Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Multiculturalism – Law and legislation – Germany'

This paper investigated how the law of industrial action is shaped in South Africa and in Germany, which specific problems occur in South Africa and Germany, and how the different legal systems solve these problems. It also compared the different legal approaches of these two countries.

Culpable homicide is the unlawful negligent killing of a fellow human being. As such it is in many respects a 'residual' crime being the verdict prosecutors may expect when they are unable to prove the intention to kill when prosecuting for murder. A feature of this was that in the past when defences such as, for instance, intoxication or provocation were raised at murder trials, convictions of culpable homicide were almost automatic. In recent years, under the influence of the 'purist' current in our Criminal law, intoxication has become a defence to culpable homicide and provocation resulting in loss of self-control has also become a defence to culpable homicide. These developments are unacceptable to some writers on criminal law and a move away from the purist approach to the 'traditional' or pragmatic approach is to be expected. Greater emphasis will be placed on practical results than on the achievement of logical consistency. This could result in the law of culpable homicide becoming more socially effective than it is at present.

Thesis (LLD)--Stellenbosch University, 2000.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation is an attempt at reconciling the existing (and until recently predominant) private law concept of ownership and the property rights espoused by the new constitutional order. The attempts at land reform in South Africa and Germany are used as specifie examples of the manner in which the whole property law order in both these legal systems is developed through legislative and judicial initiative, on the basis of the constitutional provisions concerning property protection and regulation. The purpose of the investigation is to determine to what extent constitutional development of the private law of property will result in a property law order serving the socio-economic and political goals of economic growth and self-fulfilment and empowerment of the individual. Focus is placed on the influence of the constitutional protection and regulation of property as a mechanism for developing the private law of ownership in Germany and South Africa. In the first part of the exposition, the choice of legal comparison as course of inquiry is substantiated, and the terminological difficulties connected with an investigation into the development of the private law of property by the constitutional protection and regulation of property are discussed. Attention is given to the use of the terms "ownership" and "property" in the private law and in the constitutional context. The term "tenure" is also discussed in the context of land reform in South Africa. Further, the usc of terms such as "public interest", "common weal" and "public purposes" is discussed. The use of these terms are particularly complicated by the fact that each of them are often used in more than one sense, and that the use of these di fferent terms overlap to varying extents. The second part of the exposition contains information on the background of the constitutional property orders as they arc found in Germany and South Africa. The drafting histories of the South African and German constitutional property clauses indicate that in both these legal systems, the constitutional property clauses have hybrid ideological foundations. Both contain a compromise between, on the one hand, classical liberalism (which affords the holders of rights a high degree of individual freedom and autonomy) and, on the other hand, social democracy (which allow stronger regulatory measures, also upon private properly). Further, some of the structural aspects connected to constitutional protection and regulation of property in Germany and South Africa are discussed. The positively phrased property guarantee in art 14 GG is compared with the negatively phrased "guarantee" of s 25 Fe, whereby the transitional property guarantee in s 28 JC is also considered. Further, the basic structure and stages of an inquiry into the constitutional property clause are discussed, with reference to differences between the German and South African methods. These differences are not of such a nature that it excludes further comparison. Ilowever, it is necessary to keep the differences in the judicial system in mind when conducting a comparison of the present nature. Therefore, a brief overview of the judicial systems of Germany and South Africa is provided, with specific reference to the manner in which the courts resolved certain property questions. The principles underlying the constitutional orders of Germany and South Africa are also discussed with specific reference to their significance for the treatment of property issues. In particular, the meaning of the constitutional state (Rechtsstaat) and the social wei fare state (Sozialstaat) for the solution of problems connected to property is discussed. It is indicated that the legitimacy of the legal order in general and property law in particular, depends on the degree of success in the implementation of these values. Further, it is indicated that the implementation of these values also determines the importance of private property and/or regulation thereof in a specific legal system. In the third part of the exposition, the relevance of the constitutional protection and regulation for the private law of ownership is discussed. The expansion of the concept of property by the application of a "purely" constitutional definition thereof raises the question as to the continued relevance of the private law concept of ownership. This issue is discussed with reference to the protection of property in terms of the constitution in comparison with the scope of property in private law. It is indicated that the "exclusively constitutional" concept of property is by no means based only on Constitutional law. The role of the private law concept of ownership in a constitutional order is then elucidated. The discussion then turns to an analysis of the limitations on property endorsed by the constitutional order. Two main kinds of limitation are possible: (i) limitation of property through vertical operation of the constitution (ie a broad category of legislative and administrative deprivation (regulation), and a more specialised category, namely expropriations), and (ii) limitation through horizontal operation of the constitution (ie through the inroads allowed on property rights by the protection of other rights in the Bill of Rights). It is indicated that the application of the public interest / public purposes requirements are sometimes intended to protect individual interest above those of society in general. In other cases, the public interest / public purposes requirement is aimed at securing the interests of the society at large. Further, it is indicated that the purpose of constitutional "interference" in the area of private property law is to correct imbalances in the relations among private persons which are regarded by the law as "equals," even if they are not equal for all practical purposes. The fourth part of the exposition concentrates on the land reform programmes in Germany (after the reunification of 1990) and South Africa (since 1991) in order to analyse the attempts by the legislature and judiciary to give effect to the improved property order as anticipated by constitutional development of property. In both Germany and South Africa political changes made land reform programmes essential: In South Africa the land reform programme was introduced to reverse the injustices created by colonialism and apartheid. A tripartite programme is employed for this purpose. The new kinds of land rights created through this system of land reform are indicated. The manner in which this body of law is treated by the courts is also analysed with reference to its relevance for the development of Property Law in general. In Germany a property and land reform programme became necessary with the reunification. On the one hand, the socialist property order in the former GDR had to be replaced by the property order already existing in the FGR, and on the other hand the individual claims for restitution of the land and enterprises taken by the GDR state or its Soviet predecessor had to be balanced against the claims that present occupiers of such land have to it. The influence of legislation and litigation connected to these issues on the development of Property Law is discussed. The final part of the exposition is a summary of the conclusions drawn during the course of the analysis.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In 'n poging om in hierdie uiteensetting die bestaande (en tot onlangs nog oorheersende) privaatregtelike begrip "eiendom" te versoen met die breër eiendomsbegrip wat deur die nuwe grondwetlike bestel gepropageer word, word die grondhervormingsprogramme in Suid Afrika en Duitsland gebruik as voorbeelde van die wyse waarop die bestaande Eiendomsreg in beide regsisteme deur die wetgewer en die howe ontwikkel word. Die doel van die ondersoek is om vas te stel tot watter mate die grondwetlike ontwikkeling van privaatregtelike Eiendomsreg sal bydra tot die totstandkoming van 'n eiendomsregtelike regsorde waarin die sosio-ekonomiese en politieke doelwitte van ekonomiese groei en die vrye ontwikkeling en bemagtiging van die individu gedien word. Die klem word geplaas op die grondwetlike beskerming en regulering van eiendom as 'n meganisme waardeur die privaatregtelike Eiendomsreg in Duitsland en Suid- Afrika ontwikkel kan word. Die eerste deel van die uiteensetting begrond die keuse van regsvergelying as metode van analise en bespreek die terminologiese probleme wat in 'n ondersoek na die grondwetlike ontwikkeling van die privaatregtelike eiendomsreg kan opduik. Aandag word gegee aan die gebruik van begrippe wat verband hou met eiendom en publieke belang in sowel die privaatreg as in die grondwetlike konteks. Die gebruik van verskillende terme, veral in Engels, kan problematies wees, en daarom word dit breedvoeriger bespreek. In die tweede deel van die uiteensetting word die agtergrond waarteen die grondwetlike bestelle van Duitsland en Suid-Afrika funksioneer, bespreek: Eers word die formulering van die eiendomsklousules in Suid-Afrika en Duitsland vanuit 'n historiese perspektief ondersoek. In beide regsisteme is die grondwetlike eiendomsklousules op 'n kompromis tussen verskillende ideologieë gebaseer. Enersyds op klassieke liberalisme, in terme waarvan eienaars en ander reghebbendes 'n hoë mate van individuele vryheid en outonomie toegeken word; andersyds op sosiaal-demokratiese denke, in terme waarvan strenger regulerende maatreëls (ook op privaat eiendom) geduld moet word. Dan word sommige van die strukturele aspekte verbonde aan die grondwetlike beskerming en regulering van eiendom in Duitsland en Suid-Afrika bespreek. Die positief geformuleerde eiendomswaarborg in art 14 GG word vergelyk met die negatiewe formulering in art 25 FG en die positiewe waarborg in art 28 lG. Verder word die basiese struktuur en fases van 'n grondwetlike ondersoek in die beskerming en regulering van eiendom bespreek, met spesifieke verwysing na die verskille in die Duitse en Suid-Afrikaanse benaderings. Hierdie verskille is nie van so 'n aard dat dit regsvergelyking kortwiek nie. Nogtans is dit noodsaaklik dat die benaderingsverskille in ag geneem word vir 'n meer diepgaande vergelyking. Daarom word 'n vlugtige oorsig oor die rol van die howe in die hantering van eiendomsvraagstukke in grondwetlike konteks verskaf. Verder word die beginsels onderliggend aan die grondwetlike bestelle in Duitsland en Suid-Afrika bespreek met spesifieke verwysing na die betekenis daarvan vir die beskerming en regulering van eiendom. Daar word veral klem gelê op die regstaat- en sosiaalstaatbeginsels. Die legitimi teit van die regsorde in die algemeen, en meer spesifiek die Eiendomsreg, hang af van die mate van sukses waarmee hierdie beginsels in die gemeenskap geïmplementeer word. Daar word verder aangedui dat die toepassing van hierdie beginsels die mate van individuele vryheid in die uitoefening van eiendomsreg en/of die graad van regulering van eiendomsreg in 'n bepaalde regstelsel bepaal. Die derde deel van die uiteensetting konsentreer op die betekenis van die grondwetlike beskerming en regulering van eiendom vir die privaatregtelike Eiendomsreg. Die uitgebreide eiendomsbegrip wat in die grondwetlike konteks aangewend word, gee aanleiding tot die vraag na die sin van 'n voortgesette enger eiendomsbegrip in die privaatreg. Hierdie kwessie word bespreek met verwysing na die beskerming van eiendom in terme van die grondwet, en word vergelyk met die omvang van die eiendomsbegrip in die privaatreg. Daar word aangedui dat die sogenaamde uitsluitlik grondwetlike eiendomsbegrip geensins eksklusief aan die Grondwetlike Reg is nie. Die rol van die privaatregtelike eiendomsbegrip in 'n grondwetlike bestel word vervolgens uiteengesit. Verder word die beperkings op eiendom in die grondwetlike konteks geanaliseer. In beginsel is twee soorte beperkings regverdigbaar: (i) Beperking van eiendomsreg deur die vertikale aanwending van die grondwet, dit wil sê deur die breër kategorie wetgewende en administratiewe ontnemings (regulerings) van eiendomsreg en deur 'n enger en meer spesifieke kategorie, naamlik onteiening; en (ii) beperking van eiendomsreg deur horisontale aanwending van die grondwet, dit wil sê deur die inbreuk op eiendomsregte wat toegelaat word as gevolg van die uitwerking van die beskerming van ander regte in die Handves vir Menseregte. Daar word aangedui dat die vereiste van publieke belang in twee teenoorstaande opsigte gebruik word: Enersyds om die individuele belang bo dié van die gemeenskap te stel, en andersyds om die gemeenskap se belange as sulks te beskerm. Daar word ook aangedui dat grondwetlike "inmenging" met privaatregtelike eiendomsreg daarop gemik is om ongebalanseerdhede in die regsverhoudings tussen persone wat deur die reg as "gelykes" bejeën word en in effek nie gelyk is nie, uit te skakel. In die vierde deel van die uiteensetting word die grondhervormingsprogramrne in Duitsland (sedert hervereniging in 1990) en Suid-Afrika (sedert 1991) bespreek. Die klem val op die pogings van die wetgewer en howe om die verbeterde eiendomsbestel, soos wat dit in die grondwet in die vooruitsig gestel word, te konkretiseer. In beide regstelsels het politieke veranderinge 'n grondhervormingsprogram onontbeerlik gemaak: Die grondhervormingsprogram in Suid-Afrika het ten doelom die ongeregtighede in die grondbesitstelsel wat ontstaan het as gevolg van kolonialisme en apartheid uit te skakel. Vir dié doel berus die grondhervormingsprogram op drie verwante, maar uiteenlopende, beginsels. Die nuwe vorme van grondregte wat uit hierdie sisteem ontstaan, word aangedui, en die wyse waarop hierdie deel van die reg deur die howe hanteer word, word bespreek met verwysing na die betekenis daarvan vir die ontwikkeling van die Eiendomsreg. In Duitsland is die noodwendigheid van 'n grondhervormingsprogram aan die hervereniging van die DDR en die BRD gekoppel. Die sosialisties-georienteerde eiendomsbestel wat in die "oostelike" deel van Duitsland aanwending gevind het, moes vervang word deur die bestel wat reeds in die "westelike" deel van die "nuwe" staat in werking was. Verder moet die grondeise van persone wat grond of besigheidseiendom verloor het gedurende die sosialistiese regeringstyd en die voorafgaande Sowjetiese besetting, opgeweeg word teen die aansprake wat huidige besitters op sulke grond het. Die invloed van wetgewing en regspraak hieroor op die Eiendomsreg word geanaliseer. Die laaste deel van die uiteensetting bevat 'n samevatting van die gevolgtrekkings wat deur die loop van die analise gemaak is.

Thesis (LLM)--Stellenbosch University, 2004
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis deals with the criminal liability of Internet providers. The focus is on Germany, but the analysis is put in a wider, comparative context. This is done with reference to South Africa, as well as Europe and the American system. This thesis demonstrates and discusses the existing legal norms to regulate Internet provider liability for illegal content on the Internet and the international efforts to deal with this issue. In the introduction it is shown how the Internet has given rise to a new form of global communication and the accompanying legal problems. This is followed by an examination of the different functions Internet providers have. A survey of some of the important crimes affecting the Internet and also some Internet-specific offences put the more general issue of liability in a more specific context. Traditional and new forms of crimes are discussed. This section is followed by an analysis of Internet provider liability under German criminal law and Germany's Teleservices Act. From an international criminal law perspective some international instruments, like the Cybercrime Convention of the Council of Europe, is discussed. National legislation, especially in the context of the European Union, must always be put in the proper regional and international context. The thesis concludes with some thoughts on alternative, or perhaps complementary, methods to fight illegal and criminal conduct on the Internet. This is done not as a critique of the responses to Internet crime, but rather to strengthen the many hands trying to reduce Internet crime.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis handeloor die strafregtelike aanspreekliheid van Internet diensverskaffers. Die fokus val op Duitsland, maar die analise word ook geplaas in 'n wyer, vergelykende konteks. Dit word gedoen met verwysing na Suid-Afrika, sowel as Europa en die VSA. Die tesis demonstreer en bespreek die bestaande regsnorme wat Internet diensverskaffers reguleer met spesifieke verwysing na aanspreeklikheid vir onwettige inhoud op die Internet en internasionale pogings om hierdie probleem aan te spreek. Ter inleiding word daar aangetoon hoe die Internet aanleiding gee tot nuwe vorme van globale kommunikasie en die regsprobleme wat dit tot gevolg het. Dit word gevolg deur 'n ondersoek na die verskillende funksies van Internet verskaffers. 'n Ontleding en bespreking van Internet-spesifieke misdrywe plaas die meer algemene vraagstuk in 'n meer gefokusde konteks. Tradisionele en nuwe vorme van misdaad word bespreek. Hierdie afdeling word gevolg deur 'n ontleding van Internet diensverskaffer aanspreeklikheid ingevolge Duitse reg en die Duitse wetgewing op die terrein van telediens. Uit 'n internasionale strafreg oogpunt word sekere internasionale instrumente, soos die Cybercrime Convention van die Raad van Europa, bespreek. Nasionale wetgewing, veral in die konteks van die Europese Unie, word ook in die relevante regionale en internasionale konteks geplaas. Die tesis word afgesluit met sekere gedagtes oor alternatiewe, of moontlik komplimentêre, metodes in die stryd teen Internet-kriminaliteit. Dit moet nie gesien word as kritiek op die huidige stand van sake nie, maar eerder as 'n poging om die talle rolspelers in die stryd teen Internet misdaad se hande te sterk.

