reading ages August 19, 2008
Posted by Bradley in : Uncategorized , comments closedI was surprised to see that a large number of authors and others in the UK, led by Phillip Pullman, are campaigning against indications of age guidance on book covers. They have a number of reasons for doing so, one of which is that:
Everything about a book is already rich with clues about the sort of reader it hopes to find — jacket design, typography, cover copy, prose style, illustrations. These are genuine connections with potential readers, because they appeal to individual preference. An age-guidance figure is a false one, because it implies that all children of that age are the same.
I have no idea why they are so upset. The Publishers’ Association has been thinking for some time about this issue and thinks that age guidance will encourage people to buy books. US published books for young people are marked with suggested age ranges. They are often not very prominent – you can find them if you look, but they don’t jump out at you – but they can be useful. Do these authors really want children to learn to make purchasing decisions based on the manipulations of marketers who design the packaging for products rather than on data about what is inside?
tropical storm fay August 17, 2008
Posted by Bradley in : Uncategorized , comments closedWe’re beginning the new school year watching tropical storm Fay via the national hurricane center. She seems to be heading west of us right now. But, as always, we can feel guilty for avoiding the pain that falls on others.
regulatory budgets and collective action August 8, 2008
Posted by Bradley in : Uncategorized , comments closedIn the same week that the UK’s Department for Business published its consultation document on Regulatory Budgets – the latest chapter in the Better Regulation saga – the Civil Justice Council published this week a 483 page document on Improving Access to Justice through Collective Actions’ : A Series of Recommendations to the Lord Chancellor. Collective action is a hot topic in the EU right now. Key Finding 1 of the collective action report is that:
Existing procedure does not provide sufficient or effective access to justice for a wide range of citizens, particularly but not exclusively consumers, small businesses, employees wishing to bring collective or multi-party claims.
But the implications of the BERR consultation document would seem to include making improving access to justice more complex, as it includes discussion of:
how to identify and capture the specific costs arising from regulation (i.e. enforcement activities, self-funding regulations, contractual obligations and legal proceedings) within a system of regulatory budgets
On reading the consultation document I’m not clear whether the costs associated with litigation (as opposed to regulatory action) resulting from regulations would be included in the regulatory budgets. But if they were, any expansion of collective action rights that would make it easier for citizens to enforce their rights would increase the costs of new regulations granting rights to citizens, thus making such regulations less likely in a regulatory budgets environment.
silly season in parliament? August 8, 2008
Posted by Bradley in : Uncategorized , comments closedThe UK’s Public Administration Select Committee’s Fourteenth Report on how to achieve a balance between the public interests in allowing former ministers and civil servants to publish information relating to their jobs and in keeping some of that information secret has a title with some rather unsavory connotations: Mandarins Unpeeled: Memoirs and Commentary by Former Ministers and Civil Servants.
credit and securitization August 7, 2008
Posted by Bradley in : Uncategorized , comments closedBefore the collapse of the sub-prime lending market the securitization industry tried to fend off a lot of attempts to regulate sub-prime lending by arguing that to do so would deprive consumers of needed credit. The strategy worked reasonably well then so why not keep pushing it? The American Securitization Forum comments on proposals to regulate unfair or deceptive practices with respect to credit cards as follows:
We are concerned, however, that the Proposed Rule too greatly restricts issuers’ ability to re-price interest rates, apply payments, and charge appropriate and disclosed fees. As drafted, the impact of the Proposed Rule’s restrictions on pricing will likely limit the scope and increase the cost of credit products available to consumers because, in part, it will heighten risks and increase costs associated with credit card asset backed securities (“ABS”) for secondary market participants that will necessarily be passed on to consumers. In contrast, a proposal that preserves credit card issuers’ ability to re-price for borrower default risk, maintains their flexibility in applying payments, and protects issuers and investors from litigation risk in connection with existing accounts, will ensure that consumers enjoy continued access to low cost and convenient credit products and services.
Perhaps there’s a simpler solution – if consumers weren’t exploited they wouldn’t feel the need to litigate?
use of 'consequential loss' in consumer contracts unfair in uk August 7, 2008
Posted by Bradley in : Uncategorized , comments closedThe FSA says:
Under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (the Regulations) firms must ensure that they express any written term of a standard-form consumer contract in plain, intelligible language. In our view, a term which excludes ‘consequential loss’ is not written in plain, intelligible language, as it refers to an expression that has a legal meaning. We do not believe that the average consumer would understand the terminology, and therefore what they are not covered for under the policy.
The FSA that the following formulation is clearer, although it seems to me to involve issues of interpretation of the word “direct”, and therefore to contain some (unavoidable) ambguity:
‘We will only pay costs which are incurred as a direct consequence of the event which led to the claim you are making under this policy’.
fairtrade in the city of london August 6, 2008
Posted by Bradley in : Uncategorized , comments closed
The City of London Fairtrade Steering Group has a really beautiful website. But the latest item on the news and events page is dated March 2008. More form than substance?
opacity in financial regulation: iosco August 6, 2008
Posted by Bradley in : Uncategorized , comments closedIOSCO recently published a document with the title An Overview of the Work of the IOSCO Technical Committee in which it describes ongoing projects. The introduction to the document states that IOSCO plans to engage further with “stakeholders”, which IOSCO describes as “including the financial services community”. The document describes commentators on the prior consultation report as:
coming principally from securities market dealers, financial institutions and exchanges and organizations representing them, and from audit firms and auditor professional bodies. One submission was received from an organization of corporate treasurers.
There isn’t much indication beyond this about who the “stakeholders” are. But:
IOSCO has decided to organize once a year a high-level meeting with Stakeholders on an informal basis to exchange views on topics of mutual interest.
And also, as usual, when IOSCO describes reactions of various stakeholders to its proposals, it doesn’t identify the specific stakeholders, or state which views are held by which stakeholders. Over 3 years ago, the International Bar Association asked for greater transparency at IOSCO. More recently IOSCO actors have claimed a commitment to transparency. But that just doesn’t seem to be what we are getting.
more reflections on knitting and the financial markets August 5, 2008
Posted by Bradley in : Uncategorized , comments closedAs I think about the grandma “sticking to your own knitting” stories, it seems to me that the phrase likely originally includes the idea of minding one’s own business – which is a bit different from the idea of focusing on core strengths. I’m not suggesting at all that knitting is frivolous, and thus has little relationship to the financial markets. Some practitioners take their work very seriously indeed: in fact their attention to detail might be useful in the financial markets (see, e.g., the recently published Recommendations of the SIFMA Credit Rating Agency Task Force, suggesting that CRAs could have been more focused on details and on communicating those details.)
miami welcomes new comparative llm students August 4, 2008
Posted by Bradley in : Uncategorized , comments closedWe are in the process of welcoming the latest set of comparative LLM students to the University of Miami. For me the comparative and international LLM students are among the high points of being at UM, and I really enjoy having them participate in my business associations, international finance and EU classes. This year I’m also looking forward to co-teaching, with Jessica Morris, a symposium on the cross-border practice of law for LLMs only.