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Global Legal Monitor (GLM)
The Global Legal Monitor is an online publication from the Law Library of Congress covering legal news and developments worldwide. It is updated frequently and draws on information from the Global Legal Information Network, official national legal publications, and reliable press sources. You can search previous news by searching the archive.
For questions about articles or copies of materials in the Law Library’s collections, contact us at glm@loc.gov.
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Bulgaria / European Union: Courts - Justice System Criticized
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(Jan. 28, 2009) Although Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007, it has been placed under a strict monitoring regime by the EU, with particular emphasis on the operation of the judiciary. Aid from the EU to the Bulgarian government has been cut substantially and there may even be further reductions in assistance if the system does not improve. A report on progress made will be issued in February 2009 by the European Commission, and close attention is being paid to a number of high-profile cases.
On January 20, 2009, the European Justice Commissioner, Jacques Barrot, criticized Bulgaria's justice system, stating that it was unable to efficiently catch and convict notorious criminals and that it "is producing very few tangible results." The statement came out on the same day that a court in the Bulgarian city of Veliko Tarnovo failed to convict two men of a 2000 murder, despite what was considered to be clear evidence. (Bulgarian Justice System Again in Firing Line, AFP, Jan. 25, 2009, available at World News Connection No. 200901251477.1_a7ad0096cdc747c3.) The failure to convict was mentioned by the French Ambassador to Bulgaria, Etienne de Poncins, who in addition to expressing surprise at the decision complained about the procedure, including the fact that the proceedings were kept secret. (Id.)
- Author: Constance Johnson
- Topic: Courts
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Uganda: Capital Punishment - Highest Court Refuses to Outlaw Capital Punishment
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(Jan. 28, 2009) It was reported on January 21, 2009, that the Ugandan Supreme Court rejected a petition brought by 418 inmates on death row to have capital punishment declared unconstitutional. The Court held that capital punishment is not inconsistent with the Ugandan Constitution. The Court, however, rejected an appeal by the government and upheld a Constitutional Court ruling that capital punishment is not mandatory and that Ugandan laws that impose mandatory capital punishment are void on that point. It also upheld another Constitutional Court ruling that it is unlawful to delay execution for over three years. The Supreme Court judgment stated, "[a]t the end of a period of three years after the highest appellate court confirmed sentence, and if the president shall not have exercised his prerogative one way or the other, the death sentence shall be deemed commuted to life imprisonment without remission." (Anne Mugia & Hillary Nsambu, Supreme Court Retains Death Penalty, THE NEW VISION, Jan. 21, 2009, available at http://allafrica.com/stories/200901220003.html.)
On the issue of whether execution by hanging causes a person more pain and suffering than other possible methods, the Court, by a majority of six to one, held that no sufficient evidence was brought to show that it does. In a dissenting opinion, Judge Egonda Ntende argued that death does not occur instantly in a hanging and that "the person hanged often sweats, drools, the eyes bulge and he urinates and defecates," although he is unable to react to the pain because the wrists and ankles are tied before execution. (Id.)
- Author: Hanibal Goitom
- Topic: Capital Punishment
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- Jurisdiction: Uganda
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Taiwan: Banks and Financial Institutions - Banking Law Amended
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(Jan. 28, 2009) On December 30, 2008, the President of the Republic of China (on Taiwan) promulgated amendments to the Banking Law. The Law now specifies that the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) of the Executive Yuan (Cabinet) is the competent authority referred to in the Law; formerly, it was the Ministry of Finance (MOF) (art. 19). The Financial Supervisory Commission is an independent Cabinet body established in July 2004. According to its website, "[t]he primary objectives of the Commission are to consolidate the supervision of banking, securities and insurance sectors, and to act as a single regulator for all of these industries." (Introduction: Taiwan Financial Supervisory Commission, http://www.fscey.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=508412&CtNode=2225&mp=5 (last visited Jan. 14, 2008).)
Under the revised Law, the provisions on a bank's controlling shareholders are extensively revised and new ones are added. Thus, for example, the threshold requirement has been lowered for the reporting of bank-share holdings for approval to the competent authority. The revised Law stipulates that the same person or same concerned party that individually, jointly, or in combination holds more than five percent of the same bank's issued shares with voting rights must, within 10 days of the date the holding commences, report the fact to the FSC; the same applies to a cumulative increase or decrease of one percentage point after the shares held exceed five percent. The previous threshold was holdings of more than 15 percent, notice of which had to be given to the bank, which in turn had to report it to the MOF for approval; there were also monthly reporting requirements in regard to changes in conditions of the shareholding and set qualifications. While the previous Law placed a limit of 25 percent on the total bank-issued shares with voting rights that could be held by the same person or same concerned party (with certain specified exceptions), the revised Law stipulates that if the same person or same concerned party plans to individually, jointly, or in combination hold, respectively, more than 10 percent, 25 percent, or 50 percent of such bank shares, it should be reported for approval, before the fact, to the FSC (art. 25). A newly added article 25-1 greatly expands on the definition of such terms as "same person" and "same concerned party."
