*** RUDOLF MÖGELE, FRIEDRICH ERLBACHER (Editors): Single Common Market Organisation. Article-by-Article Commentary of the Legal Framework for Agricultural Markets in the European Union. Verlag C. H. Beck (9 Wilhelmstrasse, D-80801 Munich. Email: bestellung@beck.de) and Hart Publishing (16C Worcester Place, Oxford, OXI 2JW, UK. Internet: http://www.hartpub.co.uk ). 2011, 1.044 pp, £260. ISBN 978-3-406-60318-1 (Beck) and 978-1-84113-994-4 (Hart).
In 2007, agriculture ministers from European Union countries accepted the Commission proposal to include the 21 regulations on the Common Agricultural Markets into a single text. This exclusive regulation was further added to with the inclusion of Common Market Organisations on fruit and vegetables and wine. These different articles in this single regulation are examined in a detailed way in this impressively comprehensive and large body of work. The work involved in this exercise is even more important given the fact that it was undertaken, for the main part, by senior officials working at the Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development. The interpretation in this book therefore provides an officially approved version and also consists in an array of contributions by legal experts, economists and agronomists who tackle a number of different points. Each commentator begins by explaining the purpose and objective of each provision (…) as well as its scope and exegesis. Each provision or raft of provisions is preceded by an explanation on the appropriate aspects contained within a single CMO or text resulting from this, as well as the provisions on its implementation, the judgements made with regard to these provisions and literature available on the subject being tackled. Finally, the text containing all the relevant cases in point in the regulations used to amend the single text are included in the annex, which definitively completes this indispensable tool for all those working in this area. It is therefore hardly surprising that Dacian Ciolos, the European Commissioner responsible for this field warmly welcomes this book, which he says, “ goes far beyond mechanisms of market intervention” and also looks at the protection of consumer interests and the role of farmers in the food chain.
Pierre Bouvier
*** ELSA HANNAH MARIA GÜNTHER: EU und Afrika. Die Ursachen und Folgen des Niedergangs des Fischereisektors in Westafrika. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, Postfach 350, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - Email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). 2011, 139 pp, €21.80. ISBN 978-3-631-61646-8.
Africa is always an interesting subject to examine with regard to the challenges that are contained in this continent, which is of an unparalleled complexity compared to the rest of the world. For several decades now, the European Union has attempted to improve living conditions on this continent, mainly by supporting its economy, with a priority on the raw materials sector. In the first part of this book, the author provides a picture of the fishing industry. Relations with this industry are tackled exclusively through European policies. The book then looks at relations between the Union and Africa, which have been essential for Europe for both historic and humanitarian reasons. It then tackles the crucial subject of governance particularly because government and non-governmental organisations are so important in this context that it would be impossible to leave them out of this equation in this connection. The variety of different actors therefore represents a major challenge to relations between Africa and Europe, as well as an area of study relating to governance problems in both the public and private sectors. Elsa Hannah Maria Günther therefore examines subjects such as the importance of fisheries in Africa, the influences alerted by common policy, the subsidies regime, production capacities, the international trade in products from fishing, illegal fishing and international migration relating to fisheries.
(JD)
*** AIDAN O'NEIL QC: EU Law for UK Lawyers. Hart Publishing (16C Worcester Place, Oxford, OX1 2JW, UK. Tel: (44-1865) 517530 - fax: 510710 - Email: mail@hartpub.co.uk - Internet: http://www.hartpub.co.uk ). 2011, 950 pp, £75. ISBN 978-1-84113-046-0.
From the very first lines in his preface, the author takes his readers to San Miniato al Monte, in the foothills above Florence where an Abbott spoke of his “Christian vision of Europe” and explains that the triumvirate of Christian Democrats made up of Robert Schuman, Konrad Adenauer and Alcide de Gasperi had achieved much more success than the triumvirate of Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt and who had sown the seeds of division and discord, whereas the former had paved the way to unity and peace. Subsequently, the Abbot of San Miniato confirms the historic and religious validity of a certain imperial and Christian vision of Europe. He also illustrated, “ something of a political commonplace on the continent”, namely that the European integration project was in itself a good thing and no credible alternative existed to it. Born in the shame and horror stemming from the tragedies of the Second World War, the European project is also therefore born from an, “idealistic hostility to the idea of the nation state, which has had little or no resonance in the common political discourse and historic consciousness of United Kingdom”. After almost forty years of belonging to the Community club, the British still, “have a tendency to see themselves as (of economic necessity) in Europe but yet not 'quite' of Europe”. This is the crux of the problem because not wishing to see the Union as anything other than a free-trade zone or a functional association of sovereign states subsequently means cooperating exclusively to satisfy their own national interests. It also signifies that there is a danger of being left out of the operational functionality of this Union. In an effort to prevent British readers falling into this trap, Aidan O'Neil takes them in hand to discover what the European Union really is and how it works, in light of what has actually prevailed in the Community. In the second issue of this book, he also pays particular attention to the European Charter of fundamental rights and its links with the European Convention of Human Rights.
(MT)
*** HANS HENRIK LIDGARD (Editors): National Developments in the Intersection of IPR and Competition Law. From Maglite to Pirate Bay. Hart Publishing (see address attached). "Swedish Studies in European Law" series, No. 3. 2011, 349 pp. £55. ISBN 978-1-84113-944-9.
