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The object of this research is the reconstruction of the existing legal response by European Union states to the phenomenon of immigration. It seeks to analyse the process of conferral of protection.

One main dimension is selected and discussed: the case law of the national courts. The study focuses on the legal status of immigrants resulting from the intervention of these national courts.

The research shows that although the courts have conferred an increasing protection on immigrants, this has not challenged the fundamental principle of the sovereignty of the states to decide, according to their discretionary prerogatives, which immigrants are allowed to enter and stay in their territories. Notwithstanding the differences in the general constitutional and legal structures, the research also shows that the courts of the three countries considered – France, Germany and Spain – have progressively moved towards converging solutions in protecting immigrants.

The research contributes to a better understanding of the different legal orders analysed.

Nobody concerned with political economy can neglect the history of economic doctrines. Structural changes in the economy and society influence economic thinking and, conversely, innovative thought structures and attitudes have almost always forced economic institutions and modes of behaviour to adjust. We learn from the history of economic doctrines how a particular theory emerged and whether, and in which environment, it could take root. We can see how a school evolves out of a common methodological perception and similar techniques of analysis, and how it has to establish itself. The interaction between unresolved problems on the one hand, and the search for better solutions or explanations on the other, leads to a change in paradigma and to the formation of new lines of reasoning. As long as the real world is subject to progress and change scientific search for explanation must out of necessity continue.

The German wine law has been made responsible as one of the reasons for the critical market position of German wines inside and outside Germany. As a consequence, a new wine law (the profile wine concept) has been introduced in year 2000. As consumers are increasingly looking for variety and change the wine denomination becomes a critical purchasing criterion beside bottle and brand design. The main function of a wine law is to reduce the perceived purchasing uncertainty of consumers. We analyse the factors that determine the degree of consumer uncertainty when buying wine. This uncertainty can be reduced by the information economics mechanism of signalling. We derive signalling requirements that an efficient wine law should fulfill. Subsequently we analyse how the former German wine law and the new profile wine concept comply with these requirements by analysing their effects on three distinctive consumer groups within the concept of the triangle of goods characteristics. We conclude by opposing governmental regulation on the wine market with possible self regulation possibilities within the industry.

The use of technical terms to communicate accounting information can lead to misunderstandings when the meaning of such terms is not fully appreciated by the recipient of the information. The discipline of translation studies suggests that full equivalence in translation between languages is rare. This suggests that the risk of misunderstanding is exacerbated when technical terms are translated into another language. This paper examines the implications of mistranslations of technical terms in the context of theories from linguistics, which suggest that language influences the way we think. It uses three examples of accounting terminology to illustrate these problems. It concludes that the choice of an inappropriate label in the translation of accounting terminology is detrimental to international accounting communication and creates problems for users and preparers of translated financial statements as well as for researchers in, and students of, international accounting and for those involved in harmonisation and standardisation of accounting.

This paper aims to describe the development and current situation of electronic document delivery by public libraries in Germany, taking into account the impact of the changing regulatory framework of German copyright law and the consequences of law suits against libraries and Subito.

The paper describes the current situation. Also, the new licensing strategy of the Subito delivery service and the national licensing strategy for electronic media of German libraries and the German Research foundation come into focus

The negative development of copyright law posed a new challenge for document delivery services in Germany since the statutory licence in German copyright law no longer covers electronic document delivery provided by Subito and other library document delivery services. Licence agreements with publishers or intermediaries such as copyright clearance centres are now necessary to allow delivery of electronic documents. These negotiations have proven to be very complex and controversial, but now a complicated framework of licence agreements has been concluded and will enable German libraries to generally provide electronic documents in the future. DRM‐systems, however, still are a challenge for customers and the delivery service.

Demand of delivery services has decreased and may decrease even more in the long run due to availability and direct accessibility of electronic documents, together with the national licensing program in Germany.

The paper provides a concise summary and gives an impression of the development of document delivery services of German libraries between 2003 and 2008 with special reference to the legal position and changes to German copyright law.

