From Kyoto to Paris

The Earth Summit of 1992 held in Rio de Janeiro awakened the consciousness of the world to the danger of climate change. The establishment of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change provided the platform for parties to negotiate on ways of moving forward. The global acknowledgement of the weightiness of the climate change and the future of the planet galvanized international agreements to this regard. Consequently, a landmark agreement was brokered in 1992 at Kyoto, Japan and 2015 in Paris, France. However, the strong issues of national interest tend to bedevil the implementation that would take the world forward on climate change. The chapter therefore examined multilateralism from the platform of climate change conferences and analyzed the political undertone behind disappointing outcomes even when most of the negotiators realized that the only way to salvage the impending doom is a multilateral binding agreement when nation-state can subsume their narrow interest.

Współpraca Unii Europejskiej z wybranymi państwami niedemokratycznymi Afryki Subsaharyjskiej w obszarze poszanowania praw człowieka

In Art. 3, para. 5, the Treaty on European Union (TEU) lays down the objectives of the Union in relations with the wider world, which are further explained in detail in Art. 21. In the first place, para. 5 refers to the promotion of the Union’s values. The list of values can be found in Art. 2 TEU (“The Union is founded on…”), which lists the principle of democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights, human dignity, freedom and equality. They are to be upheld and promoted by the Union in the wider world. Thus, they are directly linked to external policy. Next, the list of values in Art. 2 is repeated in Art. 3, para. 5 as objectives of the Union’s external policy and in Art. 21, para. 1 as principles. For this reason, international agreements concluded between the EU and third countries all contain a “human rights clause” as an essential element of the agreement, the violation of which might result in the suspension of the agreement. This article focuses on the human rights clause in relations between the EU and selected non-democratic Sub-Saharan African countries. The main legal basis governing bilateral relations between the EU and those countries is the Cotonou Agreement. The “human rights clause” is to be found in Art. 9 thereof. This clause is especially interesting since it is the only one that has been implemented in practice. Moreover, it is often presented as the most elaborate one, and as a consequence is very often shown as a “model” that should be followed in other international agreements, especially in association agreements. So, the “human rights clause” contained in the Cotonou Agreement has its own characteristic features. Firstly, as it was mentioned above, it is the only one that has been activated in practice. Secondly, the “non-execution clause” is much more detailed, and finally, much more emphasis is laid on political dialogue and on the consultation procedure. This paper provides a propaedeutic analysis of legal cooperation between the EU and selected non-democratic Sub-Saharan countries in the area of human rights protection. Its main objective is to answer the following questions: to what extent the EU cooperates with such countries? What are the issues the clause covers? Is it effective? To what extent could it be enhanced? For analysis, the following countries have been chosen: Chad, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. According to the Freedom House’s annual Freedom in the World report, the Global Freedom Scores for all these countries do not exceed 35 points, which equates to lack of democracy. Moreover, another feature which all of them have in common is a very low score on the Human Development Index (HDI), which means that all of them belong to the poorest and least developed countries in the world.

Retroactivity in international treaty law

Problem setting. Due to the fact that the constitutional norms determine the status of an international treaty, the binding nature of which has been approved by the parliament as part of national legislation, it is important to study the temporal effect of international treaties, namely their retroactivity. In general, the Vienna Convention contains a provision according to which an international treaty has no retroactive effect in respect of the States which are parties to it, except where the intention to give retroactive effect to the treaty follows from the treaty itself or the agreements of its parties. These exceptions to the general rule indicate the non-absoluteness of the latter, so it is appropriate to study the factors that determine the existence of retroactive agreements, as well as controversial and controversial issues that arise in this regard. Analysis of recent researches and publications. Scholars such as S.N. Ivanov, RA Kalamkaryan, M.A. Kapustina, II Lukashuk, OV Pushnyak and others. However, this area needs further study and analysis, given the existence of exceptions to the general provision on the lack of retroactive effect of international agreements. Target of research. Тo consider the conditions under which an international treaty has retroactive effect, to investigate the factors influencing the decision to grant retroactive effect and the issues arising in connection with the retroactivity of international treaties. Article’s main body. This study examines the non-absoluteness of the provision on the absence of retroactive effect of international agreements. Among the reasons that encourage states to anticipate retroactive effect – the interpretive or additional nature of the international agreement or the need to resolve the situation that arose before its conclusion. It should be emphasized that some agreements have retroactive effect by virtue of their object, which provides this retroactive effect, as agreed by the parties, although not explicitly stated in the contract. It is also not uncommon for certain rights and obligations to arise not because of an international treaty that has not yet entered into force, but because of customary norms that are enshrined in it. Conclusions and prospects for the development. The principle of no retroactive effect of an international agreement is not absolute. In each case, the reasons for the application of retroactivity must be decided by a judicial authority in the process of interpreting the contractual obligations. An important role in the possibility of retroactive application of an international treaty is played by its object or the co-existing customary norms of international law and the principles recognized by civilized nations as binding.

Features and perspectives of international cooperation within the implementation of projects megascience class

The article presents aspects of the legal regulation of international scientific cooperation aimed at the creation and operation of unique scientific installations of the “megascience” class. On the example of scientific projects CERN, ITER and XFEL, the individual features of legal regulation are analyzed: the legal basis, the key provisions of the concluded international agreements, as well as the relationship with the Russian legislation. On the basis of the analysis and generalization, the authors identify the features of legal regulation, which should be taken into account when creating future scientific projects of the “megascience” class.