The Swedish Network for European Legal Studies brings together legal experts from several Swedish universities who seek to provide regular clarification during conferences and seminars on developments made in the context of European law. They also help to develop a range of books, the most recent of which was drafted by a lecturer in private law at the University of Lund. This book focuses on competition aspects of intellectual property law. The reader will also find a number of very meticulous analyses in this publication of, “dilemmas of governance in a multilevel European patents system”, the protection of non-registered trademarks, copyright (particularly in light of the notorious “Pirate Bay”), illicit filesharing within the framework of e-commerce, implementation in Sweden of the directive on anti-commercial practices and the refusal to supply in the pharmaceutical sector under the rule of reason. The insights provided by these experts clearly help to provide a substantial amount of clarification in the sometimes doctrinal debates on the subject.
(PBo)
*** EINER ELHAUGE, DAMIEN GERADIN: Global Competition Law and Economics. Hart Publishing (see address attached). 2011, 1.287 pp, £40. ISBN 978-1-84946-044-6.
This weighty tome constitutes a real tour de force because the authors contributing to it put forward the main provisions contained in competition law and which economic actors may have to confront when operating in the global market or at least outside of their own national borders. Einer Elhauge, a legal professor at Harvard Law School and his associate Damien Geradin, a lawyer who teaches competition law at the University of Tilburg, have put together this body of work as a study of the provisions contained in anti-trust law and which are appropriate to the global market and the economic dimensions underpinning it. In the first edition in 2007, the authors mainly focused on the US and the European Union, due to the weight exerted by these two entities and their influence on many other countries in the interpretation of competition policy. In this second edition, they are obviously keen to underline the developments in both Brussels and Washington brought about by the Lisbon Treaty. In an effort to trace the contours of rampant globalisation, they seek to expand their field of vision to China, the third biggest economy in the world, as well as countries such as Argentina, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and many others. For the European Union, the Lisbon Treaty and new guidelines on the abuse of dominant positions, non-horizontal mergers, as well as provisions on vertical agreements are covered in the analysis. (MT)
*** RITA DE LA FERIA, STEFAN VOGENAUER (Editors): Prohibition of Abuse of Law. A New General Principle of EU Law? Hart Publishing (see address attached). "Studies of the Oxford Institute of European and Comparative Law" series, No. 13. 2011, 636 pp. £ 85. ISBN 978-1-84113-938-8.
Does a general principle exist within European law on the fact that “abuse of law is prohibited? Several recent rulings made by the European Court of Justice would suggest that there does. In an effort to verify this, a symposium was organised in October 2008 at Oxford University by the Centre of the Business Taxation and the Institute of European and Comparative Law. This book provides an accurate description of the work that took place at this event and which brought together specialists in European law and tax lawyers from the whole of Europe. It should be noted that the texts have been updated to take into account the prevailing situation last year, in addition to the changes introduced by the Lisbon Treaty. (PBo)
*** SANDIE CALME: La réserve de propriété de droit français et de droit allemand dans le contexte européen. Une contribution au droit international de l'insolvabilité. Peter Lang (see address attached). "Publications Universitaires Européennes / European University Studies” Series, No. 5209. 2011, 206 pp, 42.80€. ISBN 978-3-631-61628-4.
This book was written by a legal PhD researcher and teacher at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne. It provides a far reaching and comparative analysis of the reservation of title clause in French and German law. The subject was examined in the European context, stemming from aspirations to develop legal harmonisation in the field of European Union standards, such as the regulation on international insolvency and the directive on late payments. The body of work is extremely detailed and focuses on the law on insolvency and international private law, two distinct legal orders. It also looks at apparently very novel developments in the context of international legal harmonisation. On a temporary teaching and research post at the Université Paris 13 Nord, Sandie Calme subsequently outlines possible developments that may strengthen and subsequently assist international insolvency law and the reservation of title clause as a major financial instrument. (MT)
*** SHU ZHANG: Zivilrechtliche Kodifikationsbemühungen in der Europäischen Gemeinschaft und in der VR China im Vergleich. Peter Lang (see address attached). 2011, 235 pp., €49.50. ISBN 978-3-631-60766-4.
The codification of civil law is an essential stage in the creation of a state. It involves a legal area that is in a constant state of flux in both its elaboration and application. In this book, Shu Zhang points out that European countries attempt to both harmonise their legal rules in this field as well as the private law applicable in this area at a European level. The codification of private law is therefore currently undergoing significant change within the European Union. The author uses this occasion to compare this codification at European level, with the most recent developments observed in China. Although these legal developments occur in relatively similar contexts, the resources activated by the different administrative and political authorities are quite different. In an effort to explain these differences, the author begins with a clarification of the main codification points, from both an historic and semantic point of view and also examines the concept of “de-codification” and “re-codification”. Shu Zhang then tackles, in two different chapters, the situations in Europe and China. In the context of the Union, where member states are working together to collaborate a common civil legal code, the author, above all, focuses on the “Common Reference Framework” and pays particular attention to the roles played by the Commission and the European Parliament in the framework of this process. With regard to the Chinese project, the author provides an insight into ancient Chinese history in the context of the subject. She then analyses the fourth attempt at legal codification in 1998 and the legacy that this created. The author provides a meticulous explanation or the most recent developments that have occurred since 2007 and analyses the main problems China is having to face. (JD)