Educational quality assurance is among the most important issues in the organisa-tion and functioning of the higher education system. The higher education system in Estonia is closely linked to the external environment. Its characteristics and the quality of education are influenced by the standards of the entire education and science system and the socio-economic environment. In Estonia, these characteris-tics are strongly influenced by the implemented innovation policy, international cooperation and computerisation in the sphere of activities of public institutions including education, education and higher education. Quality assessments of higher education are organised and carried out by the Agency for Higher Education Quality in accordance with international rules. Currently, education quality assess-ment is carried out by the Estonian Quality Agency for Education, Eesti Hariduse Kvaliteediagentuur (HAKA). Its activities are highly rated in the work of interna-tional associations for cooperation in the field of education quality assurance.

Women constitute half of the population in Kosovo, thus representing half of the voters in elections. Given the high importance of women’s representation in local governance, Kosovo has approved relevant legislation to guarantee gender equality at this level. The purpose of this study is to critically analyse Kosovo’s legislation on women’s political participation rights in the country’s municipalities. The analysis of Kosovo legislation on gender equality, international standards, and statistical data on women’s representation in local governance in Kosovo proves that women are underrepresented in municipal-level politics, with an average of 14.5% during the last twenty-three years, much lower than the gender quota in Kosovo and the world average of 36%. This is due to the non-harmonisation of the electoral quota with the gender quota (50%), the non-implementation of Kosovo Law on Gender
Equality, traditions, prejudice against women, and the reluctance of women to assume governing positions.

Women constitute half of the population in Kosovo, thus representing half of the voters in elections. Given the high importance of women’s representation in local governance, Kosovo has approved relevant legislation to guarantee gender equality at this level. The purpose of this study is to critically analyse Kosovo’s legislation on women’s political participation rights in the country’s municipalities. The analysis of Kosovo legislation on gender equality, international standards, and statistical data on women’s representation in local governance in Kosovo proves that women are underrepresented in municipal-level politics, with an average of 14.5% during the last twenty-three years, much lower than the gender quota in Kosovo and the world average of 36%. This is due to the non-sharmonisation of the electoral quota with the gender quota (50%), the non-implementation of Kosovo Law on Gender Equality, traditions, prejudice against women, and the reluctance of women to assume governing positions.

The issue of law-making is a key issue in a democratic state ruled by law. Particularly interesting seems to be the issue of enacting electoral law, which is exposed to the phenomenon of instrumentalisation. The aim of this article is to analyse the institution of legislative silence in Polish electoral law and to try to find an answer to the question whether the application of this solution may be an effective tool limiting the political influence on the shape of electoral law. In order to find the above questions, it was necessary to carry out a detailed analysis of this solution, primarily on the basis of the jurisprudence of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal and international law standards specified in the documents of the Venice Commission. The work uses the formal and legal method and the literature and jurisprudence are reviewed.

The article covers the issue of the functioning of one of the advisory bodies of central governmental administration, i.e. the Council for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Affairs, which is associated with the President of the National Atomism Agency (PAA), the chief nuclear supervision body in Poland, which is the competent authority in nuclear safety and radiation protection affairs, as defined in the Atomic Law (Prawo atomowe). The article presents the objectives of the functioning of the Council as an advisory body to the nuclear supervision authority on the basis of international and European law and the views of the nuclear energy law doctrine. In relation to the Council, an important role is played by soft law acts, especially the so-called IAEA safety standards. Despite the fact that they are not legally binding, they constitute a valuable and extensive collection of recommendations supporting regional and national legislative activity. The purpose of this study is also a critical analysis of the amendment to the Atomic Law from 2016 in the section relating to changes made to the way of shaping the Council’s make-up. They caused the loss of one of the Council’s most important attributes, i.e. independence in the decision-making process and they deprived the President of the PAA (decision-making body) of influence on shaping its make-up. The changes introduced should be interpreted as an unequivocal negation of the ratio legis of appointing the Council and a significant step backwards in relation to the existing practice and legislative trends in recent years. The author postulates restoring the previous legal solutions as the ones that will allow the Council, the advisory body, to fulfil its function in the right way, really supporting the decision-making authority for which it works.

These days, Banks are obliged to comply with a broad scope of the regulations and binding laws and this creates numerous challenges for those organisations. These challenges relate, particularly, to international banks operating in parallel within complex legislative, regulatory, social, political etc. realities. This article is a concise presentation of selected tasks brought about by the compliance function in banks that at the same time are the references for the internal norms created within those organisations.

This article seeks to identify the characteristic features of judicial cosmopolitanism and its product – the emancipation of judges from the constraints of national law. Cosmopolitanism manifests itself in creating normative systems outside and above traditional international law. While the latter draws its binding power from the will of states, cosmopolitan rules are usually created by private actors. Their binding power results predominantly from practical necessity. Such is the status of lex sportiva, of the standards imposed by rating agencies, or of international accreditation bodies. Judicial cosmopolitanism is different, for it rests upon the existing structures and competencies. By resorting to alien legal sources judges free themselves from national constraints, thus enhancing their power and independence. In assessing the impact of cosmopolitanism, one has to differentiate between looking up to foreign laws and precedents as binding sources, and treating them as merely intellectual inspiration. The second, albeit it seems innocuous, entails serious perils to the quality of adjudication. It creates a danger of cherry-picking by selecting foreign inspirations, not necessarily best suited to the case at hand. There is a danger of judicial overstepping of powers by making laws instead of merely applying it. By allowing judges to venture the uncontrolled expansion of their powers we endanger the very essence of the rule of law. On a positive note, drawing on foreign legal sources enables judges to verify the rationality of their decisions, as they were already tested in other jurisdictions.

