Academic literature on the topic 'Public Account Committee (PAC)'

In November 1997 the Environmental Audit Committee of the House of Commons (EAC) was established. The Committee is modelled in some ways on the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons (PAC) but, unlike the PAC, the EAC is not supported by an independent auditor. This article argues that, despite the limitations of audit made in accountancy literature, audit can be a useful mechanism by which to hold government to account for the impact of its policies and operations on the environment. However, as a model of accountability, the current system of environmental audit is inadequate. In making this argument, the article draws on two existing audit models. First, because the government has chosen to model the EAC on the PAC, the mechanisms in place for securing financial and value for money accountability in UK central government will be considered. Second, the article looks to the arrangements in Canada, where a more developed system of environmental audit exists.

The objective of the paper is to examine determinants of the extent of usage of accounting information by the Public Accounts Committee in Tanzania public corporations moderated by effective communication. This study's guiding theories are an agency, accounting information usefulness, and communication. The study used a positivist philosophy, deductive approach, and cross-sectional survey design. The researcher used quantitative data analysis focused on 110 questionnaires made by PAC members and nonmembers. The Partial Least Square –Structural Equation Modeling [PLS-SEM] was used to support multivariate statistical analysis. The study reported a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.584, implying that trust in accounting information, perception of quality of accounting information, knowledge of accounting information, and effective communication moderated by effective communication explain a 58.4% variation in the extent of usage of accounting information. The study results showed that trust in accounting information and knowledge of accounting information has a statistically significant positive impact on the extent of use of accounting information. The perception of the quality of accounting information and effective communication had a statistically insignificant positive effect on the extent of accounting information usage. Besides, the study results confirmed the absence of moderating effects of effective communication of accounting information on the relationships between determinants of accounting information usage and the extent of use of accounting information.

AbstractOur research focuses on selected accountability mechanisms in the two countries. In Slovakia these are the Supreme Audit Office (SAO) and the Ombudsman. In the UK, at the national level we chose the Committee of Public Accounts (PAC), the National Audit Office (NAO) and the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) and on the local level the relatively recently introduced local government system of Scrutiny and Overview.The goal of our article is to assess the potential contribution of these accountability arrangements to the anchoring of social innovation in the public sector. The theory anticipates that accountability institutions such as the SAO and Ombudsman may create feedback loops supporting public innovations. We undertook detailed checks on the concrete situation in the Slovak Republic and in the UK. On the basis of the comprehensive set of data reviewed, including reports, interviews and more generally available information, we can confidently conclude that while in Slovakia such a feedback loop barely functions, in the UK it does function on a limited but still significant scale. In the last part we provide selected arguments why the Slovak situation is less positive.

The study investigated the short-run and long-run determinants of capital flight in Ghana using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) estimation technique. The long-run and short-run results show that real GDP growth rate, higher domestic real interest rate over foreign interest rate, financial development, good governance and strong property rights reduce capital flight, while external debt to GDP leads to increase in capital flight in Ghana. However, lagged external debt to GDP and lagged financial development had negative and positive effect respectively in the short-run. The study recommends that government should adopt more pro-growth policies and resort to domestic borrowing to reduce external debt. The Central Bank of Ghana should improve on the development of the financial sector and ensure competitive domestic interest rates. It is also recommended that Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in Ghana should continue to ensure accountability and transparency to strengthen the interest of domestic investors.

The study investigated the short-run and long-run determinants of capital flight in Ghana using the auto-regressive distributed lag (ARDL) estimation technique. The long-run and short-run results show that real GDP growth rate, higher domestic real interest rate over foreign interest rate, financial development, good governance and strong property rights reduce capital flight, while external debt to GDP leads to increase in capital flight in Ghana. However, lagged external debt to GDP and lagged financial development had negative and positive effect respectively in the short-run. The study recommends that government should adopt more pro-growth policies and resort to domestic borrowing to reduce external debt. The Central Bank of Ghana should improve on the development of the financial sector and ensure competitive domestic interest rates. It is also recommended that Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in Ghana should continue to ensure accountability and transparency to strengthen the interest of domestic investors.

This paper examines the political activity of US defense contractors over the years 1980–1994. Using econometric techniques to account for both fixed-effects and selection, I examine the industry determinants and distribution patterns of political action committee (PAC) contributions to the US House of Representatives. The analysis finds that the size of the defense budget is a primary factor explaining political activity across the industry as well as within individual firms; firm size, dependency on defense, and defense contract awards explain much less. I also find that firms appeared to change their political strategies in the face of large exogenous shifts in the US defense budget. While defense expenditures were on the rise, defense firms spread their contributions relatively broadly over the defense committee system; when the budget fell, however, the firms switched strategies and targeted committee leaders. An incidental contribution of the paper is an empirical application of the trimmed least absolute deviations estimator for fixed-effects models with selection.

