The Potential Impact of Japan’s New State Secrecy Bill on Freedom of Information

Written by Joel Rheuben (with a more extensively hyperlinked version at freedominfo.org)
As recently reported on the ABC, on 25 October the Japanese government moved to introduce to the Japanese legislature the “State Secrecy Bill” (formally, the Bill on the Protection of Designated Secrets). The government apparently hopes to make the bill law by the end of the year, in time for the establishment of a new National Security Council, which has been used as the justification for the bill.
Perhaps because of this rush, the bill is – to paraphrase Oscar Wilde – not only bad, but badly written, which is worse.

Continue reading “The Potential Impact of Japan’s New State Secrecy Bill on Freedom of Information”

Looking Back from Abroad on the Accomplishments of Professor Zentaro Kitagawa

The late Professor Zentaro Kitagawa (1932-2013) is sorely missed, as a renowned scholar of private law and comparative law, as well as an extraordinarily active builder of bridges among researchers in Japan and many parts of the world.
Melanie Trezise’s translation of a speech given by his “deshi” Professor Keizo Yamamoto at a Remembrance Function, held in Kyoto on 23 June 2013, will be published in the next issue of the Journal of Japanese Law along with the following brief remarks from Professor Harald Baum and myself – who first met in 1992 as researchers at Kyoto University under Professor Kitagawa. Sydney Law School will also host a symposium on “Contract Law Reform in Asia”, on 6 December 2013, dedicated to the inspiration and intellectual energy provided by Professor Kitagawa.

Continue reading “Looking Back from Abroad on the Accomplishments of Professor Zentaro Kitagawa”

Obituary for Professor Satoru Osanai

Written by Dan Rosen (Professor, Chuo Law School)
You don’t need to believe in the system of making merit for a future life to appreciate its value in the present one. Satoru Osanai was a world-class merit-maker, spreading it across the globe and empowering others to do the same.
Professor Osanai died on September 4th, a few days after his 71st birthday. Throughout his career at Chuo University, he introduced Japanese students and scholars to the legal systems of other countries, and he demystified Japan’s legal system for audiences abroad.

Continue reading “Obituary for Professor Satoru Osanai”

Investor-State Arbitration: In the TPP and RCEP (‘ASEAN+6’ FTA)?

It remains to be seen whether the new Coalition Government will revert to Australia’s longstanding treaty practice prior to the 2011 ‘Gillard Government Trade Policy Statement’. That declared that Australia would not include investor-state arbitration (ISA) protections in future investment treaties – including investment chapters of Free Trade Agreements – even with developing countries.
The new Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, has declared that he is keen to conclude FTAs which Australia has long been negotiating with Japan, Korea and China respectively. The Gillard Government’s stance on ISA adding to delays experienced in finalising these treaties – see comments, including some of my own in The Australian on 21 September 2013. It also complicates negotiations for regional agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
The ISA system is far from perfect, but there are many ways for Australia to draft provisions in investment treaties – old and new – to balance public and private interests effectively. Examples that attract varying degrees of support, from experts in international investment law, are provided in my paper co-authored with Chris Campbell and Sophie Nappert, forthcoming in a special issue of the Transnational Dispute Management journal. It and some of my other recent papers relevant to this topic, uploaded on SSRN.com, are listed with their Abstracts below.

Continue reading “Investor-State Arbitration: In the TPP and RCEP (‘ASEAN+6’ FTA)?”

Sydney Law School students in Asia: (4) China

Following on from the report by Angelica McCall on her learning experiences in China, another final-year LLB student, Diana Hu, outlines her participation in an international forum for law students held from 19 August by Renmin University in Beijing – one of Sydney Law School’s important partners in China.
“Legal Integration within the Asia-Pacific: The First China International Legal Elite Camp”
Written by Diana Hu.
“China is now such a powerful country – in terms of size, people, and the economy. What does China have to gain by forming a union with Japan or South Korea?”. This astute question was asked by a PhD student from South Korea and directed at Associate Professor Dong Yang, Vice President of Asia Pacific Legal Studies at the Renmin University of China (RUC). And so begun an intensive week of multilingual lectures, team-based discussions and thought-provoking presentations, all centred around one theme: legal integration within the Asia-Pacific region.
Nineteen law students from 17 universities across the Asia-Pacific met during Beijing’s hot summer, eager to attend the “Future Leader – First China International Elite Camp” hosted by the RUC Law School. Armed with prior research and materials, we all expected to learn about the Chinese legal system while examining the interaction between our diverse laws across the Asia-Pacific region. What I did not expect was one of the most enjoyable weeks of my 6-year (extended) double degree, full of new cultural and social experiences.

