What Has Changed in European Concept of Undertaking? From „FENIN“ to „EASY PAY“

Competition is the main self-regulatory principle of the market in general, internal market included. Competition law has the form of general clauses making its application dependant on the correct interpretation of general concepts. Core competition rules of the Functional Treaty („TFEU“) are addressed to undertakings; undertaking thus belongs to key concepts of competition law. Interpretation of this concept is decisive for the scope of competition rules application. So, the article explores different approaches of the case law to the interpretation of the concept of undertaking based on economic activity. It compares the FENIN doctrine and the new functional test of separability developed in EASY PAY. It drives attention to the impact of this new test for the evaluation of procurement activities under competition scrutiny.

Solidarity as a Regulatory Principle for Digital Technologies Used in the Pandemic Response (Preprint)

UNSTRUCTURED In addition to existing epidemiological methods, the on-going COVID-19 pandemic requires effective approaches for controlling the disease spread. The use of digital technologies has been discussed in this context, and digital contact tracing technology (DCTT) and vaccine passport are representative examples of such technologies. Ethical discussions on the application of these technologies have noted privacy breach and undermining social trust as concerns, arguing that these two aspects should be balanced with the public benefits of technology application. Discussions of digital technologies, including DCTT, as a pandemic response have called for a new perspective on existing public health ethics. This viewpoint paper proposes that applying solidarity as a regulatory principle to digital technologies can offer ways to pursue privacy and public interest as complementary instead of competitive values. Existing studies and discussions of digital technologies in the COVID-19 context were explored, particularly those focusing on the utilization and ethical aspects of DCTT. The development of solidarity in biomedical ethics and its application to public health ethics were also considered. The conclusion was reached that the acceptability of DCTT can increase when privacy is secured, which results in increased overall effectiveness of the technology. This can be achieved by applying solidarity as a regulatory principle, which requires individuals to participate, while empowering the privacy and social trust of participating individuals at the national level. Thus, this paper presents an ethical approach based on the principle of solidarity that reciprocates the interests of individuals and the collective instead of making them compete. This approach is expected to pave the way for an extended framework for both the pandemic response and digital approaches in public health that empower privacy and social trust.

“A Healer and a Wandering Poet”: The Spells, Incantations and Prayers of Varvara Malakhieva-Mirovich

В статье рассматривается та часть поэтического наследия Варвары Малахиевой-Мирович, которая представляет собой стихотворные тексты, претендующие, по замыслу автора, на полную функциональную тождественность с реальными восточнославянскими заговорами и заклинаниями. При этом устанавливается, что Варвара Малахиева-Мирович позиционировала себя не только как лирического поэта, сохраняющего верность художественным канонам Серебряного века, но и как прямого наследника «псковских кудесников», практиковавших когда-то различные виды магических практик и обладавших ярко выраженными сверхъестественными способностями. Схожая антиномичность является регулятивным принципом всего творчества Варвары Малахиевой-Мирович, нейтрализующего традиционные оппозиции низменного и возвышенного, устного и письменного, фольклорного и книжного, интуитивного и дискурсивного. Стихотворные заговоры Варвары Малахиевой-Мирович тяготеют к единому сюжету (движение протагониста к состоянию целительного сна), оперируют устойчивыми формулами народной магической поэзии, обнаруживают близость к жанру колыбельной песни и активно используют образную систему русского символизма. Вместе с тем в художественном сознании Варвары Малахиевой-Мирович стихотворные заговоры достаточно четко отделены от таких смежных жанровых форм, как молитвы и заклинания. Именно заклинания в творческом наследии Варвары Малахиевой-Мирович минимально соприкасаются с фольклором и максимально приближаются к символистским литературным опытам. Однако и в тех случаях, когда словесные магические эксперименты Варвары Малахиевой-Мирович мало напоминают воссоздание аутентичных заговорных текстов, они в полной мере сохраняют суггестивность и способность оказывать фасцинативное воздействие. This article examines the poetic legacy of Varvara Malachieva-Mirovich (1869-1954) and in particular the poetic texts that she intends as fully identical in terms of functionality with actual Eastern Slavic spells and incantations. At the same time, the study establishes that Malakhieva-Mirovich positioned herself not only as a lyric poet who remained faithful to the artistic canons of the Silver Age but also as direct heir to the “Pskov magicians” who once practiced various types of magic rituals and were said to possess definite supernatural abilities. A similar antinomy serves as the regulatory principle of Malachieva-Mirovich’s entire oeuvre, which nullifies traditional oppositions such as low and sublime, spoken and written, folkloric and bookish, intuitive and discursive. Malachieva-Mirovich’s poetic spells tend to a single plot (the protagonist’s movement to a state of healing sleep); operate with stable formulas of magic folk poetry; reveal an affinity to the genre of lullaby; and actively use the figurative system of Russian Symbolism. At the same time, in the poet’s artistic consciousness poetic spells are clearly distinguished from such related genre forms as prayers and incantations. Malachieva-Mirovich’s incantations have minimal contact with folklore and come as close as possible to Symbolist literary efforts. However, even in cases where the poet’s verbal magic experiments do not resemble authentic spells, they fully retain their suggestiveness and ability to exert a fascinating (enchanting) effect.