ABSTRACT This study tests the hypothesis that political action committee (PAC) contributions paid by the accounting profession are indirectly associated with the speech performance of congressional committee members debating issues related to auditor independence during the 107th Congress (2001–2002). The hypothesis is based on the assumption that PAC contributions represent payments for access to lobby legislators and a theory of lobbying as legislative subsidy that predicts legislators who are granted legislative subsidies will increase their participation and effort. Legislative effort is measured as the qualitatively coded speech counts of 126 individual committee members during 17 hearings related to financial auditing held over 21 days by 6 committees of the U.S. House of Representatives. The results indicate a positive association between aggregate PAC contributions paid by the Big 5 and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and anti-regulatory speech counts of House committee members. No association was found for aggregate contributions and pro-regulatory speech counts. Results are mixed when PAC contributions are disaggregated by funding source indicating heterogeneity among firms in their contribution patterns.

The Commonwealth parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was established in 1913 and to the end of 1995 had produced 397 reports on government expenditure and administration, with almost all its recommendations implemented by government. However despite the Committee's prominence among the instruments parliament has used to oversight the executive, not only does it lack clear legislative authority for major areas of its activities but its specific purpose is not defined in its legislation. Among other things the latter omission renders proper evaluation of the PAC's effectiveness impossible, as objectives are a necessary prerequisite to assessment. This thesis establishes the de facto purpose of the Committee by tracing the development of standing public accounts committees generally, and by analysing the PAC's work as shown by its output of tabled reports. In that development, six evolutionary phases are identified: the PAC's roots in the move to a parliamentary control of the administration of government expenditure in Britain from the 1780s; its genesis in the 1850s with the concept of the standing public accounts committee, to be concerned with regularity and probity in government expenditure; its origins in the establishment of the British standing public accounts committee , in 1861, stressing high standards of government accounting, audit and reporting; its establishment in the Commonwealth, concentrating on information on departmental activities, efficient implementation of government programs and provision of policy advice; its re-establishment in 1951, stressing parliamentary control of government financial administration; and its operations from 1980, pressing for economic fundamentalist change in the public sector. Their output shows that in these phases the committees concerned displayed characteristic standing public accounts committee activism and independence in utilising the wording of their enabling documentation to adapt themselves to changes in their environment by pursuing a corresponding different mix of one or more of the following concurrent immediate aims: ensuring adequate systems of government accounting, audit and reporting; ensuring probity and regularity in departmental expenditure; obtaining and disseminating information on departmental activities; ensuring high standards of departmental administration and management; providing policy advice to executive government; and ensuring economic, efficient and effective government spending. Together these attributes and practices have made the PAC a parliamentary instrument of unequalled flexibility with a single continuing underlying aim - a purpose not concerning the public accounts per se, but directed at achieving high standards of management and administration in government by calling the Commonwealth's public service to account for its expenditure and activities.

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This work has as its theme the influence of The American Israel Public Affairs Committee AIPAC in the foreign policy of the United States US. Firstly it was systematized a state of the art on the subject based on two main lines of thought: one of John Mearsheimer and Stephen walt and another of Noam Chomsky Gilbert Achcar and Norman Finkelstein. While those ones highlight the power of the so called Pro-Israel lobby - from which AIPAC is the most structured and renowned organization - in US politics those second ones point out that the helm of US foreign policy toward Israel is its own national interest not the Lobby. Secondly it was aimed a historical survey about AIPAC and an analysis of its structure and its procedures. It was founded then that AIPAC - as a lobbying organization an interest group - according to the law cannot make financial contributions directly to politicians. It was founded however that this practice may occur indirectly through at least two ways: through its own members contributing individually and/or by Political Action Committees PACs - institutions created specifically to this end of raising funds to political campaigns in order to elect and defeat candidates or even to influence those who are already in the Government. And thirdly it was sought to synthesize the state of the art to the historical and structural study on AIPAC. Based on the dialogue of the two main theoretical visions worked - under a optic of complementarity rather than of exclusion - alongside with an examination of AIPAC s action in history this study led us to infer that AIPAC which was founded in 1959 in the Cold War context remains being influential in US politics even with the change in the international system at the end of the Cold War.
O presente trabalho tem como tema a influencia do American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) na politica externa dos Estados Unidos da América (EUA). Primeiro, sistematizou- se um estado da arte sobre o tema a partir de duas linhas de pensamento principais: uma de John Mearsheimer e Stephen Walt; e outra, de Noam Chomsky, Gilbert Achcar e Norman Finkelstein. Enquanto aqueles primeiros ressaltam o poder do chamado lobby pró-Israel - do qual o AIPAC e a organização mais estruturada e renomada - na politica dos EUA, estes salientam que o leme da politica externa estadunidense para com Israel e seu próprio interesse nacional, e não o lobby. Segundo, visou-se a um levantamento histórico sobre o AIPAC e a uma analise de sua estrutura e de seu modo de atuação. Constatou-se, então, que o AIPAC - como uma organização de lobby, um grupo de interesse -, de acordo com a lei, não pode enviar contribuições financeiras diretamente aos políticos. Apurou-se, no entanto, que essa prática pode ocorrer de maneira indireta, por meio de, pelo menos, duas maneiras: através de seus próprios membros contribuindo individualmente; e/ou por via dos Political Action Committees (PACs) - instituições criadas especificamente para esse fim de levantar fundos para as campanhas politicas no intuito de eleger e derrotar candidatos, ou ate mesmo influenciar os que já estão no governo. E, terceiro, buscou-se sintetizar o estado da arte ao estudo histórico e estrutural sobre o AIPAC. Com base no diálogo entre as duas principais visões teóricas trabalhadas - sob uma ótica de complementaridade ao invés de exclusão -, ao lado do exame da ação do AIPAC na história, esse estudo nos levou a inferir que o AIPAC, fundado em 1959, no contexto da Guerra Fria, continua influente na politica dos EUA, mesmo com a mudança no sistema internacional ao final da Guerra Fria

