Academic literature on the topic 'Financial services industry – Law and legislation – European Union countries'

Ukraine, choosing its strategic course of integration into the European Union, took the time to accelerate the reform of various spheres of socio-political and economic life of the country, in particular, the sphere of tourism services, transforming it into the standards of the European Union. The world-wide experience of progressive management gives tourism the first place among other sectors of the economy in terms of exports of goods and services. In conditions of development of the Ukrainian state, tourism becomes an effective means of forming a market mechanism of management, the receipt of significant funds to the state budget, one of the forms of rational use of free time, conducting meaningful leisure, studying the history of the native land, attracting the general population to the knowledge of the historical and cultural heritage. Current experience and scientific research show that accelerated development of rural green tourism can play the role of a catalyst for structural adjustment of the economy, provide demographic stability and solve urgent socio-economic problems in rural areas. It is important for Ukraine to overcome the gap in this area and realize the existing rich tourism potential through an elaborate policy of state regulation, including at the regional level. One of the reasons for the rapid development of rural green tourism in Europe is the crisis in the agricultural sector. Today, the process of productivity and automation of agriculture leads to jobs reduction. In fact, in many rural regions of Europe, agriculture has ceased to be the most important form of land use and the most important activity of the rural community. The rural green tourism is closely linked with other types of tourism, primarily with recreational, cultural, specialized tourism types – relief, gastronomy, ethno-tourism, etc. All this allows rural tourism to be included in combined tours, increasing the demand for a traditional tourist product. The rural green tourism in Ukraine is a holiday of the inhabitants of the city in the countryside in guest rooms created by a village family on the basis of its own residential house and private plot. As entrepreneurial activity, rural green tourism develops rather heterogeneously in different regions of Ukraine. Systematization of motivational interests of the rural green tourism activation in the regions of Ukraine showed that the dominant motives for diversification of activities in agricultural sector in the current conditions of rural areas development are: increase of incomes of rural population and increase of employment level, the possibility of diversification of income sources of peasants, significant investments and additional training, opportunities for self-realization of rural inhabitants. Priority directions of development of green tourism in these regions in the near future should be: reception and accommodation of tourists; rental of tourist equipment; production and sale of tourist goods of folk crafts; provision of tourist services (bicycle, gastronomy, agrotourism, cultural and historical tourism, organization of recreational recreation, mountain and ecological tourism); organization of tasting and culinary excursions; active development of the hotel business, camping (construction of agricultural cottages, fishing houses, farmhouses, horse farms); organization of historical and ethnographic events; distribution of religious tours; providing a complex of widely distributed services (fishing, hunting, picking berries and mushrooms, medicinal plants, etc.); development and popularization of water sports (kiting, windsurfing). The research of the current conditions for the development of green tourism in the regions of Ukraine allowed to outline the area of the key problems that hinder the active expansion of this type of activity: - disorderly legislation on key aspects of tourism business regulation in rural areas; lack of a law regulating this type of activity; - low level of development of the infrastructure of the market of green tourism services and social infrastructure of the village; - outdated stereotypes of rural residents, which hinder the active development of the newest types of tourism industry, the pronounced unsystematic and irregular nature of services; - absence of state programs supporting development of green tourism and limited amount of their financial, consulting and information-marketing support; - low level of informatization and popularization of green tourism in the regions of Ukraine among the population of European countries; - lack of political stability and social tension in society, deterioration of the world image of Ukraine. Thus, Ukraine has a rather powerful potential for the development of green tourism as an alternative type of agribusiness in the regions of Ukraine. In the context of modern economic conditions, solving key problems of development of green tourism forms the fundamental framework for addressing the most important socio-economic issues of rural areas: overcoming unemployment, promoting employment, raising incomes and quality of life for rural inhabitants.