Thesis (LLM)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis compares South African and German Competition Law. The focus is the control of mergers between newspaper enterprises. It has to be asked whether special rules should apply to transactions in this field, considering the importance of an unconcentrated, competitive press from an economic and political point of view. It will be shown that South African and German Competition Law are similar in many respects. Both legal systems follow a flexible, primarily economic approach to the consideration of proposed transactions, taking into account a plurality of factors to determine potential detrimental effects of mergers on competition. Moreover, pro-competitive gains and public interest issues are recognised under South African and German law. When it comes to the control of mergers between newspaper enterprises, though, the two legal systems diverge. Only under German Competition Law, are there specific provisions for press mergers. In view of a recently proposed amendment of the German Competition Law, the appropriate form of regulation that is likely to guarantee a free press, will be investigated. It will also be analysed, whether there is a specific need for press regulation in the South African context. Even though there are no special provisions under South African Competition Law, the South African Constitution leaves space for a broader understanding of the freedom of the press. Hence, it will be examined if the South African Constitution obliges the state to enact particular laws to protect press-plurality. Moreover, it will be analysed if the South African Competition Act should be interpreted in a manner that would promote plurality of the press. In the view of the eminent role of the press for a democratic society, it will be argued in this thesis, that there is a particular need for media regulation. Notably the significant levels of concentration in both German and South African press markets raise concerns as regards the protection of a free and pluralistic press. It will be shown that there are different foreign approaches to maintaining and promoting freedom of the press and it will be suggested that South Africa recognises a need for more press-specific regulation in the future.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie verhandeling vergelyk Suid-Afrikaanse en Duitse mededingingsreg. Dit is gefokus op beheer oor persondernemings. Die vraag word gevra of spesiale reëls van toepassing behoort te wees op transaksies in hierdie sektor, indien die politieke en ekonomiese belang van 'n ongekonsentreerde en mededingende pers in ag geneem word. Dit word uitgewys dat Suid-Afrikaanse en Duitse mededingsreg in vele opsigte soortgelyk is, wat die regulering van samesmeltings betref. Beide regsstelsels volg 'n buigsame, hoofsaaklik ekonomiese benadering tot die oorweging van 'n transaksie. Beide neem 'n veelheid van faktore in ag om te bepaal of 'n transaksie moontlik negatiewe gevolge vir mededinging het. Verder word pro-mededingende en publieke belangsaspekte in beide die Suid- Afrikaanse en Duitse reg in ag geneem. In die geval van 'n samesmelting tussen koerantondernemings verskil die twee sisteme egter. Die Duitse reg het spesiale reëls vir samesmelting van sulke ondernemings. In die lig van wysigings wat onlangs aan die Duitse mededingsreg voorgestel is, word geskikte vlakke van regulering van die pers, wat nodig is om 'n vrye pers te waarborg, ondersoek. Aandag word geskenk aan die vraag of daar'n behoefte is aan regulering van die pers in die Suid-Afrikaanse omgewing. Alhoewel die Suid-Afrikaanse Grondwet nie spesiaal daarvoor voorsiening maak nie, laat die Grondwet plek vir 'n wyer begrip van persvryeid. Dus word vasgestelof daar 'n plig op die staat is om wetgewing in te voer wat die staat dwing om perspluralisme te beskerm. Verder, word bepaal of die Suid-Afrikaanse Mededingingswet op so 'n wyse interpreteer kan word dat dit perspluralisme sal bevorder. In die lig van die sentrale rol vir 'n vrye pers in 'n demokratiese samelewing, word geargumenteer dat, daar 'n spesiale behoefte aan reguleringvan die media is. Die hoë vlakke van konsentrasie in beide die Duitse en Suid- Afrikaanse persmarkte skep besorgheid oor die beskerming van 'n vrye en pluralistiese pers in hierdie lande. Dit word aangetoon dat daar verskillende benaderings tot die beskerming en bevordering van 'n vrye pers in ander lande is en daar word voorgestel dat Suid-Afrika 'n behoefte aan meer spesifieke reëls vir regulering van die pers erken.

This Master's Thesis is a comparative study of the regulation of defensive measures in hostile takeovers. It consists of two main parts: In the first, the subject is approached from a theoretical point of view. The relevant factors for the regulation of defensive measures are outlined and analysed, followed by a discussion of the different ways of drafting such rules. This part concludes with a proposition concerning the most favourable form and content of a regulation. The second part describes hostile takeover regulation in the US, the UK, Canada, the EU and Germany, showing the diversity in that field of regulation in practice and the underlying reasons. It highlights and assesses the characteristics of each country and its regulation in the light of the considerations made in the first part, and provides an outlook concerning the future development of the regulation of defensive measures in hostile takeovers.

The following thesis deals with three current legal issues regarding airports.
In the first chapter the development of airport ownership and management structures will be studied. Although in most cases airports are still owned and managed by governments or local bodies, since the 1960s, new approaches to ownership and management have come into practise. This phenomenon is studied from the perspective of its impact upon public air law.
The second chapter deals with airport charges and their international legal framework. After examining the different forms of airport charges and the recommendations enacted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the author will be led to the conclusion that the current legal regime is unsatisfactory and that the most appropriate solution to this would be to incorporate the principles formulated by ICAO in an Annex to the Chicago Convention.
The third and final chapter is devoted to the study of a legal dispute between Switzerland and Germany with respect to the approach paths to Zurich airport through German airspace. It is concluded that the unilateral legal measures taken by the German government are, with one exception, in conformity with international law.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2003.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: After decades of its struggle against the apartheid policy and system, and after the victory in the first democratic elections in 1994, the pre-1994 co operation within the alliance of the African National Congress (ANC), the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) created the framework of reference for the legal infrastructure of a new Industrial Re[ations ([R) system in which trade unions, employers and government would act together in a spirit of tripartism. The legal infrastructure of the new IR system was thus aligned with the new politica[ dispensation and in compliance with the new Constitution (200 of 1993) with its overarching aim as the correction of the imbalances of the past by ensuring both, a climate supportive of growth and the pursuit of social equity for all South Africans. However, in the wake of the 1994 elections, more and more ideo[ogical differences have arisen within the Alliance, also fostered by South Africa's unequal income distribution, the [ow life expectancy, the [ow literacy rates, high infant mortality, one of the highest H[V/Aids infection rates among the black population and its strong investor - unfriendly climate, all affecting effective policy making. [n particular, the ANC's 'shift to the right' with its Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) strategy for macroeconomic development is alienating it from its alliance partners. Nevertheless, a new package of labour legislation was structured around the core of the individual contract of employment, resting in common law, with the Basic Condition of Employment Act (75 of 1997) setting minimum standards, and the new Labour Relations Act (66 of 1997) providing the framework for a collective bargaining system. The new Labour Relations Act integrates co operation in the [R system by enabling trade unions and employers to establish and regulate formally their relationships for the purpose of collective bargaining and creating machineries for the resolution of disputes of interest on the one side, and an employee - employer relationship based on rights vested in the parties in an enterprise, domestic context on the other. Provisions for a certain form of codetermination by, and participation of workers in the taking of decisions by management on the shop floor are legally entrenched in Chapter V - Workplace Forums - of the Labour Relations Act. Chapter V of the Labour Relations Act (66 of 1995) stipulates the requirements for the establishment of a Workplace Forum and defines and regulates its functions. If the definition and structure of such a Workplace Forum as contained in the respective schedule of the Act are compared with the German Betriebsverfassungsgesetz of 1952 and 1972, numerous similarities can be observed, and a quasi - adoption and incorporation of the German act as a blueprint for Chapter Vof the South African act can be assumed. However, whereas in Germany co-determination and the 8etriebsvedassungsgesetz of 1952 and 1972 have evolved naturally over the years, workers participation in South Africa through a Workplace Forum appears to be a mere legal creation, conceived on the drawing board for the new legislation, without any particular tradition and an effective place in the IR system. Additionally, questions raised in connection with its constitutionality leaves the quasiimported provisions of Chapter V in a doubtful light. I n analogy to the German Verfassungsklage of 1976 against the then new Mitbestimmungsgesetz, the focus of this study falls on a hypothetical test whether the provisions of Chapter V would be in accord with the new South African Constitution (200 of 1993), and also the constitution of their 'importing country', namely Germany. Several grey areas exist in which the Constitutional Courts of both countries would most probably have to declare some provisions as unconstitutional, the most important one being that, since the establishment of a Workplace Forum is linked only to the initiative of an existing representative union, the Freedom of Association of the individual is impaired.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Na dekades van weerstand teen die sisteem van die apartheidsbeleid, en na die oorwinning in die eerste, demokratiese verkiesing van 1994, het die samewerking binne die alliansie van die African National Congress (ANC), die Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) en die South African Communist Party (SACP) die raamwerk vir die struktuur van 'n nuwe Nywerheidsverhoudingsstelsel waarbinne vakbonde, werkgewers en die regering in 'n gees van tripartisme kan saamwerk, die lig laat sien. Die regtelike infrastruktuur van die nuwe nywerheidsverhoudingsstelsel was dus met die nuwe politiese sisteem in ooreenstemming en ook voldoende aan die vereistes van die nuwe Konstitusie (200 van 1993). Die alomvattende doel van die Konstitusie was om die sosiale wanbalans van die verlede te korrigeer en 'n klimaat te skep wat ekonomiese groei en die strewe na sosiale gelykheid vir alle Suid-Afrikaaners moontlik sal maak. In die tydperk na die verkiesing het egter meer en meer ideologiese verskille binne die Alliansie ontstaan, ook veroorsaak deur Suid Afrika se ongelyke inkomsteverdeling, 'n lae lewensverwagting, 'n lae vlak van lettervaardighede, 'n hoe graad van kindersterflikheid, een van die hoogste Vigs statistieke vir die swart bevolking en 'n onvriendelike klimaat vir buitelandse investering wat all die effektiewe beleidsskepping beinvloed. Besonders die ANC se 'verskuiwing na regs' met sy Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) strategie vir makroekonomiese ontwikkeling vervreemd die organisasie van sy bondgenote. Dit nieteenstande het 'n nuwe pakket van arbeidswetgewing ontstaan. Die kern van die pakket is die individuele kontrak van indiensneming wat in die algemene reg veranker is, maar wat deur die Wet op Basiese Diensvoorwaardes (75 van 1997) met 'n getal van minimum standaarde en vereistes gemodifiseer word, met die Wet op Arbeidsverhouding (66 van 1995) wat vakbonde en werkgewers met 'n raamwerk vir die proses van kollektiewe bedinging voorsien. Die nuwe Wet op Arbeidsverhoudinge maak voorsiening vir die samewerking tussen vakbonde en werkgewers om hulle verhouding vir die doel van onderhandelinge te formaliseer en ook meganisme vir die beslegting van belangedispute, en ook regsdispute wat uit die regte van die partye in die direkte werksplek vloei. Voorsiening vir 'n sisteem van werkersdeelname en medebestemming in die besluitneming van bestuur word in Hoofstuk V - Werkplekforums - van die Wet op Arbeidsverhoudinge gemaak. Hoofstuk V van die Wet op Arbeidsverhoudinge bepaal die vereistes, reguleer die stigting en defineer die funksies van 'n Werkplekforum. As 'n vergelyking van die definisies vir, en die struktuur van so 'n Werkplekforum soos voorgeskryf in die skedule vir Hoofstuk V met die Duitse Betriebsverfassungsgesetz van 1952 en 1972 gemaak word, kan daar baie ooreenstemming met die wet gevind word. Dit Iyk ook dat baie komponente van die Duitse wet oorgeneem en as 'n bloudruk vir Hoofstuk V gebruik en daarin geintegreer is. In analogie met die Duitse Verfassungsklage van 1976 teen die destydse nuwe Mitbestimmungsgesetz val die klem in die studie op 'n hipotetiese toets of die voorwaardes van Hoofstuk V met die vereistes van die nuwe Suid Afrikaanse Konstitusie (200 van 1993) voldoen, en ook die van die konstitusie van hulle 'importeeringsland', naamlik Duitsland. Daar bestaan sekere grys areas in Hoofstuk V waarin die konstitusionele howe van altwee lande hoogswaarskynlik sommige voorwaardes as botsend met hulle onderskeidelike konstitusies sou vind. Die mees belangrikste daarvan is die voorwaardes dat, aangesien 'n Werkplekforum net deur 'n verteenwoordigende vakbond mag gestig word, die Verenigingsvreiheid van die individu aangetas word.