Іn the scientific work, the authors made the first warning that during the recodification of civil legislation, it is first necessary to create a new version of the Civil Code of Ukraine (hereinafter – the Civil Code) and only after that start work on the project of the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine (hereinafter – the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine). However, work on the improvement of the Central Committee can be carried out in parallel and coordinated with the work on the improvement of the Central Committee, but this is extremely difficult to ensure. The authors believe that when starting work on a new edition of the CPC, one should first form its new structure with the systematization of relevant material, since the provisions of the current CPC are not laid out consistently.The judicial system of Ukraine should work within the limits of the law, but the state should find measures of influence on offenders and the demonstration of the will of the authorities is needed not for a short demonstration period, but on a permanent basis.Access to justice in civil proceedings in Ukraine should be discussed through the prism of whether a person with a minimum wage can protect his rights in court. Obviously not, because he cannot pay the large court fee. And this provision does not meet the requirements of Articles 3 and 55 of the Constitution of Ukraine, nor international standards, in particular, Articles 6 and 13 of the European Convention on the Protection of Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, since low-income citizens are, in fact, deprived of the right to access to justice and protection of their rights. Therefore, it is necessary to revise not only the norms of the Code of Civil Procedure, but also the laws of Ukraine «On court fees» and «On free legal aid».The right to appeal to the court for protection should not depend on the level of the plaintiff’s financial condition, if Ukraine is a rule of law state, but should be guaranteed to every person who needs it.Оne of the main issues of the new CPC project should be coordination and interaction of certain types of civil court proceedings, in particular, such as injunctive and claim, therefore the authors proposed ways to solve these issues.The authors paid a lot of attention to the analysis of minor disputes, the criteria for classifying certain categories of cases as minor. The impossibility of classifying labor disputes as minor is substantiated with reference to the Constitution of Ukraine. A reasoned opinion was expressed regarding the impracticality of paying the same court fee, which is paid in both «significant» and minor cases, taking into account the order of their consideration. It is proposed to improve the civil justice system taking into account Recommendation No. R (95) 5 of 02.07.1995 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.list of shortcomings of the current legislation on civil procedure is given. When applied by the court, they should be considered as an abuse of law by the court. If the CPC does not record the court’s duty to respond to every argument of the party, then all other norms are a camouflage for the legally guaranteed arbitrariness of the judicial branch of government, no matter what proceeding we are talking about. If a person is limited in the right to be heard, then what judicial procedure can we talk about...Certain debatable issues are pointed out, which are subject to discussion and resolution when creating a new version of the CPC. The authors believe that the given arguments and arguments should be submitted for public discussion in order for the new version of the Code of Civil Procedure to be better, not worse, than the current regulatory act.But when implementing the idea of updating and recodifying the Central Committee, making changes to the Central Committee will become objectively inevitable, and not only to the Central Committee. The same applies to Ukraine’s accession to the EU, as it will be necessary to bring the CPC into compliance with the recommendations existing in the European community. no But you cannot make random amendments to the adopted draft law, and the introduction of fragmentary amendments quite often leads to an imbalance of the regulatory act as a whole.