The article is devoted to a new method of out-of-court dispute resolution for domestic law – the institution of financial ombudsman. The article explores the history of the institution; based on the analysis of the Federal Law of 4 June 2018 No. 123-ФЗ “On the Commissioner for the Rights of Consumers of Financial Services”, the author identified problems of the functioning of this institution in the Russian Federation (the absence in Russian legislation of the purpose of the financial ombudsman, the introduction of mandatory pre-trial settlement of the dispute by the financial ombudsman, the absence of the financial ombudsman’s right to reduce the amount of the penalty, the absence of the right to recover a fine in case of violation of the rights of a consumer of financial services, etc.), and also suggested ways to solve them. As possible vectors for the development of the institution under study, the researchers propose to expand the concept of a conflict of interest, establishing the same grounds for challenging a financial commissioner, which are established by civil procedural legislation for challenging a judge. And also, provide the financial ombudsman with the right to reduce the penalty charged to the financial organization, and provide the financial ombudsman with the right to collect a fine from the financial organization.

This paper aims to present the level of harmonization of investment services in relation to the European investment funds’ market. The author, in an attempt to systematize different types of investment services in Europe, refers to the European Freedoms and presents the key reasons for the harmonization of investment services. An important part of the study is to present the role of investment funds in the financial sector, as well as the crucial benefits of participation in the funds. By using the method of analysis of the sources, the author makes a review of the European regulations on investment funds, both the law and the recommendations of regulators. From the perspective of recent legislation changes the study highlights their possible implications, especially for less developed countries of the European Union. Complementing the current picture of harmonization the author, by referring to the substantial transformation of the common market of the European Union in 2004, makes review of dynamics of this sector, based on basic statistics. What is worth paying attention in this context is that there is still a slight share of the newly acceding countries. Verification of accuracy of the author’s observations may become the subject of wider discussion on the harmonization of financial services in this area, taking into account time necessary to assess the impact of European regulations currently being implemented.

AbstractAfter the financial crisis of 2008, the European Union (‘EU’) not only increased its substantial legislation regarding financial services, but also built up a strong and unified system of financial market supervision. In particular, central surveillance authorities were created. These were given far-reaching competences with regard to substituting dysfunctional national authorities or players in the financial services sector. The three European Economic Area (‘EEA’) and European Free Trade Association (‘EFTA’) States—Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway—participate in the EU's internal market through their membership of the EEA. In order to continue participating on an equal footing in the internal market for financial services and to honour their duty to maintain homogeneity, the EEA EFTA States also had to incorporate the new institutional setup regarding financial services supervision. This obligation, however, in particular relating to certain intrusive powers of the new surveillance authorities, collided with some constitutional reservations, above all of the two Nordic EEA EFTA States. This article will show how these conflicting aims could be merged into a system that on the one hand guarantees the unified overall approach needed for strengthened surveillance of the internal market for financial services, and on the other hand safeguards certain constitutional reservations of the EEA EFTA States. It also looks at how third countries that do not (fully) participate in the internal market, such as the United Kingdom and Switzerland, are likely to be treated in this context by the EU.

The study analyses tax law regulations in force in Poland and in selected European Union countries which may influence attitudes of entrepreneurs (taxpayers) in taking actions aimed at preventing food waste. This analysis demonstrates that all countries investigated in this study have made attempts to develop and implement various measures to combat the problem of food waste. At the same time, it is worth noting that properly constructed tax preferences are an important factor in preventing food waste, which is part of the sustainable development strategy implemented by European Union countries. In this respect, actions must be long-term and they should be based on various legal measures. Further changes in this area will be determined by some key factors. These include the need to use tax law regulations or to determine economic and social trends. Directions of activities of the state, local government and non-governmental organizations for counteracting food waste will also set course for these changes. Achieving sustainable development also at the stage of using food already produced should be based on optimization of all related processes, and thus also financial (mainly tax) processes. Therefore, attention should be paid in particular to the tax legislation in force in Poland and in selected European Union countries, i.e. the Act on tax on goods and services and the Act on corporate income tax.

