Modulating corruption and money laundering through the Bretton Woods Institutions: the case of less developed countries (LDCs)

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to readily bring to the fore, the vital dimension that the Bretton Woods Institutions, exemplified by both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, has brought into the global economic template to dampen the momentum of corruption and money laundering through the impact of their activities in less developed countries (LDCs). The original mandate of the two institutions was to address the balance of payments and developmental issues of countries as a result of the devastating effects of the Second World War. However, this could not be achieved in an atmosphere engulfed with corruption and money laundering. As a result, it became necessary for them to intervene albeit through direct or indirect mechanisms demonstrated by the use of soft law bodies such as Basel Committee on Banking Supervisors (BCBS) and Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Design/methodology/approach This paper relies on primary legal documentations such as BCBS, FATF, articles of both IMF and World Bank to mention but a few in the analysis. The paper is doctrinal. Findings There is undoubtedly glaring indications that through the efforts of both IMF and the Bank, tremendous inroad has been made in LDCs in modulating the tempo of the malaise. Research limitations/implications This paper is addressed to the authorities that are concerned about the scourge of the malaise and the impact to pay more attention to the mechanisms of soft laws used by the Bretton Woods Institutions to get their anti-corruption message through in LDCs. Originality/value This lies on the fact that the efforts of both IMF and the Bank have awakened the importance that should be attached to some soft laws in curtailing the issues.

Sustainability and Transparency to Safeguard Fashion Industry Workers

The global fashion industry has the most dynamic complex supply chain. A completed garment or footwear reaches consumers through different brands, from developing countries to Western countries. The workers at the bottom of the supply chain, who work hard to produce a product, earn minimum wages. On the top of the supply chain, the owners of the factories, brands and retailers earn huge profits from these labourers’ hard work. Because of the lack of direct control over labourers, as they are not employed by the brands and retailers, they often ignore the abuse of labourers’ rights in their supply chain. To improve the fashion industries’ working conditions and to maintain workers’ rights, strong labour law and its implementation is not sufficient. The brands andretailers can play a vital role in changing the labourers’ conditions. By incorporating soft laws like the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UN Guiding Principles) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains in the Garment and Footwear Sector (OECD Due Diligence Guidance on Garments), in their responsible business behaviour. The IFAs between the brands and the tread unions. The brands and retailers took some voluntary initiatives to incorporate these soft laws. Among the many voluntary initiatives, the Transparency Pledge of 2016 and sustainable development goals (SDGs) have had a significant impact on labour rights in the supply chain. This article is to evaluate how the Transparency Pledge of 2016 has impacted labour protection in the global fashion industry and how far transparency and incorporation on sustainable development goals (SDGs) has improved labourers’ abusive conditions in the fashion industry supply chain. This shall be done by analyzing the Human Rights Watch’s reports, ILO, better works and other labour organisations’ reports. What further initiatives can be taken to improve the labourers’ conditions.

Dampening corruption and money laundering: emissions from soft laws

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to bring to the fore that soft laws should be taken very seriously because they have demonstrated their importance in helping to reduce corruption and money laundering. Liberalisation of the markets and globalisation, undoubtedly, enabled the increase in the volume of commercial and economic interactions among natural and legal persons. As a result, the generation of profits and losses are noticeable. However, it became evident that some of the actors involved in corruption endeavour to dock the regulatory radars by way of laundering their illicit wealth. It is as a result of this, that the authorities reacted to checkmate this by way of fashioning out legislations that have cross-border and national characteristics. However, it was as a result of the inadequacies noticeable in the Conventions and their inability to contain the malaise that the soft laws surfaced to fill the lacunae to help dampen the momentum of corruption and money laundering. These significant soft laws include but not limited to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Organisation of Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD), Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), Wolfsberg Group (WG) and International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). Although reservations were raised as to the composition of their decision-making apparatus, it is evident that countries still adhere to their pronouncements by way of adaptation, and they have made significant contributions in reducing corruption and money laundering. Design/methodology/approach This paper relies on primary legal documentations such as but not limited to the Financial Action Task Force, Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development, Wolfsberg Group, International Chamber of Commerce, the United Nations Convention on Corruption 2003, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act 1977 and the United Kingdom Bribery Act 2010. Findings There is undoubtedly glaring indications that soft laws have made very significant impact to slow down the level of corruption and money laundering in many polities. It is evidently clear that most countries usually adapt the nuances of these laws into their domestic legislations in order not to be frozen out from the financial and economic activities of the dominant wider members. Evidentially, some of these countries may have been excluded from the core decision-making apparatus of the organisations with particular reference to mostly the developing countries. On the whole, the soft laws are a welcome relief in view of the impact that they have made. Research limitations/implications This paper is addressed to policy makers who are concerned on the negative implications of the scourge of money laundering and corruption. They should continue to inculcate the emissions that usually come from soft laws when formulating their policies in planning for economic growth. Originality/value The originality of this paper lies on the fact that it is essential that we awaken the importance of soft laws in containing the malaise as it has become evident that excuses have been made that it was forced on some of the recipient participants.