La presente tesi non è solo l’esito di una ricerca su un precetto giuridico controverso, ma è anche la narrazione di un processo personale di scoperta, che a partire dallo studio di una specifica norma ha fatto emergere la complessità delle interazioni nell’ambito delle politiche in materia penale, economica, e finanziaria. Partendo da un approccio microsociologico focalizzato sull’analisi di una determinata norma penale, il reato di riciclaggio,1 la ricerca ha dovuto confrontarsi con temi di interesse macrosociologico, al fine di inserire l’analisi della legge all’interno di un contesto più ampio di politiche nazionali, europee e internazionali, di attori e di governance transnazionale. Per mantenere la scientificità dell’elaborato ho omesso di esprimere opinioni personali sui temi, talvolta di carattere fortemente politico, e ho cercato, invece, di presentare aspetti critici e discussioni aperte fornendo una visione completa e imparziale delle contrastanti argomentazioni in modo da lasciare il lettore libero di trarre le proprie conclusioni. Il riciclaggio di denaro sporco è il processo tramite cui a proventi di reati viene data un’apparenza di essere stati guadagnati in modo illecito. È un reato tipico della cosiddetta ‘zona grigia’, poiché avviene al confine tra la sfera della legalità e quella dell’illegalità. Nel momento in cui profitti realizzati illecitamente si mescolano ai flussi di denaro lecito è molto difficile discernere ciò che ha un’origine legale da ciò che è stato guadagnato illegalmente. Il reato di riciclaggio di denaro sporco è stato introdotto proprio per affrontare questa difficoltà ed impedire che le strutture legittime dell’economia e della finanza globale venissero abusate da trasgressori al fine di ripulire i proventi di reato. Infatti i flussi di denaro sporco utilizzano spesso gli stessi canali usati per le transazioni lecite; la loro riuscita dipende dalla cooperazione di professionisti quali avvocati commerciali, agenti finanziari, commercialisti, la cui reputazione è raramente sospetta. Data questa promiscuità spesso la gravità del fenomeno è sottovalutata dal pubblico che non ha gli strumenti per riconoscerne la pericolosità, anche a causa dell’assenza di vittime dirette. Dall’altra parte le stime sulla quantità di proventi di reato riciclati a livello mondiale (che oscillano tra il 2,5 % e il 5,5 % del PIL globale) richiamano l’attenzione su quella che Dalla Chiesa definisce la mitologia del volume dell’economia criminale,2 e una parte della letteratura descrive il riciclaggio come il lato oscuro della globalizzazione,3 e come uno dei maggiori problemi dell’era moderna.4 Con questa ricerca ho voluto mettere in discussione l’efficacia del reato di riciclaggio nel far fronte al fenomeno dell’infiltrazione dei flussi di denaro sporco nell’economia lecita. Sebbene la pratica di nascondere i proventi di reato in modo da evitare la persecuzione giudiziaria risalga probabilmente a molto tempo addietro, il concetto giuridico di riciclaggio è relativamente recente ed è stato introdotto nei codici penali nella maggior parte del mondo a partire dalla fine degli anni 80.5 Nel frattempo un gran numero di autori si è scagliato contro la scarsa efficacia delle legislazione anti-riciclaggio6, nonostante le innumerevoli novità introdotte e i cospicui ammendamenti che hanno in larga parte espanso il campo di applicazione della normativa. La decisione di scegliere il contesto tedesco come caso di studio deriva dal fatto che il paese è considerato avere un rischio particolarmente alto di riciclaggio di denaro sporco. Secondo il rapporto emesso dal 2010 dal GAFI (Groupe d'Action Financière), dal FMI (Fondo Monetario Internazionale) e dall’OCSE (Organizzazione per la Cooperazione e lo Sviluppo economico)7 ci sono alcuni fattori che rendono la Germania propensa ad essere usata al fine di riciclaggio di denaro sporco: il volume del sistema economico-finanziario, la locazione strategica al centro dell’Unione Europea con forti legami internazionali, l’uso diffuso di denaro contante,8 l’apertura delle frontiere, la vastità del settore informale, l’importante ruolo a livello di economia globale, e il coinvolgimento nei flussi di denaro transfrontalieri. Anche i media, a partire soprattutto dalla pubblicazione del citato rapporto, hanno attirato l’attenzione del pubblico sul fenomeno, descrivendo la Germania come “paradiso” o “Eldorado” per i riciclatori. Alcuni recenti scandali hanno visto coinvolte prominenti banche tedesche, come la Deutsche Bank, la Commerybank e l’Hyopovereinsbank, contro cui procure straniere hanno sollevato l’accusa di riciclaggio di denaro sporco.9 La legislazione in atto, ed in particolare l’articolo 261 del codice penale tedesco, non sembra essere sufficientemente efficace per contrastare il fenomeno, nonostante gli abbondanti emendamenti e il continuo processo di aggiornamento e di espansione del campo di applicazione della norma. Al fine di spiegare questa per lo meno apparente incapacità della norma di fare fronte al fenomeno del riciclaggio, ho costruito l’ipotesi di ricerca sulla base delle teorie sociologico-giuridiche relative all’efficacia del diritto, alle funzioni manifeste e latenti delle norme e quindi alle intenzioni espresse e non dal legislatore, all’efficacia simbolica del diritto e di singole legislazioni e all’impatto, inteso come comprensivo degli effetti indesiderati o collaterali. L’ipotesi di ricerca è che la norma esplichi una funzione simbolica di allineamento dell’ordinamento nazionale a quello europeo e transnazionale, di compromesso tra gli interessi politici in gioco, e di creazione di consenso pubblico verso il legislatore per essersi occupato della questione. Si ipotizza che il legislatore abbia quindi consapevolmente accettato o addirittura scelto di formulare una norma strumentalmente poco efficace, ma simbolicamente capace di raggiungere i suoi obiettivi latenti. Si solleva inoltre l’ipotesi che la norma sia stata appositamente approvata con lo scopo di non modificare lo status quo delle relazioni e strutture economiche, e di permettere quindi l’ingresso di capitali sporchi nel paese, sulla base del motto pecunia non olet. La suddetta ipotesi viene parzialmente smentita dai risultati della ricerca empirica. La ricostruzione del processo di produzione legislativa mette in risalto l’esistenza di svariati e contrastanti interessi e della forte pressione esercitata dagli organismi internazionali per l’introduzione e lo sviluppo del reato di riciclaggio, e conferma, quindi, l’argomentazione che la norma sia stata approvata in un contesto di pressione politica esterna e di necessità di trovare un compromesso tra diverse parti politiche. Anche l’analisi degli aspetti problematici dell’articolo 261 del codice penale tedesco messi in risalto dalla dottrina supporta l’ipotesi della simbolicità della norma. Il fatto che il legislatore abbia formulato un reato così complesso crea evidenti problemi di integrazione dello stesso all’interno del sistema penale tedesco, e quindi di accettazione da parte degli studiosi e potenzialmente da parte degli operatori del diritto. Inoltre, la scelta di costruire un reato così complesso riflette la necessità di venire a compromesso con opposti interessi, ma potrebbe essere anche essere interpretata come un disinteresse al raggiungimento di un’efficacia materiale. La ricerca empirica sull’implementazione dell’articolo 261, invece, smentisce l’idea che la norma abbia un’efficacia puramente simbolica. Infatti il numero di condanne, di investigazioni, ed in generale l’uso ricorrente della legge riscontrato nelle statistiche criminali provano che essa conduca ad effetti strumentali, oltre che simbolici. Inoltre, nella prospettiva di alcuni degli operatori del diritto e degli esperti intervistati, l’articolo 261 è percepito come una norma particolarmente efficiente, sia in relazione alle quote di chiarimento, che come strumento di demarcazione tra comportamenti leciti e illeciti, in un contesto di deregolamentazione del settore finanziario. Da un’analisi piè ravvicinata delle statistiche e di altri rapporti emessi da enti internazionali e nazionali emerge però un quadro non così univoco: La norma sembra colpire più le vittime dei network criminali che operano a livello transnazionale che gli autori, perché spesso i colpevoli sono coinvolti in transazioni sospette in cambio di guadagni monetari. Le cospicue indagini finanziarie non riescono a raggiungere coloro che operano dietro gli esecutori dei reati minori, ed infatti la maggior parte di esse si concludono senza una condanna per riciclaggio. Questo a fronte di un volume di denaro sporco circolante nel paese che rimane allarmante, secondo alcuni degli studi analizzati. Se da una parte i risultati dell’applicazione della norma, sebbene strumentali, non possono considerarsi soddisfacenti, perché non sono riusciti ad evitare l’ingresso di capitali illeciti nell’economia nazionale, dall’altra parte sembra che l’esistenza di interessi profondamente contrastanti in gioco renda quasi impossibile la formulazione di un reato piè efficace. La tesi è composta da cinque capitoli, un’introduzione e una conclusione. Nel primo capitolo espongo le teorie sociologiche adottate per la valutazione di efficacia della norma e il metodo della ricerca. Inizialmente richiamo concetti di efficacia forniti da discipline affini alla sociologia del diritto - tra cui per esempio il concetto di efficienza e di efficienza indipendente rispetto allo scopo (zielunhabhängige Effizienz) riferito agli apparati amministrativi - che torneranno utili per l'interpretazione dei risultati delle interviste. Successivamente procedo con una panoramica sulle definizioni di efficacia del diritto fornite in sociologia del diritto, sulla ci base adotto una nozione “elastica” -riprendendola da Ferrari- di efficacia di una norma che guarda alle funzioni della norma e alle intenzioni del legislatore, in una prospettiva “intenzionalistica”: “la corrispondenza fra un disegno politico di utilizzo di uno strumento normativo e i suoi effetti”. Tale nozione, oltre a prestarsi ad un'analisi critica del diritto, fornisce indicazioni utili per l'analisi empirica dell'efficacia della legge in questione. In particolare ritengo utile considerare le seguenti variabili: le intenzioni latenti e manifeste del legislatore, gli scopi diretti e ed indiretti, l'eventuale efficacia simbolica del diritto, l'implementazione, la ricezione della norma nel senso di accettazione nel sistema giuridico e di interpretazione e percezione da parte degli operatori giuridici. Nella seconda parte si evidenzia il rilievo di tali variabili con riferimento specifico al diritto penale. In conclusione, sulla base delle riflessioni teoriche, formulo l’ipotesi sull’efficacia simbolica del reato di riciclaggio nell’ordinamento tedesco, che verrà poi verificata nei capitoli successivi. Nello specifico, presumendo che il reato di riciclaggio, introdotto come strumento fondamentale della lotta alla criminalità organizzata, così com'è formulato non adempie agli scopi dichiarati, nonostante gli innumerevoli emendamenti finalizzati proprio ad aumentarne l'efficacia, ipotizzo un'efficacia simbolica della norma, introdotta per offrire un'immagine di efficienza al pubblico (elettori). Inoltre sollevo l'ipotesi che la norma sia stata emanata appositamente inefficace per neutralizzarne le aspirazioni di punizione delle condotte illecite tipiche dei colletti bianchi, in una lettura moderna del conflitto sociale che avviene tramite l'emanazione di norme, con la volontà di decriminalizzare secondariamente comportamenti tipici delle classi forti. Nel secondo capitolo analizzo il processo legislativo a livello internazionale, europeo e nazionale. Il processo che ha portato alla creazione del reato di riciclaggio a livello internazionale viene ricostruito tramite dichiarazioni di intenti degli attori partecipanti, opinioni pubblicate, trascrizioni dei dibattiti parlamentari. Una particolare attenzione è posta sulle diverse intenzioni degli attori che hanno partecipato alla formulazione del reato. Il processo legislativo che ha portato alla formulazione dell'attuale legislazione anti-riciclaggio è un processo complesso, in cui diversi attori partecipanti hanno contribuito con differenti aspettative e dunque attribuendo diverse funzioni alla criminalizzazione del riciclaggio. Al fine di permettere svariate interpretazioni del dettato normativo in modo da soddisfare i differenti bisogni, e con lo scopo di trovare un compromesso tra gli interessi divergenti, il reato di riciclaggio è stato formulato in modo vago. Mentre alcuni Stati (ad esempio la Francia) inizialmente sostenevano l'introduzione del reato con lo scopo di combattere i paradisi fiscali e rafforzare la lotta all'evasione fiscale, altri Stati, come la Svizzera, hanno accettato di firmare l'accordo internazionale sulla criminalizzazione del riciclaggio solo a condizione che l'evasione fiscale non fosse inserito nella lista dei reati antecedenti. Con la nascita del GAFI la policy viene usata allo scopo di difendere l'integrità del sistema finanziario dall'infiltrazione di capitale illecito e dal 2001 si aggiunge la funzione di lotta al finanziamento del terrorismo. Tramite la soft law emanata dal GAFI per la prevenzione del riciclaggio, si trasferiscono compiti solitamente pubblici al settore privato: banche e istituti finanziari devono segnalare alla polizia ogni transazione sospetta, devono raccogliere e mantenere informazioni sui clienti e verificare le identità dei clienti. L'Unione Europea finora ha emanato quattro direttive nell'ambito del riciclaggio, l'ultima risale al 20 maggio 2015. Inizialmente la CE non aveva competenza in ambito penale, perciò la materia riciclaggio fu assorbita nella sfera economica (DG Economia e industria). La funzione dichiarata dal legislatore è la protezione del mercato interno, con particolare riguardo al fatto che i criminali possano sfruttare la libera circolazione dei capitali e l'eliminazione delle frontiere. Le direttive esprimono anche la volontà di impedire agli stati membri di emanare regolamentazioni che possano bloccare il libero mercato al fine di difendere le proprie economie dall'infiltrazione di capitale illecito. Emerge dunque un ulteriore conflitto di interessi. Nella seconda parte ricostruisco il processo legislativo e le evoluzioni interne alla Germania fino al momento della scrittura e fornisco il quadro del sistema repressivo e di prevenzione anti-riciclaggio. L'articolo 261 StGB è stato introdotto con legge Gesetz zur Bekämpfung des illegalen Rauschgifthandels und anderer Erscheinungsformen der Organisierten Kriminalität, quindi nell'ambito della lotta alla criminalità organizzata. Il dibattito parlamentare rileva che la norma è il frutto di un compromesso sotto diversi aspetti, non ultimo il fatto che è stata emanata del 1992, a pochi anni dalla riunificazione, e che quindi è parte del processo di negoziazione per la formazione di un diritto penale adattabile alle due culture giuridiche. Il legislatore tedesco evidenzia alcune funzioni della norma: la lotta al consumo di eroina e al traffico di stupefacenti, la diffusione e la pericolosità della mafia alla luce dei fatti recenti italiani, la volontà di proteggere l'amministrazione della giustizia e di isolare i criminali puntando alla criminalizzazione dei cosiddetti gate-keepers. Nel terzo capitolo individuo alcuni dei problemi sollevati dalla dottrina tedesca sul piano teorico con riferimento alla criminalizzazione del reato di riciclaggio nel contesto del sistema penale tedesco. Uno dei temi più discussi è relativo al bene giuridico protetto. La dottrina non ha ancora trovato un accordo su quale interesse sia protetto dall'articolo 261 StGB, le ipotesi sono: gli interessi dei reati antecedenti, l'amministrazione della giustizia, il sistema finanziario e la sicurezza. La vaghezza del dettato normativo non aiuta a trovare un interpretazione dottrinale univoca. La questione del bene giuridico protetto, lungi dall'essere una mera questione teorica, risente delle diverse funzioni attribuite alla norma dagli attori partecipanti al processo legislativo. Finora la giurisprudenza, che pur è intervenuta a chiarire altre questioni relative alla norma, non è intervenuta sul tema. Un altro tema su cui il dibattito è ancora aperto è il fatto di aver previsto al comma 5 l'ipotesi di colpa lieve, in controtendenza rispetto al legislatore europeo. Questo, secondo alcuni studiosi porta all'assurdo per cui anche il panettiere Tizio che vende del pane ad un evasore fiscale Caio potendo aver riconosciuto che Caio fosse un evasore, si rende colpevole di riciclaggio. La questione del livello di mens rea richiesto per una condanna per riciclaggio era sorta anche durante il dibattito parlamentare e l'introduzione del comma 5 è stato sostenuto da un emendamento della SPD che avrebbe voluto criminalizzare anche l'ipotesi di colpa lievissima. Questo, secondo la CDU avrebbe messo un freno al mercato e alle transazioni, poiché avrebbe costituito una minaccia per chiunque avesse intrapreso operazioni economiche. Essendo la funzione della norma incerta, la dottrina si divide tra chi sostiene che questa vasta criminalizzazione faccia perdere il senso del reato che sarebbe invece colpire i criminali che agiscono con intento, e chi invece sostiene che la norma abbia lo scopo di impedire qualsiasi infiltrazione di denaro illecito e quindi richieda una responsabilizzazione di tutti colori i quali prendano parte in operazioni finanziarie o economiche. Ancora una volta l'indeterminatezza del precetto legislativo è di ostacolo ad un'interpretazione univoca. Il quarto capitolo offre un’analisi qualitativa delle statistiche officiali sull’implementazione della legge dal 1992 ad oggi da parte delle istanze repressive e di prevenzione. Tra i dati analizzati i più rilevanti sono per esempio il numero di segnalazioni di transazioni sospette ricevuto dalle procure, il numero delle investigazioni condotte, il numero di condanne effettivamente inflitte ed eseguite e per quale delle ipotesi di riciclaggio, il volume di denaro confiscato. Essendo tali numeri indici del funzionamento del sistema penale e non del fenomeno del riciclaggio per sé, in conclusione si confrontano tali statistiche con le stime sul volume di flussi illeciti in Germania. Tale analisi, non potendo dare conto del numero dei reati evitati, sulla base dell'efficacia deterrente della norma, non intende esaurire il giudizio di efficacia della legislazione. Tra i risultati più rilevanti vi sono il fatto che il 60% delle persone condannate vengono condannate per l'ipotesi di colpa lieve, che solitamente consiste in casi in cui una persona poco abbiente ha accettato di far usare il proprio conto a terzi per operazioni sospette in cambio di un guadagno. Nel 5% dei casi le condanne sono inflitte per le ipotesi aggravate di commissione da membro di un'associazione criminale o in forma commerciale. Nel 90% dei casi le transazioni sospette segnalate alle procure portano a una chiusura dei procedimenti per mancanza di indizi che possano sostenere un rinvio a giudizio. La norma sembra colpire delinquenti minori e non grandi gruppi criminali, né altri delinquenti più potenti. Si ipotizza inoltre che l'incapacità di sostenere un rinvio a giudizio nonostante le informazioni acquisite e le indagini preliminari riduce la capacità deterrente della norma e permette, invece, ai criminali di conoscere le modalità di funzionamento del sistema repressivo e agire di conseguenza. Inoltre, le transazioni sospette sono segnalate nel circa 90% dei casi sa parte di istituti di credito, mentre gli altri enti obbligati dalla legislazione non sembrano partecipare attivamente al processo preventivo, in particolare il settore forense e immobiliare e del gioco d'azzardo. Sulla base di questi dati si ipotizza un effetto spill-over, ossia un trasferimento di illegalità dai settori più controllati a quelli meno controllati. I rapporti pubblicati dalla polizia, invece, considerano l'articolo 261 StGB come una norma con una delle più alte quote di chiarimento (ca 90%), quota calcolata sul numero di casi chiariti dal sistema penale, a prescindere dalle modalità di chiarimento. Per quanto riguardo il volume di denaro riciclato, il capitolo richiama alcune delle stime pubblicate da diversi enti, tra cui il Fondo Monetario Internazionale, il GAFI e la polizia criminale federale. Essendo il fenomeno del riciclaggio un campo in cui la cifra oscura è stimata essere molto alta, tali dati non possono essere presi come misura obiettiva del fenomeno. Infine il capitolo si conclude richiamando alcune analisi del tipo costi-benefici per misurare l'efficacia delle politiche anti-riciclaggio o alcune delle sue norme, condotte da enti terzi. Tali analisi sembrano concordare nel considerare i costi di implementazione della politica più alti rispetto ai benefici conseguenti. Nel quinto capitolo, infine, vengono discussi i risultati della ricerca empirica con gli operatori giuridici e con alcuni osservatori privilegiati, in modo da fornire una prospettiva interna sul funzionamento della norma. Tramite le interviste condotte si mettono in luce aspetti della prassi giuridica non fotografati dalle statistiche, allo scopo di offrire un’immagine dell’impatto della legge quanto più vicina possibile alla realtà. La ricerca empirica si avvale di interviste con operatori del diritto e con osservatori privilegiati che siedono in posizioni ministeriali rilevanti nella lotta al riciclaggio. La metodologia adottata è di tipo qualitativo, è stato fatto uso di interviste semi-strutturate a operatori del diritto e a osservatori privilegiati. Il capitolo presenta le percezioni degli intervistati su quattro temi principalmente: la dimensione del fenomeno del riciclaggio, l'adeguatezza tecnica della legislazione, i conflitti di interesse intrinseci alla legge e sorti dall'applicazione della norma e l'efficacia delle legge. A fronte di un rapporto emesso da quattro ONG nel novembre 2013, sulla base di statistiche prodotte dall'UNODC e dal Fondo Monetario Internazionale, e immediatamente riprese dai media, che descrive il paese come “Eldorado” per i riciclatori,10 le interviste sono dirette a cogliere l'opinione dei rispondenti sulle dimensioni del fenomeno del riciclaggio in Germania. Un intervistato ritiene inaccettabile desumere dal PIL tedesco il volume di affari del crimine organizzato nel paese, e obietta che non si possa, sulla base del giro d'affari del centro finanziario di Francoforte, definire lo stesso come centro di riciclaggio di denaro sporco. Un altro intervistato, dichiara, al contrario, che sicuramente il fatto che la Germania abbia un'economia stabile ed un settore bancario affidabile attiri coloro che vogliano investire proventi illeciti, neppure quest'ultimo possiede, però, dati affidabili sulla quantità di denaro riciclato. Il riciclaggio, come altri fenomeni legati alla criminalità organizzata, è una fattispecie che per definizione sfugge alle autorità e ai confini nazionali. Lo scopo dello stesso è nascondere proventi di reato e sottrarli in questo modo al sistema repressivo, questo è sicuramente un elemento che rende complessa, se non impossibile, la sua quantificazione. D'altra parte, osservano i soggetti intervistati autori del Rapporto del 2013, l'incapacità di fornire statistiche rilevanti dopo più di 20 anni di lotta al riciclaggio, sembra essere un sintomo di una carente volontà politica nel contrastare efficacemente il fenomeno. Secondo gli osservatori privilegiati se la Germania fosse davvero un paradiso per i riciclatori, ciò non sarebbe collegabile ad un deficit legislativo, dato l'impegno del governo nella lotta al riciclaggio, negando, quindi, l'accusa rivolta dai media per cui i criminali sceglierebbero il paese tedesco ai fini di riciclaggio di denaro sporco sulla base delle lacune normative. Agli intervistati è stato chiesto di evidenziare aspetti positivi e problematici della legislazione. Tra i più rilevanti vi sono: la necessità di bilanciare il bisogno di punire la condotta di riciclaggio e rispettare i principi fondamentali del sistema giuridico, il disinteresse da parte degli istituti finanziari nell'indagare l'origine del capitale investito dai clienti, anche in caso di sospetto di provenienza criminale, a causa della possibile conseguente perdita di reputazione nell'ipotesi di apertura di investigazioni da parte delle autorità sul cliente sospetto. Vi è poi una difficoltà materiale nel condurre indagini finanziarie, che spesso, conducono a condotte illecite commesse all'estero; sul punto si osserva che le condotte di riciclaggio, intese come operazioni atte ad ostacolare la provenienza delittuosa, non avvengono su territorio tedesco, bensì all'estero, il denaro che entra in Germania, è, quindi, già “pulito”. Inoltre, l’articolo 261 è stato introdotto nel sistema tedesco come trasposizione di una direttiva Europea e non rifletteva una necessità interna dello Stato; la formulazione così vaga, infatti, si presta più per il sistema giuridico degli Stati Uniti, in cui non vige l'obbligo dell'azione penale, mentre in Germania, dove i pubblici ministeri hanno l'obbligo di azione penale, tale norma porta ad iniziare numerose indagini senza avere la capacità di proseguirle. In generale, gli intervistati rappresentanti dei Ministeri rilevano la forte pressione subita da parte del GAFI e dell'Unione Europea per l'emanazione della legge anti-riciclaggio e concordano nel dire che se la norma fosse stata creata sulla base di una necessità e di un dibattito nazionale sarebbe stata scritta diversamente. C'è chi individua nel sistema penale le cause di inefficacia dell'articolo 261, nello specifico, la limitata possibilità di effettuare intercettazioni telefoniche, le restrizioni in materia di inversione dell'onere probatorio, e lo scarso utilizzo della confisca dei proventi di reato a causa del disinteresse da parte delle procure (gestite a livello di Bundesländer) nell'investire risorse in tal senso dato che i beni confiscati non resterebbero in mano al Bundesland ma verrebbero raccolti in un fondo federale e poi spartiti. Si osserva una generale mancanza di risorse pubbliche che porta ad una carenza di personale coinvolto nelle investigazioni e, quindi, ad una incapacità di far fronte ai processi in corso in modo efficace. Per questo motivo, i pm non hanno la capacità di indagare più a fondo casi di riciclaggio all'apparenza semplici, ma che potrebbero portare alla luce organizzazioni criminali operanti nell'ombra. Alla totalità degli intervistati è stata chiesta un'opinione sull'efficacia della legge. L'articolo 261 del codice penale tedesco è stato definito da un soggetto “una legge scritta in modo indecente, che produce risultati banali sul piano delle statistiche criminali, soprattutto con riferimento alle condanne per riciclaggio in grossi casi di criminalità economica”. Il reato è così difficile da provare in giudizio, che risulta facile, per la difesa, sfruttare le lacune legislative per evitare una condanna per riciclaggio. I rappresentanti dei Ministeri confermano che la lettera dell'articolo 261 crea confusioni e che quindi l'accusa, pur trovandosi di fronte ad un caso di riciclaggio spesso preferisca perseguire i delitti presupposto. Questo non è, però, un sintomo di inefficacia, dato che l'effettività a cui mira il Ministero dell'interno non è data dal numero di condanne per riciclaggio, ma dal numero di casi risolti, e quindi dal numero di condanne in generale, a prescindere dall'imputazione. D'opinione opposta un altro intervistato che ritiene che l'articolo 261 non abbia alcuna capacità deterrente nei confronti della criminalità organizzata, “la norma ricorre così raramente nella prassi giudiziaria che di fatto non rappresenta una “minaccia” per i potenziali criminali”. I soggetti intervistati esprimono più soddisfazione a riguardo della legislazione di prevenzione (GWG); in particolare, con riferimento alle piccole e medie imprese, per le quali è difficile riconoscere tra i partner commerciali coloro i quali investono denaro di provenienza illecita, la possibilità di affidarsi alle autorità investigative, in caso di sospetto è fondamentale. Un avvocato specializzato in compliance per società, descrive la norma preventiva come molto efficace e severa, tanto che è impossibile per le aziende, specialmente per quelle di medie o piccole dimensioni, adempiere a tutti gli obblighi prescritti dalla norma, ma, egli osserva, l'efficacia del sistema sta proprio nel fatto che le autorità di controllo, consapevoli dell'elevata rigorosità della legge, chiudono un occhio di fronte a lievi inadempienze. Una legge meno severa e un controllo più fiscale non otterrebbero la stessa efficacia, perché la norma non avrebbe lo stesso potenziale deterrente. L'efficacia all'interno delle amministrazioni responsabili per la lotta al riciclaggio è interpretata come efficienza dell'apparato, per questo motivo, non ci sono verifiche sull'efficacia degli strumenti giuridici sulla base degli scopi dichiarati, quanto piuttosto sulla correttezza del funzionamento dell'amministrazione e sulle possibilità di migliorarlo; il punto è capire come migliorare, non se il sistema sia efficace o no. Agli intervistati è stata chiesta un'opinione sull'eventuale efficacia simbolica della legislazione. La maggioranza delle risposte è stata negativa, gli sforzi compiuti da parte dello Stato -e quindi delle procure, della autorità competenti e della polizia- nel contrastare il riciclaggio e la criminalità economica non possono essere considerati simbolici. Alcuni intervistati ritengono assolutamente necessaria e strumentale – e quindi non simbolica- l'esistenza del reato nel codice penale come demarcazione di illegalità di tali condotte e come strumento atto a contrastare la criminalità economica perché mette in chiaro entro quali limiti le società possano perseguire profitti in modo legittimo. Di opinione diversa, invece, gli avvocati penalisti i quali si sono detti favorevoli a tale definizione sulla base dello scarso numero di condanne e soprattutto sulla mancata previsione da parte del Governo di mezzi adeguati per l'implementazione della legislazione. Lo stesso è osservato dal terzo settore, il quale sostiene che, a fronte di una legge complessa, oggetto di svariati emendamenti nel corso degli anni, non c'è stato un sufficiente impegno sul versante dell'implementazione; il coinvolgimento del GAFI e dell'OECD nella lotta al riciclaggio è percepito come un modo per creare posti di lavoro e nuove figure professionali, più che un'arena dove discutere efficaci strumenti di lotta ai reati economici. Altri elementi interessanti riscontrabili nelle interviste sono i conflitti di interessi che emergono dall'applicazione delle leggi anti-riciclaggio. Tra essi, vi è il dibattito tra il Ministero dell'Interno e quello di Giustizia in riferimento all'adeguatezza dello strumento penalistico nel contrastare la criminalità economica, dibattito già affrontato dalla dottrina, a cui, però finora, non è stata data una risposta univoca. Da una parte il Ministero dell'Interno auspica un intervento giuridico più deciso, che, per esempio, ricomprenda il reato di riciclaggio nella responsabilità penale degli enti (non ancora esistente in Germania) e sollecita una svolta politica generale in tema di criminalità economica dalla deregolazione del mercato finanziario all'intervento dello Stato in ambito economico ai fini di chiarire i comportamenti leciti e quelli illeciti. Dall'altra parte, il Ministero della Giustizia considera erroneo il ricorso al diritto penale ai fini di risolvere problemi di tipo economico o finanziario e cerca di frenare la tendenza moderna alla proliferazione penale, a favore di un intervento di tipo preventivo-sociale. A tal proposito, si osserva che agli incontri del GAFI a cui partecipano i rappresentanti dei Ministeri di Giustizia, coloro che provino a richiamare l'attenzione sulla necessità di rispettare i principi fondamentali costituzionali e di limitare l'intervento penale a tutela dei cittadini, vengano tacciati di non voler combattere la criminalità organizzata in modo efficace. In conclusione riapro la prospettiva a livello globale ed inserisco il reato di riciclaggio in una riflessione più ampia sulla governace finanziaria. In una prospettiva storica di analisi delle politiche economiche recenti si osserva come vi sia stata una tendenza a deregolare il mercato per mano delle istanze tradizionali pubbliche, e al contempo un aumento di strumenti transnazionali di cosiddetta soft-law che si sono fatti portatori di interessi particolari. Finché questa conflittualità non verrà risolta sarà impossibile impedire il riciclaggio di denaro sporco. Con particolare riferimento al contesto europeo, si prende atto che è stato molto più facile chiudere le frontiere per le persone fisiche e non a quelle giuridiche o ai capitali.
This paper aims to question the sociolegal1 effectiveness of the money laundering offence.2 The literature that assesses the effectiveness of the anti-money laundering system is abundant. While most of it does not question the regime’s goals this paper takes a step back and critically looks at the law-making process. In addition, while most studies have assessed the effectiveness of anti-money laundering law by looking at statistical outcomes, this paper takes a step forward and tries to explain those statistics by looking at legal praxis and at indirect effects. The significance of the research derives from the insertion of the analysis on money laundering offence in a broader political, economic and historical context. The methodology adopted is qualitative, with the intended purpose of underlining the complexity of the issue tackled, rather than reducing it through a quantitative approach. While most of the existing literature has quantitatively assessed the effectiveness of the anti-money laundering regimes on the basis of statistical data and other quantitative indexes and has tried to reduce the complexity of the issue by measuring it numerically, this research adopts a qualitative methodology, which instead highlights the entanglement and the different perspectives on the question. Money laundering is the process of giving profits originated illegally an appearance of having been made lawfully.3 Due to the tightening of economic criminal policies that limit the possibility of integrating ill-gotten gains in the legitimate economy, offenders have developed more and more complex methods and subterfuges to launder proceeds of crime, so the rise of a proper 'money laundering industry' (industria del riciclaggio) is mentioned.4 The total volume of money laundered is estimated to amount to between 2,5 and 5, 5 % of the world GDP.5 Due to the borderline nature of money laundering, which happens between the so-called 'legitimate economy' and the 'dirty economy', and thus involves different actors such as banks, the financial sector, certain professions and businesses, offenders, victims and law enforcement agencies, the legal response needs to compromise with all the various economic, political, social and financial interests at play. Furthermore, where legitimate business intermingles with illegal business and legitimate funds with illicit funds, it is very difficult to distinguish what is legal from what is not. The criminalisation of money laundering was specifically supposed to tackle this fine line. The goal of this research is to assess whether the choice of criminalising money laundering has been effective to tackle this fine line. In order to assess the impact of the domestic implementation of the existing legal framework, the research uses a case study that specifically questions the effectiveness of the money laundering offence in the German national criminal legal system. The interest in the German case derives from the fact that, according to the IMF, the OECD and the FATF, Germany might have 'a higher risk profile for large scale money laundering than many other countries'.6 There are some factors identified as enablers of money laundering activities, such as the large economy and financial centre, the strategical location in the middle of Europe, with strong international links, the substantial proceeds of the crime environment involving organised crime operating in most profit generating criminal spheres, the open borders, the large informal sector and a high use of cash, the large and sophisticated economy and financial sector, the important role in world trade, and finally the involvement in large volumes of cross-border trade and financial flows. The media have kept on reporting the fact that Germany is an ideal country, or even a paradise for money launderers.7 According to most recent media reports, corruption is increasing in Germany along with money laundering and organised crime,8 and illicit financial flows are estimated to amount to 50 Billion Euros annually.9 Renowned banks such as Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, and Hypovereinsbank have been the focus of recent scandals due to their involvement in large tax evasion and money laundering schemes, investigated mostly by US law enforcement agencies.10 The legal framework has been considered as not being sufficient to tackle the estimated volume of money laundering. In 2007 and 2010 the European Commission initiated two proceedings against the German government for having contravened the European treaty by not having effectively transposed into national law the European framework to tackle money laundering and terrorist financing.11 In response to this wave of criticism, some important changes have been made.12 With specific regards to penal law, the legislature has amplified the scope of the money laundering offence and the sphere of criminal liability in order to improve the effectiveness of the existing legislation.13 Yet the continual expansion process has raised legal challenges that could constitute an obstacle for the effective enforcement of the measure. With regards to international legislation, scholars have often criticized the ineffectiveness of the anti-money laundering regime to not be able to achieve its goals and thus to be only appearance of public action. 