The conclusion of contracts was known in ancient times and is still relevant today. Shares that are not distributed in kind can cause certain difficulties that force the interested parties to decide on distribution.Joint ownership of inherited property received from a family member necessitates joint decision-making on its maintenance, ownership, use, and disposal, and it is difficult to achieve such a consensus on all issues. Therefore, quite often a certain period may pass from the acquisition of the right to a share in the joint property to its distribution, but due to conflicts regarding the use of the property or in the case of the need to receive funds or for other reasons, the joint property is divided by the co-owners. That is, the reasons may even be questions of how to use agricultural land, for example, to rent it out, sow it yourself, plant a garden, etc. However, the complexity of the division of land plots is because it is difficult to «divide» agricultural lands at least. After all, their intended use depends on the size, etc. Quite often, disputes also arise regarding the use of residential buildings, since the size and location of the rooms make their use impossible or difficult, as well as the distribution in kind according to the inherited shares. In other words, there is a certain «trading» of assets. If the situation is related to the distribution of a small plot of land where the house is located, then questions also arise regarding the establishment of an easement, as well as mutual concessions for the compensation of a part of the house in exchange for most of the land. In general, there are protracted negotiations, from the point of view of which these parties, who are still in a family relationship, agree on the division of property.Factors that can affect the outcome of property division include unique family circumstances, the specific nature of assets, and traditional legal practices. The parties will use different mechanisms for the division of joint assets: sale, donation, or exchange, under the terms of which they «trade» with the consent of others their rights as co-owners of jointly owned objects. The various evolutionary stages of the agreement on the division of property by the testator’s family culminate in the final stage of agreeing. The agreement on the division of inheritance is a complex legal process. Potentially, in a single transaction, the beneficiaries can choose and implement the division by sale, exchange, or donation. These different legal constructions reflect the uniqueness of the decisions in each agreement and to some extent demonstrate the specific legal practice of the individual Old Babylonian city-state and the particular circumstances of each family.However, in addition to the division of property, there are other agreements regarding the division of inheritance. For example, an agreement on quasi-partition upon adoption (quasi-adoption), an agreement on the division of residential property by the owner between its future beneficiaries.The need to conclude such agreements arises when an agreement on the division of property is required, which differs from such concepts as sale, donation, exchange, etc.Domestic scientists consider the agreement on the distribution of joint property very broadly and include other types of agreements in the list of such agreements, establishing that the agreement on changing the succession of the right to inheritance by law is atypical. It was determined that the contract under investigation belongs to contracts on the distribution of inheritance. Agreements on the distribution of inheritance are concluded in the field of inheritance, which indicates that they belong to inheritance agreements. It is proposed to supplement the existing classifications of civil law contracts by distinguishing a new type of civil law contracts – contracts in the law of inheritance on the level with the selection of a new type of inheritance contracts – contracts on the distribution of inheritance.» This is a bold hypothesis, but it is difficult to agree with it for various reasons, not least because the distribution of inheritance has been known since ancient times.The factor that the term «distribution» of inheritance and giving it a broad legal meaning is analyzed is an interesting author’s hypothesis. At the same time, according to our position, the term «distribution of inheritance» is more balanced, since in Art. 1278 of the Civil Code does not quite successfully use the term «division», when in the content of this norm it is about the equality of shares in the inheritance and the allocation of a share in kind, and not about division. However, in Part 1 of Art. 1280 of the Civil Code, the term «distribution» is used with a direct meaning and «redistribution» as an opportunity to review the results of the distribution under new circumstances – in the case of acceptance of the inheritance by other heirs. In essence, the obvious meaning of the term «distribution» follows from this norm as the initial determination of the ownership of the share of each of the heirs. In this sense, the redistribution of the inheritance should be connected with the possible introduction of changes to the previously made distribution, that is, in this case, we do not limit the number of subsequent redistributions of the inheritance. This hypothesis is related to the fact that the number of heirs who missed the deadline for valid reasons is not limited by legislation and cannot be limited, but is determined by various legal circumstances.Therefore, it is hardly expedient and possible, to apply in Art. 1280 of the Civil Code, the concept of «distribution» should be given a wider meaning than it has in the Civil Code, as this would lead to its ambiguous perception and application both in theory and in legislation and practice. Usually, theoretical terms should be distinguished by being original and should accurately reflect the legal meaning of actions, events, or conditions.But an important element of the procedure for the distribution of common inheritance property or its redistribution are the subjects who must fix the relevant agreement or carry out such distribution according to their conviction.It is indicated that the practice of concluding contracts by the living owner with his future heirs is widespread in foreign countries. At the same time, German experts equate inheritance with what they consider to be contractual inheritance.It should be noted that the practice of concluding contracts on the distribution of inheritance in the practice of the Ukrainian notary is relatively new and does not have clear boundaries in regulation, which complicates the activity of notaries in certifying such contracts. There are several difficulties in the application of relevant legal norms in practice, as there is a lack of understanding of the legal nature and essence of the conclusion of contracts, the term of conclusion, and the procedure for notarization.The opinions of individual authors are studied, about legal relations regarding the division of inheritance characterized by a weak state policy, this obliges the participants of such relations to draw up the content of agreements on the division of inheritance independently. For agreements between heirs on the distribution of inheritance to be valid regulators of the relations of its participants (heirs), conditions (clauses) must be clarified and formulated, which will be disclosed with sufficient completeness and consistency of the content of the relevant agreement and the purpose of its conclusion.We do not agree with this point of view of the scientist regarding «weak state policy», since the Central Committee of Ukraine was not created by politicians or the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, but by leading scientists of Ukraine. It is also difficult to agree with the statement that the lack of clear regulation of the terms of inheritance contracts «obliges the participants of such relationships to independently draw