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Global Legal Monitor (GLM)
The Global Legal Monitor is an online publication from the Law Library of Congress covering legal news and developments worldwide. It is updated frequently and draws on information from the Global Legal Information Network, official national legal publications, and reliable press sources. You can search previous news by searching the archive.
For questions about articles or copies of materials in the Law Library’s collections, contact us at glm@loc.gov.
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Mexico: Trade and Commerce - Amendments to Rules of Procedure for Review of Unfair Trade Practices
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(Oct. 07, 2008)
- Author: Norma Gutierrez
- Topic: Trade and Commerce
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France: Environment - Law on Environmental Liability
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(Oct. 07, 2008) Law 2008-757 of August 1, 2008, on environmental liability, transposes Directive 2004/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 21, 2004, on the prevention and remedying of environmental damage. The Law also implements articles 3 and 4 of the Environmental Charter contained in the Preamble of the 1958 Constitution, France's current Constitution. These articles specifically address prevention and remedying of environmental damage. The Law is divided into two titles.
In Title I, on the prevention and remedying of environmental damage, the Law states that the prevention and remedying of such damage should be implemented through the 'polluter pays' principle. The new liability regime applies to environmental damage to land, water, protected species, natural habitats, and natural resource services, that is to say the functions performed by a natural resource for the benefit of another natural resource or the public.
The Law does not apply to environmental damage caused by armed conflict, civil war, or insurrection; activities principally conducted in the interest of national defense or international security; natural phenomena of an exceptional, unavoidable character; or activities for which a liability regime has already been determined by an international agreement. The Law further provides for preventive and remedial measures to be taken by operators causing the damage and gives the conditions under which operators bear the cost of these measures. It sets forth a 30-year statute of limitations.
In Title II, the Law provides for stringent penalties for maritime pollution and addresses air quality, the fight against the greenhouse effect, biocide products, and waste. (Loi 2008-757 du 1er août 2008 relative à la responsabilité environnementale et à diverses dispositions d'adaptation au droit communautaire dans le domaine de l'environnement, JOURNAL OFFICIEL [France's Official Gazette], Aug. 2, 2008, at 12361.)
- Author: Nicole Atwill
- Topic: Environment
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- Jurisdiction: France
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Namibia: Labor - New Labor Act to Become Effective
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(Oct. 07, 2008) The Namibian Labor Act of 2007 will become effective on November 1, 2008, the Namibian Minister of Labor and Social Welfare announced recently. The implementation of the Act, which was approved several months ago by the Namibian Parliament and the President, had been postponed to accommodate concerns of the business community.
The Act makes the Labor Court part of the High Court and enhances its jurisdiction to hear appeals from arbitral tribunals on questions of law. By eliminating the concept of the "casual worker" ("a day worker who is employed by the same employer on not more than two days in any week"), the Act extends its protection to all employees. It also forces employers to pay all allowances and benefits that make part of the remuneration package to employees on maternity leave. Under the Act, employees who work five-day weeks are entitled to 20 days of leave and five days of compassionate leave, while employees who work six-day weeks will earn 24 days of leave and five days of compassionate leave per annum. (Labor Act Here, NAMIBIA ECONOMIST (Windhoek), Oct. 3, 2008, available at http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200810030630.html.)
- Author: Hanibal Goitom
- Topic: Labor
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- Jurisdiction: Namibia
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Canada: Elections - General Election 2008
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(Oct. 07, 2008) On October 14, 2008, Canada will hold the 40th general election in its approximately 140-year history, and its third one in the past four years. Having a parliamentary system derived from that of the United Kingdom, prime ministers have always had the option of asking the formal head of state, the Governor-General, to dissolve a sitting Parliament and call an election at a time they believed was advantageous for their party. The one constitutional requirement in this regard is that a general election must be held within five years of the previous general election. (Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Part I of the Constitution Act, s. 4, being Sched. B to the Canada Act, 1982, c. 11 (U.K.).)
The year after the current Conservative Government came to power in February of 2006, Prime Minister Harper enacted legislation that was aimed at reducing the number of general elections by providing that an election would automatically be called after the fourth year of a Parliament, unless there was an emergency. The Act to amend the Canada Elections Act stated as follows: "[E]ach general election must be held on the third Monday of October in the fourth calendar year following polling day for the last general election, with the first general election after this [law] comes into force being held on Monday, October 19, 2009." (2007 S.C. c. 10, s. 1.)
In enacting this amendment, its framers believed that a prime minister would be discouraged, but not prohibited, from calling for an earlier vote by the history of Canadian voters punishing leaders who have dissolved Parliament at a date the electorate generally considered to have been "too early." (James Robertson, Bill C-16: An Act to Amend the Canada Elections Act,
http://www.parl.gc.ca/LEGISINFO/index.asp?Language=E&Session=14&query=4544&List=toc (last visited Oct. 2, 2008).)
- Author: Stephen Clarke
- Topic: Elections
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- Jurisdiction: Canada
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France / Gabon: Criminal Law - Gabonese President Ordered to Pay Restitution
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(Oct. 07, 2008) On September 29, 2008, a court of appeal in Bordeaux, France, confirmed a June 2007 ruling ordering Omar Bongo, the President of Gabon, to return €457,347 (about US$654,000) to the son of a French company director. This ruling is enforceable even if a further appeal is initiated.
The company director, Rene Cardona, was imprisoned in 1996, in Libreville, Gabon, following a dispute with Bongo over the sale of an arms and fishing company. In order to secure his release, Cardona's son had paid the amount in question into Bongo's personal banking account. (French Appeal Court Orders Gabon's Bongo to Return 460,000 Euros, AFP (in French), Oct. 1, 2008, Open Source Center No. EUP20081001950023.)
- Author: Constance Johnson
- Topic: Criminal Law
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- Jurisdiction: France / Gabon
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Last updated: 10/07/2008