Suchergebnisse

The paper investigates enforcement of criminal sanctions in anti-bid rigging policy in Russia. Although cartels were criminalized in 1997, parties of numerous anticompetitive agreements on tenders are punished by corporate or individual fines, or disqualified. Statistics on sentences for bid rigging are highly controversial although legislative conditions for efficient criminalization are presented not only by criminal norms but also by leniency programmes in administrative and criminal proceedings which were designed to contribute to anticartel enforcement. The aim of this research is to determine factors that have caused the very rare use of criminal sanctions for cartel enforcement with the focus on bid rigging. For the purpose of the research, the paper outlines the regulation of tendering in Russia and the system of sanctions for bid rigging, including leniency. Case analysis of the first custodial sentence for anticompetitive agreement on a public tender highlights specific features resulting in successful prosecution. Since this is one of the first attempts to assess criminalization of bid rigging in Russia, original empirical data including interviews with officials from federal competition authorities and regional representatives constitute the basis of the study. Findings of the research determine the influence of social norms on the enforcement as the main challenge for criminalization of bid rigging which is weighed down by the insufficient political influence of competition authorities. The paper's findings may be of interest for assessing enforcement in other jurisdictions experiencing the same difficulties.

Accountability is quintessence of any corporate governance debate despite that there is no unified doctrine what accountability consists of. Academics, politicians and businessmen advocate different categories as the foundation of this doctrine. To some extent this diversity can be explained by an eternal conflict of agency and stakeholder theories in corporate law. This essay examines such aspects of corporate accountability as accounts and financial reporting, compliance to certain efficiency indicators and stakeholders' interests including moral values, their roles for various groups of stakeholders. For these purposes author analyses the development of agency and stakeholders' theories in regard to financial reporting, provides evidences of stakeholder accountability in case law and legislation are provide and identifies difficulties of stakeholder accountability. It is argued that there is no universal definition of efficiency as a type of accountability and it may be defined through risk management and internal control systems only. Morality is also an ambiguous category for corporate accountability originated rather from political science than jurisprudence and may be used only like supplementary remedy. That analysis allows justification of the absence of conflict between different definitions of accountability, inextricably links between them and their joint application as a guarantee of the achievement of accountability objectives.

The role of WTO in balancing of fair and transparent terms of trade with non-trade values has been widely discussed by politicians, academics, human rights organizations and environmental groups. Indeed, only one of more than twenty lawsuits justifying the application of measures under Art. XX has ended in a victory. The essay examines to what extent social values can be protected under law of WTO. For these purposes the main characteristics of GATT 1994, such as limitations and conditions for exceptions, a proper balance of provisions of Art. XX and their independence from other exceptions in GATT 1994 are considered as well scope of its application for such non-trade values as public morals; human, animal or plant life or health; exhaustible natural resources and national legislation. The most indicative cases of the WTO dispute settlement system are analysed to extract the practical value of exceptions under Art. XX. Emphasis on human rights and compliance with the rules of international environmental law is determined by their particular importance for developing states which are not sufficiently influential in the global economy. The author argues that, despite very limited list of exceptions, provisions of Art. XX GATT 1994 are consistent with the goals of the WTO and allow to provide the effective protection for common human and social values.