The article provides a comparative analysis to modern employment contract formation. It focuses on promises made unilaterally by an employer to its employees in formal statements such as manuals and handbooks, and argues that such promises, once capable of conferring entitlement, must be protected and employers must not treat them as illusory. It further argues that while under English law an employer would be in breach of the implied duty of trust and confidence if a decision to withdraw from discretionary promises was irrational or disproportionate; in the United States, an employer’s irrational or disproportionate withdrawal from discretionary promises could be regarded as a breach of the duty of good faith. Either approach can be internationally or globally adopted to ensure a fair balance between protecting business efficiency and respecting employees’ dignity.

Contemporary environmental issues require the joint actions of the global community, which may assume many forms but always depend on developed and harmonized national legislations. States develop environmental law by implementing provisions of multilateral environmental agreements into national legislation. However, the implementation process sometimes prevents the effective adaptation of international legal norms. While the structure and mechanism of the implementation process have been frequently discussed from the relationship between international and municipal law, few studies have been dedicated to the implementation process of international environmental norms. Consequently, this study will analyze the implementation of multilateral environmental agreements with special references to the Republic of Kazakhstan. The article will present cases of implementation and the resulting issues in the national environmental legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Moreover, it will examine national measures to solve these issues that will be relevant for all countries with similar ecological questions.

This paper summarizes and assesses the international trend, both in doctrine and in legal provisions dealing with conflict of laws in intellectual property field and reviews the relevant provisions in the Part 5th on applicable law to civil relations evolving foreign elements of the Vietnam’s 2015 Civil Code. The author shows that the two new provisions of the Vietnam’s 2015 Civil Code, namely Article 679 and Article 683, has partly caught up with the international trend in recognizing conflicts of laws and providing choice-of-law rules for resolving these conflicts in the intellectual property relations. The shortcoming of the Vietnam’s 2015 Civil Code is the absence of a particular provision dealing with the conflict of laws in case of infringement of intellectual property rights. On that basis, the paper offers comments and suggestions on the need to make the provisions of the Vietnam’s Civil Code more specific in the future.

An efficient protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPs) has a positive impact on the economy as it can help attract foreign investment and encourage the advancement of science and technology. There has been much discussion among the ASEAN member States in harmonizing their IP systems to encourage registration and utilization of IPRs among them. However, many legal infrastructures should be prepared in each of the ASEAN member countries and at the ASEAN level before the harmonization of the IP system. In the patent area, the harmonization idea requires more effort since there is also a huge difference in technology development among them. This article discusses various strategies in harmonizing the patent system in the ASEAN member states. This author would look into similar regional organizations, such as the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization and the African Intellectual Property Organization to compare their patent systems to those of the ASEAN to promote the utilization of patents in the ASEAN region.

This article provides an analyses the implications of China’s constitutionally proclaimed notion of “Community of Shared Future for Mankind” (CSFM), which reveals the stance of the PRC party in promoting so-called “Chinese wisdom” and a “Chinese solution” to address common issues in global governance and in pursuing China’s global leadership in President Xi Jinping’s “New Era.” The author explores the possibility for China and the West of reaching a normative consensus in terms of standards set by the CSFM vision and human security in light of the current global pandemic. The author advocates pursuing a pragmatic, problem-solving approach to international engagement with China without advancing a particular political agenda based on broad ideological presumptions, namely by encouraging and facilitating China’s further participation in international institutions and treaties. This approach may establish an increasing convergence and resonance of local and nonlocal norms to reach a normative consensus and, ultimately, to influence treaty performance incrementally and gradually.

This explorative paper investigates the application of human rights to civil law cases in Indonesia. Human rights are often placed within the realm of public law. Yet, fundamental rights and freedoms also apply to private law cases. The human rights literature, however, does not exist in Indonesian private law. This article explores how human rights are applied in Indonesian civil law cases with reference to the models of human rights application developed by Aharon Barak and Olha Cherednychenko. We found that in Indonesia, judges apply human rights law to civil law cases indirectly, yet this application is inconsistent. The Supreme Court has attempted to increase legal unity by making case law (yurisprudensi) more accessible and by issuing internal regulations that must serve as guidelines for judges-including the application of fundamental rights in civil law cases. Case law and guidelines, however, lack thorough legal reasoning and are, therefore, difficult to apply to complex cases.

The United States’ Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) introduces new eligibility requirements for existing USD 7,500 tax-credit provided to electric vehicles. The new requirements condition the credit upon North American final assembly and North American-sourced materials and components. As tensions flare between the US and China, these new local content requirements reflect the US’s effort to establish a supply chain for electric vehicles that circumvents China. The blow, however, is felt elsewhere, namely by South Korean auto makers whose electric vehicle models are no longer eligible for the significant tax-credit necessary to compete in the American market. As South Korea considers submitting a complaint to relevant international bodies, this paper dissects the IRA’s relevant provisions and analyzes the applicability of international trade law rules of the WTO and the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement to the new local content requirements of the IRA.

