This essay, based on the author's presentation last September to the annual meeting of the North American Securities Administration Association (NASAA), addresses several issues related to Rule 506, the most widely-used of the SEC's transactional exemptions from federal registration of...

The war in Ukraine has brought the challenges stemming from Europe's dependency on natural gas and oil imports into sharp focus. This has also highlighted another dependency - that on raw materials that are critical for the EU's transition to a low-carbon economy. A strategic approach to raw...

On September 9, 2008, the European Court of Justice dismissed the appeals by two Italian companies – FIAMM Spa and Giorgio Fedon & Figli Spa – seeking compensation for damages suffered as a consequence of the US increased custom duties authorised by the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) in...

Following the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull on April 14, 2010, a cloud of ash, helped by winds, quickly spread across Europe. Since volcanic ash is a recognized threat to aircraft, most European civil aviation authorities, following well established and widely published...

When prices are high and public service obligations are not properly fulfilled, consumers wonder if they obtain what they need from the market. In electricity and gas markets of the EU Member States, apart from the persistence of high, non-transparent regulated prices, a number of shortcomings...

This paper examines the ideas behind competition law in New Zealand and offers a critical assessment of its practice. It is a policy paper aimed at lawyers and legal scholars. While the paper focuses on the NZ Commerce Act, it has general applicability. The purpose of competition law in New...

A fundamental policy in the European regulatory framework has been the unbundled access to the local loop of the fixed incumbent operator. European legislation regarding local loop unbundling (LLU) was introduced in 2000 before the adoption of the New Regulatory Framework in 2002. Hence,...

The European Union plans to achieve fully liberalized internal electricity markets by 2014. Achieving this ambitious goal is strongly dependent on two factors: national energy policies and transmission networks. The current work focuses on the national policies of three EU states across three...

Non-discriminatory third-party access to transportation infrastructures in electricity - transmission and distribution networks - is essential for open and effective competition in wholesale and retail electricity markets. Competition in wholesale energy markets is possible and desirable as it...