In recent years consumer law has come more and more into the focus of legislation within the EU. One of the EU’s key objectives, completing the final stage of the internal market, is to place consumer rights in the centre of it. Following the adaption of various consumer law measures for some decades, the EU has undertaken a thorough review of its consumer acquis. After years of consultations, the Consumer Rights Directive 2011/83/ EU, which was supposed to set new standards (...) of consumer protection, came into force and will have to be implemented by the Member States by 13 December, 2013. Renouncing its principal practice of minimum harmonisation in the area of consumer law, i.e. allowing Member States on the basis of Directives to adopt more protective rules, the EU legislator now turned to a targeted full harmonisation approach by means of the Consumer Rights Directive, aiming at increasing the consumer protection across the EU by bringing together the currently distinct laws for distance selling and off-premises contracts as well as other types of consumer contracts in a single instrument. The article briefly introduces the background of the Directive and discusses the shift in means of harmonisation concepts. Then, it analyses the scope, concepts and content of the Directive, which mainly brings considerable reforms in the areas of information requirements and the right of withdrawal. Taking into account the Directive’s improvements and shortcomings, conclusions are drawn that further harmonisation and a uniform and universally applicable set of European consumer rights are needed. (shrink)

Contract theories may be a useful analytical tool for understanding and explaining contract, as well as for facilitating orientation in a complex and often fragmented legal regulation. The article presents main understandings of contract in various European jurisdictions: contract as free assumption of obligation, contract as a bargain based on the idea of consideration, contract as free assumption of obligation based on sufficient causa. The article inquires as to how universal those theories are, what are the recent trends in the (...) development of European contract law, what philosophy of contract underlies the soft law instruments, such as UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts or Principles of European Contract Law (PECL), what is the stance of the Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR) in regard to the concept of contract. Under the law of Lithuania the definition of contract comprises elements found in several European countries, but it is argued that the new Lithuanian Civil Code has not received any model in its pure form. However it seems that the prevailing view understands contract as juridical act, as freely assumed obligation and meeting of parties’ intentions with the aim to create legal effects. Following the position of soft law instruments in regard to the elements of the contract, Lithuanian law (at least in its statutory form) does not have any explicit additional requirements, such as consideration or causa. (shrink)

In this article the author analyses specific reservations that are being done to the international documents for the protection of human rights and whether Vienna Convention on the Law of the Treaties applies to those human rights treaties or not. Also, the author analyses if reservations, which are incompatible with object and purpose of the treaty, can be done or not and what consequences they might bring. For this reason the author describes the practice of the state members under the (...) Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. These treaties were chosen not only because they laid down the most significant principles of the protection of human rights, but also due to the great number of reservations made to the fundamental provisions of these treaties. The importance of the topic is that in the human rights treaties the implementation of Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties provisions on reservations brings several issues, even though on theoretical level the regulation of reservations seems unproblematic. Firstly, there is a major group of states (especially Islamic countries, which base their explanation on the incompatibility with Islamic law), which want to become parties to the treaties that protect human rights and make reservations to fundamental provisions of them at the same time. Secondly, the state parties that make objections to the reservations have to decide if the reservation is compatible with the object and purpose of the treaty or not. The regulation that is laid down in Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties creates difficulties for the state parties and withdrawal of reservations seems to be more problematic in reality than it is in theory. In order to find the solutions for the above mentioned issues, the author analyses whether the Vienna Convention on the Law of the Treaties regime works properly within the mechanism of making reservations to the human rights treaties or not, what reservations should be kept invalid under the human rights treaties and what could be the solutions for the most effective protection from the invalid reservations that address fundamental rights of human beings in the human rights law. (shrink)

The authors of this article use systemic, comparative and historical methods to review the most representative legal systems – rench, English and German – and analyse how these legal systems deal with the effects of change in circumstances on the performance of a contract. The authors also discuss solutions adopted by scholar groups working on supranational contract law (soft law) instruments, namely, UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts and Principles of European Contract Law, stressing that these sets of principles have (...) significantly affected Lithuanian contract law provisions on changed circumstances. The authors concisely evaluate the case law of the Supreme Court of Lithuania on the application of the provisions on change in circumstances and their effect on the performance of a contract. (shrink)