14 While there is theoretical support for the perception that policies have contributed to a decrease in the incidence of money laundering, there is no evidence that this goal has actually been achieved.15 The official discourse describes the regime as a crucial tool to prevent and combat money laundering, and lawmakers have been focusing on expanding the reach of anti-money laundering laws. This work however takes a critical approach towards the existing legal framework and presents the view that questioning the effectiveness of the money laundering offence is essential before expanding the scope of the existing legal framework.16 On the background of the reflections based on the sociolegal framework that sets the definition of legal effectiveness with specific respect to criminal law, and on the critical literature on the inadequateness of the international anti-money laundering system to eliminate the targeted activity recalled in the introduction, the hypothesis underlying the case study is the following: Article 261 Gcc may be an example of a symbolic legislation, whose latent functions prevail on its declared functions. In particular, it is hypothesised that the law is an example of a 'compromise-law' that satisfy all parties taking part in the law-making process, thanks to the vagueness of the wording that allows a broad range of possible interpretations, and also thanks to the actual ineffectiveness, which pleases those who were contrary to the introduction of the provision. It is here necessary to recall the considerations on the 'legislator' being an heterogeneous group of parties not only constituted of members of the Parliament but often also by external actors, who can influence more or less transparently the law making-process. While the manifested function of tackling money laundering has in fact remained in the background, the thesis hypothesises that other latent goals have been pursued. It is further hypothesised that the 'law inaction' is part of a process of decriminalisation that intentionally grants impunity to a certain group of actors, in this case those laundering money, while giving the appearance that the practice is not accepted by law by labelling it as criminal. By using the concept of function, the study focuses on eventual conflicting interests emerging throughout the policy-making process and/or being displayed through the implementation of the provisions. In order to verify these hypotheses the research proceeds with a case study that aims at empirically assessing the sociolegal effectiveness of Article 261 Gcc. In particular, by applying the 'elastic' definition of effectiveness, the following chapters analyse the law-making process, the level of acceptance by legal scholars, the implementation, and the opinions of legal experts and professionals. The methodology adopted is qualitative. The research consists of a case study that includes a documental research, a qualitative analysis of statistical data and the conduction of interviews with privileged observers and legal actors. The study is a macro-sociological assessment of the effectiveness of a criminal legislation through the analysis of the motives that have triggered lawmakers to enact the current legal framework and the practical effects of the 'law in action'17 and of the 'law inaction'.18 Thanks to the use of sociological conceptual tools, as the ones of function, symbolic effectiveness, power, labelling, and legal culture, the research critically approaches the legal framework. In addition, the sociolegal perspective allows us to take into account the multidisciplinary nature of the phenomenon of money laundering and of its countermeasures and the diverse conflicting interests at play. The work has been conducted by a single person and not by a team of researchers; this has imposed a limit on the interviewing sample and the impossibility of undertaking, along with the qualitative analysis of the provision, a qualitative analysis of the jurisprudence and a quantitative analysis of the case law. In addition, criminal provisions have a deterrent purpose, yet in certain cases it is almost impossible to quantify the deterrence effect of those provisions, as in the case of the money laundering offence, and this represents a shortcoming of the current research. Official numbers are highly problematic, this element, despite impeding an objective quantification of the phenomenon, can represent a partial result for the qualitative analysis, because it highlights the complexity of the matter. The anti-money laundering regime is constantly evolving, and this would require continuously updating the assessment, instead the research provides a picture of the current situation. Yet the work offers the reader an instrument to critically interpret also possible changes in the wording of the money laundering offence that may be made following the publication of this work. The outcomes of the critical study on the reasons and effects of the current legislation can be used as a starting point for further research; the methodology set for the empirical analysis can be applied to assess the effectiveness of following developments. The structure of the thesis is the following: The first chapter presents the theoretical sociolegal framework and provides an operational definition of the concept of effectiveness that directs the empirical research. At the end the chapter describes the methodology of the qualitative research. Chapter two traces the genesis of the money laundering offence, as well on an internal, European and domestic level. The chapter analyses legislative intents, parliamentarian debates and other external contributions as declarations of intents and opinions through a desktop-study. The third chapter is dedicated to the doctrinal debate about the money laundering offence regulated in the German penal code. In particular the chapter highlights the controversial issues that have emerged through the abundant legal scholarship production, which might affect the effectiveness of the money laundering offence. Chapters four and chapter five present the empirical research. The fourth chapter analyses the quantitative data of the implementation of the money laundering offence from a qualitative perspective. The last chapter presents the results of the interviews. The main outcomes of the research are that the interests expressed more or less manifestly from the actors taking part in the initial phase of the creation of the anti-money laundering regime were strongly conflicting with each other. One representative example is the question whether to use the policy also to tackle large scale tax evasion or to leave proceeds deriving from fiscal crimes outside of the regime. Very different justifications were given for the criminalisation of money laundering at different stages. Often the declared motives did not correspond to the real goals of the actors taking part in the law-making process. The rhetoric connected to the seriousness of the drug issue was the manifest function of the new criminalisation of money laundering. However, other latent goals, for instance, the desire of financial institutions to clean their reputation and gain customs confidentiality or the interest of some governments to curb tax evasion were already present during this initial phase. Another controversial issue concerns the fact national states have adopted anti-money laundering measures under the pressure of the FATF, which is led by most industrialised countries.19 Despite lacking democratic legitimation, the FATF has imposed worldwide a brand new regime of criminalisation, prevention and enforcement. The legal framework has been used to address ever-new challenges, and this expansion process has been coupled by a rhetoric that scholars have defined the securitisation rhetoric.20 The most recent function manifestly attributed to the anti-money laundering legal framework, that is, in short, the protection of the soundness of the financial system. Especially in times of financial insecurity, the tendency of hardening laws against economic crimes increases. Having previously deregulated the financial system to enhance economic liberties, legislatures resort to criminal law to control illegality in the economy. As a response to the European financial crisis of 2007-2011, legislatures, instead of rethinking the approach towards the protection of the global finance, called for a tightening of economic crimes regulations. The European discourse on money laundering has mostly been related to the destabilisation of the market, the abuse of capitals’ movement liberty, the disintegration of the internal economy. But, why was the EU so keen on imposing a common standard for the criminalisation of money laundering, without even enjoying competence in penal matters? The introduction of a common anti-money laundering control policy served to a latent function, namely to the purposes of the creation of the 'Single Market', by way of avoiding that Member States would have adopted measures inconsistent with the completion of the Internal Market, while taking action to protect their own national economies from money laundering.21 This was done by avoiding that domestic regulations implemented for protecting national economies from the infiltration of ill-gotten capital could have hampered the freedom of movement of capital within the European borders. The tension emerges, also in the wording of the most recent EU money laundering Directives, due to lack of Community action against money laundering could lead Member States, for the purpose of protecting their financial systems, to adopt measures which could be inconsistent with completion of the single market.22 There are thus conflicting interests between the claim for regulation to avoid the infiltration of illicit capital, and the demand for deregulation to foster the free market. The European legislature, however, did not declare completely this intention and justified, instead, the imposition of anti-money laundering rules given the threats posed by money laundering to the financial system and thus to society. According to this critical approach, the criminalisation of money laundering turns out to be more of a political tool aimed at achieving governance within the EU, while being presented to the public as an essential intervention to guarantee security and well-being. Once again, thus, the declared goals of the lawmakers did not correspond with the real intentions. It is especially in the interest of a research on the law's effectiveness to unveil functions that were undeclared, in order to evaluate the outcomes in a more critical way. Also from the analysis of the national law-making process emerged divergent opinions and expectations relating to the criminalisation of money laundering. The Parliamentarians debate that took place with regard to the introduction of the money laundering offence and other instruments to tackle drug-trafficking shows that the discussion was deeply embedded in the political-historical context. Given that Germany was just reunified after a period of two dictatorial regimes, the hearing gives the impression that lawmakers felt the responsibility of creating a new legal system against such historical background. In order to balance the very different legal cultures, the divergent approaches had to be compromised. The introduction of a new crime was particularly delicate due to the discriminatory and arbitrary use of criminal labels by the previous dictatorial regimes. Therefore, delegates would not easily give up on fundamental rights for the cause of persecuting criminals. The legislation can be seen as an attempt to balance the need to adopt more effective measures to tackle crime and the necessity of respecting the rule of law and creating a 'militant democracy'. Yet, given the external pressure of the FATF, the EU and of the media, the text was less of a compromise and rather a ratification of 'internationally' accepted standards. The rule of law was not the only issue emerged in the initial phase of the political debate. Controversial opinions were raised also with regard to the questions of the mens rea and the interest protected by the new criminal provision: Certain political parties supported the broadest criminal liability to ensure an effective prosecution of money laundering, other parties were worried that a widespread liability would have been cumbersome for the economic system. Moreover, along with the expansion of the international criminal legal framework to fight against money laundering, also the scope of Article 261 Gcc was extended to include ever-new predicate offences. From the analysis of the doctrinal debate, it emerged that legal scholars have revealed technical hindrances that hinder the provision's legitimacy and thus hamper a positive integration of the act in the criminal legal system. In addition, given that most controversial issues are caused by the wording of the offence, the chapter seems to uphold the idea of an intentional potential decriminalisation of money launderers. The wording of Article 261 Gcc has the potential of frustrating some of the intentions expressed by the legislature in occasion of the adoption of the provision. While the vague formulation of the money laundering offence was thought to tackle ever-new emergencies and has been justified by legislatures as necessary to ensure a more effective fight against money laundering, it has also raised issues that, far from being purely dogmatic, have undermined the acceptance of such law. If law makers have designed the offence in a broad way to allow the criminalisation of conducts that could not have been prosecuted by the existing offences before, the large discretion left to prosecutors, has resulted in a cumbersome element for the prosecution of money laundering. In addition, criminalising the reckless conduct without envisaging a specific criminal liability for security positions has widened the scope of the offence to the point that the law has missed its function of isolating criminals by criminalising gate-keepers’ activities. In addition it emerged that there are some open questions with regard to the wording of the offence, for example the question of the interests protected by Article 261 Gcc. On one side a state intervention is considered necessary to contain the impact of economic misbehaviours to protect citizens, on the other side it is important to limit the resort to criminal law only for safeguarding individual or collective situations and not for defending an existing economic structure. The economic system may, in fact, not be considered as a collective interest that needs protection. Also, safeguards provided by penal law need to be substantial and not symbolic, because they urge to change a given situation of inequality, where criminals can profit from illegal practices while legitimate economic actors undergo unfair competition. From the doctrinal analysis it has instead emerged that the legislator seemed to be more interested in drafting a symbolic legislation that can be hardly integrated in the legal system and that raise strong challenges. Lawmakers have been focusing on expanding the reach of anti-money laundering in order to improve its effectiveness, yet without providing legitimacy for such expansion. One of the most meaningful fact observed in the qualitative analysis of statistical data is that organised crime and 'gross money laundering' are not persecuted through Article 261 Gcc. This fact can be inferred by the low number of convictions pursuant to Article 261 (4),23 by the low number of money laundering proceedings categorised as organised crime and by the low number of investigations in the field of money laundering, tax crimes and economic crimes recorded by public prosecutors offices in 2013, where more than one person was involved (18 %). Yet, this does not mean that the criminal justice system does not act against them, but rather that it uses other tools to achieve the goal. While the low conviction rate for serious money laundering cases could be also a symptom of a high degree of deterrence of the provision, it seems that law enforcement uses the money laundering charge as a fallback for authorities who are unable to acquire sufficient evidence in a preliminary phase for the predicate crime and necessitate further information otherwise not accessible. The charge of money laundering allows investigators to access the vast amount of information recorded pursuant to the GwG, which would not be otherwise accessible. Yet, after the investigative phase, prosecutors seem to prefer to modify the charge and opt for indictment for predicate offences instead. The law seems to be effective to the extent that it facilitates the initial investigations, while it does not serve directly the function of punishing money launderers. Besides having a substantial nature, the provisions seem to have a procedural function. It can be inferred that prosecutors find particularly difficult to bring evidence against organised money launderers also due to the fact that professional offenders do not leave traces. From the scarce use of Article 261 Gcc for tackling organised criminality, it can be inferred that the measure is not serving for one of the purposes declared by the legislature when introducing the offence. In addition, it can be hypothesised that other measures may be more suitable to tackle 'gross money laundering'. Given the high number of STRs filed and the low number of money laundering charges and of convictions deriving from the STRs since the introduction of the laws, it can be assumed that the system has been anyway maintained because it still provides some sort of benefits. It can be hypothesised that one benefit is the number of information provided to law enforcement agencies. This amount of recorded information is helpful not only to support further indictments, but also to increase the personnel awareness about the ever-changing money laundering techniques and schemes. Again the effect of the 'law in action' differs in respect to the declared legislative intentions, which justified the criminalisation of money laundering with the necessity of tackling organised crime's economic power. By spelling out this function, the assessment on the effectiveness of the law - as the possibility of collecting information - can be positive. Yet, this effect could be considered a social cost rather than a benefit. On a theoretical side, many scholars see the recording of personal information by private actors as an infringement of the right to privacy.24 On a more practical side such mechanism imposes significant costs on the designated businesses and professions that are in charge of collecting the data.25 When compared to the effective outcomes of the preventive regulations, in terms of law enforcement results, this aspect does not seem to win a cost-benefit analysis, as showed in the quoted researches. If one considers the advantages in terms of information collected, the policy may be considered worth the burden imposed, instead. However, the fact that the laws would have an effective impact on the long run on the fight against money laundering and organised crime may be seen as a diminished deterrence effect, because perpetrators would have the time to adapt to the new laws and find new ways of circumventing them. A collateral effect of the long-run effectiveness of the policy hypothesised on the basis of the outcomes of the research on the implementation is the fact that perpetrators could take advantage of the initiated but not completed cases, by acquiring knowledge about law enforcement strategies and thus develop subterfuges to elude them. On the contrary, it seems that the legislature is always running after to cope with the offenders’ ever-new strategies. In fact, regulations about a new sector are updated when there is evidence that there is a risk of money laundering in that specific sector. Yet, offenders might have already moved their laundering activities to another sector. On the assumption that the inclusion of the reckless conduct would have potentially criminalised daily activities, a focus was posed on the number of convictions related to Article 261 (5) Gcc26 to verify the target of the criminal provision. Since 2005 a high number of convictions have been actually referring to reckless money laundering. This shows that the offence is used to punish primarily 'petty money laundering'. This fact can also be inferred from the relevant number of money laundering cases to the detriment of senior citizens, signalled by the FIU in the recent years. Also the fact that a significant number of STRs is filed in relation to the 'financial agents’ phenomenon' is a symptom that the preventive mechanism targets more 'small fishes' rather than big perpetrators. Individuals convicted for the reckless conduct may be even victims of a fraud perpetrated by criminal networks. However, the criminal network acting behind the offender remains undetected. If on the one side it cannot be claimed that such offenders, given the lower degree of culpability should not be punished at all, on the other side this effect of the law involves a change of paradigm. The money laundering offence was initially introduced with the goal of tackling serious crimes. The observed effect, however, changes the function and the nature of the law, so that Article 261 Gcc could be considered rather a 'blue collar crime' more than a 'white collar crime'. From the analysis on the quality of STRs filed to the FIU, it can be inferred that certain designated professions and businesses are very reluctant in filing STRs, despite their notably exposure to money laundering risks. The list of designated professions and businesses has been amplified over the years exactly with the goal of facing this transfer of crime from one area to the other. Yet some professionals, such as legal advisors, do not report them, although they possess the capacity of recognising illicit transactions. The fact that some sectors do not actively participate in the effort of preventing money laundering, by allowing criminal proceedings to enter the legitimate economy, may lead to a general ineffectiveness of the system, because it can significantly hinder the capacity of the whole anti-money laundering system to respond to the ability of offenders to move their field of activity there where the law is lax. The provision does generate some instrumental effects by punishing offenders and by triggering a cooperation directed at signalling suspicious transactions between the obliged entities and law enforcement. However, some of the effects do not seem to completely fulfil the legislature's declared goals. For example the chapter seems to prove wrong the legislature's expectation of tackling the grey area by punishing gate-keepers or the attributed function of eliminating organised and serious crime. Given the high costs of implementation highlighted by the cost-benefits analyses, the rather low outcomes seem to be insufficient to fulfil the legislature's goals. Since it is sufficient that without latent functions it would be impossible to explain the adoption and maintenance of a legal act,27 it can be concluded that the intents declared by lawmakers do not satisfy the reasons why the provision was introduced. This opens up the hypothesis that Article 261 Gcc is an example of a symbolic legislation, which has been enacted with the purpose of compromising a complex parliamentarian debate. The analysis of the law-making process has revealed the existence of different expectations attributed to the introduction of Article 261 Gcc. Expectations that were conflicting with each other had to be negotiated and were compromised through the formulation of a vague offence that allowed different interpretations. Yet, the implementation of the law has led to the re-emersion of some of the conflicting situations. In addition, given that the policy regulates a complex and multifaceted issue new conflicts have emerged through its enforcement. The effects triggered by the norm can be indeed perceived positively or negatively by the different actors involved. In particular five principal conflicting situations have surfaced from the interviews. The first issue is the role played by external actors in the law-making process and the constant influence exercised by those actors in the process of updating the policy. The imposition of a US American approach to money laundering control through the role of the FATF has also been highlighted in the second chapter. Specifically, some scholars see the development of a global prohibition regime fostered by the US in the diffusion of anti-money laundering law. According to this literature, the powerful state creates an international regime focussed on achieving its own goals through global acceptance triggered by the securitisation rhetoric and compliance processes imposed through the menace of exclusion by international business relations. The second conflict that emanates from the words of the respondents is the one of the demand for criminal law to face financial misbehaviours and the necessity of limiting the tendency of expanding criminal law on the background of a situation of financial instability. Given the previous deregulation of the market, policy makers need to control and sanction economic abuse in order to protect fair competition and law-abiding individuals. On the other hand, the state needs to respect fundamental principles, such as the rule of law and the principle of ultima ratio that imposes a restriction of the use of criminal law in situations in which no other measures are suitable. This conflict has already been raised along the formulation of the money laundering offence with regards to the question of the interests protected by the law. Despite the legislator tying to limit the scope of the offence by attributing to Article 261 Gcc the protection of the administration of justice and of the interests protected by the predicate offences, this explanation was not considered suitable to the peculiarity of the offence. Indeed, shortly after the enactment, legal scholarship and the judiciary entered in a vivid debate in order to identify more suitable interests protected by the law, among them the financial and economic system under different perspectives. However, as chapter three shows, no solution could be found. In fact, the question concerning the suitability of criminal law to tackle illicit financial flows is perceived in the current research as still unsolved. The matter does not only concern money laundering control. On the contrary, it is a fairly widespread issue that has recently emerged due to the tendency of hardening economic crimes on the background of a situation of financial instability. The third conflict can be summarised as the following: on the one hand the policy being required to interfere with the personal sphere of suspected money launderers; on the other hand private institutions being interested in protecting their relations with loyal and trusted customers. Therefore, they are reluctant to give law enforcement the possibility to interfere too much in their business. The interest manifested by the private sector involved in the prevention of money laundering seems thus to collide with the legislative intent of preventing the infiltration of dirty money by way of preventing gate-keepers to help money launderers. The clash emerges at a micro-economic level and is triggered by the fact that the anti-money laundering policy demands an active participation by private sector in the detection of suspects. Private actors, are not appropriate to bear the burden of detecting offenders, moreover they need to protect the relationships with customers by avoiding unnecessary interferences. At the same time, the privatisation of crime control is questionable also from a governance point of view. It seems therefore that the public interest in persecuting crimes through having access to personal information from the private sector only marginally collides with the interest of protecting the right to privacy. Businesses and professions are predominantly interested in not interfering with their clients and in not bearing the burden of detecting offenders. The issue was also addressed during the national Parliamentarian debate, with regards to the degree of mens rea required for money laundering criminal liability. Making everybody taking part in economic or financial activities actively participating in the monitoring of the economic system under the threat of criminal liability for negligent money laundering was considered harmful for the business market. The same debate has been picked up by legal scholarship too. Yet, it seems that, despite the law being the result of negotiations, the question is still open. The fourth issue consists of discording opinions with regards to the opportunity of including tax evasion as predicate offence for money laundering. On one hand there is the interest of tackling tax evasion through the anti-money laundering regime, on the hand the concern of keeping the two phenomena distinct in order to avoid an overrating of money laundering. Since the genesis of the anti-money laundering policy, some actors taking part in the international law-making process, opposed the labelling of 'black money', naming money deriving from tax violations, as 'dirty money', indicating all proceeds of crime typically committed by organised crime. This distinction was based on the perception that tax-related offences were less serious and less harmful than capital flight and were advocated by financial centres in order to maintain a good reputation while still granting peculiar financial services, such as bank secrecy. This issue is a good example of the labelling theory, to the extent that it shows how a practice that was firstly not considered criminal enough to amount to a predicate offence for money laundering, has become part of the scope of the anti-money laundering regime on the basis of a political decision of labelling it as such. Respondents of the current research show to have different perceptions of the degree of the seriousness of tax laws violations and thus about the appropriateness and necessity of tackling them under the umbrella of the anti-money laundering policy. Again, the matter, which seemed to have been resolved through the negotiations on an international and European level, is still being debated at national level. The last two contrasting interests are the necessity of regulating the flows of money and the free movements of capitals in a neoliberal economy. The question is intrinsic in the nature of money laundering, which is a phenomenon that happens at the interface between legality and illegality. Regulations that facilitate the licit exchange of goods, capitals and services do also facilitate the flow of ill-gotten gains; there are thus conflicting interests between the public interest of persecuting crime and the claims for less regulation in a free market economy. From the interviews surfaced that not only opinions on the effectiveness of the law differ, but the very concept of effectiveness is perceived differently among the interview partners. Perceptions about how effective the anti- money laundering policy is appear to be similar among respondents belonging to the same experts’ group. In particular, given the fact that the policy triggers many preliminary investigations, investigators work on a daily basis with the provision. This led to their opinion on the implementation of the legislation being rather positive. Positive opinions have common ground: they assert that the policy is not a simple one to implement, however, they believe that the legal practice has found its way through. On the contrary, defence attorneys specialised in economic crimes do not receive a significant amount of clients suspected for money laundering. For this reason they tend to have a rather negative opinion on the policy’s effectiveness, also driven by the perception that the policy is not able to achieve the indirect goals. The diverse concepts of effectiveness provided by disciplines close to the sociology of law and the different definitions of effectiveness given by sociologists of law turn out to be useful here. Particularly the notions of 'efficiency' and of 'efficiency regardless of the goals' are proved very useful to interpret the respondents' opinions. Efficiency, is according to the administrative legal approach, the optimal relation between the goals achieved and the instruments used. A subcategory of this concept is the efficiency calculated through a cost-benefit analysis, of which some examples have been presented in the fourth chapter, which defines efficiency as the functioning of a legal order without assessing the goals achieved. This type of analysis focuses on the correctness of the operating system since the purpose of the system is its own existence. It refers to a whole legal order rather than to a specific single provision. Given that the anti-money laundering policy constitutes a legal order, due to the diverse regulations involved and the competent authorities created in order to achieve the goals of the policy, this notion can be applied. In the field of administrative legal theories, the first chapter has focussed on the approach that considers the (in)effectiveness of a law depending on its (failing) enforcement. A high degree of compliance of the anti-money laundering legislation might correspond to a high level of effectiveness of the policy with respect to its direct function, but at the same time to a rather low level of effectiveness with regards to its indirect purposes. The way to evaluate the degree of effectiveness is therefore also different. While compliance with legal provisions is calculated through a quantitative assessment of the processes in force and of the functioning of the system, the achievement of the indirect functions is measured on the impact of the policy. Interview partners have different perceptions about the indirect functions of the legislation too. This reflects, once again, the fact that the policy was a result of a compromise between different expectations and that the legislator was not able to limit the scope of its application to a particular goal. The different expectations and intents, which already emerged in the doctrinal debate about the legally protected interests, appears again in the different perceptions of the interviewees. The respondents were asked about the legislation's effectiveness with regards to one of the indirect functions, namely the capacity to deter organised crime. The legislator enacted the money laundering offence in the context of the fight against drug trafficking and other forms of organised crime, thus Article 261 Gcc's expressed rationale is the prevention and repression of organised crime. Finally, a relevant outcome regards the respondents’ opinions on article 261 Gcc’s latent symbolic function. Some of them agree with this. Others strongly oppose the hypothesis. They argue instead that the policy has instrumental effects on their daily practice, which cannot be defined as purely symbolic. According to most respondents, the law cannot be defined as symbolic, because it has led to instrumental effects. In the first place information gathered thanks to the GwG is used to start preliminary investigations under Article 261 Gcc. Secondly, the structure enacted to comply with the anti-money laundering policy is attainable and is visible and cannot be denied. Thirdly, the law is considered necessary because it labels a deviant behaviour. In particular, despite the fact that investigations do not lead to a conviction for money laundering they allow investigators to collect information in support of criminal cases for the predicate offences or to start a preliminary investigation for a predicate offence. In this sense, the function of the 'law in action', despite being questionable, is objectively instrumental. However, the fact that the law serves the purpose of tackling predicate offences through the support of investigations does not exclude the hypothesis that the law was enacted to pursue latent functions too. According to the sociologist Aubert, it is not necessary that the latent goal is the only one that plays a role, but it is necessary that the other purposes would not explain the analysed phenomenon completely. Indeed, in the opinions of those who exclude the symbolic function, yet the results achieved through compliance do not legitimate the burden imposed by the legislation. In other words, it seems that they recognise that the purpose of compliance cannot completely explain the policy makers' motivation, which re-opens the doors for the hypothesis of the existence of latent functions. In fact, such a demanding policy cannot be accepted for the sole purpose of re-enforcing the action of the criminal justice system in tackling predicate offences. On the other hand, compliance with the policy in terms of building of a structure and of expertise does not automatically mean fulfilling the policy’s purpose. Particularly the creation of new professionalism, has been interpreted by scholars as a sign given to the public that the policy has produced certain effects. In conclusion, on the background of the research’s outcome, the paper tries to reply to the question: (How) can the effectiveness of the money laundering offence be improved? While technical hindrances can (and perhaps) will be removed through legal reforms, 28 the inherent political economic and financial conflicting interests that impede a higher level of effectiveness are more difficult to solve. In contemporary industrialised economies there is a complicated and sometimes shifting boundary between legitimate and illegitimate transactions. This is particularly exacerbated in the context of financial capitalism, which 'subordinates the capitalist productive process to the circulation of money and monetary assets and hence to the accumulation of money profits'. Since the very beginning, determining the boundary between an area defined as 'criminal' and the space of 'legality' has been controversial. In fact, money has a neutral nature, pecunia non olet, making profit, irrespective of the monies' origin, is a very strong interest for both private and public entities, which collides with the one of eliminating illicit financial flows. In other words criminal policy goals diverge from purely economic interests. While one can assume the justice and correctness of the current financial system, and thus describes money laundering as harmful because it interferes with the existing economic order, one can also assume that the capitalist system leads per se to injustice and inequality, and that money laundering is actually embedded in this profit-oriented system and represents just the darker side of the capitalist economy. A compromised viewpoint is the one that describes money laundering as an accepted collateral effect of the capitalist system, that is to say 'a certain amount of illicit financial flows may be considered an acceptable price to pay for a market where free mobility of capital is guaranteed'. In other words, money laundering is intrinsic in or at least exacerbated by the capitalist system.

