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No-Fault Vaccine Injury Compensation Systems Adopted Pursuant to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Response
Get PDFNo-fault vaccine injury compensation systems have developed over the course of the twentieth century, mostly in the richest countries in the world. Acknowledging that severe reactions to vaccines are rare, but can result in serious and sometimes complex injury, these systems provide financial and social support for those suffering these rare side effects. During the COVID-19 pandemic, and the rapid development and deployment of vaccines using novel technologies, these systems have proliferated not only among wealthy countries, where in their modern form they originated and spread, but also low- and middle-income ones. Adopting varying approaches to funding, eligibility, administration, process, and components of compensation and rights of appeal, these new systems offer protections to populations in low- and middle-income countries that until 2020 covered only those in relatively wealthy states, especially Europe and North America. The purpose of this Article is twofold. First, it provides the first comprehensive landscape analysis of no-fault vaccine injury compensation systems since before the COVID-19 pandemic. That analysis identifies twenty-five such systems, almost all of which were established for routine immunizations. Second, it provides an accessible resource for advocates and planners in low- and middle-income countries that may benefit from an analysis of administrative, funding, eligibility, and compensation alternatives that they may consult when considering whether and how to construct their own no-fault vaccine injury compensation systems
Non-Income Tax Legislation Across Latin America: An Effective Policy to Raise Revenues?
Get PDFIn the past decades, there has been a proliferation of non-income levies throughout Latin America designed to stimulate collections. Tax administrators favor them for being easier to enforce as compared to traditional taxes on net income, as well as harder to evade.
To make sense of the rather dysfunctional conglomeration of levies, this Article proposes a classification into three broad categories: (1) taxes on revenues; (2) alternative levies on income and assets, whether on a gross or net basis, along with taxes on net equity; and finally (3) transactional-type levies such as stamp taxes, export duties, remittance taxes, and registration assessments, not to mention the wide spectrum of solidarity contributions. Not only are non-income taxes sanctioned at the national or federal level covered, but also those implemented by provincial, state, or municipal governments.
Limitations as to the creditability and deductibility of these diverse levies increase the overall tax burden multinationals frequently face. Constitutional challenges raised by taxpayers, especially those surrounding alternative taxes on assets and temporary contributions, provide insight as to why judges often hold that the principles of fiscal equity and/or taxpayers’ economic capacity to pay are violated.
The Article concludes by calling for an overhaul of tax systems in Latin America by abolishing most of the cumbersome and ineffective levies on revenues, assets, and wealth. In exchange, policymakers should focus on framing a simpler and more robust national corporate income tax regime with less exemptions, deductions, and credits, which fully embraces the financial capability of taxpayers
Assessing the Strategic Situation Underlying International Antitrust Cooperation
Get PDFThis Article disputes the widely held view that the strategic situations underlying antitrust cooperation among developed antitrust regimes and developing antitrust regimes are similar, particularly the conclusion that the current set of policy options to address private and hybrid public-private restraints of trade is feasible in all situations. This Article utilizes an empirical inquiry into trade flows that affect the general level of antitrust regulations in open economies (here, Japan and China). Based on this empirical foundation, the current set of policy options are explored, including the extraterritoriality of U.S. antitrust law, Section 301’s competition-related clause, the World Trade Organization dispute settlement, and bilateral cooperation mechanisms. This Article contends that each policy option is feasible only to address competition-related trade concerns in developed antitrust regimes, but is ill-equipped to address competition-related trade concerns in emerging market economies that are in the process of developing antitrust regimes. Thus, when one compares the successful cooperation and convergence in developed antitrust regimes with the failed attempts to increase cooperation and convergence in emerging market economies, it indicates that the existing paradigm in antitrust cooperation is less likely to preempt the need to resort to a multilateral framework. The comparison further suggests that the optimal antitrust regime for a global integrated economy is to strengthen a network of bilateral agreements, supplemented by efforts toward a multilateral agreement
Building a Bridge Between WASH in HCFs and the Right to Water Through the Lens of Maternal and Child Health
Get PDFDespite being recognized as a human right over a decade ago, the right to water has yet to achieve universal recognition. And although the proportion of births taking place in HCFs as opposed to home delivery has increased globally from 52 percent in 2000 to 76 percent in 2018, an estimated three million infants still die each year in the first month of life. This Essay will begin by discussing the right to water and the barriers to its implementation when framed solely as a human rights obligation. The first section will specifically highlight sources that emphasize the right to water with regard to women and children. Next, this Essay will survey the recent efforts to ensure adequate WASH in HCFs and the impact these services can have on maternal and newborn health. Finally, this Essay will conclude by explaining that a focus on maternal and child health can serve as a bridge between the WASH in HCFs movement and the right to water movement, which has been stunted by the progressive realization requirement
The Hardship Discharge and How It Can Improve Debtor Success
Get PDFChapter 13 bankruptcy has long been heralded as a moral alternative to chapter 7 liquidations. Despite this, success among chapter 13 debtors is limited, and debtors who opt for this route face other challenges. The hardship discharge allows chapter 13 debtors to receive a discharge of their debts without plan completion. While the provision has been a piece of the bankruptcy law for nearly a century, little research on its effects on debtors exists. The struggles that chapter 13 debtors face underlies the need for more research on the hardship discharge as a potential solution. This Comment seeks to utilize empirical analysis to broaden the understanding of the hardship discharge and its use in bankruptcy courts. The data behind chapter 13 debtor outcomes and circumstances for which hardship discharges are granted present a compelling argument that expanding the hardship discharge could improve debtor success.