up the content of inheritance distribution contracts.» In Ukraine, some good notaries and lawyers can draw up high-quality contracts for the distribution of inheritance. Moreover, according to Art. 4 of the Law of Ukraine «On Notaries», notaries have the right to draw up relevant draft contracts. In our opinion, it is worth emphasizing here that this is a right, not a duty of a notary public. That is, the notary may not undertake the drafting of the relevant project, but this provision is positive for interested parties since the lack of experience in drafting original contracts will most likely lead to the drafting of a low-quality draft contract. Indeed, in this case, it is worth looking for an experienced notary who will be able to draw up a draft contract, but this will make it possible to prevent errors in its drafting with a high probability.Thus, the agreement on the distribution of inheritance enters into force if the parties reach an agreement in the proper form on all the essential terms of the agreement. The main essential condition for agreeing on the division of inheritance is the subject of the agreement. However, either party may consider this condition insufficient and propose to include additional conditions in the contract. In this case, these conditions become essential. In connection with the instability of the regulation of the content of contracts between heirs on the distribution of inheritance, it can be concluded that the inclusion of normal conditions in the contract is currently impossible. We believe that such a general scheme of perception of contract terms is not entirely rational, since how to perceive ordinary terms or essential terms of a contract quite often in practice depends on the judgments of the parties to the contract unless otherwise regulated by legislation. This issue can be approached more precisely if we take into account the possibility of interpreting transactions and contracts (Article 213 of the Civil Code).So, based on the essence of the process of concluding contracts, it should be taken into account that the notary who drafts the contract can edit it, therefore it is worth recognizing the right of the notary to interpret it, since according to Art. 5 of the Law of Ukraine «On Notaries», he is obliged to clarify the legal consequences that will arise for persons after his certification. It follows from this that the notary must be given the official right to interpret the contract upon its certification, then it will be clear that after its certification, the court can interpret the content of the contract. In this regard, Art. 213 of the Civil Code is proposed to be supplemented with a corresponding provision regarding the powers of the notary, namely: his duty to interpret the content of the deed or contract before and during its certification.The Inheritance Regulation, which envisages wide acceptance of the inheritance contract, is considered. It is noted that it is worth revising Ukrainian inheritance law in advance for compliance with European standards since after Ukraine accedes to the EU it will be necessary to inform all EU countries about what types of contracts in Ukraine will be related to the issuance of the European Certificate of Succession.This is also important for inheritance by law, because, in case of non-fulfillment of the terms of the lifetime maintenance (care) agreement and the inheritance agreement, they will have to be terminated or recognized as invalid or unfulfilled by the acquirer, so the property that was the subject of this agreement will be inherited by law. At the same time, if the terms of these agreements are fulfilled, the part of the property that belonged to the testator will not be inherited but will become the property of the acquirers.The process of accepting the inheritance is quite long, and the inheritance law allows for several agreements between the heirs, which can significantly affect the size of the inheritance shares and the real things in each share in the inheritance. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the possibility of agreements between the heirs at different stages of accepting or not accepting the inheritance. From communication with one of the clients, the author learned that the notary unofficially advised the heirs to agree on the distribution of the inheritance, as well as for certain heirs to waive the right to inheritance, but to receive a proper share of the inheritance in household items. When the author was informed of all the circumstances of the inheritance case, it became clear that the notary could not solve the complex inheritance problem, since the inheritance took place based on a will and some heirs had the right to a mandatory share, as well as part of the property remained. So, in such a situation, it was necessary to solve an arithmetical and at the same time legal problem, the complexity of which was determined by the complex subject composition of numerous heirs. Therefore, the notary tried to simplify its solution by artificially «transforming» the heirs who have the right to a mandatory share into ordinary heirs who claim property that is not subject to recording in the certificate of the right to inheritance.A natural will was considered, when the testator bequeathed the specific property to each of the heirs, namely: a house to a daughter, a factory to one son, and a yacht to another let’s say. In such a case, the will of the testator is formulated in the Shodo of the objects of inheritance, so it is difficult to perceive the consequences of the refusal of one of the heirs to inherit, when the yacht will be divided into equal shares between the son and the daughter, because: firstly, the value of the factory and the house will be different, so someone from the testator gave the children a larger inheritance than the other. Secondly, in the case of the existence of a part of the inheritance not covered by the will, it can be assumed with a high degree of probability that the will of the testator was formulated about a certain property and nothing more. Therefore, in case of refusal of one of the heirs to inherit under the will, the property bequeathed to him should be considered as not covered by the will and should be inherited according to the law. That is, if the will of the testator regarding the entire property is revealed, it can be assumed that he thus intended to deprive one of the heirs of the right to inheritance.At the same time, the will must be interpreted not only by the heirs under the will but also by the heirs under the law, when its content concerns the right to a mandatory share in the inheritance, which belongs to the heirs under the law of the first rank, who due to incapacity have the right to claim it, as well as the recipients of the response. With a high degree of probability, it can be assumed that the inheritance, which consists of household items, will be divided even without a written agreement. However, the interpretation of a will, which concerns a substantial inheritance between a significant number of heirs, requires not only a written form of recording of agreements – a contract, but also, in our opinion, a notarial form that will allow recording the agreement more reliably, to explain to the parties to the contract the consequences of its conclusion. If all interested parties sign the agreement, and the notary recognizes it as legal, then it will be difficult to recognize it as illegal or invalid in the next one. Therefore, the agreement on the interpretation of the will, which will establish the specific rights of the heirs and their obligations regarding the coverage of the testator’s debts, is a rational form of specification of the terms of the inheritance, which will allow establishing the executor of the will, if he was not determined by the testator.We can assume with a high degree of probability that similar «simplified calculations» are made by other notaries, as well as directly by the heirs, and certain agreements are not necessary here.