Thesis (LLM (Private Law))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The most important innovations of the revised German Wohnunungseigentumsgesetz which came into force on 1 July of 2007, concern the possiblity to amend parts of the constitution of the scheme (Gemeinschaftsordnung) by majority instead of unanimous resolution; the extension of the decision-making competence of sectional owners; the easier and more appropriate distinction between maintenance of and luxurious and non-luxurious improvements to the common property; the recognition that the body corporate has legal capacity to act in certain circumstances; the increase in the functions and powers of the professional manager (Verwalter); and the replacement of the procedure for non-contentious matters for the settlement of disputes by the ordinary civil court procedure. These predominantly valuable innovations raise the question in how far South African law could benefit from these amendments, and whether they could be used as a model for solving some of the unsatisfactory aspects of the South African sectional title law. The revised Wohnungseigentumsgesetz now allows apartment owners to amend more provisions of the constitution by majority resolution. The harsh unanimity principle is in many contexts replaced by the majority principle and individual apartment owners are allowed to request an amendment of certain provisions of the constitution for important reasons. The Sectional Titles Act and the model management and conduct rules regulate the relationship between sectional owners in South Africa. Both the developer and the body corporate have the authority to supplement or amend the existing model rules by special rules. However, in comparison with the revised Wohnungseigentumsgesetz the management and conduct rules can only be amended by a unanimous or special resolution for management and conduct rules respectively and an individual owner is not allowed to request an amendment of a model rule on account of the unfair consequences suffered by him or her. An important advantage of the revised Wohnungseigentumsgesetz in comparison with section 32(4) of the Sectional Titles Act is furthermore that no written consent is required from the sectional owner who is adversely affected by an amendment of certain aspects of the participation quota. This requirement causes many problems. First, the circumstances in which an owner can be considered adversely affected have not been judicially determined. Second, the South African requirement is out of step with modern conditions, which witness the number of larger schemes increasing, because it allows one owner to block objectively necessary resolutions of the body corporate. The provision requiring the written consent of the adversely affected owner should therfore be repealed. The same applies to the general requirements for carrying out maintenance of and improvements to the common property. On closer analysis it becomes clear that the management rules contain no criteria to distinguish between maintenance and improvement measures or between luxurious and non-luxurious improvements. In final analysis these distinctions seem to depend on subjective rather than on objective criteria. By contrast the revised Wohnungseigentumsgesetz contains a clear objective distinction between the four categories of improvements to the common property.
GERMAN ABSTRACT: Seit dem 1. Juli 2007 gilt in Deutschland ein novelliertes Wohnungseigentumsgesetz. Die wichtigsten Neuerungen betreffen die Ermöglichung von Änderungen der Gemeinschaftsordnung nicht nur durch einstimmigen Beschluss der Wohnungseigentümer, die Erweiterung der Beschlusskompetenzen der Wohnungseigentümer, die Erleichterung der Durchführung baulicher Maßnahmen, die Gestaltung der Teilrechtsfähigkeit der Eigentümergemeinschaft und die Festlegung der erweiterten Rechte und Pflichten des Verwalters sowie die Überleitung des Verfahrens der freiwilligen Gerichtsbarkeit in die Zivilprozessordnung. Die überwiegende Zahl der grundsätzlich zu begrüßenden Neuregelungen gibt auch für das südafrikanische Recht wertvolle Denkanstöße zu der Frage, ob eine Novellierung des Sectional Titles Act im Sinne der Neuregelungen des WEG eine Möglichkeit wäre, bestehende „Ungereimtheiten“ und Probleme zwischen den Wohnungseigentümern und im Wohnungseigentumskomplex in Südafrika besser lösen zu können. Im neuen novellierten WEG sind mehr als bislang Mehrheitsentscheidungen der Wohnungseigentümer zulässig. Statt des starren Einstimmigkeitsprinzips gilt nun oftmals das Mehrheitsprinzip. Zudem ist es auch dem einzelnen Wohnungseigentümer möglich, eine Änderung einer Vereinbarung zu verlangen, sofern ein Festhalten an einer geltenden Regelung aus schwerwiegenden Gründen unter Berücksichtigung aller Umstände des Einzelfalles, unbillig erscheint. Gesetzliche Regelungen, welche das Gemeinschaftsverhältnis in Südafrika ordnen, sind im Sectional Titles Act selbst und in den management und conduct rules der Annexure 8 und 9 des Sectional Titles Act enthalten. Zudem hat sowohl der developer als auch die Wohnungseigentümergemeinschaft (body corporate) die Befugnis, die Rechte, Pflichten und Nutzungsrechte der Wohnungseigentümer in sogenannten „special rules“ selbst festzulegen. Im Vergleich zu den Regelungen des novellierten WEG ist es für Wohnungseigentümer in Südafrika jedoch schwerer, eine Änderung solcher Regelungen herbeizuführen. Wollen die Wohnungseigentümer von den Regelungen der management oder conduct Rules abweichen, können sie dies bezüglich der management rules nur durch einheitlichen Beschluss (resolution) und hinsichtlich der conduct rules mittels eines Beschlusses mit 75%er Mehrheit (special resolution). Ein individueller Anspruch des einzelnen Wohnungseigentümers auf Änderung, Ergänzung oder Ersetzung der rules bei Unbilligkeit besteht nicht. Ein gewichtiger Vorteil der Neuregelung des § 16 Abs. 3 WEG im Vergleich zu Artikel 32(4) des Sectional Titles Act ist zudem, dass es in Deutschland keiner schriftlichen Zustimmung des von der Entscheidung negativ betroffenen Wohnungseigentümers bedarf. Eine Änderung der participation quota hinsichtlich des Kostenverteilungsschlüssels ist nur möglich, wenn ein von der Entscheidung negativ betroffener Wohnungseigentümer seine schriftliche Zustimmung erteilt. Wann eine solche negative Betroffenheit („adversely affected“) letztlich vorliegt, ist zum einen nicht abschließend geklärt. Zum anderen ist gerade unter der Prämisse immer größerer werdender sectional titles schemes nicht mehr zeitgemäß, einem einzelnen Wohnungseigentümer die Möglichkeit zu geben, objektiv notwendige Entscheidungen der body corporate zu blockieren. Das Erfordernis der Zustimmungsbedürftigkeit eines negativ betroffenen Wohnungseigentümers sollte daher aufgegeben werden. Gleiches gilt für die generelle Zulässigkeit von baulichen Veränderungen. Bei genauerer Analyse des südafrikanischen Rechts wird zudem klar, dass in den Management Rules nicht definiert ist, was unter Verbesserungen, d.h. unter „improvements to the common property“ zu verstehen ist oder wie im Einzelfall zwischen luxuriösen und nicht-luxuriösen Aufwendungen zu unterscheiden ist, da es letztlich von der subjektiven Betrachtungsweise Einzelner abhängt. Das novellierte WEG enthält im Vergleich dazu eine klarere objektive Begriffsabgrenzung der vier Kategorien baulicher Maßnahmen.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die belangrikste veranderings aangebring deur die wysiging van die Duitse Wohnunungseigentumsgesetz wat op 1Julie 2007 in werking getree het, is die volgende: die wysiging van die reëls van die skema (Gemeinschaftsordnung) deur middel van ‘n meerderheidsbesluit in plaas van ‘n eenparige besluit; die uitbreiding van die besluitnemingsbevoegdhede van deeleienaars, die helder en meer gepaste vereistes vir die aanbring van verbeterings aan die gemeenskaplike eiendom, die erkenning van die regsbevoegdheid van die regspersoon in sekere gevalle, die uitbreiding van die bevoegdhede van die professionele bestuurder en die vervanging van die informele geskilbeslegtingsprosedure deur die gewone hofprosedure. Hierdie veranderinge laat die vraag ontstaan in hoeverre die Suid-Afrikaanse reg voordeel kan trek uit hierdie wysigings en in hoeverre die veranderings as model kan dien vir wysiging van onbevredigende aspekte van die Wet op Deeltitels. Die gewysigde Wohnunungseigentumsgesetz laat deeleienaars tans toe om meer bepalings van die model reëls deur meerderheidsbesluit te verander. Die streng eenparigheidsbeginsel word in meerdere verbande deur die meerderheidsbeginsel vervang en deeleienaars word in sekere gevalle selfs toegelaat om aansoek te doen vir die wysiging van sommige bepalings op grond van ‘n geldige rede. Die Wet op Deeltitels en die model bestuurs- en gedragsreëls reguleer die regsverhouding tussen deeleienaars. In teenstelling met die gewysidge Duitse wet kan die die regspersoon die bestuursreëls slegs deur middel van ‘n eenparige besluit en die gedragsreëls deur middel van ‘n spesiale besluit verander en ‘n deeleienaar word nie toegelaat om ‘n verandering van die reëls aan te vra op grond van onregverdige benadeling nie. ‘n Belangrike voordeel van die gewysigde Duitse wet in vergelyking met artikel 32(4) van die Wet op Deeltitels is verder dat die skriftelike toestemming van ‘n deeleienaar wat deur die wysiging van sekere aspekte van die deelnemingkwota benadeel word, nie verkry hoef te word nie. Dit is ‘n groot verbetering. Eerstens is dit moeilik om te bepaal in watter omstandighede ‘n deeleienaar se regte deur die wysiging van die deelnemingskwota benadeel word. Tweedens is die Suid-Afrikaanse bepaling uit pas met moderne ontwikkelings waar ‘n deeleienaar in groot deeltitleontwikkelings toegelaat word om objektief redelike besluite van die regspersoon te blokkeer. Hierdie bepaling van die Wet op Deeltitels moet dus herroep word. Dieselfde geld vir die vereistes met betrekking tot die onderhoud van en verbeterings aan die gemeenskaplike eiendom in die Suid-Afrikaanse wetgewing. Op die keper beskou bevat die bestuursreëls geen geskikte riglyne om tussen die onderhoud van, en luukse en nieluukse verbeterings aan die gemeenskaplike eiendom te onderskei nie. Die onderskeiding berus oënskynlik op subjektiewe eerder as objektiewe oorwegings. Daarenteen bevat die gewysigde Duitse Wet helder, objektiewe kriteria om onderhoud en vier soorte verbeterings aan die gemeenskaplike eiendom te onderskei.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 1997.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Standard financial literature contains various explanations for the unique role of deposit-taking intermediaries in an economy. None of these reasons adequately explains the extensive degree of banking regulation evident in practice. The nature of a deposit, which guarantees capital repayment independent of bank performance, uniquely incentivises banks to be exposed to financial risks. In the absence of appropriate regulation, banks may be tempted to assume an unacceptably high level of risk that could ultimately result in bank failure. Thus, the regulation of banking risks is justified in terms of the public interest theory whereby banking regulation seeks to avoid the market imperfections arising from informational asymmetries and "domino" externalities associated with bank failure. Accordingly, the rationale of banking regulation lies in the protection of consumers and in preserving the stability of the financial system. Direct monetary controls, on the other hand, impact adversely on the risk-management activities of banks. The framework utilised to analyse and compare banking regulation consists of three broad categories namely: preventative regulation, protective regulation and monetary requirements. Preventative or prudential regulation is aimed at managing the levels of risks assumed by banks. This form of regulation relates to entry requirements; limitations on certain business activities; the disclosure of risk-related information; the adequacy of capital resources; portfolio restrictions on risk assets; and the sufficiency of liquidity. Protective regulation is concerned with the immediate protection of depositors and maintenance of overall financial stability once a bank has failed. lt consists of crisis management measures and deposit insurance schemes. Direct, and hence inappropriate, monetary requirements are variations in reserve asset requirements, as well as interest rate and credit controls. The banking systems of South Africa, the United Kingdom and Germany were chosen to perform a comparative analysis of financial regulation. The London financial markets are mature and a large variety of banks are regulated in a flexible manner by the Bank of England. By contrast, the strictly regulated German banks dominate their domestic financial system. South Africa is a hybrid of the former systems with a modern banking industry operating in well developed financial markets and supervised according to advanced risk-management considerations. The analysis of preventative and protective regulation in all three financial systems indicates that banking regulation is indeed concerned with the regulation of banking risks. The efforts of the Bank for International Settlements to harmonise regulation across domestic financial systems has contributed significantly to improved regulatory techniques for the management of these risks. None of the three systems make use of direct monetary requirements which suggest awareness of the costs associated with such regulation. A number of recommendations are made to improve financial regulation in South Africa: extension of regulatory coverage to include other types of financial intermediaries who also engage in risky activities; further relaxation of exchange control regulations which restrict the foreign exchange risk management; the adoption of a formal deposit protection scheme; increased consolidated supervision by a single regulatory authority with executive powers; further deregulatory measures in instances where regulations are not appropriate from a risk-management perspective; and re-regulation to the extent that the risk-management activities can be regulated more efficiently.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die finansiele literatuur bevat verskeie verklarings vir die unieke rol wat depositonemende instellings in 'n ekonomie vervul. Geeneen van die redes verskaf 'n bevredigende verklaring vir die wye omvang van bankregulasies in die praktyk nie. Die aard van 'n deposita is sodanig dat die terugbetaling van die kapitaalsom deur 'n bank gewaarborg word, onafhanklik van die winsprestasie van die bank. Gevolglik het banke die unieke eienskap om hulself aan finansiele risikos bloat te stel. Sander gepaste regulering sou banke moontlik daartoe geneigd wees om oormatige hoe risikovlakke na te streef wat tot bankmislukking kan lei. Die regulering van bankrisikos vind dus bestaansreg in die teorie van openbare belang, d.w.s. dat regulering die potensiele markmislukkings, wat voortspruit uit asimmetriese inligting en "domino" eksternaliteite, kan voorkom. Die rasionaal van bankregulering is die beskerming van verbruikers, asook die handhawing van 'n stabiele finansiele stelsel. Direkte monetere beheermaatreels, daarenteen, het 'n ongunstige uitwerking op die bestuur van risikos deur banke. Die raamwerk waarbinne bankregulering ontleed en vergelyk word, bestaan uit drie kategoriee, naamlik voorkomende regulering, beskermende regulering en monetere vereistes. Voorkomende regulering is daarop gemik om die risikos waaraan banke blootgestel is te bestuur. Sodanige regulering verwys na toelatingsvereistes, beperkings op sekere sake-aktiwiteite, die openbaarmaking van risiko-verwante inligting, die toereikendheid van kapitaalhulpbronne, beperkings ten opsigte van baterisikos en voldoende likiditeit. Beskermende regulering is gemoeid met die beskerming van deposante en bestaan uit krisisbeheermaatreels en depositoversekeringskemas. Direkte (en gevolglik ontoepaslike) monetere vereistes bestaan uit veranderlike reserwebatevereistes, asook rentekoers- en kredietbeheermaatreels. Die bankstelsels van Suid Afrika, die Verenigde Koningkryk en Duitsland is gekies vir 'n vergelykende analise van finansiele regulering. Die finansiele markte in Londen is hoogs ontwikkeld en 'n groat verskeidenheid en aantal banke word op 'n pragmatiese wyse deur die Bank of England gereguleer. In direkte teenstelling daarmee word die Duitse banke, wat hul binnelandse finansiele markte domineer, onderwerp aan 'n streng formele toesighoudingstelsel. Die SuidAfrikaanse finansiele stelsel bevat elemente van beide bogenoemde stelsels, by wyse van 'n moderne banksektor, wat funksioneer in goed ontwikkelde finansiele markte en gereguleer word ooreenkomstig gevorderde risikobestuursbeginsels. Die analise van voorkomende en beskermende regulering in die drie finansiele stelsels, bevestig dat bankregulering inderdaad afgestem is op die regulering van finansiele risikos. Die pogings van die Bank van lnternasiona~e Vereffeninge om die regulasies in finansiele stelsels internasionaal met mekaar in orreenstemming te bring het wesenlik hiertoe bygedra. Die vermyding van direkte monetere vereistes dui verder daarop dat toesighoudende owerhede bewus is van die nadele van sodanige regulering. 'n Aantal aanbevelings word gemaak, naamlik: meer omvattende regulering ten einde ander finansiele instellings wat ook finansiele risikos bestuur, te dek; verdere verslappings van valutabeheermaatreels wat tans die bestuur van wisselkoersrisiko beperk; die totstandkoming van 'n formele depositoversekeringstelsel; 'n groter mate van gekonsolideerde toesighouding; verdere deregulering in gevalle waar regulasies vanuit 'n risikobestuursoogpunt nie wenslik is nie; en her-regulering in die mate waartoe die risikobestuurspraktyke meer effektief gereguleer kan word.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--Stellenbosch University, 2008.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: With the introduction of Section 17 of the EnWG (German Energy Economy Act), the legislator created a new situation for the complex relationships in the German offshore wind industry. The transmission system operators are now obliged not only to provide the connection for offshore wind farms, but also to reimburse the developers of such plants for the costs they incurred in the course of planning the cable connection between the wind farm and the onshore grid. Forecasts had predicted that by 2007 numerous offshore wind farms would be operational. But no development company in the entire sector had moved beyond the planning phase. However, the rapid development of the offshore wind industry is important in order to achieve the German goal to generate 20% of all energy from renewable energy sources by 2020 and thus contribute to the prevention of grave climate changes. It is also important for the domestic labour market and the initiation of further exports of energy technologies. Early domestic growth will eventually payoff as offshore wind energy is implemented by more countries, which will then rely on the experience of German companies. Under these circumstances, Section 17 (2a) S.3 of the EnWG induces a positive impulse for offshore development. Under the financial constraints that dampened the expectations of developers of offshore wind farms, the suggested reimbursement will offer welcome relief. However a broad interpretation of Section 17 (2a) S.3 of the EnWG must be applied in order to reach the goal of actually enhancing offshore development, as is the legislator's intent. Such a broad interpretation of the reimbursement claim will lead to rapid implementation of the new law, as this will be in the interest of the developers and transmission system operators. The developers will have a large interest in beginning with the actual construction of the wind farm, and the transmission system operators will need to proceed with the planning of the cable connection. Even though improvements remain necessary the introduction of Section 17 (2a) S.3 EnWG can be considered a success.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Met die inwerkingstelling van afdeling 17 van die EnGW (Duitse Energie Ekonomie Wet), het die regering 'n nuwe situasie geskep vir die komplekse verhouding in die Duitse see-gebonde wind-energie industrie. Die transmissie stelsel operateurs word nou verplig om nie net die verbinding met die wind-plaas te verskaf nie, maar moet ook die ontwikkelaar van die aanleg vergoed vir enige kostes wat hulle aangegaan het met die beplanning van die verbinding tussen die windplaas en die elektrisiteits-netwerk. Vooruitskattings het voorspel dat verskeie see-gebonde windplase operasioneel sou wees teen 2007. Geen ontwikkelingsmaatskappy het egter al tot dusver verder as die beplanningstadium gevorder nie. Desnieteenstaande, die spoedige ontwikkeling van die see-gebonde wind industrie is onontbeerlik in die Duitse mikpunt om 20% van energiebehoeftes op te wek vanuit hernubare bronne teen 2020 en om dus klimaatsverandering teen te werk. Dit is ook belangrik vir werkskepping in Duitsland en vir die uitvoer van energie tegnologie. Spoedige groei in die industrie sal uiteindelik dividende lewer soos seegebonde wind-energie deur ander lande ontwikkel word en gevolglik op Duitse ervaring moet staatmaak. Onder hierdie omstandighede het afdeling 17 (2a) 5.3 van die EnGW 'n positiewe effek op seegebonde ontwikkeling. As gevolg van die dempende effek wat finansiele beperkinge het op die verwagtinge van ontwikkelaars sal die terugbetalings welkome verligting bied. Dit is egter nodig om 'n bree interpretasie van afdeling 17 (2a) 5.3 van die EnGW te gebruik om die mikpunt van werklike bevordering van seegebonde ontwikkeling te bewerkstellig soos die wetgewer beoog. So 'n bree interpretasie sal lei tot spoedige implimentasie van die nuwe wet omdat dit in die belang van ontwikkelaars en transmissie-netwerk eienaars sal wees. Die ontwikkelaars sal baat daarby om spoedig met ontwikkeling te begin, terwyl die netwerk operateurs vordering sal moet maak met die beplanning van die kabel-verbinding. Ten spyte daarvan dat verdere verbeteringe nodig is kan die inwerkingstelling van afdeling 17 (2a) 5.3 van die EnGW as 'n sukses gereken word.