To provide information about how changes to the Copyright Law in the European Union have far‐reaching implications for library services; and in particular to illustrate this by showing how library organizations in Germany have reacted to German legal implementation in such a way that they continue to provide services which their users have come to expect of them.

The mandates of the Copyright Law in the European Union are examined and the problems and positions of the various interest groups in amending the German Copyright Law are presented.

The presentation shows that German library organizations are striving to help create a legal framework in which the interests of the rightholders, the providers of services for users and the endusers are balanced. With the increased development of electronic means of storage and duplication and the uncertainty of what the future will bring, the fears of loss by the rightholders have created an atmosphere of mistrust, which makes it difficult to create legislation acceptable to all parties.

The current status of the Copyright Law in Germany is in a state of flux. Depending on the final version of the Law, not only German libraries, but libraries all over the world may find themselves faced with restrictions in international inter‐library loan and thereby be faced with the need to reassess how and if they will be able to offer all the services they have in the past.

Any changes to Copyright Law have far‐reaching effects on the flow of information. Since libraries play an important role as intermediaries between endusers and rightholders, it is imperative that they are aware of the ramifications of any changes to these laws.

The paper examines the background for the current status of the Copyright Law in Germany, presents the positions of the various interest groups, indicates how the flow of information may be affected by any changes and makes a plea for a reasonable solution which will be acceptable to all parties involved.

While there has been some convergence in corporate governance codes and securities regulations across the European Union (EU), the remaining areas of divergence are the most contentious as they reflect differences in fundamental societal norms and values. I propose that using the multinational corporation as the referent unit of analysis yields a means for making a qualitative distinction between the two regimes. I suggest that at least for firms with EU‐wide scope, certain critical elements of the German model may be more appropriate, as the neoclassical justifications of the Anglo‐American model are less reliable in such a setting.

Environmental issues have become progressively more important during the 1980s and 1990s. With greater concern about the environment, pressure, both formal and informal, has mounted on business. One of the most developed formal constraints has emerged in Germany, with the introduction of packaging laws to reduce packaging and encourage reuse and recycling. Such legislation affects both German companies and companies exporting into Germany. It can be argued that exporters are disadvantaged by such legislation, having to adapt their activities to each country. This presupposes knowledge of the legislation and a willingness and ability to change and embrace the new constraints. Reports on the new German packaging laws and on a survey of firms exporting to Germany, which examines their awareness of and compliance with these laws.

This paper aims to compare the influence of different legal systems on corporate sustainability management practices. Against the background of growing internationalization of business activities, it additionally considers whether internationalization allows companies to circumvent the influence of national authorities.

Three legal systems are compared using regression analyses of more than 200 large corporations in five countries: common law (USA and Australia), German code law (Germany) and French code law (France and Spain).

The impact of national and international authorities is found to be strongest in French code law countries. In addition, the influence of international authorities is stronger for corporations with higher shares of international sales. For both national and international authorities, the degree of internationalization is found to moderate the influence of the legal system on corporate sustainability practices.

The legal system in place influences the relative effectiveness of national and international authorities over company sustainability practices and needs to be taken into account in policymaking. To be effective, international authorities need to work with or substitute for national authorities in promoting corporate sustainability practices in countries depending on their legal systems.

This research applies and quantitatively tests La Porta’s (1998) framework on legal systems in the new context of corporate sustainability.

This paper aims to examine the framework for the regulation of crypto assets in Germany, the UK and Switzerland focusing on anti-money laundering (AML) laws. It comprehensively addresses the risks of crypto assets and the benefits along with the changes made to the existing laws to regulate cryptocurrency.

Qualitative data was analyzed to collect information for the case study and to challenge/examine the existing data and statistics.

The findings suggested that the AML laws are additionally modified to include the cryptocurrencies violations of the legislation, as it is the decentralized financial systems generating opportunities for crimes and terror financing. The moderate or mild laws were found in Switzerland following Germany and the UK has the most traditional and stringent laws of money laundering.

The paper has focused on the comparison of the three states in their AML laws comprehensively along with their attitude toward the crypto businesses.