This chapter introduces the PHEIC mechanism within global health security and highlights the inconsistencies apparent in the PHEIC declarations to date – that PHEICS are declared by the WHO Director General, on advice of an Emergency Committee, without due regard to the legal criteria required for their implementation and on account of political assessments. We establish the central question to be posed: to what extent is the PHEIC declaration process ambiguous and what is the risk of such ambiguity to achieving global disease control? and explore why this lack of consistency in the PHEIC declaration matters for global health security. The chapter further covers the methodology used for the book, and its layout

A pivotal issue is the role of the college-university in the regulation of student societies through private justice and in the manner they regulate and enforce internal rules, regulations and laws. For who is accountable? The focus in this chapter is especially on US fraternities, drawing on an insightful and disturbing article by Flanagan (2014). The US has around 2,600 accredited colleges and universities and if they receive federal aid then they have to comply with federal guidelines. But with so many institutions, public and private, and within 50 states – each having its own legislation and with varying compliance cultures – this means that compliance with federal guidelines is patchy if not resistant. Moreover, US fraternities typically have a complex institutional structure, with national organizations possessing considerable financial means, legal support and political influence. This structure, with an assertive and well-resourced Political Action Committee (PAC) at the national level, is not true in the other societies dealt with here.

This chapter demonstrates that the First World War created circumstances in which state-private cooperation in public diplomacy was able to flourish more than ever before. In so doing, this chapter analyses the Pilgrims’ activities during the conflict, with a particular focus on the period after the US’s entry into the conflict in April 1917, a moment regarded by the Pilgrims as the culmination of all the work it had done since 1902 in support of UK-US international cooperation. This chapter analyses the ways in which the Pilgrims Society sought to consolidate what it regarded as significant progress towards lasting British-American friendship. It does so by providing an analytical account of the Pilgrims’ creation in autumn 1917 of the American Officers’ Club; the link between the Pilgrims and the official British propaganda body the National War Aims Committee; and the Society’s involvement in the large-scale public celebration of Britain’s Day, which took place across the US in December 1918. The chapter argues that the First World War resulted in greater cooperation between the Pilgrims and official propaganda bodies, meaning that the Society contributed in new ways to the development of public diplomacy.

In this chapter, the authors investigate the creation and operation of a Sociology Online Degree Completion Program at a large California public university. The program emerged over several years, and the authors discuss the rationale for its formation, emergence, and implementation. The authors concentrate their analysis primarily on the work of the Sociology Department’s Online Education Committee, whose activities were instrumental in creating the program. They then examine the student populations served by the program and their experiences. The authors compare the demographics of the students in the Online Degree Completion program with the demographics of transfer students in general, and they highlight pertinent similarities and differences. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the program’s future, including challenges facing the program and how the program relates to the continued movement towards online classes in higher education. The authors thus offer a multidimensional and narrative account of the emergence of this program.

Proportionality is part of the legal framework of all regulators, particularly at the stages of interim orders and sanction. Proportionality is expressly referred to when considering sanction in the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, Disciplinary Committee Rules 2015, rule 24(7) (in deciding what sanctions are to be imposed, the panel shall take into account the issue of proportionality). The fitness to practise rules of other bodies may state that the committee shall have regard to any sanctions guidance issued by the regulator: see, for example, General Pharmaceutical Council (Fitness to Practise and Disqualification etc) Rules 2010, rule 31(14), and Bar Standards Board, Disciplinary Tribunals Regulations 2017, rE204. The guidance itself will often say that the panel should make sure that any sanction it imposes is appropriate and proportionate, based on the individual facts of the case, and is in the public interest.

This chapter elaborates on some of the existing concerns and ethical issues that may arise when biomedical research protocols are proposed or funded by research institutes (private or public) in developed countries but human subjects are recruited from resource-poor countries. Over the last two decades, clinical research conducted by sponsors and researchers from developed countries to be carried out in developing countries has increased dramatically. The article examines the situations in which vulnerable populations in developing countries are likely to be exploited and/or there is no guarantee of any benefit from the research product, if proven successful, to the local community. By examining the structure and functions of ethics committees in developing countries, the article focuses on the issues which a local ethics committee should take into account when reviewing externally-sponsored research. In conclusion, by emphasizing capacity building for local research ethics committees, the article suggests that assigning the national ethics committee (if one exists) or an ethics committee specifically charged with the task of reviewing externally-sponsored proposals would bring better results in protecting human subjects as well as ensuring benefit-sharing with the local community.

