Submit to Laws Review for Laws Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser

Legal-Economic Issues of Digital & Collaborative Economy

Print Special Issue Flyer
Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Published Papers

A special issue of Laws (ISSN 2075-471X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 March 2022) | Viewed by 85104

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Sergio Luis Náñez Alonso

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Digital Economy & Knowledge and Information Society (DEKIS) Research Group, Catholic University of Ávila, 05005 Ávila, Spain
Interests: fiscal policy and taxation; CBDC; taxation; digital economy; collaborative economy, tax; redistribution; central bank digital currency
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The economy-law relationship is very old. It has been the subject of discussion and controversy over time, from ancient times to the first decades of the 21st century. This evolution has developed into what is now known as economic analysis of law; or, the legal analysis of economic issues. From it emerges the following questions: Is the economy a social science that must act in isolation from the law? Or, how would an economy run without laws and without regulation? Due to the globalization of the economy, the increase in economic transactions, and the emergence of new forms of digital and collaborative business among citizens, it has again become necessary to analyze the relation between economy-law or law-economy.

I would like to invite you to submit a contribution to a Special Issue created by Laws, an open access journal published by MDPI. The Special Issue is entitled “Legal-economic Issues of Digital & Collaborative economy.”

The focus of this Special Issue will be the analysis of the development of the economy and of new forms of business based on the digital sphere. These new forms of business are in some cases a challenge for regulations. These forms of business can affect the rights of the citizen ranging from the most basic ones normally included in constitutional law to the sphere of privacy (controlled by regulations on data protection). Through the new forms of digital contracting via blockchain (which will affect civil rights, hiring) and through labour rights (workers in digital sectors), these businesses create a new challenge for tax and collection agencies (affecting tax law) and even reach the sphere of criminal law (in case of illegal acts and responsibility for crimes committed under these new forms of business). All this can also affect the public sector and its digitalization (the administrative law must be adapted for this) or new company creation under commercial law.

The scope of this Special Issue will focus on analyzing the relationship between this new economy and law or law and this new economy; how global, state, or regional regulations are regulating this new way of doing business. The challenges presented by this new form of economy to legislation and how the courts have resolved the novel issues related to this new form of business may also be analysed.

The purpose of the Special Issue is to analyze the revolution of the collaborative economy that has completely transformed our society from a legal-economic standpoint. An emerging new trend seeks collaboration between known and unknown people, designing innovative solutions to solve everyday problems, uniting interests and means.

The collaborative economy is simultaneously competing with traditional companies, leaders in their sectors, and changing paradigms. One of the reasons is that we currently share almost everything: used toys from Wallapop or eBay, second hand cars and the sofa, and even time. We rent houses on AirBnB or Wimdu, we buy second hand clothes on Vibbo, and even use apps like Uber and Blabacar to save us costs on transportation. We buy things using virtual currencies like bitcoin, and if we do not want to leave the house for meals, we can order food delivered to our homes on Deliveroo or Just Eat.

According to PwC, the collaborative economy annually generates transactions in Europe worth 28,000 million euros, and that figure keeps increasing. Citizens contact each other and unite to meet their objectives and desires, and do not wait for a government or a company to provide them with goods or services. The consumer has ceased to be only a consumer and has become a "prosumer," uniting the possibility of producing and consuming in the same figure.

Prof. Dr. Sergio Luis Náñez Alonso
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Laws is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Business and Corporate Law
Collaborative Economy Law
Digital Economy Law
International Law
Constitutional and Administrative Law
Criminal Law
Contract Law
Tax Law
Labour Law
Social Economy Law

Published Papers (11 papers)

Download All Papers

Research

Jump to: Review

19 pages, 333 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Digitalization of Institutions of Corporate Law: Current Trends and Future Prospects

by Vasiliy Andreevich Laptev and Daria Rinatovna Feyzrakhmanova

Laws 2021, 10(4), 93; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/laws10040093 - 02 Dec 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 5077

Abstract

Digital technologies have been integrated into all aspects of public life, including politics, law, finance, business, education, science, and society. As a result of the use of digital technologies by various subjects, a transformation has occurred of the economic relations existing in society, including corporate relations. This study analyzes the impact of digitalization on individual institutions of corporate law. The authors investigate the following aspects of the digitalization of corporate law: (1) digital legal personality of the corporation (online registration (e-residency) of corporations and the digital footprint that companies leave in public registers); (2) digital corporate governance; and (3) digital (network or decentralized) autonomous organizations. The purpose of this research is to identify trends and directions of transformation of individual institutions of corporate law in a digital society. The authors conclude that the digitalization of institutions of corporate law will result in: (1) the reinterpretation of certain concepts of corporate law, such as corporation and corporate governance; (2) the improvement of the legal mechanisms of corporate governance following the introduction of AI into the collegial executive bodies of corporations; (3) the digitalization of corporate assets; and (4) the emergence of new subjects of corporate and other relevant relations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Legal-Economic Issues of Digital & Collaborative Economy)

