Dibra International Symposium (4th Intl Symp on Laws & their Applications for Sustainable Development)

This paper explores how disputes are being channelled, gradually with the support of technology, to a menu of dispute resolution options, which for civil cases often favour non-binding processes that enable an amicable settlement prior to exploring a more costly, confrontational, and formal adjudicative process. Accordingly, this paper first examines how Dispute System Design seeks to identify the most suitable dispute resolution option, contributing to a greater variety of process pluralism and improving dispute prevention to avoid unnecessary escalation. Secondly, it examines how (English) courts and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) processes steer disputants towards informal settlement options. Thirdly, the paper discusses how dispute resolution providers are leveraging data and technology to increase access and provide greater efficiency in the dispute resolution process. Lastly, the paper argues that as the number of litigants in person increases, there is a growing risk of alienating those who need the most protection from the civil justice system, thus adequate safeguards ought to be incorporated to prevent weaker parties from receiving second-class justice.

Judicial systems around the world may be divided in two major groups: common and civil law system. Common Law systems are mainly used in UK, USA, Canada and the civil law systems are used in Europe and other countries. There are also countries or states/provinces that have mix systems like Quebec where criminal matters use mainly common law system and civil matters use civil law systems and in manty cases both methods of both systems are used interchangeably. A somewhat indirect product of the systems is the way that the judges are appointed or elected. In this paper a comparative analysis of both systems and their elected or appointed judges is carried out with all his advantaged and disadvantages.

There is a quote goes like that "Your comfort zone will destroy you" but whenever unemployed youths get the opportunity to earn money without any effort except an investment. In return, such unemployed people and youth living in a developing country shall receive double or triple investment benefits through crypto-currencies or tokens i.e. Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ether (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB), Tether (USDT), Solana (SOL) where the local government banned such transaction of coins. 

Law enforcing agencies cannot take immediate actions as the transaction is made secretly with local money transfer apps and funding from Black Money. People living in a developing country shall always take detrimental life risk to have a safe and secure future with huge money for their successors. Being scammed again and again, those needy people will try to change their present economic status by any means where the laws and regulations don't make any sense to them. 

Unemployment, bribery, lack of standard life, greed for earning speedy money and converting one's black money to white money, all these elements are forcing Bangladeshi people to invest in crypto-currencies.

The concept of sustainability has been somehow politized in terms of unilaterally extracting it from its core basis. Following the definition of FLOGEN Sustainability Framework the 3 criteria of sustainability that must be reached simultaneously are economic growth, environmental protection, and social development. As per this definition there are 3 factors that can help or hinder sustainability: Science and Technology, Governance and Management and education of civil society. In this paper a depoliticized sensible approach to a balance in environment and energy considerations of sustainability will be presented, depoliticizing its concept.

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This paper reviews the largest marketplaces from the Dark Web, which have become a haven for illegal activities—ranging from drug sales to cybercrime—and unearths their dispute avoidance and resolution mechanisms that aim to increase trust in these dark markets. Illegal trading on the Dark Web owes its success from the enhanced security and transparency as well as for effective dispute resolution processes, which are unreviewable by traditional courts. The dispute system design of these processes include anonymity, informality, user-support, community involvement in decisions, adherence to transaction terms and dark market rules, encrypted communications, and blockchain-based enforcement. While these processes lack due process guarantees and are often skewed towards experienced vendors, they are very effective, transparent, and incentivise parties to settle. The paper discusses the adaptability of civil justice principles in these unregulated digital spaces, which ironically undermine the rule of law by fostering trust in illegal transactions and offers insights into how these innovative processes can inform the development of more robust online dispute resolution systems within the legal system.

As the global community grapples with the escalating challenges posed by climate change, the imperative to mitigate carbon emissions becomes increasingly urgent. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology stands at the forefront of climate solutions, offering a transformative approach to reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from industrial processes and energy production. This paper delves into the multifaceted world of CCS, exploring its pivotal role in addressing climate change and fostering clean energy transitions, integrating hydrogen technology as well.

