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This study aims to investigate the regulatory challenges of emerging disruptive Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Brazil and the strategies regulators use to address them.

It is an empirical qualitative research on Brazil’s three administrative levels, focusing on the legislative houses’ specialised Science and Technology Committees. It combines archival analysis of public meeting records with elite interviews of parliamentarians and technocrats who participated in Public Hearings in 2019, which results in this paper analysed through the Theory of Communicative Action with a critical stance.

The research reveals that regulatory challenges gain new dimensions by involving discussions about emerging ICT. Factors such as time constraints, rapid technological evolution and widespread adoption compound these challenges, straining the preference for the incremental pace of regulation and the traditional model of specialised regulatory agencies. The research captures some regulators’ values, underlying concerns and perceived necessities for surmounting these challenges. It also outlines the preferred process for ICT regulation, revealing parliamentary assistants and executive intermediate-level specialists as gateways for interest groups’ action.

The study's findings highlight the crucial role of specific actors as gateways to the covert action of interest groups, particularly Big Tech firms. This contribution is significant as it empowers civil society and academia to monitor and mitigate the risk of regulatory capture, thereby promoting a more transparent and equitable regulatory environment.

This research is original in directly engaging with the key figures (lawmakers, legislative assistants and specialised bureaucrats) involved in the critical and timely issue of regulating emerging disruptive technologies.

This study aims to conceptualize the UAE’s whistleblowing model by reviewing recent legislative updates directed toward removing potential legal deterrents, introducing legal protection and establishing numerous external whistleblowing channels. The study surveys these initiatives through the prism of the country’s unique socio-economic and judicial environments.

The study applies a conceptual approach to probe the potential impact of the UAE’s legislative initiatives on the country’s whistleblowing regime by connecting the demographic data, the UAE’s legal and regulatory frameworks, academic literature and media reports.

Recent legislative updates to the UAE whistleblowing regime are geared toward removal of potential legal deterrents, introduction of legal protection and establishment of external whistleblowing channels for reporting. These constitute the conceptual model of the UAE’s whistleblowing strategy, which is broad in scope and application yet may appear fragmented.

The study merges a comprehensive review of legislative initiatives and regulatory framework with academic literature to conceptualize the UAE’s whistleblowing model.

Informal housing stands out as a major challenge surrounding the massive reconstruction of Syrian cities, devastated by a bloody war and a terrible earthquake. The purpose of this article is to assess the adequacy of the Syrian Law to adequate provide a solution to this problem.

With the purpose of informing the question, this paper offers a legal-institutional analysis of the informal housing phenomenon and the corresponding regulatory responses in Syria. A literature review is conducted, and functional analysis of the legal texts and their effective implementation is provided.

First, informal housing in Syria has been fostered by the existence of an erratic regulation, particularly burdened by the incoherence of passing repressive provisions against informal housing while master plans were conspicuously absent or incomplete. Second, the regulatory policy seems to be leaning toward the urban renewal option, indicating a supply-oriented housing approach that may face serious challenges due to the scarcity of capital. In this context, regulation should not underestimate any policy tools at hand (renewal and upgrading; with the contribution of public, private and cooperative sectors).

Although there have been several studies on informal housing in Syria, none has taken a legal institutionalist approach. Furthermore, this study offers an up-to-date account of the problem, taking into account the problematic after the 2023 earthquake and the content of Law 2/2023.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the legislative drafting processe for the Archives Act in Finland and stakeholder involvement concerning the Archives Act proposal. The study aims to identify key factors that hinder or improve the analysis and visibility of these different stakeholder perspectives through time. It considers this from a recordkeeping perspective.

First, selected law drafting guidelines and statement structures were examined to determine how they affect the analysis of stakeholder statements. Second, 90 stakeholder statements and two law drafter summaries were analyzed. Finally, six topics (public record and archives, archiving and preservation, the life cycle of records, transferring records to the National Archives, analog material and personal data) were used to examine the visibility of stakeholder statements and to compare differences in the views between law drafter summaries and stakeholder statements.

Differing views of stakeholders did not receive sufficient visibility in the law drafter summaries. The key factors hindering the analysis and visibility of stakeholder statements were law drafting guidelines that did not support the analysis of the statements, statement structures that were rarely followed and law drafter summaries highlighting the views of the legislators. The recommendations are the need to embed a recordkeeping perspective into the accounts, the requirement to follow the statement structures, guided analysis methods for stakeholder statements and clearer references to stakeholder statements.

The study compares the differing views of stakeholder statements and law drafter summaries in law drafting relating to records and information management.

The process of performance measurement provides support to company management to achieve the objectives established in strategic planning. Through the definition of critical success factors and related key performance indicators, performance measurement verifies the gap between planned objectives and the results achieved, informing the responsible bodies to enable them to evaluate performance and, if necessary, implement improvement actions. Although many types of companies adopt performance measurement, this process is challenging when applied to national health services. This paper aims to identify the evolution of performance measurement and the critical success factors of national health services.

The authors conducted an explorative case study of a leading national health service to delineate the evolutionary path of performance measurement and the main critical success factors.