Nowadays, the law is being transformed as a regulator of relations. The idea of strengthe-ning the regulatory role of technologies in the field of streamlining public relations is making much headway in the world. This trend is most pronounced in the area of regulation of private relations. The way of such access to the market as crowdfunding is becoming increasingly widespread. The issuing of the so-called secured tokens is becoming popular for both small businesses and private investors. The trust in new ways of attracting investments is condi-tioned by the applied technology - the use of blockchain as a decentralized transparent data-base management system. Under these conditions, there is such a phenomenon as the democ-ratization of property relations. Every individual receives unlimited opportunities to invest via technologies. Thus, legal scholars all over the world face the question about the role of the law and law in these relations? We believe that we are dealing with such a worldwide trend of regulating public relations as the socialization of the law. Specific examples of issuing tokens in Russia and abroad show the main global trends in the transformation of private law. The platformization of economics leads to the tokenization and democratization of property relations. In this aspect, the aim of lawyers should be to create a comfortable legal environment for the implementation of projects aimed at democratizing property relations in Russia. The socialization of private law is aimed at achieving social jus-tice and is manifested in the creation of mechanisms to protect the rights of the weak party and rules to protect private investors. Globalization requires the study of both Russian and foreign law. To confirm their hypothesis, the authors conducted a detailed analysis of the legislation of Russia, Europe and the United States to identify the norms allowing to see the process of socialization of law in the above field. The generalization of Russian and foreign experience showed that when searching for proper legal regulation, the states elect one of the policies. In some countries, direct regulation of ICOs and related emission relations are being created, in others, it is about the extension of the existing legislation to a new changing tokenization relationship. The European Union countries are seeking to develop common rules to create a regulatory environment to attract investors to the crypto industry and protect them. Asian countries are predominantly developing national legislation in isolation from one another, but most of them are following a unified course to encourage investment in crypto assets while introducing strict rules against fraud on financial markets. The emphasis on the protection of the rights of investors or shareholders, token holders by setting a framework, including private law mechanisms, can be called common to all approaches. This is the aim of private law on the way to social justice.

Abstract The term “Islamic banking” denotes the banking services in compliance with Islamic law and is nowadays a rapidly expanding, global industry based on a traditional fourteen centuries old legal system. The European market is witnessing growing Shari’acompliant assets especially in the last few years and even non-Muslim countries have been trying to find legal solutions to accomodate Islamic financial institutions. This new academic and business field is raising important issues that merit discussion and this text serves as a contribution to the debate. In the paper I am trying to depict the key and distinguishing features of the Islamic banking model and reflect its law regulation from the point of view of the Czech legislation in the light of the continuing growth and expansion of Islamic banking and finance. The main objective of this article is to find out whether the legal framework of the Czech Republic covers the practice of Islamic finance and also to consider and identify potential legal obstacles.

Banking has gained a new dimension throughout the world in the last few decades due to the integration of global financial markets, the development of new technologies, the universalization of banking operations and diversification into non-banking activities. The merging of various financial services has provided synergies in the banks' operations and development of new concepts. One of these concepts is bank insurance (or banc assurance). Banc assurance, as an emerging distribution channel of insurance, essentially is defined as mediation of banks in the sale of insurance policies issued by insurance companies that are most often used as additional collateral for banks when giving loans to their clients, while the clients with the purchase of credit insurance through banks are secure in case of inability to pay off the loan due to occurrence of the insured risk, whereby the insurer covers the remaining debt of the client towards the bank. Banc assurance is much more developed in Western European countries, but in recent years this type of insurance has noted a trend of growth in the less developed countries also. Banks in the Republic of Macedonia, as well as banks in other countries in the region, try to encourage the development of banc assurance, but it still has a low level of growth in comparison with the European Union member states. This paper presents the level of development of banc assurance as well as its share in the insurance market in the Republic of Macedonia by analyzing the annual reports of the Insurance Supervision Agency of the Republic of Macedonia for the past few years. Consequently, an appropriate comparison was made between the realized values of the gross written premium of the banks as intermediaries in insurance with the realized values of the gross written premium of the other insurance intermediaries (insurance brokerage companies and insurance agencies); and a brief comparison was made with the share of banc assurance in the insurance markets in several countries in the region. The purpose of the paper is to determine the reasons for the situation in which the banc assurance in the Republic of Macedonia is, to analyze the need and the possibility for its development, as well as to determine the manners for banc assurance to reach the level of development in the member states of the European Union as soon as possible. For this purpose, an adequate analysis of the level of implementation of the European Directives for banc assurance (such as the Directive on Insurance Mediation and the Directive on Insurance Distribution) in the legal framework of the Republic of Macedonia has been carried out, as well as analysis of the national legislation regulating banc assurance in the Republic of Macedonia, covered in couple of provisions in the Law on Banks and the Law on Insurance Supervision.