The subject of the study is public relations in the field of public debt management in Ukraine during the independence of our country, regulated by law. The purpose of the study is to conduct a retrospective study of the formation and development of legal regulation of public debt management from the time of Ukraine's independence to the present, to reflect the gradual changes in legislation that ensure the construction of an effective public debt management system, as well as establishing the legal consequences of formation of the Debt Collection Agency of Ukraine as a public debt management body. In the course of the research was used general scientific and special methods of cognition of legal phenomena and processes: dialectical, system approach, formal logical, generalization, historical and legal. It has been investigated the practice of realizing more important state bodies in the sphere of governing the state debt in Ukraine. The stage of the genesis of the legal regulation of the public debt management was designated taking into account the gradual concretization of the powers of public authorities in the specified area and the construction of an effective system of public debt management in Ukraine. It is proposed to distinguish five stages of formation and development of public debt management: Stage I: 1991-2001 - formation of Ukrainian legislation in the field of public debt; Phase II: 2002-April 2010 - further development of legislation in the field of public debt; Stage III: May 2010-2015: definition of “public debt management“ appeared in Ukrainian legislation; Stage IV: 2015-2019 – beginning of European integration processes, the emergence of a new entity called the Government Commissioner for Public Debt Management, whose powers were not fixed at the level of law; introduction of the annual approval by the Government of the medium-term public debt management strategy developed by the Ministry of Finance; inclusion of norms that are typical for EU budget law, in particular, on the prohibition of exceeding 3% of the State budget deficit based on the nominal volume of gross domestic product of Ukraine. Stage V: from 2020 to the present - introduction of a new model of public debt management: the emergence of a new entity called the Debt Collection Agency of Ukraine, whose powers are defined in the Budget Code; involvement of the Verkhovna Rada Committee of Ukraine on Budget Affairs in the issues of public debt management; control in the field of public debt management is exercised by the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine and the Accounting Chamber. Considering the European experience, it was changed the provisions on state participation in the capital market. It is determined that the positive results achieved by Ukraine in the field of public debt management reform are not possible without taking into account Ukraine's cooperation with the IMF and the World Bank, European community, due to European integration processes, reorientation of public loan from foreign to domestic one. Proposals for improving the legislation in this area have been developed.

This chapter looks specifically at the UK Parliament as this is the central institution of the UK political system. It describes the people in Parliament, its internal makeup, and the way in which it is changing. The chapter examines the roles of members of the House of Commons and House of Lords. It considers the four basic functions of Parliament: providing a basis of government, holding government to account, producing legislation, and interacting with the wider public. The chapter describes three practical examples to help illustrate some of its themes. These are the following: the 2010–15 coalition government’s attempts to reform the House of Lords; the 2009 Wright Committee proposals for parliamentary reform and their implementation; and the practice of pre-appointed hearings conducted by parliamentary committees.

The Planning Act of 28 June 2006 prescribed that a reversible repository in a deep geological formation be chosen as the reference solution for the long-term management of high-level and intermediate-level long-lived radioactive waste. It also entrusted the responsibility of further studies and investigations on the siting and design of the new repository upon the French Radioactive Waste Management Agency (Agence nationale pour la gestion des de´chets radioactifs – Andra), in order for the review of the creation-licence application to start in 2015 and, subject to its approval, the commissioning of the new repository in 2025. In late 2009, Andra submitted to the French government proposals concerning the implementation and the design of Cige´o (Centre industriel de stockage ge´ologique). A significant step of the project was completed with the delineation of an interest zone for the construction of the repositor’s underground facilities in 2010. This year, Andra has launched a new dialogue phase with local actors in order to clarify the implementation scenarios on the surface. The selected site will be validated after the public debate that is now scheduled for the first half of 2013. This debate will be organized by the National Public Debate Committee (Commission nationale du de´bat public). In parallel, the State is leading the preparation of an territorial development scheme, which will be presented during the public debate. The 2009 milestone also constitutes a new step in the progressive design process of the repository. After the 1998, 2001 and 2005 iterations, which focused mainly on the long-term safety of the repository, the Dossier 2009 highlighted its operational safety, with due account of the non-typical characteristics of an underground nuclear facility. It incorporates the first results of the repository-optimisation studies, which started in 2006 and will continue in the future. The reversibility options for the repository constitute proposals in terms of added flexibility in repository management and in package-recovery levels. They orient the design of the repository in order to promote those reversibility components. They contribute to the dialogue with stakeholders in the preparation of the public debate and of the future act on the reversibility conditions of the repository. The development of the repository shall be achieved over a long period, around the century. Hence, the designer will acquire additional knowledge at every new development of the project, notably during Phase 1, which he may reuse during the following phase, in order, for instance, to optimise the project. This process is part of the approach proposed by Andra in 2009 pursuant to the reversibility principle.

