Abstract: In the last 20 years since the Cold War has ended the organization of armed forces around the world changed considerably. One of such changes includes privatization of part of the functions, which were earlier recognized as purely military ones. Currently the status of private military and security companies is the “black hole” in the international law. The article concerns the issue of the status of the PMSC staff in the armed conflict and their correlation with those of mercenary. When evaluating this issue we can draw a conclusion that these two types are not identical. The author comes to a conclusion that while the PMSC staff may gain the combatant status, in most cases they fail to meet the requirements of the Geneva Conventions for this status. Therefore, the primary status of the PMSC staff during an armed conflict is that of civilian persons.

Keywords: private military companies, international law, international humanitarian law, law of the armed conflicts, combatants, non-combatants, mercenary, prisoners of war, PMSC, the Geneva Conventions.

Abstract: The article concerns the very definition of “globalization”, its nature and elements, as well as the factors influencing the formation of this objectively lasting process from the points of view of various authors. The author points out the lack of uniform definition of the term “globalization”, analyzing the elements of globalization showing themselves within the international legal order, and, more specifically, in the international trade system, currency and finances system and investment system. The author uncovers the ways for the development of international economic legal order under the influence of globalization processes. The author shows positive and negative features of the globalization process. Globalization is compared with the regional integration processes. It is proven, that the modern civilization is capable of implementing the globalization ideas in some time, in spite of the existing difficulties. The author studied the works of Russian and foreign scientists on globalization problems, analyzing the decisions of international organizations and international conference materials regarding the globalization process. The author uses systemic analysis, comparative legal, historical and logical methods. Among the many dimensions of globalization, the author chose those influencing the formation of the international economic order. The author also singles out the definitions of globalization, which are the most suitable from the standpoint of international economic law. The article reflects the factors influencing the development of the international trade system, serving as basis for the sustainability of the currency and financial system, as well as for the stability of foreign investment. Globalization processes have more positive features, than negative ones. Globalization is also closely connected with the problem of liquidation of the gap between the industrially developed and developing state, especially in the sphere of finances and technology transfer. The regional integration of states on various levels should be capable of overcoming disproportions and implementing globalization ideas in the opinion of the author.

Keywords: globalization, the Golden Billion, international economic legal order, international trade system, international currency and financial system, regional integration, sustainable development, transnational corporations, brain drain, the Okinawa Charter.

Abstract: The World Trade Organization together with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fun form the modern institutional structure for international economic cooperation. All of the activities of this organization are aimed at liberalization of trade. The basis for the WTO system is mostly formed by the unified global legal platform. Legally speaking the WTO treaties serve as multilateral trade agreements, and joining these agreements considerably lowers the need to conclude bilateral treaties. At the same time, the WTO organizes both bilateral and multilateral treaties among its Member States. The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) being part of the WTO law is the first code of multilateral legally binding norms, regulating international trade in services. The article concerns forms of international trade in services, as well as the key provisions of the GATS, the principles of the international trade in services. Attention is also paid to the measures aimed to protect national interests of the Treaty members.

Keywords: the World Trade Organization, liberalization of trade in services, the GATS, principles, mutual obligations, exceptions to the obligations, access to the markets, quantity limitations, the most favored nation treatment, national regime.

Abstract: The article contains an overview of the main international legal documents of the UN and the Council of Europe concerning the guarantees of rights of persons suffering from the mental disorders. Millions of people around the world suffer from mental disorders. In accordance with the evaluation provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) by 2004 13 per cent of all illnesses were mental disorders. At the same time the persons suffering from mental disorders are often discriminated and their rights are violated, while the social and psychiatric aid to them often fails to meet the modern standards. These circumstances substantiate the interest towards the rights of such persons at the international level. All of the international legal documents in the sphere of human rights may be divided into two categories: those legally binding for the states, which have ratified such an international legal act and the so-called international human rights standards, serving as directives, and guidelines, which may be found in international declarations, resolutions and recommendations, and such acts are mostly adopted by the international organizations. In accordance to the sphere of their application international legal instruments in the sphere of human rights may be divided into universal and regional ones. The former include international legal acts of the UN and its specialized institutions, such as the WHO, and the latter ones are initiated by the regional international organizations. Additionally, the European Court of Human Rights, acting based upon the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, makes decisions on specific cases regarding rights of persons suffering from mental disorder, and, therefore, it forms precedents in this sphere. These precedents may be used together with the international legal acts in order to draft or amend national laws in the sphere of mental health and practice of their application.

