A critical analysis of the prospects for the effective development of a regional approach to competition law in the ASEAN region

This thesis is an examination of the ASEAN’s prospects in establishing regional competition policy in the Southeast Asia region, a topic of contemporary relevance in light of the ASEAN’s recent foray into the economic integration field on 31 December 2015. It questions whether the current approach undertaken by the ASEAN could contribute to an effective regional competition policy under the regional market integration. In answering this question, the thesis first critically surveys the current terrain of regional competition laws and policies in order to determine the possible existence of an optimal template. It argues that although the EU model is oft used as a source of inspiration, each regional organisation conceives different configurations of the model in order to best adjust to the local regional contexts. The thesis makes an inquiry into the narratives of the ASEAN’s competition policy, as well as the ASEAN’s specific considerations in the development of competition policy, before comparing the findings to the actual approaches taken by the ASEAN in its pursuit of regional competition policy. This thesis reveals that the actual approach taken by the ASEAN demonstrates an important discrepancy from the economic integration goal. The ASEAN applies a soft harmonisation approach regarding substantive competition law while refraining from establishing a centralised institution or a representative institution. The sole organ with regards to competition policy at the regional level is an expert organ. The thesis also conducts an investigation into the reception of the ASEAN’s regional policy by the member states in order to ascertain the possibility of the achievement of the ASEAN’s aspiration of regional competition policy. The study reveals that despite some shared similarities in the broad principles of competition law amongst the member states, the various competition law regimes are not harmonised thus creating challenging obstacle to the ASEAN’s ambition. The thesis then concludes that the ASEAN’s approach to regional competition law is unlikely to be effective.

The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 or the Health and Safety (Offences) Act 2008: corporate killing and the law

This thesis examines the regulatory and legislative approach taken in the United Kingdom to deal with deaths arising from work related activities and, in particular, deaths that can be directly attributed to the behaviour of corporations and other organisations. Workplace health and safety has traditionally been seen in the United Kingdom as a regulatory function which can be traced to the very earliest days of the Industrial Revolution. With an emphasis on preventing workplace accidents and ill-health through guidance, advice and support, the health and safety legislation and enforcement regime which had evolved over the best part of two centuries was considered inadequate to effectively punish corporations considered responsible for deaths caused by their activities following a series of disasters in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. To address this apparent inadequacy, the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 was introduced creating the offence of corporate manslaughter and corporate homicide. Based on a gross breach of a relevant duty of care resulting in the death of a person, the Act effectively changed what had previously considered a matter of regulation, an approach that had obvious weaknesses and shortcomings, to one of crime and criminal law. Whether this is the best approach to dealing with deaths caused by an organisation is challenged in this thesis and the apparent distinction between ‘criminal’ and ‘regulatory’ offences is also examined. It was found that an amended Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 to include a specific offence of corporate killing, in conjunction with the Health and Safety (Offences) Act 2008 would almost certainly have resulted in a more effective approach to dealing with organisations responsible for causing deaths as consequence of their activities. It was also found that there was no substantive difference between ‘regulatory’ and ‘criminal’ law other than the stigma associated with the latter, and that distinction would almost certainly disappear, at least in the context of worker safety, as a consequence of the penalties available following the introduction of the Health and Safety (Offences) Act 2008.

The regulation of cohabitants in Scottish succession law

Ten years ago, cohabitants in Scotland had no statutory rights in respect of their deceased partner’s estate. Section 29 of the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 gave cohabitants the right to apply to the court for discretionary provision from their deceased partner’s intestate estate. This thesis examines the process of making such an application and the way that the provisions have been applied in practice. The juxtaposition of the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 and the existing rules for intestate succession in the Succession (Scotland) Act 1964 is considered, with particular focus on the subordination of cohabitants’ rights to the succession rights of a surviving spouse, and the negative impact that this may have on children. It is concluded that the current succession framework is incapable of protecting cohabitants and children in reconstituted families. Potential measures are considered to displace the traditional primacy of marital succession rights, and provide a fair and flexible system of succession law that is capable of dealing with complex family structures.