Continue reading “Sydney Law School students in Asia: (4) China”

Taking Seriously Consumer Product Accident Reporting Duties under Australian Law

On 8 June 2013 the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Volkswagen Australia would be formally recalling Golf and other Volkswagen-made models that had suddenly lost power. The family of one driver and the driver of a truck that rear-ended her Golf vehicle are arguing before the coroner that this was a possible cause for her fatal accident. Over 300 other owners of Volkswagen-made vehicles have also reported problems. Similar concerns about some of Volkswagen’s direct-shift gearboxes had led to formal recalls of some models as early as 2009 in the USA, then in China, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia and Taiwan. However, Volkswagen reportedly stated that Australia does not have the same gearboxes, and instead had initially undertaken a program involving its dealers. Marketing experts have criticised the recall recently commenced in Australia, suggesting that Volkswagen will have suffered extensive damage to its brands by not acting publically earlier to address consumer concerns – in addition to the estimated $170m in direct repair costs.
It will probably come as no surprise that Volkswagen conducted recalls more promptly in the USA. Toyota suffered extensive adverse publicity there relating especially to problems instead involving sudden acceleration, generating recalls of over 10 million vehicles over 2009-2011 and a recently-finalised $1.6b class action settlement. Nor should it be surprising that Volkswagen undertook a recall in Japan. Japanese consumers have become increasingly sensitive about product safety issues, especially since 2000 – when Mitsubishi Motors was found to have been conducting illegal clandestine recalls over an extended period. The delay in Australia is disturbing, especially given the increased attention otherwise being paid to consumer protection since “re-harmonisation” pursuant to the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) reforms enacted in 2010.

Continue reading “Taking Seriously Consumer Product Accident Reporting Duties under Australian Law”

Guest Blog – Assessing the significance of PM Abe’s electoral “victory”

Written by Joel Rheuben (LLM candidate UTokyo, LLB/BA (Hons) Syd, Solicitor (NSW))
The 21 July 2013 election for the House of Councillors, the upper house of Japan’s Diet, has reversed the status quo of the past several years by providing the governing parties with a majority in both houses. As Tobias Harris rightly points out, possibly pre-prepared descriptions of the victory as a “landslide” fall wide of the mark. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) did not achieve a majority in its own right, and will continue to be dependent on the support of its coalition partner, Komeito. The majority also falls well short of the two-thirds that would have allowed Mr Abe to more easily realise his cherished goal of initiating a referendum for constitutional amendment. Nevertheless, this election result does have some constitutional and practical significance.

Continue reading “Guest Blog – Assessing the significance of PM Abe’s electoral “victory””

Discourse and Practice in International Commercial Arbitration

On 24 May 2013 I gave a presentation by videolink to a conference on “The Roles of Psychology in International Arbitration“, held in London at Brunel University, in the session related to international arbitration awards. This drew partly on Hong Kong based interdisciplinary research project on discursive practices in international arbitration, with considerable emphasis on Asia-Pacific developments. The presentation outline is below or here (download PDF file).

Continue reading “Discourse and Practice in International Commercial Arbitration”

Disaster Management: Socio-Legal and Asia-Pacific Perspectives

Catastrophic events are increasingly in the public eye, fuelling a burgeoning but complex field of interdisciplinary research and policy-making worldwide. Recent devastating natural disasters have included the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004, Hurricane Katrina in the United States (US) in 2005, Cyclone Nargis in Burma (Myanmar) and the Sichuan Earthquake in 2008. Developed economies have not been spared, as shown by the Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand and Australia’s widespread floods in Queensland in 2011. In particular, the disasters that wreaked havoc from 11 March 2011 in the north-east region of Japan have highlighted the significance and challenges of disaster prevention and management.
Based on the international conference held at Sydney Law School in March 2012, which has also generated a recent mini-issue (No 34) of the Journal of Japanese Law, A/Prof Simon Butt, Dr Hitoshi Nasu and I have co-edited “Asia-Pacific Disaster Management: Comparative and Socio-Legal Perspectives” (Springer, forthcoming November 2013). A manuscript version of our extensive introductory chapter, freely downloadable here, outlines:
(i) what can be encompassed by the terms “disasters” and “disaster management”;
(ii) contributions to “disaster studies” from various social sciences as well as domestic and international law perspectives; and
(iii) lessons that can be learned from socio-legal perspectives on recent catastrophes in Asia-Pacific countries, including possibilities for regional and international cooperation in disaster mitigation, relief and recovery.

Continue reading “Disaster Management: Socio-Legal and Asia-Pacific Perspectives”

Process and Substance in Contract Law Reform in Japan – and Australia?

Japan’s is well underway on the path to completing its first comprehensive reform of contract law since enactment of the Civil Code in 1896. A driving force has been Takashi Uchida, a prominent participant in Japan’s intense discussions over contract law theory in the early 1990s. He resigned in 2007 as Professor of Civil Law at the University of Tokyo in order to spearhead deliberations within the Legislative Council (hosei shingikai) of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), now charged with recommending specific reforms.
At the Council’s first Working Group meeting on 22 November 2009, one member reportedly suggested that deliberations should proceed “without paying too much attention to ‘the Basic Policy for the Law of Obligation Reform’ (draft proposals by [the] Japanese Civil Code (Law of Obligations) Reform Commission)” because it had been confirmed that the Working Group’s deliberations should start “from zero”. However, the Draft Proposals (DP) published in April 2009 by that semi-private Reform Commission, along with a detailed five-volume commentary written by its members, were clearly intended to frame the subsequent debate in the formal Working Group arena – and have mostly achieved that effect.

Continue reading “Process and Substance in Contract Law Reform in Japan – and Australia?”