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Transforming full compensation: a model legislative proposal and guidelines for pain and suffering damages
25 September 2023, by Agustín Parziale
The EU-funded project FullCompensation aims to make the compensation of pain and suffering damages more equitable and efficient. To this end, the project led to the development of a model legislative proposal and guidelines, based on comparative and empirical evidence. These documents are intended as a source of inspiration for EU Member States and adjudicators that are considering reforming or establishing their own systems for the quantification of pain and suffering awards.
A Short Reflection on the Value of a Peregrinatio Academica
5 September 2023, by Agustín Parise
Law students have to be global citizens and curious. Students have to be open-minded and eager to engage with otherness, going places. They have to start by visiting the library – it is free and takes readers to many places. Global citizens can benefit significantly from embarking in a study tour, or in Latin, a Peregrinatio Academica.
Destination ‘dark patterns’: On the EU (digital) legislative train and line-drawing
13 April 2023, by Constanta Rosca
The IMCO Committee is trying to amend the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (2005/29) to include a ban on dark patterns. The proposed amendments are part of the EU’s plans to empower consumers for the green transition and the Parliament is expected to address the proposed amendments on 17 April 2023.
AI tools as trustworthy public interest technologies under recent EU legislative instruments
14 March 2023, by Anna Medvedova
Technological developments challenge consumer protection in the digital sphere. One adaptation that could make the digital environment become safer and more trustworthy is to provide consumers with explanations of AI-based algorithm mechanisms used by intermediary platforms.
The Instagram zombie accounts
31 March 2023, by Constanta Rosca
Over the weekend of March 25-26, TikTok users started sharing videos of their experiences trying to delete their Instagram accounts on Android devices. Users took issue with not being able to delete their accounts via the Instagram app and having to use a desktop/mobile browser to complete the process.
Latest blogs
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The pain and suffering of accident victims does not have a price and, in claims for damages, no fixed economic value. Thus, quantifying the amount of money needed to compensate for pain and suffering is a subjective exercise often influenced by adjudicators’ biases.
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“Change humanity’s relationship with the planet.'' Words of the President of Kenya, William Kipchirchir Samoei Arap Ruto, during the opening meeting of the third session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee.
Midway the negotiations on a Global Plastics Treaty, the third round of...
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What follows is not new in the realm of legal science, but it ought to be remembered, especially in these times when fundamental rights are being challenged in so many different ways. Developments in legal science are very often interconnected. Legal scholars have acknowledged that the traditional...
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The EU-funded project FullCompensation aims to make the compensation of pain and suffering damages more equitable and efficient. To this end, the project led to the development of a model legislative proposal and guidelines, based on comparative and empirical evidence. These results were presented...
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The EU-funded project FullCompensation aims to make the compensation of pain and suffering damages more equitable and efficient. To this end, the project led to the development of a model legislative proposal and guidelines, based on comparative and empirical evidence. These documents are intended...
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The EU-funded project FullCompensation aims to make the compensation of pain and suffering damages more fair and efficient. To offer judges better guidelines for this, it is essential to understand how judges actually award pain and suffering damages. Reading the case law and interviewing judges...
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The scientific study of law–when consisting of the drafting of a research paper–undergoes a series of stages, running a cycle that matures and evolves. Four stages can be identified in that cycle, namely those related to the researching, writing, reasoning, and testing processes. Researchers can...
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Law students have to be global citizens and curious. Students have to be open-minded and eager to engage with otherness, going places. They have to start by visiting the library – it is free and takes readers to many places. Global citizens can benefit significantly from embarking in a study tour...
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ChatGPT’s rapid virality sparks both enthusiasm for using the product and concerns about consumer protection. Protecting consumers in the age of AI was also a central topic at the AI-Assisted consumer seminar, co-organized by MaRBLe, GLaw-Net, and IGIR.
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The IMCO Committee is trying to amend the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (2005/29) to include a ban on dark patterns. The proposed amendments are part of the EU’s plans to empower consumers for the green transition and the Parliament is expected to address the proposed amendments on 17 April...