In his Liberation Day speech, President Yoon Suk-yeol of South Korea pointed out that he would like to improve Korea-Japan relations towards a common future. However, a thorn in the relation between Japan and South Korea has been the unresolved issue of the so-called comfort women who had been forced to serve as sex slaves for the Japanese army between 1932 to 1945. The case of the comfort women raises many legal questions. On December 28, 2015, the Japanese and Korean government reached an agreement that aims to resolve the decades-old problem. The so-called 2015 Agreement gave new impetus to the debate over the legal responsibility of the Japanese government under international law. The most relevant issues and subsequent legal developments will be discussed in the following article.

International terrorism has been a topical issue that caught the UN’s attention since the last quarter of the twentieth century. However, the UN initially dealt with it as an internal matter. In this regard, terrorism has become a global threat with the emergence of terrorist organizations. These organizations are not limited to a specific geographical scope; some of them are linked to countries, while others seek to occupy territories in order to control the oil wells and even create armies. They cannot continuously conduct their activities without financial support that provides it with the means to implement its plans and the resources to finance its field and logistical operations in all forms. One of the most important sources of financing terrorist and their organizations is money laundering operations. This research is to analyze the UN’s role in combating money laundering to prevent terrorist acts around the globe.

The Department of Chinese Legal Culture at the University of Cologne is the most established center of excellence in research and teaching of Chinese law in continental Europe. The approach practiced by researchers in the Department of Chinese Legal Culture combines doctrinal legal analysis with an emphasis on the context within which the law operates. In terms of the research and teaching, it covers, inter alia, constitutional and administrative law, criminal and criminal procedure law, judicial reforms, the social credit system and Chinese positions on international law. The Department of Chinese Legal Culture maintains a wide network of cooperation partners in Mainland China and Hong Kong. It frequently hosts conferences and workshops on timely and relevant issues of Chinese law and innovative research approaches. Together with the European China Law Studies Association, the Department of Chinese Legal Culture has initiated the European Chinese Law Research Hub that shares widely current and important research on Chinese law.

Economists believe that if the legal remedy for breach is expectation damages, the idea of efficient breach allows us to forecast when parties will choose to breach a contract. On the other hand, the economic premise of rational wealth-maximizing actors fails to reflect significant nonmonetary values and incentives that impact behavior in predictable ways. People act following shared community norms, such as the moral norm of honoring pledges, when interpersonal duties are informal or underspecified. However, when the parties specify or otherwise formalize punishments for uncooperative behavior, it becomes more strategic and self-interested. The remedy for breach is made apparent with a liquidated-damages clause. This article will highlight the issues about the cure for breach in cases where liquidate damages clause is exploited, focusing on the Common law and precedents by eminent judges, including Pakistan’s legislation.

Since its accession with WTO, China has claimed that free trade agreement makes international trade liberal by reducing trade barriers, establishing a pleasant exchange and flow of goods and services, promoting economic corporation, and enhancing economic growth. As the free trade agreement is inefficacious in gaining mass global consensus, China’s constructive approach towards free trade has induced many debates. By discussing Marxist perspective on free trade, this study begins with analyzing the theoretical source of Marx’s ideas on free trade and aims to apprehend China’s approach towards free trade. The author uses descriptive and critical analysis to understand China’s approach towards free trade based on Marx’s early writings. Further to analyzes the economic and legal aspects of China’s free trade agreement, empirical analysis is used. The paper argues that free trade agreement is a progressive plan and neutral economic policy which can bring economic prosperity in any economy as it holds the potential to be the leading economic concept by offering win-win opportunities to both the Contracting parties.

Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI) is the cross-border capital flow with the objective of the long-term association having at least a ten percent stake in the equity of the host country firm. In the case of new investment, the total equity is OFDI. This research aims to analyze OFDI in the context of China. The lasting interest is considered 10% equity, thereby saying that if the cross-border investment is at least 10% of the equity share capital, the investment would be considered FDI; if below 10%, it is considered to be a Portfolio Investment. We have applied a more emic approach and discussed the determinants of multinational companies (MNCs) from China. Using an exploratory and qualitative approach, case studies of Chinese MNCs are discussed. Secondary data is utilized to obtain a closer insight into the determinants of OFDI from Chinese MNCs. At the end of this paper, suggestions for OFDI policymakers and study limitations are discussed. This research makes recommendations to the Chinese government regarding OFDI in connection with their economic development.