The paper entitled “Counteracting Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion in Selected EU Directives on Direct Taxes” discusses the provisions of Directive 2003/49/EC, Directive 2009/133/EC and Directive 2011/96/EC that are capable of withdrawing the benefits provided under the directives in the case of tax fraud and abuse, tax evasion or tax avoidance. The paper reviews provisions of the directives and also the case law of the European Court of Justice concerning tax fraud and abuse. The jurisprudence of the ECJ plays a key role in setting standards for regulations on the prevention of tax evasion and avoidance adopted by Member States of the European Union. The paper’s centre piece argument is that the solution adopted by the EU legislator, which shifted the burden of preventing tax escape from the EU to Member States, is ineffective and falls short of fulfilling its proper role. The paper emphasises that many tax payers take advantage of the fundamental treaty freedoms and applicable directives to obtain tax benefits or double non-taxation. Limitations imposed by a strict jurisprudential approach of the European Court of Justice also pose a significant barrier to effective tackling the negative phenomenon of aggressive tax planning based on EU laws, the paper suggests. By assessing the effects of the application of the existing regulations and juxtaposing them with the current scale of the problem, the author presents an argument for changing the direction of measures taken to curb international tax avoidance and evasion.

The Author presents a legal analysis of self-determination in international law. It is presented both through a historical and a modern perspective, recalling i.a. such cases as Kosovo, Quebec, Palestinian state in statu nascendi.

The authors – lawyers and licensed detectives – examine the topic of an ethic in detective’s profession from theoretical and practical grounds. Although the authors are well positioned to delve into theoretical aspects of this topic, thanks to their strong academic background, the key input into the research is the practical experience they have gained while performing the profession; the profession they sadly acknowledge have some imperfections as well. Based on their own experience and observations the starting point of their work is the study of detective’s profession ethos. The angle of their examination is different to a traditional approach presented in other’s publication available on the market. The authors, in an innovative and original way, claim that the detective’s ethos is a result of profession’s elitism and exclusivism. The profession’s ethos has to be examined in the light of legal grounds in the Polish law system, the Act of 6 July 2001 on detective services (O.J. 2002 No. 12, Item 110, as farther amended). An extensive analysis of the act, brought a conclusion, that detective’s profession is elite, although authors have noted that there are certain reservations on this thesis, however they have
asserted that the profession is not exclusive, which is reflected in the instances of some ethic and moral violations, the topics they strictly separate. The reason of the abovementioned shortcomings is not sufficiently stringent procedure of the profession’s recruitment, which is a consequence of an easier access to the detective’s license, granted by the Act of 13 June 2013 on deregulation of access to certain professions in Poland (O.J. 2013, Item 829), effective as of 1 January 2014. The authors call for restoration of previously existing restrictions with this regard. The authors notice as well that there is a politically-driven reluctance to empower the representatives of the private security sector, hindering the fulfilment of a social role the detectives play as the agents of public trust. The authors however do not omit in their work the acknowledgement of a good condition of polish detective sector which one can see in the comparative cross-country international examination. They point out to the benefits and opportunities stemming from this condition, partly noticed by The Polish Association of Licensed Private Investigators – the representative body of detectives in Poland, which not only became a member of The International Federation of Associations of Private Detectives but also adopted the Code of Detective’s Ethics. The former is a unique opportunity to gain
expertise from international community as well as to share its own experiences, perhaps become a European leader setting internationals standards and guidance for the detective profession; the latter, authors believe, should be perceived as the code of exemplary conduct, one which all detectives shall follow. It is worth to mention that the mentioned Code of Detective’s Ethics is unique in its own nature on the Polish market as there is no other code encompassing the topic of detective’s ethic

The aim of this paper is to address the issue of implementation of international legal instruments regarding cybercrime into the Polish criminal law. Effective protection against cybercrime requires, among other things, the establishment of an appropriate legal framework. Criminal prohibitions of a deterrent effect, which are a part of this framework, seem of particular importance. In Europe such a set of rules is provided for in the instruments of the Council of Europe as well as in the European Union instruments. As a member of both these international organisations, Poland is obliged to implement their standards. The author’s aim is to analyse whether and, if so, to what extent the current Polish criminal legislation is in line with European requirements. The process of implementation of these norms has expanded in the span of over 10 years and was initiated even before Poland accessed the European Union. Polish criminal law, however, is not yet fully compliant with international requirements on cybercrime. This paper is an attempt to identify some areas of the criminal law which are still to be amended as well as to submit some solutions de lege ferenda.