Keywords: mental health, mental disorder, human rights, psychiatric aid, international law, international legal documents, mental illnesses, the Convention, the European Court of Human Rights, health care improvement.

Abstract: This article is devoted to the modern tendencies in the sphere of legal regulation of international combined transport of goods, passengers and luggage in the international traffic. Development of a wide rage of transportation and the need to rationalize the transportation of goods, passengers and luggage in the international traffic require use of various types of transportation in the international transportation of goods. Such types of transportation are called combined. A combined transportation is a consecutive use of two or more types of transport in international goods or passengers transport, and they recognize indirect combined transportation (by an expeditor) and direct combined transportation (by the combined transportation operator). The direct combined transportation is registered by the single (turnaround) transportation document, covering all of the types of participating transportation vehicles. Using the comparative legal analysis, the authors provide detailed evaluation of the norms of the key international treaty in the sphere of combined transportation of goods, which is the Geneva Convention of 1980 of the UNCTAD on international combined transportation of goods. The authors provide consecutive analysis of international norms regulating the substantial elements of contracts for the transportation of goods, responsibility of combined transportation operator for the loss or harm to the goods, the complaint procedure for dispute settlement, the limitation period and the bases for claims in court or arbitration institution for dispute resolution. This article also contains the detailed study of the Draft of the Federal Law “On Direct Mixed (Combined) Transportation”, which was provided by the Government of the Russian Federation, and which is aimed to serve as an instrument for the national legal regulation of this type of transportation. Its significant difference from the Geneva Convention of 1980 is a wider range of application, covering combined transportation of passengers and luggage in addition to combined transportation of goods.

Keywords: international private law, international transportation law, international transportation, combined transportation, combined transportation operator, expeditors, transportation contract, status of a carrier, responsibility of a carrier, international treaty.

Abstract: It is proven that in the sphere of labor relations in the modern global maritime transportation the choice of legislation regulating labor relations between the shipowner and the crew is almost unlimited. It makes the issues of bringing these legal processes into compliance with the international labor law especially topical. The goal of the article is to establish the forms of involvement of international legal standards into the national practice of collective negotiations between the maritime trade unions and shipowners and conclusion of collective agreements with foreign shipowners. The article achieves the following goals: the analysis of international legal requirements to collective negotiation and collective agreements in the maritime sphere, its correspondence with the current practice and possible means to improve the practical situation. The object of studies includes the norms of international law, regulating the processes of collective negotiations with the foreign shipowners and practice of their national application in the post-Soviet states. The article applies formal legal and comparative methods, the author uses statistical, political scientific and forecast-based methods with the use of normative and doctrinal information, as well as the personal experience of the author in the sphere of trade union work. It is established that these issues become especially topical when the shipowners and trade unions fail to act in accordance with the legislation, or when the legislation of the post-Soviet states is partially incompliant with the requirements of international labor and maritime law, and when the governments fail to pay necessary attention to these issues. The author offers the following measures in order to facilitate the application of international norms in the sphere of protection of labor and social rights of mariners when the collective agreements are made with the foreign shipowners. It is necessary to bring national legislations and by-laws in the sphere of labor and employment in accordance with the requirements of the Ukrainian Independent Maritime Trade Union (KPMS), including development of the new license conditions and new forms of control over the obligatory presence of collective agreements, covering all of the concluded labor contracts of foreign employment of mariners. It also includes the obligation of filing public registers of such agreements with due mention of its parties for the bodies registering such collective agreements, establishing responsibility for the employers, trade unions and associations for the failure to register collective treaties, which were concluded by them. It also includes control over the competent state bodies, when citizens of these states are employed in the foreign ships, over the actions of the ITF and the ITF trade unions within the context of protection of the rights of mariners to be protected against discrimination in their employment.