The results indicate a significant increase in the maturity of performance measurement of a national health service that has been motivated by international reforms and national regulations. This research highlights performance measurement features such as a balanced set of metrics, targets, and incentives linked to strategic objectives and regular and frequent performance reviews. Furthermore, it identifies the performance measurement model of a leading national health service.

The evolution of performance measurement and numerous critical success factors of national health services are described; the critical success factors cover a wide range of financial to operational aspects such as patient safety, organizational appropriateness, and clinical appropriateness.

The purpose of this chapter is to present a brief overview about the measures adopted in Portugal in the context of the Coronavirus pandemic. This public health crisis gave room in two separate occasions for the declaration of a state of emergency. What is interesting, though, is that it can be argued that a real state of exception occurred not when the state of emergency was in force, but precisely when it was not. This has only been possible because the Government decided to adopt measures that would restrict fundamental rights, because the Parliament did not intervene in such a proceeding, and because the Administrative Supreme Court was arguably too lenient towards the Government. For a while at least, it seems to have occurred a ‘provisional abolition of the distinction among legislative, executive and judicial powers’ (Agamben, 2005). This has been confirmed by subsequent decisions from the Constitutional Court.

Corruption is one of the main facilitators of increased wildlife crime in South Africa. It is important to look at the current legislative framework to determine how wildlife crime can be combated effectively. This paper aims to provide an analysis of the process of wildlife crime, focusing on wildlife poaching and trafficking role players and critically analyses the legislation in place to combat the phenomenon.

A critical analysis of existing literature such as case law, legislation, peer-reviewed publications and electronic articles was used to identify the legislation and processes for the prevention of wildlife crime in South Africa. Common denominators were identified in these sources to provide a baseline for examining wildlife crime.

Wildlife criminals rely extensively on corruption during all facets of their trafficking schemes. The use of traditional environmental laws is not effective in dismantling wildlife trafficking networks, as prosecuting those in the upper echelons is often challenging. The extensive reliance on corruption during all facets of wildlife trafficking provides an opportunity for law enforcement to use such corruption crimes as predicate offences in racketeering prosecutions, thus ensuring kingpins find it more difficult to escape prosecution, owing to their involvement in criminal enterprises that sustain themselves through patterns of racketeering.

This paper contributes knowledge to narrow the research gap with regard to wildlife criminals and how they function. It also addresses possibilities to improve prosecution and disrupt wildlife trafficking networks.

The enrolment rates of students with special needs (SwSN) decrease from primary to secondary education and decline steeply in higher education. The incessant impact of stigma and misconceptions about their capability in academic performance acts as a major roadblock for students with mental health conditions (SwMHC) while seeking and pursuing higher education, in addition to the host of other challenges faced by all SwSN. SwMHC are the least represented in higher educational institutions (HEIs) and are seldom considered when it comes to the provision of support and accommodation. Policies across countries aim to make education accessible and inclusive for SwSN, including India. This study aims to appraise the current policies and legislation in terms of the support they provide for SwMHC.

This study is a “document analysis” of all policies, legislation, schemes and guidelines that impact the higher education of SwMHC to recognize the existing provisions that are likely to impact the higher educational outcomes for SwMHC.

The issues of access, accommodation, equity, inclusion, and financial support are appropriately handled by the current policies and legislation. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 serves as a holistic guidebook and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act (RPDA) 2016 provides the legislative framework for realizing education as a ‘right for all.’ The RPDA ensures open gateways of HEIs for all SwSN through reservations and mandating necessary support and accommodation. NEP guides inclusion and equity in higher education. The ‘University Grants Commission’, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Education, is a crucial stakeholder in achieving the vision of supportive policies by formulating requisite guidelines and monitoring their implementation.

The study involved document analysis spanning macro to micro level, i.e. from national policies and legislation to policies and guidelines of autonomous or statutory organizations to institutional-level policies and documents.

With the aim of monitoring the existing regulations that are applicable to community of owners facing delinquency, in view of the importance of this issue for the achievement of the Urban Agenda, the present study aims to analyse the most stringent and controversial measures available for the community of owners facing delinquency from a comparative perspective.

The present work addresses the recent legislative amendments that have taken place at national level in this field in several countries and analyses to what extent they have addressed the delinquency problem faced by community of owners.

The current paper shows that, in the end, legal certainty, the prospective legal and economic effects on mortgage lending and constitutional concerns are the underlying reasons behind the reluctance to implement some stringent measures to face delinquency. It also shows that recent amendments concerning alternative dispute resolution mechanisms are a missed opportunity.

Community of owners plays a key role in cities for the achievement of the Urban Agenda, so the periodical contributions from co-owners are paramount to the proper implementation of urban regeneration, energy efficiency and accessibility policies. To this end, the paper analyses existing regulations that are applicable to community of owners facing delinquency, which may increase in the coming years due to the current socioeconomic context.

This paper builds on existing research and goes one step further by addressing the recent legislative amendments that have taken place recently at national level in this field. These measures may serve as an inspiration to other EU legal systems.