These standards were introduced at four international organizations and supranational associations: 1) the European Union; 2) the Council of Europe; 3) the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; 4) the Commonwealth of Independent States. The article states that the key reason for the introduction of standards for the regulation of lobbying at the international level was considerable corruption in the adoption of legal acts. It is concluded that latent and unregulated lobbying can seriously undermine public confidence in the institution of government, especially in the countries of the so-called “new democracy”. International regulation of lobbying takes the form of resolutions, procedural rules, guidelines, recommendations and model legislation. Notably, the first steps towards international regulation of lobbying were taken by the institutions of the European Union. Today EU standards for the regulation of lobbying is based on a series of articles set out in the EU-founding treaties and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. EU standards for the regulation of lobbying influence not only the EU Member States, but it also extends to EU Partner Countries. Significant steps in the implementation of international standards for the regulation of lobbying are being constantly carried out by the Council of Europe. The establishment of CE standards for the regulation of lobbying is reflected in the activity of statutory bodies of the Council of Europe and its semi-autonomous bodies. In recent years a lot of work on the strengthening of international standards for lobbying regulation has been done by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. To help address the concerns with transparency and integrity in lobbying, the OECD Member Countries adopted in 2010 a Recommendation on Principles for Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying as guidance to decision-makers on how to promote good governance in lobbying. Another international organization, which began to regulate actively the practice of lobbying is the Commonwealth of Independent States. In order to intensify the work concerning legislative regulation of lobbying in the member countries of the CIS, at the XXII Plenary Session of the Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS member states the Resolution No. 22-16 of November 15, 2003 was adopted, which approved a model law “On regulation of lobbying activity in state authorities”.

The aim of the article is to offer an insight into the problem of observance of human rights at sea in situations of fighting piracy and armed robbery against vessels. The analysis has been conducted using the example of the situation in the Gulf of Aden and piracy off the coast of Somalia. The authors have analysed international legal regulations in the field of the law of the sea and human rights, with a particular consideration of the observance and protection of human rights depending on the maritime zone (territorial sea, contiguous zone, and high sea) where these rights are violated. The subject matter of the observance of human rights in the context of maritime areas has not been so far a matter addressed in Polish-language scientific publications. Yet, given its special social and legal significance (e.g. in the light of the migration crisis in the Mediterranean Sea basin), it seems necessary to bring it to attention. In the conclusions, the authors argue that the adopted regulations affecting piracy and acts of armed robbery against vessels provide only a framework and that it is crucial to establish specific procedures to deal with pirates at an international level (considering the international standards of protection of human rights).

Climate change is one of the key civilisational issues. This change is caused by greenhouse gas emission. Stopping this change requires multidirectional actions on a global scale, primarily limiting the combustion of fossil fuels. What reaches towards these needs is the proposals of the international community, which are determined in the protocol of 15 December 2015 (called the Paris Agreement). The legal framework for the strategy of implementing it in the European Union and the member states is formulated by the legislative package “Clean Energy For All Europeans”. The directions and terms of developing the economy pose particular challenges for Poland which plans to maintain
the significant role of coal in the energy industry for decades. Government documents show that the government of the Republic of Poland will not decide on the spectacular decarbonisation of the economy. It cannot be obligated to do it, either, due to the treaty conditions. However, the future of the coal energy industry seems prejudged. This results from the development directions of European economic-legal instruments which serve the direct (determining binding emission standards and environmental quality standards) and indirect (through influencing the prices of greenhouse gas emission allowances) rationing of the activity of entities from the energy sector in the environment.

The publication explores the phenomenology and content of ‘soft law’ in the international
and national law and reveals the designation of ‘soft law’ in protecting the electoral rights of the citizens. ‘Soft law’ is intended to mean optional international documents, most of
which are resolutions of the intergovernmental organisations containing statements, commitments, guidelines, common positions or statements on policy or intentions. ‘Soft law’ documents are usually adopted by the statutory bodies of the international organisations on issues that reflect new problems, tendencies or trends in the field of electoral law, for which there is no political will or the accordance of all the member states in the form of a classical international treaty. When it comes to the content, the ‘soft law’ documents are all kinds of statements, obligations, guidelines, codes of conduct, codes of ethics, guidelines and standards, common positions or statements of policy or intentions.

Climate change is one of the key civilisational issues. This change is caused by greenhouse gas emission. Stopping this change requires multidirectional actions on a global scale, primarily limiting the combustion of fossil fuels. What reaches towards these needs is the proposals of the international community, which are determined in the protocol of 15 December 2015 (called the Paris Agreement). The legal framework for the strategy of implementing it in the European Union and the member states is formulated by the legislative package “Clean Energy For All Europeans”. The directions and terms of developing the economy pose particular challenges for Poland which plans to maintain
the significant role of coal in the energy industry for decades. Government documents show that the government of the Republic of Poland will not decide on the spectacular decarbonisation of the economy. It cannot be obligated to do it, either, due to the treaty conditions. However, the future of the coal energy industry seems prejudged. This results from the development directions of European economic-legal instruments which serve the direct (determining binding emission standards and environmental quality standards) and indirect (through influencing the prices of greenhouse gas emission allowances) rationing of the activity of entities from the energy sector in the environment.