Public Governance, Administration and Finances Law Review

Evolution of Liability of Content Sharing Platform Providers and Other Intermediary Service Providers for Copyright Infringement

Grad-Gyenge Anikó — 2024-12-17

The study examines the changing liability regime for intermediary service providers. It analyses the rules introduced by the CDSM Directive for content sharing platform providers, before contextualising these rules within the Digital Services Act (DSA) and reviews the changes in terms of liability for copyright infringement of other intermediary service providers. Finally, the paper considers the extent to which the DSA complements the new liability regime set out in the CDSM Directive.

Vulnerability and Resilience

Pinto João Vilas Boas — 2024-12-17

This text, aiming to contribute to the reflection of the main challenges faced by today's Societies, seeks, in essence, to draw attention to the importance of deepening the relations between Administrative Law and Public Governance, reflecting, for this purpose, on a framework of tension between a Vulnerable Society and the need for its resilient transformation, associated with disruptive phenomena such as the pandemic, globalisation and the digital transition. In this sense, the exercise that we propose here, necessarily of an introductory nature, involves, at first, an approximation to the concept of "vulnerability", seeking to direct it to the legal level, and in particular seeking to cut it in the spectrum of Administrative Law, so that, at a subsequent moment, it becomes possible to point out the need for greater responsiveness – and, so too, "resilience" – on the part of public authorities, in an appeal to a dynamic but complex intersection between public policies and instruments of democratic governance and legal regulation, based on a matrix that privileges the dignity of the human person and fundamental constitutional values.

Performing Representativity, Expanding Democracy

Toscano Javier — 2024-12-17

The right to vote stands as a cornerstone in contemporary liberal democracies, but its limits, particularly regarding who holds this privilege, remains a contentious issue, pitting democracy against the intricate dynamics of migration. Acknowledging this tension, this article asserts that a more illuminating perspective on the nexus between voting rights, migration and democracy emerges when viewed through the lens of human rights, as opposed to the conventional framework of citizenship rights. The article develops a theoretical framework based on a practical case from Germany, where the Demokratie für Alle movement advocates for voting rights for non-citizens, underlining thus the importance of a human-rights-based framework in shaping political demands. The article explores the articulation of a practice and the emergent theory upon which it can be sustained, exploring thus the concept of a performing representativity within an actual and evolving context.

The Bumpy Road to Good Governance and Public Service Delivery

Sawaneh Banna — 2024-12-17

Scholars have long established the connections between strategic plans and service delivery and how lack of dedicated plans to clinically bypass the attendant complexities and intricacies tends to undermine the efficacy of the implementation process. Most research on the crucial antidote against bad governance, which is often attributed to arbitrary policy making, dearth of accountable leadership and uninformed decisions have been conducted in the developed climes where public service delivery are comparatively better served. Research about strategic plans in Africa, where most public institutions grope in the dark for lack of strategic torchlights to navigate the bumpy road to delivering public goods at a challenging time when citizens are becoming more demanding of governance dividends, is commensurably low. The paper, therefore, analysed the challenges to strategic plans implementation in achieving the objectives of public service organisations (PSOs) in The Gambia. Cross-sectional data about institutional challenges to adopted strategic plans were collected from relevant authorities and key informants, and descriptively analysed. The study revealed a range of challenges confronting implementation of strategic plans by PSOs in the country, namely, poor public service emoluments resulting in low staff morale and systemic corruption (RII = 3.90), political interference (RII = 3.88), inadequate facilities (RII = 3.86), lack of top management commitment (RII = 3.81), lack of political will (RII = 3.81), inadequate strategic management professionals and expertise (RII = 3.67), and insufficient budgetary allocations (RII = 3.66). Added to this, negative employee behaviour and attitude, negative and unfavourable internal and external environmental changes and conditions, and corruption and mismanagement of funds among others were the challenges that confronted PSOs during strategic plans implementation. The research validates strategic plan as a good governance tool for public service delivery in The Gambia.

Press Publishers' Right in Hungary

Harkai Istvan — 2024-12-17

Access to information, consumption of media products and mass media have changed radically in the age of digital technologies. News gathering and aggregation platform services and social media sites have become indispensable, making news produced by press publishers available to the public in a collected, sorted and categorised form. The construction of the right of press publishers in the CDSM Directive raises a number of questions, and doubts have only been exacerbated by the Member States’ transposition. Experience to date does not yet provide scope for a precise analysis and interpretation of the impact of Article 15. Nor is it known yet in what exact framework does the new related rights be exercised in the Member States. Transposition and subsequent events do not provide answers to the most pressing questions. These include whether competition law instruments can be more effective against the dominant platform giants, which seem reluctant to reach agreements with publishers. Does it violate the principle of contractual freedom to force industry platforms to enter into Article 15 license agreements, when experience so far clearly shows that platforms would rather stop indexing content if they had to pay a fee for the content exploitation. While the intention to promote a free and diverse press, quality journalism, access to information for citizens, public debate and the development of a democratic society is more than welcome, experience so far paints a much more nuanced picture. In order to alley the doubts, this paper attempts to look into the details of the Hungarian implementation of press publishers’ right, and to outline what do the Hungarian press industry representatives think about the new neighbouring right.

Insights on the Socio-Economic Impacts of Research Misconduct

Rodrigues Rowena — 2024-12-17

Research misconduct (RM) and questionable research practices (QRPs) have a considerable impact on researchers, economy and society. Using a socio-economic impact assessment methodology, this article identifies and assesses their impacts. The objective is to help support the measures developed to promote research ethics and research integrity principles through shared responsibility (individual and institutional) and improve education and training. The article presents recommendations for policy and future research as part of a cohesive framework that takes socio-economic impacts into account. This qualitative study advances and updates current knowledge on the impacts of RM, enriching existing research by introducing new insights, especially regarding socio-economic dimensions, affected stakeholders, and the relevance and significance of these impacts.

Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfer in Nepal

Acharya Keshav Kumar — 2024-12-17

The Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfer (IGFT) is a crucial tool for local governments (LGs) to bridge fiscal disparities by providing the necessary funds to fulfil their functional responsibilities. In the context of federal Nepal, IGFT has been classified into four types: fiscal equalisation, conditional, special and matching grants. This research is an attempt to examine the effectiveness of these transfer types in enhancing the local governments’ accountability in Nepal. Through a combination of quantitative and qualitative data types, this study collected primary and secondary data from seven purposively selected municipalities. Our analysis finds that IGFT serves as a powerful tool for advancing accountability among local governments in Nepal. However, the current trend of centralisation within federal government agencies, limited bureaucratic capabilities at both federal and local levels and inadequate political commitment to IGFT have hindered accountability at the local level.