International Sales Law

Almost five years have passed since the first successful edition of this work and for various reasons it was time for a new edition. Much relevant case law and legal literature have since been published which requires treatment. Furthermore, several hard and soft laws relevant to the book have under­gone important changes, making a new edition necessary: the enactment of the new Chinese Civil Code, the French Civil Code following extensive reforms in 2016, the UNI­DROIT Principles now apply as amended in 2016, and the INCOTERMS 2020 replace the former INCOTERMS 2010. Praise for the 1st edition: »an indispensable and compact reference guide that provides an ideal platform for scholars, practitioners (in-house counsel, legal advisors and advocates) and students internationally. The reviewer is temtped to extend this list to include commercial parties such as the importers and exporters as the writing is clear, concise and direct, contract clauses and practitioner tips sections are provided, and finally because the book provides illustrations to which they can relate.« Navin G. Ahuja, ERPL 2017, 475

Unnatural Selection or the Best of Both Worlds?

This concluding chapter details the current state of space law and, in particular, the mechanisms that might be used to deal with the discovery of extraterrestrial life. The law in such discovery events will operate in a number of ways, defining the roles of different terrestrial agencies, protecting the scientific integrity of any discovered life, and providing valuable protection for the newly discovered life form. The chapter then argues that existing planetary protection and contamination rules, with their clearly anthropocentric bias (preserve the science), are outmoded and the resulting regulatory gap should be filled with nonbinding soft laws. It also proposes some ways forward to ensure that the seminal discovery event does not lead to conflict on Earth, the loss of irreplaceable scientific information, or even the destruction of the alien life. Ultimately, at present, there is little consensus as to how to start formulating laws to govern relations with alien lifeforms, no matter what their composition.

Achieving a High Level of Protection from Pesticides in Europe: Problems with the Current Risk Assessment Procedure and Solutions

The regulation of pesticides in the European Union (EU) relies on a network of hard law (legislation and implementing acts) and soft law (non-legally binding guidance documents and administrative and scientific practices). Both hard and soft laws govern how risk assessments are conducted, but a significant role is left to the latter. Europe’s pesticide regulation is one of the most stringent in the world. Its stated objectives are to ensure an independent, objective and transparent assessment of pesticides and achieve a high level of protection for health and environment. However, a growing body of evidence shows that pesticides that have passed through this process and are authorised for use may harm humans, animals and the environment. The authors of the current paper – experts in toxicology, law and policy – identified shortcomings in the authorisation process, focusing on the EU assessment of the pesticide active substance glyphosate. The shortcomings mostly consist of failures to implement the hard or soft laws. But in some instances the law itself is responsible, as some provisions can only fail to achieve its objectives. Ways to improve the system are proposed, requiring changes in hard and soft laws as well as in administrative and scientific practices.

MITIGASI SAMPAH ANTARIKSA: MENINJAU KESIAPAN REGULASI NASIONAL

The rapid development of space activities has increased the risk of space object collisions in orbit, particularly of space debris. This situation potentially harms satellites and endangers space missions. To date, international efforts generally result in non-legally binding products or soft laws, providing only guidance to form a national legal framework in mitigating space debris. This article aims to review Indonesia’s efficacy in regulating its space activities to minimize space debris generation and risks. It also examines mitigation efforts in several other countries with the intention of providing input for the current national legal framework. IntisariPesatnya perkembangan kegiatan antariksa meningkatkan risiko tabrakan antar objek antariksa pada orbit bumi, terutama sampah antariksa. Situasi ini berpotensi merusak satelit hingga membahayakan keberlangsungan misi antariksa. Hingga kini, upaya internasional baru sanggup melahirkan produk hukum tidak mengikat, sehingga hanya mampu mengarahkan negara untuk menyusun kerangka hukum nasional dengan memperhatikan perihal mitigasi sampah antariksa. Artikel ini akan mengkaji kesiapan regulasi nasional untuk meminimalkan risiko timbul dan bertambahnya sampah antariksa. Dibahas pula perbandingan upaya mitigasi pada beberapa negara lain guna memberi masukan bagi Indonesia.

Metaphoric Use of Denotations for Colours in the Language of Law

In many papers dealing with the stylistic features of legal texts, metaphor is highlighted as a stylistic figure often used in the language of law. On a daily basis we can witness the frequent use of metaphoric collocations like soft laws, hard laws, silent partner, hedge funds, etc. In this paper, the author analyses the use of denotations for colours as constituent parts of metaphoric collocations in the language of law. The analysis is conducted by using a comparative approach to examples extracted by means of computer technology from international bills and conventions available online. In the main part of the paper, examples are classified by using a colour denotation as the main criterion for the classification. After that, the examples are compared with corresponding expressions used in German and Croatian. Taking into account the main principle of the Skopos translation theory that differences between cultures strongly influence the translation process, the hypothesis of this research is that in many cases there will be no lexical equivalence between collocations with colour denotation in three languages. Due to the fact that international bills and conventions build the corpus of the research, and that the English language has become the lingua franca of international communication, it can be expected that some metaphoric terms and collocations would be literally translated from English. Conclusions drawn from the comparative analysis of legal collocations containing denotations for colours can be interesting to lawyers and LSP teachers in the field of law. In this sense, results of the research can contribute to motivational aspects of teaching Legal English and Legal German.