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Over the weekend of March 25-26, TikTok users started sharing videos of their experiences trying to delete their Instagram accounts on Android devices. Users took issue with not being able to delete their accounts via the Instagram app and having to use a desktop/mobile browser to complete the...
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Technological developments challenge consumer protection in the digital sphere. One adaptation that could make the digital environment become safer and more trustworthy is to provide consumers with explanations of AI-based algorithm mechanisms used by intermediary platforms.
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In scientific research, transparency is key.
This is why I have made the study design and protocols for my project FullCompensation - Rationalising Full Compensation of Non-Pecuniary Damages to Reconcile Equal Treatment and Personalisation publicly available on Dataverse and the Open Science...
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We Write to be Read, should always resonate in the mind of authors of research papers. The contents of Student-Edited Law Reviews (SL Reviews) is decided by students. These reviews offer a forum for outstanding research papers by law students. SL Reviews have strengths, while they face challenges...
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How does EU consumer laws address dark patterns on the Internet? This topic has been part of the scholarly debate during the panel discussion “The AI-assisted consumer”, organized on 6 December 2022 in collaboration with Glaw-Net and IGIR.
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The widespread use of AI-assisted technologies in the digital sphere has given rise to the concept of digital vulnerability, as a contextual vulnerability experienced by internet users. This phenomenon sparks debate about whether the current legislative framework is sufficient to ensure effective...
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Content creators, exercising their freedom of expression, may use trade marks in their content in a way that might damage the interests of trade mark proprietors (e.g. use of Nike shoes in a porn movie). How does EU trade mark law address these different interests?
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The European Patent Convention defines subject-matter that is not eligible for patent protection, such as methods for doing business. However, when implemented by a computer, non-eligible subject matter becomes eligible for patent protection. Is this desirable?
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Only a short drive from Maastricht, border stones still mark the borders of Neutral Moresnet, a small condominium that was the result of a very peculiar round of border negotiations and for over a hundred years was a tax haven, a gambling paradise and a would-be Esperanto state.
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EU trade mark law excludes certain signs from becoming registered trade marks. In particular, shapes cannot be registered if they are necessary for achieving a technical result. In 2015, the amended Regulation broadened this exclusion to ‘another characteristics'. But what is now covered exactly?
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In this piece, I will use two memes to begin to unpack what I think is the common denominator of contemporary populist rhetoric. I will explain that the real substance of this rhetoric is the creation of a false moral equivalence, revealing a nihilism. Finally, I will suggest how this false moral...
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Throughout the EU, the rights of asylum seekers come under pressure. Overdue policy changes remain stuck in negotiations because of lacking political will. It is up to the European Commission to step up and protect the fundamental rights of asylum seekers.
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The debate on the implications of Dutch colonial rule in Indonesia recently intensified after a report concluded that the Dutch forces had used extreme violence. Reactions to the report reveal that the issue remains controversial and challenging to discuss. The findings in the report do however...
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Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev’s new book, Getting to Diversity, offers data-backed evidence to substantiate what I have long suspected to be true: Many diversity and inclusivity trainings (e.g. mandatory implicit bias training, active allyship training, etc.) not only have little to no effect...
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An important part of becoming a fully-fledged academic is the development and curation of a research line. A research line is the main research topic and the thread throughout (large parts of) a career. It could be law and technology in private law, globalisation in public law, human rights in...
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This blog includes a brief description of a METRO seminar held on 30 May 2022, where a draft research design of FullCompensation was shared for feedback. This seminar was the first scientific deliverable of the project and set the ground for its further development.
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Suppose that you get injured in an accident. In that case, you are entitled to damages. Damages are money that the injurer (or their insurer) must pay to you to make you ‘whole’. The aim of damages is, basically, to fully compensate you. Sounds easy? Believe me, it’s not!
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Digital platforms are one of the key developments in facilitating industry 4.0 and are at the center of the multifold benefits the consumers derived through this. An important feature of the digital platforms is the presence of high sunk costs and low marginal costs (UNCTAD, 2019). This occurs since...
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