It is sometimes said that the Quebec model of cultural integration constitutes a third way between the French model (republican integration) and the Canadian model (bilingual multiculturalism) for addressing issues relating to immigration. The present thesis analyses that hypothesis by reviewing the history of laws related to language and religion, especially as they concern the integration of immigrants, in France, English Canada and Quebec. In parallel to those legal histories, the thesis presents some statistical data, notably to better understand the motivations of legislators and to assess the degree of conformity between social change and the policies these legislators have sought to pursue.
After having demonstrated certain weakness of the Quebec model of integration, this thesis proposes three reforms to improve it. The first one, which concerns language legislation, is of republican inspiration. The other two focus on laws concerning religion and are inspired by the Canadian model of integration.

Las oficinas de farmacia desarrollan una importante labor sanitaria centrada en la actualidad en la dispensación de medicamentos, que es la última etapa del camino que estos recorren hasta llegar al consumidor. Por ello, estos establecimientos sanitarios juegan un importante papel en el uso de los medicamentos, que a su vez son una pieza clave en la atención sanitaria; razón por la cual el número, distribución en el territorio y características de las oficinas de farmacia tienen una importante influencia en la calidad de la sanidad que disfrutan los ciudadanos de un país. Por todo ello, la profesión farmacéutica es una de las que están sometidas a una mayor regulación y ello nace de las características peculiares del medicamento con respecto a otros productos. Pero aunque los medicamentos son prácticamente los mismos en todos los países, las regulaciones a las que están sometidos los farmacéuticos y las oficinas de farmacia son bien diferentes en los países de nuestro entorno, pues la idea que en cada país se puede tener respecto a la legislación sobre la farmacia también es distinta; así se observa que las diferencias van de un modelo casi totalmente liberalizado hasta un modelo completamente estatalizado. Pero a la diversidad de situaciones legislativas de la farmacia de un país a otro se ha de añadir que normalmente los países no son homogéneos, existiendo diferencias en el seno de los mismos; en nuestro país estas diferencias no fueron reconocidas legalmente por el Estado hasta la promulgación de la Constitución de 1978, fecha relativamente cercana, por lo cual el llamado Estado Autonómico no ha completado su despliegue. Si unimos a esto el proceso liberalizador que se ha iniciado en la actividad de las farmacias, es fácil comprender la magnitud de los cambios a los que está siendo sometida la farmacia en España. Visto lo anteriormente expuesto, el trabajo se propone estudiar la ordenación farmacéutica en España y la intervención de las Comunidades Autónomas en la misma, centrándose en los aspectos relacionados con la oficina de farmacia, y comparando la situación que se perfila en nuestro país con la existente en otros países europeos de estructura compuesta, es decir, federales o bien que reconocen autonomías; concretamente se han escogido los casos de Alemania, Italia y Suiza. En primer lugar se estudia la estructura política española actual, para entender el marco general de la distribución de competencias entre el Estado y las Comunidades Autónomas, con especial énfasis en lo que determina la Constitución. Acto seguido se estudiará la distribución de competencias en materia farmacéutica entre ambas partes, para analizar a continuación el marco jurídico de la ordenación farmacéutica en España, tanto estatal como autonómico. La parte central del trabajo se dedica a presentar la situación en los otros tres países de estructura compuesta. Para examinar las competencias que ejercen las Regiones y Estados Federados en materia de farmacia, aquí también es necesario estudiar previamente la estructura política de cada país mediante las respectivas Constituciones. También hace falta conocer la estructura de la Sanidad en cada país y la intervención de los entes regionales en ella. A continuación el estudio se concentra en la situación del sector farmacéutico en cada país y en particular en la intervención legislativa de ambos en materia de oficinas de farmacia, si es que realmente se produce. La última parte del trabajo estudia la situación legislativa de la ordenación farmacéutica en las Comunidades Autónomas y su comparación con los otros países objeto de estudio. Este estudio ha de centrarse en los aspectos más importantes de la legislación sobre oficinas de farmacia: propiedad y titularidad, planificación de su número y transmisión. Este estudio ha de permitir la comparación de la situación española con la de los otros países, comparación que se centra en la influencia de la legislación regional en el modelo de ordenación farmacéutica. A partir de ello se desprenderán unas conclusiones, con orientaciones para garantizar la calidad de los servicios que prestan actualmente las oficinas de farmacia a la población, al mismo tiempo que las Comunidades Autónomas hacen uso de sus competencias, desarrollando el Estado de las Autonomías definido por la Constitución Española.