The article examines the European experience of considering disputes in the field of social security, the ways of their prevention, the essence and methods of resolution, the possibility of borrowing positive assets of foreign states in the law enforcement practice of Ukraine is considered. Having analyzed the European experience of resolving disputes in the field of social security, three ways of their possible settlement are distinguished: 1) with the help of special courts on social security issues (sectoral justice); 2) through a civil process in general courts; 3) by means of conciliation and arbitration procedures. It was determined that a social model has developed in European countries, which is based on such values ​​common to all EU member states, such as: a close connection between the level of economic development and social progress; high level of social security, which is universal in nature; developed legislation; equal opportunities and fight against discrimination; production democracy; dialogue of social partners within the framework of contractual relations; availability of developed social infrastructure; the key role of the state in solving social problems; the struggle for employment and eradication of the phenomenon of social rejection and poverty; decent salary; social justice and solidarity in society. These basic values ​​also formed the basis of consideration and resolution of disputes in the field of social security. The listed values ​​should form the foundation of the Ukrainian theory and practice of social disputes. It was determined that the national specifics and practice of each European state provide for the use of various methods of resolving social disputes with recourse to social courts, reconciliation services, mediation, arbitration and mediation. The activity of social courts is based on the principles of tripartite cooperation (tripartism). Court cases are considered by a panel consisting of a professional judge and two non-professional judges. In addition, state mediation and mediation are effective measures for the pre-trial resolution of social disputes in the EU countries. They contribute to the relief of the judicial system, saving time and financial resources of the parties to the dispute. These institutions are little known for Ukraine and, at the same time, promising.

The purpose of this article is to analyze and rate ideas related to functioning of the public procurement system, in particular the so called “green orders”, in terms of its impact on the development of eco-innovative solutions in the construction industry. The public procurement system, due to its obligatory character for many business entities and significant value, establishes the directions of development for many industries, especially the construction industry. The pace of technological progress accomplished after Poland’s accession to the European Union and competing on the global market requires constant implementation of innovative solutions. Public procurement also amplifies the demand for ecological goods and services from public institutions, being one of the most effective instruments of implementing such solutions. The European Union has issued a number of directives, decrees and communiques governing the rules, capabilities and desired range of applying ecological criteria of conferring public procurement. The essay outlines the current situation of ecological public procurement and provides practical examples of creating innovative and sustainable growth, based on the construction industry. Construction significantly drives the economy, which vulnerable to crises and turbulence. Green public procurement, together with ecological innovations, can positively impact the development and stabilization of the industry, due to its orientation towards sustainable growth. Experience drawn from other, particularly Western European, countries, such as Germany, Austria and Scandinavian countries, which have a high level of energy efficient and passive constructions based on ecological innovations thanks to research and implementations performed by various institutions and government grants, is a significant benchmark for Poland and the only way of reducing construction costs, which could comply with the EU directive in the near future. It seems that both researchers and practitioners appreciate the West European line of work, as institutions and initiatives towards implementing sustained construction are being created in Poland. These include, among others: operations of the Polish Institute of Passive Building in Gdansk or Center for Energy Efficient Buildings in Lesser Poland, in Kraków. Referring to Western European experience, the solution lies in developing our own research facilities, institutions testing and implementing new, native (ie. less expensive) and innovative technological and material solutions. Cooperation and skill sharing between researchers and practitioners, such as architects, constructors, producers and developers is necessary, as are initiatives towards training staff qualified in building such houses and constructing appropriate equipment on a high school level. The practical examples of Lesser Polish public finance units outlined in this article denote the existence of ideas and willingness to create new solutions among the Polish engineering staff. These initiatives, however, require sufficient financial support and research facilities, which can be achieved thanks to the current implementation of a new public procurement law, increasing the role of sustainable procurement. Furthermore, public investor awareness is increasing in the range of introducing sustained development rules, especially in the utilization of green procurement in the building sector, as evidenced by public facilities constructed in the passive and energy efficient standard.