‘International Paretianism’ and the Question of ‘Feasible’ Climate Solutions

Proponents of International Paretianism (IP)—the principle that international agreements should not make any state worse-off and should make some at least better off—argue that it is the only feasible approach to reducing the harms of climate change (see, especially, Posner and Weisbach 2010). They draw on some key assumptions regarding the meaning of ‘feasibility’ and the nature of the Pareto improvements associated with coordinated action on climate change. This chapter challenges these assumptions, in effect weakening the case for IP and allowing for broader thinking about what counts as a ‘feasible’ climate solution.

COLLISION REGULATION OF INTERNATIONAL MIXED TRANSPORTATION

The article is devoted to the study of certain aspects and features of collision regulation of contractual relations in the field of international mixed cargo transportation. The lack of a clear and unified approach in defining the conflict rules to be applied to contractual relations of mixed transport in international traffic creates uncertainty, instability of these relations, and, at the same time, in no way contribute to the development of multimodalism. The main collision principles applied to the contracts of cargo transportation from one state to the territory of another, and the source of their consolidation, as well as the possibility of their application to the agreements of international mixed transportation. Collision factors have been identified, as well as grounds for limiting the application of such bindings as established by international treaties and conventions. It is concluded that it is necessary to adopt a unified and binding international document that would determine the unified regime of collision settlement of international agreements of mixed carriage. It focuses on the peculiarities and rules of determination of the body authorized to resolve the dispute in this category, as well as the rights that this body should use in resolving the dispute, separately for the member states of the European Union and Ukraine, in particular. The author concludes that for the studied legal relations the following 3 groups of conflict bindings can be distinguished: a) general conflict principles; b) the set of collision bindings is defined by unimodal transport conventions; c) binding formulas used depending on the transport used.

Paradoxes of Ratification: The Nagoya Protocol and Brazilian State Transformations

This article explores the paradoxical behaviour of Brazil in relation to its national and international approaches to the regulations of access to genetic resources and benefits sharing with indigenous and other traditional communities. Brazil was one of the leaders in the international negotiations that led to the UN Nagoya Protocol but only ratified it 11 years later, after remarkable transformations of its internal biodiversity laws. We suggest that the seemingly contradictory behaviour has been shaped by the country’s internal political and ideological changes. This transformation goes hand in hand with substantial changes in state–society relations, particularly with regard to the balance of coalitions’ power between indigenous groups and industrial and agrarian elites. The article builds on the literature on state transformations and relies on the Advocacy Coalition Framework to show the importance of considering the impact of national-level politics on the fate of international agreements.

Assessing the First MSFD Implementation Cycle in Greece under Biodiversity and Contaminants Descriptors

The present work constitutes an assessment of the first implementation cycle of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive 2008/56/EC in Greece by focusing on biodiversity and contaminants, i.e., descriptors 1 (biodiversity), 4 (food webs), 6 (seafloor integrity), 8 (contaminants), and 9 (contaminants in seafood), and by following the directive’s requirements regarding Articles 8—Initial Assessment, 9—Definition of Good Environmental Status, 10—Establishment of Environmental Targets, 11—Monitoring Programmes, and 13—Programmes of Measures. In this study, the analysis that was conducted investigated the integration of the Com Dec 2010/477/EU criteria and the indicators that have been applied for each descriptor and the approaches and standards that have been used in order to determine the adequacy of the directive’s implementation towards the achievement of the GES, the consistency of Articles 8, 9, 10, 11, and 13, and the integration of existing EU legislation and regional/ international agreements or policies as well as the level of coherence among EU Mediterranean MSs. Overall, Greece addressed the requirements of Articles 8, 9, and 10 rather inadequately for D1, D4, D6 and partially adequately for D8, D9, integrating existing legislation to a certain extent. The implementation of Article 11 was satisfactory for all of the descriptors regarding monitoring the needs and the progress towards GES, whereas the measures that were established under Article 13 need to be improved in the forthcoming update.

SIGNIFICANCE OF EAEU COURT DECISIONS IN FORMATION SUPRANATIONAL LEGISLATION

Суд ЕАЭС является пoстoяннo действующим наднациональным судебным oрганoм и рассматривает спoры по вoпрoсам реализации Дoгoвoра об ЕАЭС, международных договоров в рамках Союза и (или) решений органов Союза. Анализ законодательств стран ЕАЭС показал, что на уровне национальных законодательств страны наделили правом на обращение в данный суд. Кроме того, правоприменительная практика таможенного законодательства в государствах-участницах ЕАЭС в связи с вынесением судом ЕАЭС разъяснений, решений складывается неединообразно. В настоящее время остро стоит вопрос о необходимости выработки механизмов исполнения решений суда ЕАЭС на территориях стран ЕАЭС. The court of the EEU is a supranational permanent judicial body and considers disputes arising on the implementation of the Agreement, international agreements within the Union and (or) decisions of the Union’s bodies. An analysis of the legislation of the EEU countries showed that at the level of national legislation, countries have given the right to appeal to the Supreme court. In addition, the law enforcement practice of customs legislation in the EEU member States in connection with the issuance of explanations and decisions by the EEU court is not uniform. Currently, there is an urgent question of the need to develop mechanisms for the enforcement of decisions of the EEU court on the territories of the EEU countries.