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

Ante un uso aún limitado de la mediación en asuntos civiles y mercantiles en España, se han tomado diversas medidas para superar los diversos obstáculos para su implementación. Con este fin se entiende la transición legislativa desde un modelo de voluntariedad a uno de obligatoriedad a través de la fórmula del requisito de procedibilidad. En este trabajo, se analiza esta evolución y se valoran sus efectos. Además del legislador, las partes, por vía consensual, promueven también el uso de la mediación pactando su uso como vía previa al arbitraje, o mediante la hibridación de aquel método autocompositivo con este heterocompositivo.      

 Se hace un análisis del nuevo contexto de las empresas en la protección de los derechos humanos y del medio ambiente que ha llevado a plantear la necesidad de desarrollar progresivamente el derecho internacional, europeo y nacional. A tal efecto es necesario superar el estado actual de voluntariead y transitar del soft law al hard law también mediante la elaboración de leyes internacional nacionales. Se abordan el análisis de los modelos de derecho comparado y de los estándares internacionales. Se profundiza en los elementos principales de la debida diligencia del Estado y de las empresas así como en las principales cuestiones que una ley de esta naturaleza plantea

World Trade Organization Members may establish countervailing duties on products imported into their territory that have been the subject of specific subsidies and have caused injury to a domestic industry. These taxes are framed in International Tax Law. Countervailing duties is especially complex and has not been treated in depth by the tax doctrine compared to other issues of international taxation. For this reason, an analysis of certain elements that serve to determine the existence or absence of the de jure specificity of the subsidies of the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union is proposed. It is a key factor in imposing countervailing duties. However, it should start from a necessary contextualization of customs matters within International Tax Law.

Sustainability is the main challenge for humanity. At the current moment in history, the sustainability challenge is a direct consequence of human activity. Addressing challenges, requires action and costs, and the distribution of costs is a querulous, political issue. Climate change-related disputes already occupy numerous state and international courts, can arbitration tribunals play a role in resolving such or similar disputes? This study aims to examine arbitration as a forum for dispute resolution in an environmental and climate change–related case that can play a role in promoting compliance with international climate change law. This question arises from the fact that international climate change law has entered a new phase, while the number of disputes related to the environment and climate change has recently increased. The lack of an enforcement mechanism under the Paris Agreement will lead to new problems. The research result shows that arbitration, as one of the means of dispute resolution, becomes an alternative solution to address this issue. Procedural flexibility, high levels of expertise among arbitrators and the ability to enforce awards in virtually any country in the world under the New York Convention are some of the attributes of arbitration that make it an attractive and effective method for resolving climate change disputes. These qualities allow parties to arbitration to set the rules that best suit the needs of their case, from setting the timing of the parties’ briefs to creating rules for the presentation of evidence, the request for documents and participation in hearings. In addition, the parties also play a key role in the appointment of arbitrators, who are experts in the matters in dispute and whose training and experience enables them to fully understand highly specialised and technically complex arguments and evidence. Arbitration has the function of creating predictability and certainty, so this forum could serve to promote compliance with international climate change law.

The approval of Law 8/2021, 2 June, which reforms the civil and procedure legislation for the support of persons with disabilities in the exercise of their legal capacity, has resulted in the implementation of a new vision of the model of disability in our legal system, as established in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, celebrated in New York on 13 December of 2006, inspired on the mechanisms of support for persons with disabilities. The departure point of this reform is the extinction of the legal regulation in relation to any legal declaration which modifies the legal capacity of persons. In this sense, the implemented system subs titutes the traditional system of representation regarding the decision-making process by the system of aid and support planned in the Convention, being the main concern of this system to look after the willingness, the desire and the preferences of the person with disabilities. To focus on this goal, the former proceedings regarding the modification of the legal capacity through a voluntary jurisdiction proceeding, establishing a special proceeding on the adoption of judicial measures of support. The lawmaker has given a great importance to the voluntary jurisdiction proceedings, placing priority to them over the contentious proceedings under the Spanish procedural law, which has a subsidiary character. The current essay will develop, not intending to exhaust the vast topic, the basis and the legal framework of application to the reform as well as the proceedings of the adoption of specialized support regulated in the Spanish procedural law.  

El Tribunal de Justicia de la Unión Europea se ha ocupado de las relaciones entre el Derecho de la Unión Europea y el Derecho internacional de las inversiones en varios precedentes emitidos desde que la Unión Europea asumiera el ejercicio de la competencia sobre la protección de las inversiones extranjeras directas. Este trabajo realiza un “tour d’horizon” de esa jurisprudencia, dedicando una especial atención a la forma mediante la que el Tribunal de Justicia ha utilizado el principio de autonomía del Derecho de la Unión Europea para declarar contrarias al mismo determinadas manifestaciones del arbitraje de inversión. Este principio se ha convertido en un elemento clave para limitar el consentimiento al arbitraje de inversión que efectúan los Estados miembros de la Unión Europea en el seno del Derecho internacional de las inversiones.

La Ley 8/2021, de 2 de junio, de reforma de la legislación civil y procesal con la intención de promover el apoyo a las personas con discapacidad en el ejercicio de su capacidad jurídica, ha modificado los artículos del Código civil relativos a la adquisición de la nacionalidad española por opción, carta de naturaleza y residencia, para cumplir los dictados de la Convención de Nueva York de 2006 sobre los derechos de las personas con discapacidad. De tal forma, que las personas extranjeras con discapacidad podrán declarar su voluntad a adquirir la nacionalidad española por sí con los apoyos y los ajustes de procedimiento que en su caso precisen. Analizaremos, la evolución normativa y qué implica esta reforma para las personas extranjeras con discapacidad en relación con la regulación anterior.

For years, efforts have been made to achieve an internationally accepted ethical framework in relation to all applications and innovations of artificial intelligence (AI). The UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI, adopted in November 2021, is considered a milestone in this regard. In this paper we criticize the restrictive nature of the concept of human dignity used in this instrument for not protecting against the risks of using systems of artificial intelligence (AI) in human embryonic experimentation through synthetic wombs. We propose the establishment of a United Nations high commissioner for the responsible use of AI systems.

The progressive appearance of non-judicial divorces in the EU has a direct impact on European Family Regulations. In particular, Regulation (EU) No. 2019/1111 regulates, for the first time, the recognition of registered private agreements, equating it in its treatment to judicial resolutions. With this, recognition is simplified, but doubts are raised regarding the application of the rules of jurisdiction and regarding the applicable law. It is necessary to prevent divorce tourism and ensure control over consent. At the same time, the problems of coordination with the rest of the Regulations are examined, in relation to the effectiveness with respect to parental responsibility, maintenance obligations or the matrimonial economic regime. The risk will come from cross-border divorces only partially effective.

The concept of human rights due diligence (HRDD), developed by Ruggie, is at the heart of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. This article addresses the origins of HRDD, the evolution of international and national instruments in which it has been gaining wide  acceptance and the future prospects that arise in view of the upcoming adoption of an EU Directive. The definition of HRDD, its scope and the limits of this notion in the different instruments will be examined. Their contribution to effective corporate accountability will be evaluated in view of their objectives, given that the majority of these instruments have been in force for a limited period of time.