Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

Entrepreneurs have the commercial interest to protect their business and prevent their former employees from engaging in economic activities that compete directly, or through third parties, with their business after the termination of the employment relationship. One of the most common protection mechanisms is non-competition agreements, which establish the limitation of the former employee being able to compete in the market where their former employer operates. Given that these agreements contain a limitation to the exercise of labor and economic rights guaranteed in the Constitution of the Republic, and in the absence of a regulation that precisely regulates these agreements in the Ecuadorian legal system, international doctrine and jurisprudence have developed the requirements that should be included for the validity of the agreement, such as: the existence of a legitimate commercial interest of the former employer, adequate economic compensation to the former employee, temporal delimitation, written agreement; and, limitation of the relevant market only in the segment or activities in competition.

Religiously offensive speech is an issue of considerable controversy, both internationally and in many religiously diverse countries. I address the topic in this paper from the perspective of international human rights norms. I show that the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of religion, and nondiscrimination do not provide protections against insensitive, insulting, or even blasphemous speech. To prohibit speech because it is disrespectful to one or more religions in effect imposes the particular religious views of some on others, thus denying not only freedom of expression but also freedom of belief or religion, and thus the basic equality, autonomy, and dignity of those whose speech is restricted.

The investors"™ status under international investment law is an issue that has led to longstanding debates around which different theories have been developed. In this regard, in order to specify the nature of investors"™ rights and what they can do with them as non-State actors on the international arena, this article will address four main theories: the derivative model, the dualist model, the third party beneficiary model, and the direct model. Through this analysis, it will be demonstrated that the direct model theory, based on the conception of legal personality of Kelsen could bring more clarity and provide a better framework to the development of investment law than the other models.

In this article, the interactions between international investment law and international human rights law will be analyzed. In particular, it will review arbitral case law that has had to deal with human rights issues and has failed to do so. The ratio decidendi of the judgments and international regulations that would enable the inclusion of international standards in the field of human rights within arbitration processes will be examined. Finally, the author proposes possible solutions to generate superior convention control within the modern configuration of the Bilateral Investment Treaties.

Interview held in the city of Quito on June 22, 2018 with Ariel E. Dulitzky, leading expert in the Inter-American Human Rights System (IAHRS). This interview addresses issues related to standards of the right to freedom of expression in the IAHRS. It explains how this right has been applied, the existing problems, and the protection given to it by international instruments and treaty bodies. Likewise, in a general way, it reflects upon the effects of limiting this right both in the international sphere and in domestic law, the relationship it has with democratic principles, as well as the challenges and obstacles faced by the freedom of expression within the framework of the OAS.

The article proposes that the requirement of an academic degree to exercise journalism is incompatible with Inter-American human rights standards. The author examines Article 42 of the Organic Law of Communication (LOC) and the scope of the control of constitutionality and conventionality in the matter of human rights. Article 42 may also constitute an illegitimate restriction on the freedom of expression and a scenario of prior censorship within a context that could even imply a criminal sanction and in which there is a definite criterion of the Inter-American Court opposed to a mandatory degree in order to practice journalism.

¿Control Administrativo de la Jurisdicción? Régimen disciplinario del juez burócrata español y ecuatorianoMilton Velásquez Díaz (2018), Universidad de Especialidades Espíritu Santo: Ecuador.

The Organic Law for Consumer Defense, which was enacted in the year 2000, and has been in force until the present day, establishes a framework for consumer rights protection in Ecuador. By enshrining such rights in the constitution, there appeared to be a strong basis for their defense. However, the law that ensures rights and penalizes infractions does not reflect international principles and guidelines on the subject matter. Despite being recognized in the constitution, more and more conflicts are generated on these issues with each passing day. Since the last reform that was introduced through the Organic Law of the Ombudsman, which was enacted on May 6, 2019, eliminates the special procedure that had been detailed in the law. This leads to new procedural challenges that must be resolved by competent judges, thereby separating the country even further from international standards.

Letter b) of article 16 of the Organic Law of Regulation and Control of Market Power defines the obligation to notify mergers and acquisitions based on the calculation of market shares. This violates the right to legal certainty enshrined in article 82 of the Ecuadorian Constitution, due to the lack of clarity involved in determining relevant markets and market shares, a fact that implies the need to eliminate this portion of the article, in the light of good international practices.

In the present article a comparative analysis will be made between the current operating regime, structure and attributions of the Comptroller General"™s Office of the State with the Organic Law Project of the National Court of Arbiters presented by the Deputy Comptroller Pablo Celi. This project considers the possibility of restructuring the current Comptroller's General's Office as a Court of Auditors formed as a collegial body with seven Audit Ministers who will exercise the functions and powers of the current Comptroller General of the State. The change aims at decision-making through a deliberative mechanism of modern democracy that, through reflective debate based on normative principles and technical criteria, substitutes the possible arbitrariness that may exist when the decision is made at the discretion of a single person.