Part I of this Comment will provide an overview of chapter 13 bankruptcy. Part II will summarize some of the documented problems that debtors who go through chapter 13 face. Part III considers the evolution of the hardship discharge provision, leading to its current form today. Part IV consists of two parts of independent research: a quantitative review of 1100 chapter 13 debtor dispositions and a qualitative review of cases in which courts have granted a hardship discharge. Part V reinforces the need for expanding the hardship discharge
Antitrust and High Tech: A Tale of Two Mergers
Get PDFBetween 2016 and 2019, two proposed mergers captured much of the attention and resources of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ). The first was the vertical merger of AT&T Inc. and Time Warner Inc.—a merger of a communications, media, and content distribution company (AT&T) with a content provider (Time Warner). The second was the horizontal merger of Sprint and T-Mobile—a merger of two mobile telephone companies. In general, vertical mergers are reviewed with greater leniency than horizontal mergers because the latter, by definition, eliminate a competitor in the relevant marketplace, which is not a concern with the former. Moreover, merger-specific efficiencies may be easier to demonstrate when a company merges with another company in its own supply chain. Even so, the DOJ challenged the vertical merger of AT&T and Time Warner but permitted (with conditions) the horizontal merger of Sprint and T-Mobile. As this Article sets forth, these seemingly distinct mergers were destined to be linked.
Even though the DOJ unsuccessfully blocked the AT&T-Time Warner merger, the companies are separating again only a few short years after finalizing their merger. The stated reason for the unwinding is arguably linked to the DOJ’s decision to permit the T-Mobile-Sprint merger. The competitive pressure created by the joined mobile telephone company—T-Mobile—has pressured AT&T to invest further in its own mobile telephone business. In other words, the DOJ’s initial fear that the merged AT&T could use theoretical market power to anticompetitively charge higher consumer prices and raise rivals’ costs in content distribution was never realized. In contrast, the DOJ’s humility in assessing potential efficiencies for a merged T-Mobile in the growing 5G mobile telephone market is already paying competitive dividends. The tale of these two mergers, therefore, provides interesting insights into modern merger review policies
Iraq\u27s Constitutional Moments and the Institutionalization of Ethno-Sectarianism
Get PDFWhat role did Iraq\u27s ethno-sectarian cleavages play in the process of drafting its 2005 Constitution? And what role has that Constitution played in further entrenching those cleavages? The 2003 Iraqi invasion by U.S. and allied forces ultimately resulted in the drafting of two of the country\u27s most important documents: the Transitional Administrative Law and the 2005 Constitution. These two documents—heavily influenced by the United States and Britain, as well as powerful Iraqi stakeholders (both local and exiled)—were approved despite their serious deficiencies, particularly in articles pertaining to power sharing, individual rights, and civil liberties. These deficiencies, some of which were inspired by ethno-sectarian cleavages, resulted in a constitution that has since fueled further turmoil in Iraq. Given the wave of new constitutions being drafted across the Arab world, this Article examines one of the Middle East\u27s most pivotal constitutional processes. Lessons can be extracted for future constitutional processes, especially in diversely populated countries. Crucially, this Article dissects the ethnno-sectarian bargaining that transpired between the many stakeholders in drafting the Constitution, resulting in a document that has set Iraq on an undemocratic trajectory ever since
Can Environmental Law Solve the Forever Chemical Problem?
Get PDFAlthough federal environmental law purports to provide the public with comprehensive protection against chemical risks, the U.S. chemical industry is characterized by self regulation. This self-regulation is exemplified by the dangers posed by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (\u27\u27PFAS\u27\u27) broad classes of persistent toxic substances that have now entered nearly every American\u27s bloodstream and hundreds of public drinking water systems. Despite data linking exposure to these forever chemicals to cancer, infertility, and a host of other public health harms, environmental law has failed to safeguard the American people from PFAS\u27 toxic legacy. How did this occur? And what should be done to address the growing PFAS crisis?
This Article answers these questions in four parts. We first describe and analyze the PF AS toxicity crisis and the ways that it disrupts our collective confidence in environmental law. After all, PFAS\u27 harm was exposed not by the Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA\u27) but through state common law tort litigation. Second, we analyze the United States\u27s current regulatory framework governing toxic substances. This framework relies on what we call a toxicity honor system. Too often, this honor system lacks any sense of honor. Third, we address the U.S. Department of Defense\u27s ( DoD\u27) heavy reliance on PFAS in military installations and the unique regulatory challenges--and opportunities--this presents. While the military is afforded deference in national security matters, the military has also sought regulatory consistency and a single, enforceable drinking water standard. We conclude by offering a regulatory roadmap for PFAS regulation. Our proposal eschews the reactive toxicity honor system in favor of a precautionary approach to environmental protection
Trademark Thrower: Using Banksy\u27s Recent EU Trademark Misadventures to Assess Why Copyright Is Not For Losers
Get PDFThis Comment seeks to distinguish the protections and protection requirements of trademark and copyright in an international context, specifically using a recent case in which internationally known street artist Banksy lost his European Union trademark protections despite registration. This EU trademark proceeding will be utilized to analyze the requirements to maintain trademark protection in an international context and explain why those requirements are important to the integrity of intellectual property protections.
This Comment will first give an overview of trademark and copyright as intellectual property in general, then go into the specifics of the U.S. and EU trademark systems. This Comment will then evaluate why a trademark should not be used as a backup form of protection for copyright protection, and evaluate the distinctions in the U.S. and EU intellectual property systems, providing a potential solution specific to Banksy
Autobiographical Reflections
Get PDFAs a way of concluding this festschrift issue of the Emory International Law Review, I have been invited to contribute an autobiographical essay reflecting on my academic and professional career