The amended Law now provides that the ratio of risk-free to risky assets cannot be less than a fixed ratio; formerly, the Law stipulated that that ratio was eight percent and that it could be increased when necessary by the MOF in accordance with international rates. Banks are now to differentiate four levels of capital based on the ratio of risk-free to risky assets, including adequate, inadequate, markedly inadequate, and seriously inadequate. The latter is defined as being when the ratio of risk-free to risky capital is lower than 2 percent, and if a bank's net value is made up of a gross asset ratio lower than 2 percent, it will be deemed to have seriously inadequate capital. The fixed ratio and the differentiated levels of capital mentioned above are to be determined by the FSC (art. 44).
Another newly added provision stipulates the circumstances in which a bank may not use cash to distribute earnings or buy back shares: 1) when its level of capital is inadequate, markedly inadequate, or seriously inadequate or 2) if the distribution of buy-back would cause an adequate level of capital be reduced to a level indicated in (1) (art. 44-1). The Law also now sets forth measures to be taken, as a whole or in part, by the FSC when bank capital is inadequate, markedly inadequate, or seriously inadequate. The FSC may at any time examine a recapitalization or financial business improvement plan undertaken by a bank in connection with these circumstances and, when necessary, may consult with other relevant agencies or institutions and engage specialized agencies to assist in handling the matter (art. 44-2).
Among other changes, the amended Law provides additional conditions under which information about a bank customer's deposits, loans, and remittances may be disclosed. It also has revised and new provisions on the bank's legal reserve, on conditions under which the FSC can take over a bank or order the mandatory suspension of its operations; and on penalties for violation of the Law. (Amendment to Banks Law, 6839 GAZETTE OF THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT 1-16 (Dec. 30, 2008), available at http://content.glin.gov/summary/214382; Download [The Banking Act of the Republic of China, an English translation of the May 30, 2006 Law], Laws and Regulations Retrieving System of the Banking Bureau, http://law.banking.gov.tw/Eng/EngContent.asp?MsgID=204 (last visited Jan. 23, 2009).)
- Author: Wendy Zeldin
- Topic: Banks and Financial Institutions
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- Jurisdiction: Taiwan
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World Trade Organization: Treaties and Agreements - New Database of Regional Agreements
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(Jan. 28, 2009) In January 2009, the World Trade Organization (WTO) launched an online database of regional trade agreements (RTAs). It can be accessed by the public at http://rtais.wto.org/UI/PublicMaintainRTAHome.aspx (last visited Jan. 22, 2009) and can be searched based on jurisdiction or based on other criteria, such as whether the agreement covers goods or services and the year it came into force. It contains all the notifications about RTAs, links to the contents of such agreements, legal provisions, and information on the WTO's assessments of the agreements. In addition, there are downloadable tables of all RTAs currently in effect. The database's establishment fulfills a requirement of the Transparency Decision on RTAs of the WTO General Counsel. For agreements for which the WTO has prepared a "Factual Presentation" or a "Factual Abstract," the database may also contain information about the timetable established by the RTA for the reduction of tariffs, the status of the trade in goods and services between the parties to the RTA at the time that the RTA enters into force, or key provisions of the RTA and links to brief discussions of these provisions. (Press Release, WTO, WTO Launches New Database on Regional Trade Agreements (Jan. 14, 2009), available at http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/pres09_e/pr548_e.htm.)
- Author: Constance Johnson
- Topic: Treaties and Agreements
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- Jurisdiction: World Trade Organization
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Mali: Trafficking in Persons - Proposal to Raise Marriage Age May Help Counter Trafficking in Girls
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(Jan. 28, 2009) According to the United Nations, Niger is the country with the highest incidence in the world of early marriages, with many married by age 12 and 80 percent married before age 18. (Niger: Early Marriage – From Rural Custom to Urban Business, IRIN, Jan. 16, 2009, available at http://allafrica.com/stories/200901160644.html.) The current minimum age at which it is legal for a girl in Niger to marry is 15; a proposal has been made to raise that to 18. The proposal is motivated in part by a desire to check trafficking in young girls.
What was once a village custom has become a cross-border business that ends in abuse, according to Action Against the Use of Child Workers (AFETEN), a local non-profit organization. AFETEN points out that early, forced marriages had long been found in traditional areas of southern Niger, but since the 1990s families in the extremely poor, northern region of the country have been "selling" their daughters for marriage to men from across the borders. According to Moutari Mamane, AFETEN's regional coordinator, the rate of such transactions has increased recently. Mamane added:
Poverty is at the root of the problem, families are worse off now, with the food crisis and everything. These marriages are like sales, trafficking. It's a form of prostitution. … Parents don't realise what their daughter can go through in the country she is sent to … All too often, they fall prey to sexual exploitation, violence and all kinds of mistreatment. (Id.)
Judge Seyna Saidou of Agadez, Niger, has expressed doubt that even changing the legal marriage age will have much impact. "The problem with marriage in Niger is that it's governed by customs, which allow parents to marry their girls to whomever they want and at any age." (Id.)
Mamane has said that AFETEN is working with traditional chiefs and imams, as well as with human rights groups, "to show how serious this issue is. It's commercial exploitation of children and we need to fight for it to stop." (Id.)
- Author: Constance Johnson
- Topic: Trafficking in Persons
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- Jurisdiction: Mali
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