22 pages, 2326 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Digital Transformation and Artificial Intelligence Applied to Business: Legal Regulations, Economic Impact and Perspective

by Ricardo Francisco Reier Forradellas and Luis Miguel Garay Gallastegui

Laws 2021, 10(3), 70; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/laws10030070 - 27 Aug 2021

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 11841

Abstract

Digital transformation can be defined as the integration of new technologies into all areas of a company. This technological integration will ultimately imply a need to transform traditional business models. Similarly, artificial intelligence has been one of the most disruptive technologies of recent decades, with a high potential impact on business and people. Cognitive approaches that simulate both human behavior and thinking are leading to advanced analytical models that help companies to boost sales and customer engagement, improve their operational efficiency, improve their services and, in short, generate new relevant information from data. These decision-making models are based on descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analytics. This necessitates the existence of a legal framework that regulates all digital changes with uniformity between countries and helps a proper digital transformation process under a clear regulation. On the other hand, it is essential that this digital disruption is not slowed down by the regulatory framework. This work will demonstrate that AI and digital transformation will be an intrinsic part of many applications and will therefore be universally deployed. However, this implementation will have to be done under common regulations and in line with the new reality. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Legal-Economic Issues of Digital & Collaborative Economy)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 2232 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Techno-Stress: Damage Caused by New Emerging Risks

by Rubén Rodríguez Elizalde

Laws 2021, 10(3), 67; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/laws10030067 - 19 Aug 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 5212

Abstract

The world moves and advances very quickly. Production systems and jobs evolve with the world. Occupational risks change as jobs change: The occupational risks of jobs we found two hundred years ago are different from the risks inherent to today’s jobs. The influence of technology is evident in many of today’s companies and, as a consequence, in the work that takes place in them. The recent COVID-19 pandemic, which has so upset the world, has made possible the acceleration in the massive use of certain communication tools that has been linked to the home confinement of a significant part of the population. Lots of workers and companies have been forced to telecommute. In a lot of countries, legislation and regulations were not prepared for these new ways of working: the laws have had to adapt to this new operation. In this area techno-stress has emerged, a new variety of stress derived from the use of new technologies at work, with the consequent negative psychosocial effects for the worker and the people around him, which can, at the same time, be the prelude to many others pathological processes of various nature. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Legal-Economic Issues of Digital & Collaborative Economy)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 268 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Teleworking: A New Reality Conditioned by the Right to Privacy

by Carlos Arroyo-Abad

Laws 2021, 10(3), 64; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/laws10030064 - 04 Aug 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4800

Abstract

Faced with protecting the right to privacy and, with it, the inviolability of homes, the development of new technologies and the possibility of developing work from home has opened the door to a series of new conflicts that require us to provide a specific legal framework by which such situations can be addressed. In the Spanish case, we speak of Law 10/2021 from 9 July on remote working. The objective of this study is to assess the scope as well as the problems that this law generates during its application, regarding controlling the provision of services. However, we not only identify the incidental factors, but also provide a necessary reinterpretation of the right to privacy from the perspective of the inviolability of homes, especially when its current articulation may operate to the detriment of employees’ rights, as contradictory as this may seem. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Legal-Economic Issues of Digital & Collaborative Economy)

20 pages, 2369 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Cryptocurrencies and Fraudulent Transactions: Risks, Practices, and Legislation for Their Prevention in Europe and Spain

by David Sanz-Bas, Carlos del Rosal, Sergio Luis Náñez Alonso and Miguel Ángel Echarte Fernández

Laws 2021, 10(3), 57; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/laws10030057 - 09 Jul 2021

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 11819

Abstract

Cryptocurrencies have been developing very rapidly in recent years, and their use is becoming more and more widespread in different areas. The use of digital currencies for legal uses is advancing along with technological development, but, at the same time, criminal activities are also emerging to take advantage of this boom. The aim of this paper has been, first, to analyze the various ways in which individuals and criminal organizations have taken advantage of the phenomenon of cryptocurrencies to carry out fraudulent activities such as laundering money of illicit origin and, second, to provide an overview of the legal tools that have been developed in this regard in Europe and, more specifically, in Spain to combat these activities. Undoubtedly, cryptocurrencies bring great benefits to the economy, but it is also necessary to know the risks and abuses that have been developed to prevent them. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Legal-Economic Issues of Digital & Collaborative Economy)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

15 pages, 223 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Saudi Procurement System and Regulations: Overview of Local and International Administrative Contracts

by Awad Ali Alanzi

Laws 2021, 10(2), 37; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/laws10020037 - 13 May 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 8331