Keywords: mariner employment, the ILO Conventions, the ILO guidelines, the collective treaties, collective negotiations, maritime trade unions, foreign shipowners, ITF, ITF trade unions, labor legislation.

Abstract: The article is devoted to the foreign experience of using asymmetric arbitration clauses, providing only one of the parties to an arbitration agreement the right to choose between arbitration and the state court. The goal of the study is to analyze the modern tendencies in the practice of application of such clauses. This issue is topical due to the Decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation of 2011 in the dispute between the ZAO “Russian Telephone Company” and the OOO “Sony-Ericsson Mobile Communications Rus”, where asymmetric arbitration clauses were struck down in Russia. The article is based upon the wide range of foreign arbitration practice, as well as topical foreign doctrinal sources. Special attention is paid to the legislative regulation and legal practice in the states, such as the USA, Bulgaria, Poland, etc., where in some situations or by direct legislative provision asymmetrical arbitration clauses may be recognized as invalid clauses. The article includes analysis of the typical bases for the courts in a number of states to recognize asymmetric arbitration clauses invalid. Based upon the study the author makes a conclusion that currently there is no unified approach towards this type of arbitration clauses in various jurisdictions.

Keywords: international commercial arbitration, asymmetric arbitration clause, alternative arbitration clause, optional jurisdiction clause, optional arbitration clause, reciprocity principle, bad faith doctrine, invalidity of an arbitration clause, potestative deal, arbitration agreement.

Abstract: This article concerns history of formation and procedural fundamentals of the activities of the specialized institutions (agencies) of the UNO. The author describes institutional provisions for the specialized UN institutions, regulating their plenary, executive and subsidiary bodies, as well as the most significant conditions for decision-making in each of the specialized UN institutions. The author analyzes specific procedural provisions regulating the decision-making practice on various issues in the sphere of competence of such UN institutions. The author applies the methods of comparative legal studies, procedural modeling, procedural schemes (the schemes are not included into the article). Any procedure is aimed at making certain decisions. Therefore, it would be viable to classify the decisions and decision-making subjects, rather than dividing the procedures into decision-making and other procedures. Then one could state that both the procedural norms and functions and structures of the bodies predefine the decision-making practice and influence the nature of these decisions.

Keywords: the UNO, specialized institutions, procedural rules, Secretariat, plenary bodies, executive bodies, subsidiary bodies, the ITU, the UNESCO, the ILO.

Abstract: The goal of this article is to draw attention to the key issues regarding the activities of the United Nations Organization in the sphere of solving the problems of justice of transitional period and support of supremacy of law in conflict and post-conflict subjects in the last two decades. In order to achieve this goal the author uses critical and comparative analysis of the legal basis and doctrine in the sphere of fundamental values, which the international community now faces: reform and support of administering justice and the principle of supremacy of law. The analysis shows that compliance to lawfulness in the sphere of support of justice and supremacy of law in the conflict and post-conflict is fundamental for the guarantees of sustainable peace after resolving a conflict, and also for the efficient protection of human rights, sustainable economic progress and development. This experience shows that protection of peace both in the short-term perspective in the post-conflict period and in the long-term perspective are impossible, unless the population of the states become assured that they can achieve compensation of the harm caused to them via the legitimate structures for peaceful dispute settlement and fair administration of justice.

Keywords: problems of justice, support of justice, reform of justice, administration of justice, the principle of supremacy of law, the UN standards, support of the supremacy of law, peace-making operations, justice in the transitional period, the International Criminal Court.

Abstract: The goal of this article is to provide characteristics of the implementation of the main goals of the Biodiversity Convention, preservation of biodiversity, sustainable use of its components and joint use of benefits from genetic resources on just and fair basis. The article provides characteristic features of the key measures in the national legislation, which are aimed to achieve these goals. Special attention is paid to the problem of implementation of the goal of provision of equal access to genetic resources and fair distribution of benefits from them. The author provides an overview of the provision of the Nagoya Protocol to the Convention, which is fully devoted to the legal regulation of the above-mentioned problem. One of its novelties includes detailed provisions on the possible benefits from exploitation of genetic resources. The author provides characteristics of the Russian Federation being the state with vast natural resources, including diverse animals and plants, which allows to treat it as a state providing genetic resources. At the same time in order to develop science and the modern production technologies it is necessary to use genetic resources from other regions of the planet. The author substantiates the need for the Russian Federation to join the Nagoya Protocol.

Keywords: environmental law, biodiversity, genetic resources, guarantees of access, fair distribution, convention, protocol, benefits, natural resources, sustainable development.

Abstract: The article concerns the definition of “pollution of marine environment”, which is extremely topical for the modern law, since the threshold of protection of the World ocean to a considerable extend depends on its elements. The author characterizes this term from the standpoints of natural sciences and jurisprudence. He studies definitions of this term in international and Russian law (including international treaties and Federal Laws of the Russian Federation). The author then analyzes the position of Russian and foreign legal scholars and environmental specialists on this issue. The author used general and specific scientific cognition methods, including logical, systemic and structural analysis, comparative legal studies, analysis and synthesis, formal legal approach, etc. The article includes an interdisciplinary study of the definition of “pollution of marine environment” in Russian and international law, and he provides propositions for its improvement, especially concerning widening the scope of this term in part of types and methods of committing “pollution of marine environment”.

Keywords: marine environment, pollution, definition apparatus, environmental protection, the World ocean, pollution agent, environment, dump, disposal, invasion.

Abstract: This article concerns correspondence between the legal regulation standards in the Customs Union of the EurAsEC and the WTO standards. Special attention is paid to the norms of the Customs Code of the Customs Union in correlation with the provisions of the International Convention on the simplification and harmonization of Customs procedures .Additionally, the author provides a classification of regional trade agreements depending on economic and economically related integration of the states. The author discusses legal issues regarding the need to follow legal obligations imposed upon the states by various international legal documents. The author draws the following conclusions: 1. The normative legal basis of the Russian Federation is based upon the WTO standards and it generally corresponds to their requirements. The presence of the bilateral treaties between Russia and the third party states is legislatively required and it does not contradict to the WTO requirements. 2. There is need to bring the terminological basis of the Customs Union into correspondence with the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol, first of all, in the sphere of provisions of the Chapter 3 of the General Annex. 3. Improvement of some procedural norms of the Customs Code of the Customs Union based upon the general principles and standards of the Kyoto Convention is one of the priority vectors of its development.

Keywords: the Customs Union, the Kyoto Convention, regional trade agreements, integration, international convention, economic integration theory, preferential trade and tariff treaties, the Economic Union, the EurAsEC, the Customs Code.

Abstract: The environmental legal literature provides detailed analysis of the definition, key directions and tendencies of the European environmental policy, as well as its basic (fundamental) principles, their influence upon the contents of normative legal acts of the European Union and its Member States, judicial practice of the EU and the supranational courts. Based upon the main goal of environmental law and policy national environmental legal systems of some states have developed a broader approach to understanding the nature of environmental principle, while not departing from the general principles. In a number of cases formulation of environmental principles is not limited to those mentioned in the Treaty establishing the European Community. As the studies of foreign specialists have shown, the environmental principles form its own real legal field where such principles are transferred into more detailed national legislation or political documents. Topical disputes arise regarding whether the system of principles of this legal branch should be classified within an open or a closed system, and the same is true towards the principles of environmental policy of the European Union.

Keywords: the European Union, the environmental policy, the environmental law, environmental principles, environmental legal system, environmental law, environment, treaties, classification, the European Parliament.