Defence date: 18 May 2012
Examining Board: Rainer Bauböck (Supervisor EUI); Martin Kohli (Co-supervisor EUI); Anne Philips (LSE); Kees Groenendijk (Universiteit Nijmegen).
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
Migration policy-making in liberal democracies has long been explained by highlighting how “liberal constraints” compel governments to respect individual rights when devising migration policies. Family-related migration is based entirely on the individual right to protection of the family of members of society (citizens or long-term residents). However, family migration has recently been the specific target of restrictive policy reforms across Europe. Thus, in a field where, theoretically, the liberal constraint could be assumed to be strongest, there is increasing restriction. How do liberal democratic states manage to restrict migration in spite of liberal constraints? The thesis explores government strategies that restrict spousal migration while staying within the discursive realm of individual rights. By categorising policy instruments into the two approaches of regulating social membership and regulating family ties, a framework for the analysis of family migration policies emerges. Departing from the constructivist perspective that emphasises the importance of the way problems and solutions are “framed” for any policy analysis, the political debates surrounding spousal migration policies from 2005-2010 in Germany are explored. An analysis of policy documents, parliament debates and in-depth interviews with policy-makers in the legislative and executive reveal the various discursive strategies employed to legitimise restrictive policies or attack them. By circumscribing and scrutinising both the social membership necessary to access the fundamental right to family protection and the family ties in question, restricting spousal migration is legitimised. Supranational EU developments and policy shifts in other European states emphasise the pertinence of the examined German case, as it is situated within a wider European trend. By exploring the perspectives and coping strategies of transnational couples directly affected by the policies in question, a more nuanced understanding of the consequences of regulating membership status and family ties in Germany emerges.

