Systematic Regulation of Personal Information Rights in the Era of Big Data

Big data has an important impact on people’s production and life. The existing legal and judicial protection, sanctions, and mechanisms for the enforcement of information rights have proved insufficient to stem the serious consequences of rampant leakage and illegal activity. Based on Information Full Life Cycle Theory, this article combines qualitative analysis with quantitative analysis, uses data from the Survey Report on App Personal Information Leakage released by China Consumers Association as an example, and finds that illegal access, illegal provisions, and illegal transactions have become important sources of personal information leakage. The main reasons for this problem include limitations of the technologies used, the falsification of informed consent, the lag of legislative protections, and a lack of administrative supervision. Systematic regulation of the right to protect personal information should include a variety of initiatives. First, it should be used to identify who to protect and how to protect them. Second, there needs to be a shift from identifiable subject regulations to risk control. Third, legislation needs to be comprehensive, entailing a shift from fragmented to systemic reforms. Fourth, protection efforts should include supervision, self-regulation, and management. Finally, the jurisdiction of legislation should extend across cyberspace and physical reality as a means to achieve a balance between effective protection and the reasonable use of personal information.

Problematic Aspects of Judicial Protection against the Inaction of Administrative Authorities in the Czech Republic

One of the three most important types of actions in the Czech administrative judiciary is the action for protection against the inaction of an administrative body. Judicial protection follows on from the protection within the administrative proceedings (according to the Administrative Procedure Code). Its entrenchment in the Czech law in 2002 was a huge positive. Nevertheless, in practice there are some controversial issues or issues for discussion which relate to this action. The article analyses the essence of this action, its conditions and hearing in court. However, the main attention is paid to the problematic aspects of the action, both those regarding its legislation and those arising from the practice and case law relating to protection against administrative inaction.

CONVERSION” OF A CUSTOMS OFFICER’S SERVICE RELATIONSHIP INTO AN EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP

The selection method of existing employees or officers has been used since the beginning of the Third Polish Republic during the transformation of various public institutions, which consists of making discretionary decisions about whose employment will be continued, as well as under what new conditions it will be carried out. Using the framework for termination of employment for this purpose in subsequent acts, missing in them precise criteria for qualifying persons and the lack of regulations as to the manner of judicial protection are designed to reduce the number of people who would make attempts to contest their decisions. In 2016 on the occasion of the reform of the fiscal apparatus, this method was additionally extended to include the possibility of unilateral and selectively transforming the service relationships of customs officers into employment relationships, or vice versa - fiscal officials to officers. This option was implemented in practice in 2017. This represents a serious threat to the freedom to choose and pursue a profession which must either be restrained by declaring this type of regulation unconstitutional, or by making it unprofitable through court judgments restoring prior employment relationships. The recent case law of common courts and the Supreme Court favours it.

THE EFFICIENCY OF PROOF IN CIVIL PROCEDURE: THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS

The effectiveness of judicial protection is largely determined by the efficiency of proof. Modern methods of studying the effectiveness of law and legal activity make it possible to analyze issues of the efficiency of proof. What is the efficiency of proof? Should the proof be effective? Is it necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of evidence and for what? Can the efficiency of proof be assessed? How to evaluate and how to ensure such efficiency? What measures and procedural rules reduce costs and increase the efficiency of proof? The answers to these and many other questions are offered in the article, which also reveals the general theoretical and methodological aspects of the problem of the efficiency of proof. In conclusion of this paper the author puts forward the thesis based on the study that the very study and evaluation of the effectiveness of judicial proof allows to minimize its costs, to select the optimal cost-effective procedural means of achieving the goals of proof, to rationalize its procedural order. The study of the effectiveness of proof, thus, makes it possible to rationally choose the most effective and cost-effective alternative to build a procedural mechanism of proof.

„Nihil novi”? Czyli o antecedencjach sądowej ochrony autonomii administracyjnej uczelni publicznej w Polsce

Administrative autonomy, which is the most advanced type of decentralising public administration, plays a key role in robustly safeguarding academic freedom. In the over a century-long history of the practice of the Polish regulations pertaining to the organisation and functioning of public universities, no principle of the judicial protection of the higher education institutions’ independence has been formulated — not even under the regulations of article 70 (5) of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. This legislative negligence poses serious threats in the current legal situation, which only worsens in the environment that facilitates the authoritarian activities of public authorities in Poland.