The global push for reducing carbon emissions has highlighted CCS as a key technology. Greece, with its commitment to sustainable development, is making significant strides in this area. This paper aims to examine Greece's contributions and initiatives in advancing CCS technology, focusing on technical challenges, legal frameworks, policy recommendations, economic and regulatory incentives, and innovations in CCS technology. The study employs a comprehensive review of technical advancements, legal documents, policy papers, and economic analyses. It also incorporates interviews with experts and case studies of successful CCS projects in Greece.

By investigating Greece’s role in advancing CCS and its collaborations on the European stage, this paper underscores the significance of CCS as a critical tool in combating climate change. Greece’s proactive engagement with experts, alignment with EU directives, and establishment of a robust legal framework position it as a leader in CCS advancements within Europe and on the global stage. As CCS technology continues to evolve, it remains a beacon of hope in the collective efforts to secure a sustainable and greener world.

The objective is to inform, with a broad vision, the possibilities of acquiring, registering, legalizing and exploring a mining enterprise in Brazil. Bringing national or foreign investors legal and economic security, with the minimum necessary support, to reassure the investor in a correct and legal way, mining exploration as an excellent and profitable business to be invested in. This paper does not exhaust the topic addressed, since the Brazilian legislation on Mining Law, which is currently under the control of the National Mining Agency – ANM – as provided for in Law No. 13,575/2017, which should undergo some changes, as already under analysis in the Chamber of Deputies, Bill 957/24, which aims to bring several innovations and regulations into the legislation of the Brazilian Mining Law framework.

On April 8, 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered a landmark decision in Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland, finding that States have a legal duty to take action to mitigate climate change. Ruling in favor of a Swiss association of over 2,000 Swiss women, the Court found that the Swiss government violated the human rights of its citizens by failing to do enough to combat climate change. 

The original complaint, presented to the Court by four women and a Swiss association Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz, centered around the impact of climate change on their living conditions and health. They argued that the government's inaction on climate change put them at risk of heatwave-related deaths, with their age and gender making them particularly vulnerable. While the Court deemed the four individual applicants inadmissible, stating that they did not meet the victim-status requirements under Article 34 of the Convention, it recognized the right of the applicant association to file a complaint.

Ultimately, the Court determined that the Swiss Confederation had neglected its duty to fulfill its positive obligations under the Convention concerning  the right to respect for private and family life of the Convention, interpreting it as freedom from environmental threats to one's personal life, and a violation of the right to access to the Court. Failure by Switzerland to revise its policies may lead to additional legal actions at the domestic level, potentially resulting in court-imposed financial penalties. 

This presentation will seek to analyze future ramification of the said decision and possible future legal actions by individuals against regarding their right to a healthy environment and how will this translate into positive duties of state to take concrete actions to mitigate the effects of climate change. It will also touch upon the basic articles of the European Convention on Human Rights encroaching actions regarding climate changes. 

In developed countries, medical care should not only provide standard treatment but should also take the patient's condition and needs into full consideration. This presentation will clarify the basic human rights of patients and their rights when receiving medical care, and make it clear that the attending physician should be held accountable when those rights are violated.

1. Second opinion

There is a standard treatment for malignant diseases in each country, but there are generally no significant differences among developed countries. The treatment of malignant diseases is constantly evolving, and there are effective treatment options that are not selected for standard treatment. If a patient requests a second opinion from a third-party institution, the attending physician is obligated to provide the necessary data. Conversely, if a patient obtains a second opinion from a third-party institution, the attending physician is obligated to respect and accept the second opinion. It is normal for the attending physician to consult with the patient regarding the difference in treatment and efficacy between the patient's treatment and that of the attending physician.

2. The right to optimal treatment of malignant diseases

Chemotherapy and immunotherapy for advanced malignant diseases may cause regression of the malignant disease itself, but when administered systemically, they also have significant side effects on other normal organs. Particularly in cases where malignant disease has invaded or metastasized to other organs, careful attention must be paid to the side effects. If the side effects are judged to be greater than the therapeutic effect, it is necessary to choose a treatment method with fewer side effects than chemotherapy or immunotherapy. In other words, patients have the right to receive a treatment that has fewer side effects and prolongs life.