Defence date: 9 March 2009
Examining Board: Prof. Gráinne De Búrca, EUI- Fordham Law School- Harvard Law School (Supervisor); Prof. Marise Cremona, EUI (Internal Advisor); Prof. Takis Tridimas, Financial Law Unit, Queen Mary, University of London; Prof. Niamh Moloney, London School of Economics and Political Science- Financial Markets Group, University of London
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
Financial markets help allocate capital efficiently across the economy, thereby boosting economic growth- hence the salience of the creation of a single market in financial services within the EU single market project. Nevertheless, despite the EU's financial regulatory programme, it appears that a fully-fledged single European financial market is yet to be achieved. According to some, the substantive context of EU financial regulation is partially to account for this failure. More recently, though, both in policy and academic circles, the focus has been shifting towards the governance of EU financial law. Within this context, this thesis analyses the institutional arrangements for EU financial market regulation and supervision - crystallized in the so-called Lamfalussy framework- and explores the potential and problems of the prospect of institutional consolidation (in the form of one or more EU financial authorities) as an alternative to that framework. The debate, which seemed to have subsided in recent years, is now again coming to the fore, in light of the ongoing international financial crisis. This evidences the close relationship between substance and governance: the quality of rules ultimately depends both on the input that produced them, as well as -if not more- on the quality of the implementation, application and enforcement of the rules. This discussion on the future of EU financial governance is undertaken in two parts. The thesis examines firstly the interaction of 'classical' financial law aims (achieving efficient and stable financial markets) with 'integrationist' aims (the commitment to create a single European financial market, as a response to growing international competition). The thesis then situates the institutional question within the broader context of the EU public law framework in a more deliberate and systematic way than has hitherto been done in the existing scholarly literature. The result is an argument in favour of institutional consolidation in the EU financial sector, with an emphasis on supervision. The case of the US SEC, whose success is arguably based on its enforcement function, is used to illustrate that institutional consolidation is not synonymous with 'one size fits all' solutions, but that flexibility can be incorporated in an authority's regulatory tools. To be sure, further discussion is necessary in order to achieve this balance; but the thesis argues that we do better to focus on the details of the 'how' best to design such institutions, rather than on omphaloskeptical questions of 'whether' they are needed. Indeed, at a closer look, arguments against this approach rarely dispute the need itself for some institutional consolidation, but rather point to the difficulties in its design.

Defence date: 05 September 2017
Examining Board: Prof. Hans-W. Micklitz (EUI Supervisor); Prof. Giorgio Monti, European University Institute; Prof. Mads Andenas, University of Oslo; Prof. Takis Tridimas, King’s College London
The thesis examines the role of private law and private enforcement in the post crisis EU retail financial markets. Whilst private law and private enforcement have been traditionally regarded as 'foreign bodies' in EU financial regulation, the thesis argues that after the global financial crisis, private law and private enforcement, through courts and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms, have become essential tools to compensate retail clients against mis-selling and mitigate systemic risk. To substantiate this argument, the thesis analyzes how the national and EU supervisory authorities, ADRs and courts, in Italy, Spain, France and UK, have interpreted and enforced the EU investor protection regulation (conduct, product and disclosure rules) before and after the global financial crisis. This institutional and comparative analysis shows that the EU regulatory duties, via regulation, 'administrative rule-making', out-of-court dispute resolution and litigation, increasingly influence the interpretation of national private law (Europeanization) and determine its consequent instrumentalization to achieve a high level of investor protection and ensure the stability of the financial market. The thesis argues that this form of instrumentalization has led to the creation of private law remedies and procedures which, albeit based on national law, have become tools to ensure the effective protection of the EU-derived rights (hybridization). After the crisis, the process of hybridization is driven not only by the investor protection objective but also by the financial stability objective which can determine a limitation of the private law law rights and remedies of the investor vis-à-vis the financial firm in order to mitigate the systemic risk, arising, in particular, from vexatious litigation. The thesis discusses the complex relationship between the investor protection and the financial stability objectives of EU financial regulation and examines the extent financial stability concerns can lead to a limitation of the investors rights and remedies in financial disputes.