The Article analyses how one of the basic consumer rights – the right to information – is regulated in the European Commission Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on consumer rights (hereinafter referred to as the Proposal): the article analyses trends of regulation of the consumers’ right to receive information; problems related to the scope of provided information and the issue of consumer standard that should be used in evaluating the sufficiency of provided information (...) and transparency of contract terms. Furthermore, additional possibilities to improve the consumer right to receive information at the national level are shortly discussed. The regulation of the consumer right to receive information established in the Proposal may imply a new era in the regulation of the B2C relations, where the aim to ensure high common level of consumer protection is opposed against the aim to ensure the balance of interests of consumers and business. Such „slight“ conversion of the aims may impact the application of legal norms regulating consumer right to information and the scope of the disclosure obligation of the business, while reducing the level of the consumer protection. (shrink)

Protecting consumers' rights set higher standards on the rights of security compared with other participants of civil turnover, so the concept of consumer acquires not only theoretical but also practical significance. Definition of consumer must be sufficiently clear and precise as the proper subject of classification depends on what rules will apply to legal relationships arising. To this purpose, the concept of consumer is formulated as the concept of both the European Union and national legislation. Both presented the concept of (...) consumer that is defined in accordance with the formal characteristics and prejudices that individuals are the weaker party without the actual value of that person experiences and knowledge and so on. (shrink)

In this article, we explore the concept of African communitarianism and reflect on its potential value for ecojustice education as a localised response to the wider ecological crises that i...

Resumo: O presente artigo sistematiza informações sobre a implementação do Programa Jovem de Futuro, PJF, na rede estadual de ensino no Pará, considerando suas implicações para o Direito Humano à Educação, DHE, de acordo com o proposto no Pacto Internacional sobre os Direitos Econômicos, Sociais e Culturais- PIDESC, que demarca quatro indicadores da ação estatal para a asseguramento do direito à Educação. São eles: Disponibilidade, Acessibilidade, Aceitabilidade, Adaptabilidade e, ainda, Controle Social incorporado na matriz de pesquisa. Em diálogo com tais (...) indicadores, coletamos informações em páginas oficiais da Secretaria Estadual de Educação do Pará e do ator privado responsável pela implementação do Programa, o Instituto Unibanco. Procedemos análise de documentos oficiais localizados nas referidas páginas, além de consultar a produção nacional sobre o PJF, com ênfase à sua consolidação no estado do Pará, no período de 2011-2018. A pesquisa de tipo qualitativa, apoiada em revisão bibliográfica, análise documental e coleta de dados de fontes primárias e secundárias, possibilitou a constatação de forte influência do setor privado na educação pública paraense, que direcionou a adoção de modelos de gestão empresarial para a obtenção de melhores resultados educacionais, com controle e monitoramento em todas as etapas do PJF, com sérias consequências ao DHE. Palavras-chave: Direito Humano à Educação; Jovem de Futuro; Instituto Unibanco; Privatização. The Jovem de Futuro program in Pará and the implications for the Human Right to Education – DHE Abstract: The article systematizes information about the implementation of the The Youth with a Future Program - PJF in the state education in Pará, considering its implications for the Human Right to Education - DHE, in accordance with what is proposed in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights - ICESCR, which outlines four indicators of state action to ensure the right to education. They are: Availability, Accessibility, Acceptability, Adaptability and accountability incorporated in the research matrix. Related with these indicators, we collected information on official pages of the Pará State Department of Education and on the private actor responsible for implementing the Program, Instituto Unibanco. We proceeded to the analysis of official documents located on the referred pages, in addition to consulting the national academic production on the PJF, with emphasis on its consolidation in the state of Pará, in the period 2011-2018. Qualitative research, supported by a bibliographic review, document analysis and data collection from primary and secondary sources, made it possible to verify the strong influence of the private sector on public education in Pará, which led to the adoption of business management models to obtain better results. educational institutions, with control and monitoring at all stages of the PJF, with serious consequences for the DHE. Key-words: Human Right to Education; Future Youth; Unibanco Institute; Privatization. Programa Joven del Futuro en Pará y sus implicaciones al Derecho Humano a la Educación – DHE Resumen: La presente investigación sistematiza informaciones sobre la implementación del Programa Joven del Futuro – PJF en la red estatal de enseñanza de Pará, considerando sus implicaciones al Derecho Humano a la Educación – DHE, de acuerdo con lo propuesto en el Pacto Internacional sobre los Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales – PIDESC, que demarca cuatro indicadores de acción estatal para el aseguramiento del derecho a la Educación. Son ellos: Disponibilidad, Accesibilidad, Aceptabilidad, Adaptabilidad y, aún, Control Social incorporado en la matriz de investigación. En diálogo con tales indicadores, reunimos informaciones en páginas web oficiales de la Secretaria Estadual de Educação do Pará y del actor privado responsable por la implementación del Programa, el Instituto Unibanco. Procedemos el análisis de documentos oficiales localizados en las referidas páginas, así como consultamos la producción nacional sobre el PJF, con énfasis a las consolidaciones en Pará, en el período de 2011 hasta 2018. La investigación de tipo cualitativa, apoyada en revisiones bibliográficas, análisis documentales y recopilación de datos de fuentes primarias y secundarias, posibilitó la constatación de fuerte influencia del sector privado en la educación pública paraense, que direccionó la adopción de modelos de gestión empresarial para la obtención mejores resultados educacionales, con control y monitoreo en todas las etapas del PJF, con serias consecuencias al DHE. Palabras-clave: Derecho Humano a la Educación; Joven del Futuro; Instituto Unibanco; Privatización. Data de registro: 02/05/2022Data de aceite: 26/10/2022. (shrink)