As an oncological surgeon, I had worked at Kindai University Hospital (Osaka Japan) for 25 years. Ms. Migan requested me providing various examinations in Japan and treatment proposals for her malignant disease since August 2022. I found in medical record that there had been the fatal error in monitoring the disease, ignored second opinion, and the administration of the wrong chemotherapy / immunotherapy in November 2023 and February 2024. These were real evidence that violation of patient’s right. A monitoring system to ensure proper medical treatment for patients is needed in the medical community. Future legislation protecting the rights and interests of patients is also needed in the legal field as well.

Therapeutic Jurisprudence (“TJ”) is an approach to law which highlights “wellbeing” as an important component of the legal system [1]. Inspired by an excellent article by Harmony Decosimo at Suffolk University[2], the aim of this paper is to prove that applying law in a TJ manner is a simple and “ready to use” tool to fulfill the revised ABA Standards for the development of a professional identity in the legal profession [3] that state that: “Professional identity focuses on what it means to be a lawyer and the special obligations lawyers have to their clients and society and that the development of a professional identity should involve an intentional exploration of the values, guiding principles, and well-being practices considered foundational to successful legal practice”.  To this purpose we will present a set of TJ legal values creating the “lens” through which professionals can apply the law in a “better and more fulfilling way” and a collection of examples of different legal roles that can give tangible ideas of professional identity formation.

To facilitate the sharing of medical and health information across jurisdictions, harmonizing related practices appears to be essential. It is highly likely that governments and legal professionals will consider establishing international treaties or agreements for this purpose. However, it remains questionable whether they can effectively harmonize the actual practices of medical and healthcare professionals.

A more practical and swift approach, suitable for jurisdictions with diverse personal information protection laws, would involve implementing measures that ensure the collection of evidence demonstrating prior and express informed consent, and the ability for patients and other data subjects to withdraw consent. These measures should also aim to minimize the burden on both medical and healthcare service providers and the data subjects. Furthermore, if these measures become de facto standards—and ideally evolve into de jure standards—they would help domestic courts recognize practices compliant with these standards as lawful.

To design measures that face less resistance across various jurisdictions, efforts should be made to minimize conflicts with existing personal information protection legislation. A key aspect of this involves maintaining a straightforward informed consent process. Typically, this process includes disclosing the scope and purpose of using certain personal information and securing either implied or express consent from the data subject. The author suggests reforms in the practice of obtaining informed consent for sharing medical and health data, recommending the use of a common ITC platform to provide information and secure informed consent.

Self-preferencing by firms with significant market power, particularly in the digital sector, threatens consumer welfare and market competition. This paper addresses the pervasive issue of self-preferencing, focusing on its manifestation within the Google Search Engine. Google's use of the PageRank algorithm has been critiqued since its 1998 inception for favoring its own products and services over those of third parties that operate on the platform, undermining competitive dynamics and democratic principles of the web. 

With the European Commission's recent proceedings against Alphabet under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), this investigation aims to determine whether Google’s search results lead to self-preferencing, thereby ensuring fair treatment of third-party services. The primary goal is to analyze the treatment of self-preferencing in recent case laws and assess the effectiveness of regulatory frameworks like the DMA in mitigating such practices. To achieve this, the paper employs a mixed-methods approach, combining a review of legal cases, an analysis of the technical mechanisms of Google's search algorithms, and an evaluation of the regulatory responses under the DMA.

Findings indicate that while the DMA provides a structured approach to curbing self-preferencing, challenges remain, especially with ensuring compliance amidst the evolving integration of AI functionalities into search engines. Effective detection and enforcement mechanisms are crucial for the DMA to achieve its intended impact on market fairness and consumer welfare. Additionally, this paper offers guidance for digital gatekeepers on compliance with Article 6(5) DMA, addressing concerns related to platform envelopment strategies that negatively impact consumers and businesses.

Businesses, governments, and individuals have significant immigration needs in the global economy.  But they have competing interests.  Businesses are desperate to find the most talented human resources and most lucrative markets, and individuals are desperate to find the most rewarding employment and environments for themselves and their families.  Governments desire to attract the greatest talents and increase economic activity while also protecting its local workforce. Is it possible to balance their interests and have everyone’s core needs met?  Is it possible to achieve justice for all?