There are different approaches worldwide on how to regulate cryptocurrency: legalization, partial ban, or absolute ban. China has chosen the third option. Since 2013 the PRC has been introducing restrictive measures targeting ICO, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency activities. In 2022 it finalized the formation of a legal framework for cryptocurrency regulation by publishing “Judicial Interpretation on Illegal Fundraising Criminal Cases.” The main reasons for the prohibitive Chinese approach are combating money laundering, ICO related scams, and illegal financing, i.e., public interest prevails over private interests. An analysis of the judicial practice of Chinese courts demonstrates that despite a rising number of cryptocurrency related civil disputes, plaintiffs are deprived of judicial protection because investing in digital financial assets is illegal and the rights of investors are not legitimate. The paper argues that a cryptocurrency ban makes it impossible to satisfy claims concerning illegal fundraising activities, while encouraging investors not to have any relations with illegal agents, brokers or exchanges.

On October 22, 2021, the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) promulgated the Development Plan for the Utilization of Foreign Capital during the 14th Five-Year Period. The plan has attracted wide attention from investors and scholars at home and abroad. The global economic recovery is full of unpredictable challenges due to the spread of Covid-19, so absorbing foreign investment is critical to the economic development in most countries. The plan was based on the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Outline of Long-term Objectives for 2035. China is changing the direction of attracting investment from manufacturing industry to service industry. This article discusses China’s current utilization of foreign capital and analyzes the newly promulgated plan, including its key features, overall objectives, and basic tasks. It also examines the opportunities and challenges China faces in its future utilization of foreign capital.

In recent years, juvenile offenders have made up an increasing number of all criminal suspects, and minor crimes are becoming a more serious social problem in most countries and regions around the world. While community correction occupies a very important position in the minor crime punishment system, current community correction risk assessments mainly depend on qualitative analysis or simple mathematical statistics using collected data. In combination with relevant theories and regulations, this paper offers a systematic look at the development and theories of community correction and the related risk assessment system and analyzes the characteristics of community correction risk assessment methods of juvenile offenders in different countries. Moreover, it discusses some new risk assessment technologies based on artificial intelligence theory for community correction risk evaluation of juvenile offenders. The effectiveness of the proposed community correction risk assessment method is verified using some real-world community correction assessments.

This paper aims to examine the progressive development process of the ASEAN under the UN 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. As of 2022, the ASEAN Member States have a total population of 622 million people and a combined GDP of USD 3.2 trillion. The ASEAN’s main focus is integration by connectivity which has been facilitated by “the ASEAN Way.” The ASEAN connectivity was upgraded into a single community through the ASEAN Vision 2020 comprehensively formalized by the Bali Concord II in 2003. The ASEAN has been geographically expanding towards Northeast Asia (ASEN+3) and then Oceania with India (ASEAN+6). It was also connected to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) which is the biggest mega FTA in the contemporary world. With the Vision 2025, furthermore, the ASEAN Community reset its direction to sustainable development goals which are the main objective to attain for the Association under the Master Plan 2025.

The study aims to analyse data security in the financial and banking sector of China. The data laws provide a ‘consent-oriented’ approach where consent, along with a limited list of exceptions, is the legal basis for the processing of personal information. The personal data protection mechanism comprised the Data Security Law, the Cybersecurity Law, and the Personal Information Protection Law. Taken together, they cover all areas of information security and establish a severe data protection regime: they determine the scope of regulation, objects and subjects, responsibility, and institutional control mechanisms. For an accurate assessment, it is necessary to wait for the adoption of by-laws that specify the provisions of these laws. The financial and banking sector already has several by-laws in place that set stringent standards for the security of personal information. The leading role in this mechanism is taken by the financial regulator - the People’s Bank of China.

E-commerce has been rapidly growing in China which has quickly become the largest e-commerce market in the world. However, this has also led to an increasing number of e-commerce disputes. In practice, such disputes are resolved by online dispute resolution. As the results of online dispute resolution are not legally binding, however, China’s online arbitration procedure has been criticized especially regarding the conflicts between party autonomy and institutional autonomy. China’s judicial reviews would claim that such awards cannot be enforced. Therefore, there is a call to make online arbitral awards enforceable and to expand the application of online arbitration to more e-commerce disputes in China. This paper examines how to best analyse and address such conflicts. We explain the importance of arbitral institutions’ autonomy in terms of ensuring access to justice as well as the importance of limiting party autonomy in certain circumstances due to the rise in online disputes.

“A Concise History of International Law in China-Conflicts, Fusion, and Development” presents a panoramic view of international law in China. The book historically reviews the origin and development of international law in China, discusses China’s contribution to the theory and institutional innovation of contemporary international law, and looks forward to the future of international law in China and the world. More concretely, this book pays attention to the development history of China’s international law scholarship; closely follows the latest trends in China’s international law research; and guides further research. A careful review of the book will provide the readers with a panoramic view of the history of China’s international law. It is not only an important treatise on the history of international law in China but also an indispensable reference for theoretical and practical circles with bibliography.