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The revision of the Investment Services Directive is one of the most significant proposals under the Financial Services Action Plan. Although not likely to be implemented until the end of 2006, it is hoped that many of the consequent changes to legislation and the FSA Rules will be in place before then, and it is, therefore, crucial to keep track of its progress through the Lamfalussy legislative process. This paper discusses the shape of the Commission’s final proposals, which were published in November, 2002, and how they will change the existing investment services regime in the UK.

Financial assurance rules, also known as financial responsibility or bonding requirements, foster cost internalization by requiring potential polluters to demonstrate the financial resources necessary to compensate for environmental damage that may arise in the future. Accordingly, assurance is an important complement to liability rules, restoration obligations, and other regulatory compliance requirements. The paper reviews the need for assurance, given the prevalence of abandoned environmental obligations, and assesses the implementation of assurance rules in the United States. From the standpoint of both legal effectiveness and economic efficiency, assurance rules can be improved. On the whole, however, cost recovery, deterrence, and enforcement are significantly improved by the presence of existing assurance regulations.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

In the context of a current regulatory proceeding in the USA, the purpose of the paper is to argue for utilization of a new analytical framework to govern the regulation of the rapidly growing voice over internet protocol (VoIP) technology. Specifically, the paper recommends replacement of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) existing vertical regulatory structure with a new conceptual paradigm, a layered or horizontal model that more closely mirrors the structure of internet communications.

The paper briefly traces the evolution of the FCC's current regulatory structure and its previous treatment of internet telephony. Current petitions by individual telecommunications companies before the FCC and the agency's notice of proposed rulemaking on VoIP are analyzed and business and economic implications of VoIP are discussed.

The paper finds that utilization of a layered model enables policy makers to target regulation to specific sources of market power in the access layer and to attainment of social objectives such as wiretapping, while allowing free market competition to govern competitive layers of internet communications.

Regulatory policy in a world of VoIP technology must change. The FCC's old way of regulating in a world where individual communication services are linked to specific technologies must be replaced in the new internet world of converging services.

The paper builds on previous research outlining the layered model and applies this new conceptual framework to the current issues raised in the FCC rulemaking. The paper intends to provide guidance to telecommunications regulators.

The regulation of electronic communications has been recently reformed in Europe. One striking feature of the review was to base most of the economic regulation – the so‐called significant market power regime – on antitrust principles. In particular, the regulated markets have to be defined according to competition law methodologies. This paper describes this approach and studies in detail the recently adopted Commission recommendation “on relevant markets susceptible to ex‐ante regulation”. The paper concludes with three policy recommendations. First, as regulation is more flexible and more complex, national regulators should co‐operate among themselves and national courts should only reform regulatory decisions in case of manifest error. Second, as regulation is not any more justified by the “original sin” of the previous monopolists, but by the inefficiency of antitrust to control market power, NRA should be cautious not to overly expand their intervention. Third, as ex ante market definitions are aligned on antirust principles, authorities should make sure that market definition is not a goal in itself but only a means to achieve the policy objectives of the sector‐specific regulation.

Knight's Industrial Law Reports goes into a new style and format as Managerial Law This issue of KILR is restyled Managerial Law and it now appears on a continuous updating basis rather than as a monthly routine affair.

The advent of retail deregulation (liberalisation) in the United States electricity markets provides the major energy users, for the first time, significant choice in energy procurement. With choice comes responsibility for sorting the wide range of potential services, associated risks and variables in price. As deregulation has progressed, the emerging market has not yet reached maturity for retail customers, resulting in significant price volatility and imbalances in supply in some regions. This paper, presented in the Journal in two parts, of which this is the second, explains the fundamentals of energy choice for commercial and industrial energy users and the criteria to be considered in making long‐term energy commitments.

The internationalization of pharmaceutical firms faces major barriers in terms of managing regulatory requirements in various international markets. This paper aims to identify the requirements related to regulations in various markets of the world. It further seeks to identify how the firms develop such capabilities i.e. processes undertaken by the firms to develop regulatory capabilities.

The research is exploratory in nature. Case study method is adopted to study the requirements related to regulations in international markets and processes to build regulatory capabilities.

To manage regulatory requirements firms need knowledge related to plant approval and product registration. Firms have to submit dossiers to the respective country's regulatory authority to get plant approval and product registration. They can simultaneously apply for both to save time to enter the target market. The requirements for each market are unique in terms of format and contents for dossier preparation. Dossier preparation needs data from various departments which calls for good coordination among various functional areas, i.e. production, QA and QC, R&D, purchasing, etc. If the firm has operations in multiple markets and offers multiple products in a single market the regulatory function is separately organized for less regulated, semi‐regulated and regulated markets.

Pharmaceutical firms targeting international markets can get insight into the regulatory requirements and the process to be adopted to build regulatory requirements.

The paper shows that firms use a systematic process to build capabilities for managing regulations. The paper also offers a process model for firms to build regulatory capabilities for internationalization.

The Howard Shuttering Contractors case throws considerable light on the importance which the tribunals attach to warnings before dismissing an employee. In this case the tribunal took great pains to interpret the intention of the parties to the different site agreements, and it came to the conclusion that the agreed procedure was not followed. One other matter, which must be particularly noted by employers, is that where a final warning is required, this final warning must be “a warning”, and not the actual dismissal. So that where, for example, three warnings are to be given, the third must be a “warning”. It is after the employee has misconducted himself thereafter that the employer may dismiss.

Examines abuse potential with regard to digital pay‐TV services and permitted competition which is allowed, and these are referred to as bottleneck facilities (technology). Looks at technical analysis ad bottleneck control in addition to self‐regulation and industry standard settings, and further discusses public policy concern. Concludes that it may be cautionable to pursue narrower objectives in the communications industry – especially where other declarations of public policy are feasible.