A non-modern vision: facts and values in psychotherapy

Evidence-based practice in psychology is the prevailing regulatory principle for psychotherapy practice. This paper criticises the notion of facts and values in evidence-based practice in psychology and related concepts. More particularly, it aims at showing that values-based practice follows a modern scheme contrasting facts and values sharply. Person-centred medicine is suggested as a more viable option. Person-centred medicine follows a non-modern scheme in which facts and values are integrated. This move, it is argued, will lead to a more humanistic conception of the patient and psychotherapy.

Associations between %AA (20:4 n6) and Relative Amounts of Other Body Fatty Acids

Body fatty acids are important in health and disease. Previously, we reported a positive association between % AA (20:4 n6) and relative amounts of EPA (20:5 n3) and of some other fatty acids. We now study positive and negative correlations in general between %AA and percentages of other fatty acids, as observed in chicken breast muscle. Two groups of fatty acids were identified: Group 1) with relative amounts correlating negatively with %AA, and Group 2) with relative amounts correlating positively with %AA. With the positive correlations, but not with the negative ones, we obtained similar scatterplots using true and random numbers. This apparent discrepancy is probably related to differences in skewness of the concentration distribution of some fatty acids. Most of Group 2 fatty acids are eicosanoid or docosanoid precursors. The overall correlation outcome may be largely explained by the particular concentration ranges of the fatty acids. We therefore suggest Distribution Dependent Correlations to be an evolutionary regulatory principle, possibly ensuring balance between various eicosanoids and docosanoids.

Formations of Secularity in Ancient Japan?

Starting from the premise that the diversity of forms for distinguishing between ‘the religious’ and ‘the secular’ (i.e., multiple secularities) in global modernity is the result of different cultural preconditions in the appropriation of Western normative concepts of secularism, I would like to offer a modest contribution to the understanding of the corresponding cultural preconditions in Japan. I will try to show that the specific—and at first glance, relatively unproblematic—appropriation of secularity as a regulatory principle in modern Japan is to some extent path dependent on relatively stable and durable epistemic and social structures that have emerged in the course of ‘critical junctures’ in history. In this context, I would like to put up for discussion my hypothesis that some decisions taken in the period between the sixth and eighth centuries CE regarding the organisation of the relationship between ‘the religious’ and ‘the secular’ generated path dependencies that were effective well into the nineteenth century.

The SEC meditates on The DAO: tracing the initial arc of cryptosecurities regulation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review the first two years of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) efforts to regulate cryptosecurities to assess the trends of that regulation. Design/methodology/approach The authors review the SEC’s official pronouncements and informal statements about, and its enforcement actions against participants in, various early experiments in cryptosecurities. Findings The SEC has been evolving how to apply the US securities laws to cryptosecurities since its report on The DAO two years ago. When “coins” on a blockchain meet the traditional Howey Test, it is easy to categorize them as “securities.” However, the bedrock regulatory principle that some person must account for violations is frustrated by automated blockchain transactions, where no human is in control. This tension risks a “moral crumple zone” arising around cryptosecurities, in which persons might become liable for violations that they cannot fairly be said to have caused. Originality/value This paper provides valuable information and insights about the beginnings of US regulation of cryptosecurities and how the evolution of that regulation is trending after two years.

Part IX Legal and Conduct Risk Management, 29 The Essentials of Legal and Conduct Risk Management

This chapter first discusses the general approach of regulators to risk management. Regulators often claim that they take a risk-based approach to the regulation of banks and other financial institutions. What matters to the regulator is compliance with the substance of its enunciated principles, not merely with their form. ‘Creative compliance’ and trying to find ‘ways round’ a clearly stated regulatory principle are not options. However, legal and conduct risk can be affected simply by a change of attitude on the part of the regulator without there being any change in rules or regulations. The remainder of the chapter covers risk management principles, the scope of the risk management function, examples of risk scenarios, identification of risks, assessment of risks, monitoring, and control and mitigation.