This paper provides an overview of the current status of radioactive waste management in the UK from the point of view of Nirex, the organisation responsible for providing safe, environmentally sound and publicly acceptable options for the long-term management of radioactive materials. Essentially, it argues that: • the waste exists and must be dealt with in an ethical manner; • legitimacy is the key to public acceptance of any attempt to solve the waste issue; and • credible options and a new political will allow, and indeed, compel this generation to deal with it. In doing this, the paper takes account of a number of recent announcements and ongoing developments in the UK nuclear industry, in particular: • the recent announcement that Nirex is to be made independent of industry; • the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Devolved Administrations’ Managing Radioactive Waste Safely consultation exercise; • the creation of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management to oversee the consultation; • the creation of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to manage the civil nuclear site clean-up programme; • proposals for improved regulation of Intermediate Level Waste conditioning and packaging; and • proposals by the European Commission for a new radioactive waste Directive. These institutional and policy changes amount to an evolution of the back-end of the fuel cycle that represents the most radical transformation in the UK nuclear industry for many years. In a large part, this is a transformation made necessary by past failures in trying to impose a solution on the general public. Therefore, in order for these changes to result in a successful long-term radioactive waste management programme, it is necessary to pay as much attention to political and social concerns as scientific and technical ones. Primarily it is crucial that all parties involved act in an open and transparent manner so that the decisions made achieve a high degree of legitimacy and thus public acceptance. Crucially too, the problem must be framed in the correct term — that the waste exists irrespective of the future of nuclear power and that this is an issue that must be addressed now. Thus there is a legitimacy of purpose and scope in moving forward that addresses the ethical imperative of this generation dealing with the waste. Put together with the action the government is taking to create the necessary institutional framework, Nirex believes that for the first time in a generation the UK has the building blocks in place to find a publicly acceptable, long-term solution for radioactive waste.

In Belgium, the long-term management of radioactive waste is under the exclusive competence of the Belgian Agency for Radioactive Waste and Enriched Fissile Materials (knew as ONDRAF/NIRAS). Unlike low-level waste, no institutional policy has yet been formally approved for the long-term management of high level and/or long-lived radioactive waste (knew as B&C waste). In this context, ONDRAF/NIRAS considers the public and stakeholders’ participation as an essential factor in the formulation of an effective and legitimate policy. This is why it has decided to integrate them in different ways during the elaboration of the Waste Plan (ONDRAF/NIRAS-document containing guidelines to make a principled policy decision about nuclear waste management). To do so, social scientists have been regularly mobilized either as external evaluators, follow-up committee members, or participatory observants. Hence, the Waste Plan is only the first step in a long decision-making process. For a PhD student under contract with ONDRAF/NIRAS, this mandate consists of thinking out a way to construct an inter-organizational innovative communication system that would be participative, transparent and embedded in a long-term perspective, thus integrating all the further legal steps to take throughout the decision-making process. In this regard, two paradoxical constraints must be taken into account: on the one hand, my own influence on the legal decision-making process should remain limited, because of a series of constraints, lock-ins and previous decisions which have to be respected; on the other hand, ONDRAF/NIRAS expects the research conclusions to be policy relevant and useful. In this paper, the purpose is twofold. Firstly, the issues raised by this policy mandate is an opportunity to question the performative dimensions of the social scientist in the decision-making process and, more specifically, to have a reflexive view on our position as PhD Student. Secondly, assuming the role of “embarked” social scientist, numerous of answers will discuss to face the different dilemmas of the researcher “in action”. Those reflections follow on, among others, those from previous papers discussed in Quimper in April 2013 [1] and in Leuven in June 2013 [2].

The genesis of the Copyright Amendment Bill was in 2009, when the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) initiated various studies and impact assessments. In July 2015, the DTI published a Draft Copyright Amendment Bill for public comment. The final 2017 version of the Bill was approved by Parliament in 2019 and it was sent to President Cyril Ramaphosa for action in terms of Section 79(1) of the Constitution. Section 79(1) states that “The President must either assent to and sign a Bill passed in terms of this Chapter or, if the President has reservations about the constitutionality of the Bill, refer it back to the National Assembly for reconsideration”. The President referred the Bill back to Parliament for review on 16 June 2020, on constitutionality issues. In response to the President’s reservations, Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry has invited stakeholders and other interested parties to submit written submissions on certain sections of the Bill by no later than 9 July 2021. The current copyright law is outdated and does not address the digital environment. The Academy of Science of South Africa seeks to take into account the status of the copyright legislation and the anticipated effects of the amendment Bill on different issues and thereafter, provide recommendations to the President.