The prosecutor's judicial protection of public interests in the use and protection of specially protected natural territories as a complex area of prosecutorial activity

The article deals with the topical issue of highlighting the complex direction of prosecutorial activity – the protection by the prosecutor in court of public interest in the use and protection of specially protected natural territories based on the scope of legal relations and the purpose of the activity. Taking into account the available theoretical approaches, the author proves that three criteria are basis for the allocation: 1) the complex nature of the legal regulation of the sphere of use and protection of specially protected natural territories; 2) the need to adopt a set of means of prosecutorial activity for violations of the regime of use and protection of specially protected natural territories in court; 3) the unity of the factual circumstances to be established in criminal, civil, arbitration, administrative cases, cases of administrative offences on the facts of violation of the regime of use and protection of specially protected natural territories, which in turn allows, firstly, the collected evidence to be used in criminal, civil, arbitration, administrative proceedings, in proceedings on administrative offences (respectively, unified approaches to collecting and fixing evidentiary information are required), secondly, the prejudice of judicial decisions. The allocation of an integrated direction makes it possible to improve the quality of the organisation and implementation of judicial protection of public interest in the use and protection of specially protected natural territories.

Judicial Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in a Digital Economy: Is There a Need for Change?

The paper looks at improving the judicial system in Russia facing the rapid technological change of modern society in which new relationships are largely associated with different areas of intellectual property. Today biotechnology, digital rights, computer programs and scientific research materials have become widely used in civil circulation and their intellectual property rights should be effectively protected. The paper discusses different issues of protecting intellectual rights provided for by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, aimed at both suppressing and preventing their infringement, and assesses the statistical indicators of the courts. The practice of the Intellectual Property Rights Court and the Moscow City Court shows that specialization yields positive results. The selection of judges, their professional development including their distinctive competencies in addition to legal ones, also help to find effective ways of resolving intellectual property disputes. With the protection of intellectual property rights being of great concern not only in Russia, but also in most developed countries of the world, their experience has also been thoroughly analyzed. The paper suggests a possible way of improving the judicial system under the current circumstances. Certain changes in the judicial system and the creation of additional specialized intellectual property courts could help to ensure an affordable, legitimate and effective mechanism for resolving disputes related to the violation of intellectual property rights.

Schengen and the Administration of Exclusion: Legal Remedies Caught in between Entry Bans, Risk Assessment and Artificial Intelligence

To create an area in which persons can move freely, the Schengen states committed to control their external borders to prevent irregular immigration and the entry of third-country nationals (TCN s) who are considered to be ‘a public order and security risk’. The exclusion of ‘unwanted aliens’ can be based on the mutual enforcement of national decisions, such as entry bans reported in the Schengen Information System, or objections against the issuing of a Schengen visa, based on the consultation procedure in the Visa Code. This contribution focuses on the right of TCN s to have access to effective remedies, both with regard to existing and newer mechanisms of exclusion. It argues that when dealing with the use of large-scale databases and risk assessment as basis for excluding admission, existing rules and case-law by the CJEU should be taken into account to ensure access to effective judicial protection for TCN s.

Foreigners and persons without citizenship as subjects of administrative judiciary

The right to go to court, including administrative, is one of the most important rights of citizens guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of Ukraine. In addition to the general constitutional right to judicial protection, in particular, Art. 7 of the Law of Ukraine «On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges» of 02.06.2016 № 1402-VIII, guarantees everyone the protection of his rights, freedoms and interests within a reasonable time by an independent, impartial and fair court established by law. Foreigners, stateless persons and foreign legal entities have the right to judicial protection in Ukraine on an equal footing with citizens and legal entities of Ukraine. Access to justice for every person is ensured in accordance with the Constitution of Ukraine and in the manner prescribed by the laws of Ukraine. However, along with the guaranteed right to apply to the court of foreigners, stateless persons (refugees, migrants, immigrants), such a category of subjects of administrative proceedings as apartheid remained outside the scope of domestic law. In order to eliminate the shortcomings of the legislative regulation of the legal status of apartheid in Ukraine, the author came to the conclusion that it is necessary to eliminate the existing shortcoming by amending the Law of Ukraine «On Legal Status of Foreigners and Stateless Persons» of 22.09.2011 № 3773-V. Keywords: legal status, foreigners, migrants, apartheid, justice, legislation