Foreign entrepreneurs and international businesses must have routes to establish and operate businesses in new global markets, generating revenue and offering employment opportunities locally and globally.  Individuals need feasible ways to obtain visas in a timely manner to accept global employment assignments and to establish themselves in new settings.  Countries must develop realistic and reliable paths for foreign experts and workers to establish and build businesses in order to drive research and innovation, and to solidify their strength and place in the global economy.  

This session will explore the competing interests and encourage a lively discussion regarding paths to meet the needs of all those involved.  
 

Many Albanian and foreign authors have noted the coexistence of the statutes of medieval Albanian cities, an expression of the positive law of these areas, with Albanian customary law, as well as the similarities that testify to the mutual influence between the two legal systems. Researchers, such as the albanologist Milan Šufflay, have underlined that the charters of the Albanian cities, although influenced by the positive law of the Italian cities, such as the Republic of Venice or that of Ragusa, have developed original traits. This assessment has been reinforced by studies that have followed the discovery in 1997 of the 'Statutes of Shkodra' by researcher Lucia Nadin and the publication in 2009 of the full text of the Statutes and Ordinances of the Chapter of the Cathedral Church of Drishti, by Musa Ahmeti and Etleva Lala.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze, from a legal point of view, the main characteristics of the statutes of medieval Albanian cities in the domain of commercial law and to assess whether the statutory and the customary law of the Albanian kanun share commonalities and similitudes in the regimes of this branch.

Since ancient times, women have struggled to obtain due recognition for their research, facing barriers imposed by gender. In Ancient Greece, there are reports that the precursor of women in Medicine was Agnodice, a woman who dressed as a man to study and became an excellent doctor, but she was accused of having deceived the people; while Hypatia of Alexandria was a great scientist, who was quartered and burned for not being Christian, having been accused of being a witch. Years later, in the Renaissance and Enlightenment, there was a scientific revolution, as society began to incorporate the ideals of scientists, although at that time most women were prevented from studying by their families. In the contemporary era, there are still difficulties to be overcome. Analyzing women in the job market, it is observed that inequality through the separation of tasks, in which women are most often responsible for tasks that involve feelings, while men perform, for the most part, tasks that involve decision-making; and the existence of a hierarchy of men under women. Although the participation of women in scientific areas such as Biosciences and Medicine is growing, areas such as Engineering, Physics and Computer Science still have a lower female representation. This sociological study highlights how important it is to fight for gender equality.

The presentation introduces the Homeric oeuvre into the law and literature canon. It argues for a reading of Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey as primordial narratives on the significance of the rule of law. It delineates moments of correspondence between the transition from myth to tragedy and the gradual transition from a social existence lacking formal law to an institutionalized legal system as practiced in the polis. It suggests the Homeric epics are a significant milestone in the way justice and injustice were conceptualized, and testify to a growing awareness in Homer's time that mechanisms that protect both individuals and the collective from acts of unbridled rage are necessary for the continued existence of communities.

Currently, Brazil is the second largest producer of iron ore in the world, behind only China, which holds 21% of production, while Brazil contributes to 19%. This production plays a crucial role in the country's trade balance.

However, the extraction and processing activities of this natural resource also cause significant environmental impacts, mainly due to the generation and disposal of large quantities of waste.

Furthermore, iron ore tailings, a by-product of mining, are often deposited in dams, posing known risks to the population, as evidenced by the disasters in Mariana and Brumadinho in the State of Minas Gerais, which occurred in 2015 and 2019 respectively.

Given the need to minimize these impacts and risks, researchers and mining companies have been committed to developing studies to optimize processing, aiming to reduce the amount of waste generated and/or its use as raw material in other sectors, such as in the civil construction field.

In this sense, iron ore waste has been transformed, through technological innovation processes, into materials in order to create pavements and residential houses that can be used for the population of municipalities affected by the environmental impacts arising from mining. The paper aims to demonstrate the tax benefits that mining companies can obtain through the “Lei do Bem” (Law 11,196/2005), which grants tax benefits to companies that contribute to RD&I projects aiming at technological innovation, providing companies the benefits of the reduction in the Income Tax rate and the Social Contribution on Net Profits (CSL) to be applied to Actual Profit Method (“Lucro Real”) in total balance with environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspects.