Nordic Journal of Legal Studies

The Anti-Money Laundering Challenges of FinTech and Cryptocurrencies

Heidimaria Manninen — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis, the foundation was developed for the protocol we know as blockchain. Blockchain is a system through which money can be sent from one person to another without using any financial service providers. It has been argued that the security of blockchain technology could be the answer to people’s mistrust and lost confidence in the financial market. However, blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies go much further than a mere transfer of money. New forms of value exchange have been created, in addition to providing access to financial services in locations where only limited services are offered by traditional banks. As the use of such innovation gains popularity, the legislator is slowly catching up, but how much is covered?

This paper studies FinTech and cryptocurrencies in respect of money laundering. It is found that the current regulatory landscape has several weaknesses that can be attractive for those wishing to exploit them.

Miten SEUT 102 artiklaa määräävän markkina-aseman väärinkäytöstä tulkitaan digitaalisessa alustataloudessa?

Ilmari Tiitta — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In 2021, The European General Court issued its judgment in Case T-612/17 Google and Alphabet v Commission (Google Shopping). The case concerned whether Google had abused its dominant market position by favouring its own comparison shopping service on its general results pages while demoting the results from competing comparison shopping services. The General Court stated that Google’s conduct was not competition on the merits and thus it had breached Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

This article discusses firstly this judgment and its consequences for the interpretation of Article 102 TFEU in digital platform economy markets. Secondly, this article takes on the issue of abuse of dominant position in digital markets and tries to find out what kind of conduct of digital platform companies should be prohibited by Article 102 TFEU. The purpose is to identify what kind of conduct should be seen as an abuse of dominance and how to legally assess such conduct.

The ECJ judgment states that self-preferencing can constitute a breach of Article 102 TFEU and that this can be seen as a form of discrimination. Besides self-preferencing or discrimination there is also other conduct that can be abusive. These include personalised pricing, forced free riding and different forms of information based abusive conducts. It is not clear how this conduct relate to Article 102 TFEU, but it is clear that should this conduct be seen abusive, it will be difficult to determine the basis for this since well-established theories of harm are incompatible. In addition, when assessing the abusive nature of such conduct, an effects-based case-by-case approach is needed.

Saamelaiskulttuurin heikentämiskielto ja kaivoslaki

Lalli Rudolf Roine — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This Article discusses the prohibition of retrogression of the culture of the Sámi people enforced by the Finnish Constitution and international conventions and whether it has been included in the current Finnish Mining Act in a sufficient manner. The article also discusses how the prohibition has been ensured in two main decisions of the Finnish Supreme Administrative Court considering the subject. The article is based on the author’s Bachelor’s thesis on the subject which examines the culture of the Sámi people and the mining law.

The research method used in the article is mainly legal dogmatics which is used to systemize the mining law and interpret its provisions considering the prohibition of harming the culture of the Sámi people using different legal interpretation methods. In addition to that, some decisions of the Finnish Supreme Administrative Court, statements of the Constitution committee and the statements of the Sámi assembly are analyzed in the article. After the introduction, the article presents a brief overview of Sámi culture and examines then the prohibition of retrogression of the culture in the context of the Finnish Constitution, international law and the Mining Act. Then the article examines two of the most important Finnish Supreme Administrative Court cases considering the subject and after that, it is examined how the prohibition materializes in practice in the point of view of the Sámi assembly. The last chapter contains the summary and the conclusions.

The most noteworthy conclusion seems to be that although it might at first seem that the prohibition of retrogression has been included in the Mining Act the proper way, the reality in practice is much different. The rights of the Sámi people as indigenous people are not ensured well enough because of the obscurity and vagueness of the provisions of the Act.

Markkinoinnissa käytettävien ympäristöväittämien riittävä täsmällisyys

Katariina Kokkonen — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The article discusses green claims used in marketing, and how such claims can be made with sufficient accuracy as required by EU law. The article is based on the author’s Bachelor’s thesis, which examines the factors that affect the assessment of the matter. The article is limited to discussing about marketing communications and other communications given to the consumer in support of the environmental claim and accompanied by space restrictions imposed by the media used. The research methods used in this article are legal dogmatics and comparative law, the former focusing on the interpretation of EU law in the Finnish legal system and the latter focusing on the Swedish Patent and Market Court. Legal dogmatics is used to assess how the question of accuracy is more specifically formed according to current law. Meanwhile, comparative law is used to find support for the legal guidelines that can be interpreted from the Finnish Consumer Ombudsman’s rulings. After the introduction, the article defines the terms green claim and average consumer as the basis for the assessment of green claims. It defines when green claims can be considered to be prohibited greenwashing. Greenwashing is not a concept defined in legislation or other sources of law, but a generic word used in research to signify possibly illegal conduct. Next, the article looks into the key marketing regulations concerning the subject. Lastly, the article concentrates on the authority guidelines and rulings by the Finnish and Swedish Consumer Ombudsman. The article concludes that if the green claim is found to be ambiguous, additional information about its veracity should be located in a “close proximity” to the claim. On the basis of the recent rulings, it is unclear what “close proximity” means. When assessing the distance, the means of communication and the nature of marketing should be considered. Therefore, it should be taken into consideration whether the marketing is about a specific consumer good, or rather about general image marketing. However, in a digital setting, it is clear that the information cannot be located several “clicks” away from the claim.

Editorial Note

Joonas Tiger — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Editorial Note to Volume 2, Issue 1 (2023) of the Nordic Journal of Legal Studies