Abstract

This research investigated the Saudi procurement system and regulations in the context of local and international administrative contracts. Mainly, Saudi Government Tenders and Procurement Law was investigated in more detail to understand basic rules and regulations of the bidding, selection process, and penalties in case of delay in the administrative contract process. Moreover, a matter of direct purchase was also investigated to understand the circumstances and conditions of a direct purchase. In addition, the international administrative contract was discussed to comprehend the nature and regulations of such contracts. A matter of arbitration was also investigated to know the arbitrator’s role and powers in case of a dispute in contracting and performing international administrative contracts outside the country. The arguments against arbitration were also deliberated to recognize the limitations of arbitration in the presence of local and foreign legislations. Overall, Saudi Government Tenders and Procurement Law is well-versed and organized in displaying all-important jurisdictions and matters regarding administrative contracts and the procurement system. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Legal-Economic Issues of Digital & Collaborative Economy)

17 pages, 271 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Economic and Legal Analysis of Cryptocurrency: Scientific Views from Russia and the Muslim World

by Shamil Shovkhalov and Hussein Idrisov

Laws 2021, 10(2), 32; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/laws10020032 - 10 May 2021

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 8436

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of cryptocurrency as a new phenomenon in the modern global economic processes and legal institutions. The relevance of the study is predetermined by the very specifics of such a phenomenon as cryptocurrency consisting of a distributed ledger technology, which determines the peculiarities of issuing, storing and performing operations with cryptocurrency. Moreover, the cryptocurrency turnover directly correlates with the national legislation of individual countries, which are the subject of domestic regulation with currency, tax legislation and legislation on the securities market. Sometimes, in this regard, there is a clash of public interests and the interests of entities involved in the circulation of cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrency, as an unconventional, trendy phenomenon of the recent times, has become the object of research and discussions on all the world platforms, starting with academia, continuing with the business community and ending with state institutions. There are many reasons for explaining such interest and they can all be reduced to two main blocks: the advantages and the disadvantages of cryptocurrency circulation. The problem of cryptocurrency turnover, on the one hand, is that until now none of the national economies have regulated the cost-effective mechanism for the cryptocurrency turnover and, on the other hand, the leading countries have not yet set up an effective system of legal regulation of cryptocurrency. Many countries are in the active process of working to adequately address the above problem. Separately, it is worth highlighting the interest of Muslim countries in this issue, where discussions are still underway about the permissibility of cryptocurrency in Islamic law. As for the Russian realities in the context of the issue under study, the Federal Law “On Digital Financial Assets, Digital Currency and on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation“, which came into effect on 1 January 2021, was supposed to streamline relations of subjects including cryptocurrencies, but, according to the experts in this field, this law is far from impeccable and this sphere of relations cannot be quickly and effectively regulated. This article describes the characteristics of cryptocurrency, its essence, disadvantages and advantages as an object of economic and civil law relations. The purpose of the research is to analyze the economic and legal phenomenon of cryptocurrency, as well as its characteristics in the Muslim legal system. The complexity of the work should be emphasized as a novelty. Based on the designated goal and the logic of construction, the study consists of three interrelated parts. The first part outlines the characteristics of cryptocurrency as an economic category, the second part is devoted to its legal analysis and the last part of the study demonstrates the Islamic perception (Sharia analysis) of this phenomenon. As a conclusion on the scientific research, we will highlight the following provisions. First, economically, nowadays, cryptocurrency is a rather controversial financial instrument: on the one hand, it has great investment attractiveness, but on the other hand, it is subject to great volatility and seems to be a rather risky financial asset. Secondly, from a legal standpoint, cryptocurrencies have not yet found their consistent consolidation and further legal regulation in the Russian legislation. It seems that the legal regulation of this institution will systematically develop depending on what application and results of its turnover the cryptocurrency will have in the future. Finally, the Islamic interpretation of the cryptocurrency phenomenon boils down to the absence of a single, consistent explanation of it from the perspective of Islam and Sharia as an object of permissibility (or prohibition) of transactions with it. It is necessary to further analyze the practice of using cryptocurrency and its impact on the economy and legal institutions in order to make a final decision on its permissibility or prohibition in correlation with the types of activity and the upcoming consequences associated with it. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Legal-Economic Issues of Digital & Collaborative Economy)

13 pages, 310 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Hidden Blemish in European Law: Judgements on Unconventional Monetary Programmes

by Bodo Herzog

Laws 2021, 10(2), 18; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/laws10020018 - 24 Mar 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3981