Supervisor: F. Snyder
Defence date: 6 March 1992
First made available online on 10 September 2013.
This research is an interdisciplinary approach to the EEC banking harmonization process. The methodology employed consists in focusing the subject from the legal, economic and political Science perspectives. Therefore, the underlying purpose of the research is to study the legal outcomes within their context. The research is subdivided in several parts. The first part is a legal approach to both the first and second Banking Directives as the cornerstones of the EEC banking harmonization process. The detailed analysis of both Directives from an EEC legal perspective is a condition precedent for the understanding of how is being shaped the Community Financial Policy. The Second Part is a political science approach to the role of interest within the EEC decision making process. More specifically, it is an attempt to show how banks can influence legislators for the achievement of their objectives. An additional study to this second part, is constituted by the analysis of the Community policies in consumer protection. This sector provides us with comparative information for an estimation of the importance of "interest” within the shaping of regulatory policies within the EEC. A socioeconomic approach to credit institutions strategies1 for the controlling of financial markets is the subject of the third part. Through the study of the United States current "deregulatory" trends, we show the interrelationship between the world financial markets. A second stage of this part connects the European context with the other representative world financial markets. Thus, similar behaviours can be remarked, which leads the author to the conclusion that neither national governments, nor the European Institutions are currently capable to regulate financial markets without a previous “consensus" with the financial institutions. The fourth part of the research consists in a critical approach to the institutional behaviour of the Community as regards policy-making for the achievement of an integrated financial market by 1992. This analysis shows that credit institutions, whose profits are greatly affected by public policy, have an extraordinary capacity to innovate and adapt, notably as a way of lawfully avoiding the effects of "public Controls”. Each of the four parts of the research used the same methodology. First, there is an introduction to establish the guidelines of the research approach to the subject. Secondly, there is a detailed analysis of the main issues constituting the field of the study. Thirdly, we draw some conclusions from the research.

The thesis deals with the emergence of bank and non-bank entities that provide a range of unique transaction-based payment services broadly called Mobile Financial Services (MFS) to unbanked, underserved and underbanked persons via mobile phones. Models of MFS from Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), banks, combinations of MNOs and banks, and independent Mobile Financial Services Providers are covered. Provision by non-banks of ‘bank-type’ services via mobile phones has been termed ‘transformational banking’ versus the ‘additive banking’ services from banks. All involve the concept of ‘branchless banking’ whereby ‘cash-in/cash out’ services are provided through ‘agents.’ Funds for MFS payments may available through a Stored Value Product (SVP), particularly through a Stored Value Account SVP variant offered by MNOs where value is stored as a redeemable fiat- or mobile ‘airtime’-based Store of Value. The competitive, legal, technical and regulatory nature of non-bank versus bank MFS models is discussed, in particular the impact of banking, payments, money laundering, telecommunications, e-commerce and consumer protection laws. Whether funding mechanisms for SVPs may amount to deposit-taking such that entities could be engaged in the ‘business of banking’ is discussed. The continued use of ‘deposit’ as the traditional trigger for the ‘business of banking’ is investigated, alongside whether transaction and paymentcentric MFS rises to the ‘business of banking.’ An extensive evaluation of ‘money’ based on the Orthodox and Claim School economic theories is undertaken in relation to SVPs used in MFS, their legal associations and import, and whether they may be deemed ‘money’ in law. Consumer protection for MFS and payments generally through current statute, contract, and payment law and common law condictiones are found to be wanting. Possible regulatory arbitrage in relation to MFS in South African law is discussed. The legal and regulatory regimes in the European Union, Kenya and the United States of America are compared with South Africa. The need for a coordinated payments-specific law that has consumer protections, enables proportional risk-based licensing of new non-bank providers of MFS, and allows for a regulator for retail payments is recommended. The use of trust companies and trust accounts is recommended for protection of user funds. | vi
Public, Constitutional and International Law
LLD