seems not to be whether or even when to address the Community, but rather what specific areas to address and how to …

Corporate Risk Management And Risk Communication In The European Community And The United States, Michael S. Baram

Faculty Scholarship

The responsibility of private firms to communicate hazard and risk information to government officials and persons at risk has emerged as one of the central features of corporate risk management in the European Community ("E.C.") and the United States ("U.S."). This function is commonly described as "risk communication."' In both the E.C. and the U.S., new legal requirements and public attitudes now promote corporate disclosure of hazard and risk information on an unprecedented scale.

Corporate risk management is a vast, complex field of activity that is largely unaddressed by commentators and unknown to the general public in both industrial societies. …

Risk Communication Law And Implementation Issues In The United States And European Community, Michael S. Baram

Faculty Scholarship

Risk communication has become an important element of public policy in the United States and the European Community (E.C.) for reducing technological risks to workers, product users and community residents. The risk communication process involves disclosure by an industrial firm (or other party) of information about the hazardous attributes of its activity or product to a regulatory agency or to persons who may be at risk, thereby facilitating a shared understanding of the risk and enabling interpretation of various risk prevention and response measures.

There are two general patterns of risk communication. One involves industrial disclosure to a government agency, …