Trade Remedies and Relief from Foreign Competition

This chapter describes the legal framework that allows firms to petition the government for the imposition of tariffs on competing imports. It introduces the antidumping law as the most commonly used measure to block unfair imports. It talks about the government's definition of “dumping” as a lower price charged in the United States than in a foreign exporter's home market. The chapter also examines the case for providing domestic industries with temporary relief from imports so that they can adjust to foreign competition, including the recently revived “national security” rationale for limiting imports. It looks at countervailing duties, which address foreign subsidies and escape clause, and provide industries with temporary relief from imports without the claim of unfairness.

State-Dependent Forward Guidance and the Problem of Inconsistent Announcements

Forward guidance can be provided as an unconditional promise, i.e. commitment to a specific low policy rate. Alternatively, the promise may include an escape clause, i.e. a condition defining the state of the economy under which the central bank would not keep such a low rate and, instead, it would revert to setting policy under discretion. The escape clause can be expressed as a threshold in terms of a specific variable. The present paper shows that, when such a threshold is expressed in terms of an endogenous variable (e.g. output, inflation), there are cases where it becomes impossible for the central bank to act in a way that is consistent with its promise. Consistency imposes limits on the policy rate that can be set since reverting immediately to the optimal discretionary rate can be incompatible with exceeding the threshold.

Challenges for the Future Development of the European Private International Labour Law

The paper addresses the evolution of the rules of the European private international labour law and identifies three key challenges that will shape the future development of this field of law and that will have to be addressed by the judiciary and/or the legislators. These challenges include: (i) the operation of the connecting factor engaging place of business, (ii) the interpretation of the escape clause and (iii) challenges resulting from the fourth industrial revolution and emergence of new working arrangements.

Flexibility in Approaches to Conflict-of-law Solutions – Section 24 (1) of the Private International Law Act

The paper deals with the question of flexibility in approaching conflict-of-law rules as a whole. The Czech Private International Law Act (adopted in 2012, in force since 1 January 2014) inclined towards the possibility of not applying the conflict-of-law rules contained in the Act itself under certain specific conditions. This represents a significant change compared to the previous regulations. The paper analyses the escape clause in section 24 (1) Czech PILA.

A simple fiscal rule for Hungary

In this paper, I outline an alternative public debt rule, a basic structure that provides a sufficient reduction of public debt in the long term, with an escape clause ensuring the opportunity for countercyclical budgetary manoeuvring and the avoidance of the so-called ratchet effect. The last section outlines a basic institutional framework. I have raised this topic in the hope of supporting the Hungarian discussion about fiscal rules and perhaps to contribute to it. I am certain that this rule is far from perfect, but I believe it is a good starting point.