Hannah Arendt plačiai žinoma kaip filosofė, kuri mėgino reabilituoti senovės graikų politikos sampratą. Remiantis Žmogaus būklės skaitymu, Arendt paprastai laikoma „graikofile“, jai prikišama „Atėnų nostalgija“. Sunku paneigti Arendt simpatijas graikams – ji iš tiesų atsigręžė į atėniečių politikos supratimą, bandydama jame iškristalizuoti kertinius autentiškos politikos elementus. Vis dėlto ši interpretacija yra pernelyg vienpusiška. Didžiausius nuopelnus politikos suvokimo srityje Arendt priskiria ne graikams, o romėnams. Pastarieji žymiai geriau sprendė politikos stabilumo, tęstinumo ir tvarumo problemą. Visą dėmesį sutelkiant į veiksmą, spontaniškumą ir (...) nepaprastus žygdarbius, kyla grėsmė destabilizuoti ir „išcentruoti“ politinės bend­rijos gyvenimą. Romėnai, įvesdami tokias sąvokas kaip tradicija, autoritetas, steigties (įkūrimo) šventumas, teisė (lex), taip pat pabrėždami politinę atleidimo ir pažado reikšmę, atveria graikams svetimą politinės sedimentacijos plotmę. Ši plotmė suteikia būtinus saugiklius, be kurių tvari politinė egzistencija yra neįmanoma. (shrink)

In this article the paradoxical role of legal science in legal practice is discussed. On the one hand, legal scientists do not agree on the criterions of the scientific character of legal science. On the other hand, even in the legal cases that are especially complicated it is possible to arrive at theoretically unquestionable decisions. The author of the article concludes that legal practice is based on fundamental theoretical insights; however, in legal practice these insights are used more intuitively than (...) reflectively. Therefore, the aim of the article is to rationally reconstruct these theoretical insights with reference to the ideas of modern schools of legal philosophy. For this purpose the ideas of the theory of natural law are discussed. It is concluded that in legal practice two provisions of natural law are applied: legal decisions ought to be reasonable and must include existential ends (basic values). The evolution of the legal positivism is discussed in the article and it is concluded that legal positivism offers the criterions of the scientific character of legal science by framing the procedural rules of the democratic process of lawmaking. These rules anticipate such conditions: consensus concerning decision making; equal participation of all members of legal discourse confirming normative decisions; the acceptability of consequences after the realisation of normative decisions; the possibility to reaffirm normative decisions, if necessary. The ideas of virtue jurisprudence are discussed and it is claimed that virtue jurisprudence as a criterion of the scientific character of law proposes such theoretical position: the decisions concerning human rights must supply the value system (hierarchy) and the virtues which are formed and justified in the long legal tradition. The article represents the use of these criterions of the scientific character of legal science by Jurgen Habermas to debate about legal prohibition of the improvement of the human genome by using modern technologies of genome engineering in the Convention of Human Rights and Biomedicine (Oviedo, 1997). (shrink)