Abstract

This article studies the hidden blemishes of two benchmark rulings of the European Court of Justice (ECJ). In 2015 and 2018, the ECJ approved two unconventional monetary instruments, among others ‘Outright Monetary Transactions’ and the ‘Public Sector Purchase Program’. Yet, there is a vigorous debate about both monetary operations in law and economics. In this interdisciplinary article, we address law and economic arguments in order to elucidate insights to the legal community. In particular, we elaborate on the legal implications of a variety of concerning issues such as public policy interference, effect on wealth redistribution, erosion of democratic legitimacy and lack of effectiveness of monetary policy. These topics remain disregarded in the ECJ rulings. Consequently, the verdicts do not identify the economic boundaries of the European Central Bank’s mandate appropriately. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Legal-Economic Issues of Digital & Collaborative Economy)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

30 pages, 298 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Certainty and Uncertainty in Tax Law: Do Opposites Attract?

by Alexander V. Demin

Laws 2020, 9(4), 30; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/laws9040030 - 04 Dec 2020

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 9744

Abstract

The principle of certainty of taxation is the dimension of a general requirement of certainty in the legal system. The purpose of this article is to argue the thesis that uncertainty in tax law is not always an absolute evil, sometimes it acts as a means of the most optimal (and in some cases the only possible) settlement of relations in the field of taxes. On the contrary, uncertainty and fragmentation in tax law are colossal problems subject to overcome by the efforts of scientists, legislators, judges, and practicing lawyers. Uncertainty in tax law is manifested in two ways: on the one hand, negatively—as a defect (omission) of the legislator and, on the other hand, positively—as a set of specific legal means and technologies that are purposefully used in lawmaking and law enforcement. In this context, relatively determined legal tools are an effective channel for transition from uncertainty to certainty in the field of taxation. A tendency towards increased use of relatively determined legal tools in lawmaking processes (for example, principles, evaluative concepts, judicial doctrines, standards of good faith and reasonableness, discretion, open-ended lists, recommendations, framework laws, silence of the law, presumptive taxation, analogy, etc.), and involving various actors (courts, law enforcement agencies and officials, international organizations, citizens, organizations and their associations) allow making tax laws more dynamic flexible, and adequate to changing realities of everyday life. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Legal-Economic Issues of Digital & Collaborative Economy)

19 pages, 516 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Legislation, Regulations, and Reflections on Environmental Accounting as a Reflection of the Incorporation of Social Responsibility in Companies

by Maripaz Muñoz Prieto

Laws 2020, 9(2), 13; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/laws9020013 - 05 Jun 2020

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4873

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze how accounting legislation has contributed to the improvement of public information on environmental aspects in the financial reports issued by companies. Also, the article aims to verify the relationship between this environmental accounting legislation and the processes of corporate social responsibility. These reports are used for decision making, so any improvement in the publication should mean a better business strategy. Companies should seek to improve their relationship with the environment, helping to minimize the environmental problems caused by their production systems. The methodology used in this study has been the deductive method, through the bibliographic review, and a descriptive research level was used. Among the main results of this work are a summary table with regulations related to environmental care, evidence of the lack of specific legislation, and the need for more demanding regulations with companies when providing environmental data. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Legal-Economic Issues of Digital & Collaborative Economy)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

26 pages, 665 KiB

Open AccessReview

Some Implications of the Development of E-Commerce on EU Tax Regulations

by Mihaela Tofan and Ionel Bostan

Laws 2022, 11(1), 13; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/laws11010013 - 10 Feb 2022

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 6917

Abstract

E-commerce has progressed within Europe before, on the basis of the pre-pandemic raise, with COVID-19 determining an explosion of its evolution. The European e-commerce market is very important, linking together more than 500 million consumers. This paper presents the results of assessing the guidelines and trends observed in the European regulatory process in the current period, when e-commerce is developing appreciably, studying the applicable legal norms and their effects on facilitating the control of remote payments. Compliance with the VAT (value-added tax) regime is addressed in the context described by the two important categories of active legal rules: the rules for consumer protection and the rules related to ensuring data protection. The investigation of the legal framework in this regard started from the presupposition that the necessary changes in regulation for facilitating e-commerce are capable to determine indirect changes in many aspects of financial rules and taxation. While analyzing the regulation of online trade, the various measures undertaken recently in respect to European sources of law and their implications for national legal framework opened additional directions of investigation. This paper points out the indirect effect of e-commerce development on the regulatory framework, both in the area of consumer protection and in line with the difficult balance between the right to information and protection of data. The fiscal effects of e-commerce payments and the challenges for the value-added tax regime are also addressed, both from a theoretical point of view and with input from the Court of Justice of the European Union’s jurisprudence. The analyzed documents show that, in this respect, the legal reform will go deeper and will continue with the rhythm of the development of the online activities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Legal-Economic Issues of Digital & Collaborative Economy)

► Show Figures