The recognition in law of pension benefits and expectancies, as a matrimonial asset which may be subject to certain claims (and counterclaims), occured in South Africa in 1989. The starting point of this development was an investigation in 1984, on: "the possibility of making provisions for a divorced woman to share in the pension benefits of her former husband ". This investigation came about, in South Africa, after the matter had already been accepted, in many foreign legals systems, as a well-established, and most important concept of family law. The obvious question for the South African legislature was which of the pension-sharing schemes throughout the world would best serve as a model. Since the South African accrual system was largely based on the German Zugewinngemeinschaft, it seemed only natural that a close comparative study should be made of Germany's Versorgungsausgleich scheme. It is one of the aims of this thesis to point out whether and to what extent South Africa followed the German example. To do so, it will be necessary to examine first the different legal situations which were prevalent before and after the legal changes in the two countries and to elaborate on the reasons which led to these changes. The discussion in chapter three of how the German system of equalisation of pension expectancies, the so-called Versorgungsausgleich, is applied, will facilitate a comprehensive comparison with the South African scheme. The questions to be answered in the fifth chapter are whether it is appropriate to examine the equalisation of pension expectancies under South African law, which was only recently introduced, in a comparison with the German system and whether it is possible to speak of a Versorgungsausgleich when referring to the South African situation. Whenever possible, I have attempted to suggest solutions that may appear acceptable. To conclude the thesis, certain pension sharing problems arising under South African private international law will be briefly commented upon.
Private Law
LLM

Defence date: 10 June 2014
Examining Board: Professor Francesco Francioni, EUI (Supervisor) Professor A. Dirk Moses, EUI (Co-Supervisor) Professor Yvonne Donders, University of Amsterdam Professor Ana F. Vrdoljak, University of Technology, Sydney.
This PhD thesis was awarded the Cassese Prize.
This thesis seeks to determine whether the evolution of international law has allowed for the concept of cultural genocide to be addressed in spite of its non-codification. It firstly provides an assessment of the evolution of the concept of cultural genocide, from a technique to a process of genocide, also known as 'ethnocide'. Acknowledging that the codification of the concept is unlikely in the future, it therefore undertakes a study of the evolution of international law with regard to the main components of the concept, namely genocide, culture and group. The evolution of the legal concept of 'genocide' raises the question of the interpretation of the international definition of genocide, which is enshrined in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, so as to encompass instances of cultural destruction. The state of international and domestic judicial practice illustrates the limits of an evolutionary interpretation. In contrast, international law has evolved considerably in relation to the protection of some groups and their culture, so that customary international law, and especially international human rights law, may be deemed to prohibit group cultural destruction and consequently entail State responsibility. The thesis argues that this evolution could ground the articulation of an international law-based approach to the concept of cultural genocide both by allowing for its criminalisation through the crime against humanity of persecution and by providing tools for a stronger framework of State responsibility, especially in the context of genocide prevention. Furthermore, this approach would give rise to the possibility of further conceptualising reparation for the intended cultural damage. Against this background, the thesis firstly draws conclusions as to the irrelevance of enclosing the debate exclusively at the level of the genocide legal framework and, secondly, as to the relevance of cultural genocide as a 'paralegal concept', an understanding which would drive the interpretation of international legal norms, especially in cases involving indigenous peoples' cultural harm.

Defence date: 16 May 1991
Examining board: Klaus Eder (EUI, supervisor) ; Prof. Christian Joerges (EUI/Univ. Bremen) ; Prof. Giandomenico Majone (EUI, supervisor) ; Prof. Helga Nowotny (Univ. Vienna) ; Prof. Wolfgang van den Daele (Free University, Berlin)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017

Defense date: 11/12/2009
Examining Board: Simon Deakin (University of Cambridge), Julio Gomes (Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Porto), Marie-Ange Moreau (EUI, Supervisor), Heike Schweitzer (EUI)
First made available online 13 September 2018
The object of this thesis concerns the institutional complementarities between the national systems of corporate governance and employee representation (including collective bargaining) in an evolutionary comparative and European perspective. This thesis defends that there appears to be currently a phenomenon of hybridisation of the patterns of corporate governance in Europe that is introducing market elements in relational/governmental systems and relational elements in market systems. The systems of employee representation appear to be also converging towards a phenomenon of controlled decentralisation that consists in the diversification of the powers of the actors at the level of the company and in the development of new types of agreements. The underlying intention appears to be the recognition of employees as stakeholders of the company. This thesis concludes that the new types of collective agreements may not be effective as a means of counterbalancing the pressure of shareholders and employees are left in a delicate position.

The present study compared the suicidal behaviour and related measures of adolescents in high school in Germany (N=318) and South Africa (N=299). Participants completed a series of self-report measures of the SPS (Suicide Probability Scale), PSS-Fa (Perceived Social Support From Family Scale), PSS-Fr (Perceived Social Support From Friends Scale), SIB (Scale Of Interpersonal Behaviour) and a number of demographic questions. Analyses were conducted using content analysis, correlation coefficients and logistic regression to determine variables related to previous suicide attempts, stepwise multiple regression to account for variables predicting currents suicidal risk; and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to examine differences among the groups and among suicide attempters and non-attempters. 36 German (11.3%) and 48 South African (16.1%) adolescents reported that they had made previous suicide attempts. German adolescents reported 45 (14.2%) suicide attempts in the family and 82 (25.8%) suicide attempts by friends. South African adolescents reported 43 (14.4%) suicide attempts in the family and 92 (30.7%) suicide attempts by friends. The following variables were associated with previous suicide attempts in the German sample: attempted suicide by friends, a life-threatening event, previous psychiatric contact, the death of a friend, low perceived family support, female gender, attempted suicide in the family, suicide of a friend, and low perceived friend support. The following variables were associated with previous suicide attempts in the South African sample: low perceived family support, death of a friend, attempted suicide by friends, female gender, a life-threatening event, previous psychiatric contact, suicide of friends, and attempted suicide in the family. The following variables for the German sample were found to be significant predictors of current suicidal risk: low perceived family and friend support, previous suicide attempts, suicide attempts in the family, a life-threatening event, suicide attempts of friends, suicide of friends, female gender, and previous psychiatric contact. The following variables for the South African sample were found to be significant predictors of current suicidal risk: previous suicide attempts, low perceived family and friend support, death of a friend, a life-threatening event, previous psychiatric contact, suicide attempts in the family, suicide of friends, and suicide attempts of friends. These findings show that suicidal behaviour is frequent in both countries. Suicidal deaths of friends and family is more prevalent in Germany, whereas religion or belief in god does not protect against suicide attempts in both countries. Results indicate that perceived support from family is a strong protective factor against suicide attempts.
Psychology
M.A. (Psychology)

Defence date: 16 September 2005
Examining Board: Prof. Philip Alston (Supervisor, European University Institute) ; Prof. Bruno de Witte (European University Institute) ; Prof. Olivier De Schutter (Co-Supervisor, Université catholique de Louvain) ; Prof. Hélène Ruiz-Fabri (Université Paris I-Panthéon Sorbonne)
First made available online 30 March 2017
La diversité culturelle croissante des sociétés européennes et les tensions qu'elle engendre sont au cœur d'importants débats contemporains. Dans le champ juridique, ces débats se cristallisent autour de la notion de protection des minorités ethniques, religieuses ou linguistiques. Ce livre propose une analyse de la contribution de la Convention européenne des droits de l'homme à la protection de ces minorités. La Convention ne contient pas de disposition spécifique relative aux droits des personnes appartenant à des minorités. L'ouvrage montre cependant, à travers un examen critique de la jurisprudence de la Cour européenne des droits de l'homme, comment les droits individuels classiques, garantis par la Convention, permettent d'assurer le respect et la protection des identités minoritaires. Encore faut-il que ces droits soient interprétés de manière dynamique, à la lumière des principes sur lesquels la Convention se fonde, à savoir les notions de liberté, d'égalité et de société démocratique. La délicate question des limites du respect dû aux spécificités culturelles est également abordée. Pour éclairer les problèmes théoriques soulevés par la jurisprudence de la Cour, l'analyse prend en compte les débats menés en philosophie politique sur le thème du multiculturalisme et de la conciliation des différences dans une société démocratique.

The thesis investigates the concept of trademark dilution under international and regional trademark law, and under the laws of selected jurisdictions; namely, the United States of America, Germany, the United Kingdom and the Republic of South Africa. The investigation includes measures undertaken to prohibit the internet-based dilution of famous marks through the registration of confusingly similar domain names. It is noted that dilution is imprecisely formulated under international trademark treaty law. In fact, the term "dilution" does not appear in international trademark treaties. To fill the gap of international trademark treaties, various policy initiatives, or `soft law' have been developed, which to some extent clarify both the concept of dilution, the type of mark protected from dilution, and the scope of such protection. The problem is that the policy initiatives are non-binding on States, so that different States have adopted different common law and statutory approaches to the protection of marks against dilution. This is demonstrated, for example, by the fact that the European Union and its Member States provide protection from dilution to "marks with a reputation", while the United States of America provides such protection only to "famous" marks, and the Republic of South Africa protects "marks which are well-known in the Republic" from dilution. The thesis analyses the protection granted in these jurisdictions, to determine the similarities and differences of approach, and to make appropriate law reform proposals to achieve uniformity of protection. In the final analysis, it is concluded that the burden of enforcing dilution provisions rest on the judiciary. This being so, the judiciary is urged to engage in a balancing exercise in deciding dilution cases. The courts should recognize that dilution provisions are powerful tools at the disposal of owners of trademarks with advertising value. At the same time, the courts should be steadfast in ensuring that protection from dilution does not stultify freedom of trade, or create absolute monopolies or a form of copyright in a trademark.
Jurisprudence
LL.D.

A study of silences: as a metaphysics of the law, juridification silences the text of the law in order to enable an allegorical reading of the law. This silencing of the legal text can only be avoided through a non-metaphysical archaeological reading. Similarly, the programme of comparative labour law is silent at its most pivotal points, leaving some concerns of the programme indeterminate and indeterminable. As context, the dominant discourses of the labour law systems of the Federal Republic of Germany (Tarifautonomie), Great Britain (collective laizzesfaire) and South Africa (fairness) are identified and the agents of the jurisprudence (the courts) are briefly outlined. The silence operating within the phenomenology of the labour judiciary and the concept of a 'court' is also examined. The study then proceeds to read, in an archaeological manner, the industrial action jurisprudence in Germany, Great Britain and South Africa, such readings again yielding silences within the discourse of the law. The silences occurring throughout (and the resulting normative breaches in the rationality of the legal discourse) are the prerequisites for juridification, a process in terms of which the metajuridical standard is imported into the legal normative system and thereby rendered part of the archival discourse of the law.
LL.D.