During the Round Table discussion: Ludmila Novoselova (far left), President of the IP Court of the Russian Federation; Karin Friehe (centre), Presiding Judge at the German Federal Patent Court; Matthias Schmid (on her right), Head of Section at the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection Russian Federation
As in previous years, the IRZ was also represented at the IX Legal Forum in St. Petersburg, which took place from 14 to 18 May 2019. Taking part in the event were some 5,000 representatives from 95 countries, including Germany, France, United Kingdom, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Spain and Portugal.
The following international organisations were involved in the IX Legal Forum:
United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL),
International Court of Justice,
World Trade Organisation (WTO),
European Council and
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Once again this year, the Legal Forum dealt with the question of how the globalisation of the economy and the modernisation of the law can be reconciled with one another. This is predominantly about finding standardised legal solutions for the problems arising as a result of globalisation. Within this range of topics, the main focus of the event was on the development of modern law studies and legal training in the Russian Federation, as well as in other countries. Another important topic was the modernisation of Russian law and its alignment with global standards of legal protection, with the objective of including the best application of the law from foreign legislation and thereby protecting the interests of all parties in a legal relationship, e.g. companies, foreign investors and originators.
More than seventy individual events covered these and other current legal issues.
Representing the IRZ were Karin Friehe, a Presiding Judge at the German Federal Patent Court, and Matthias Schmid, Head of Section at the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection, who participated in a round table discussion on “Right on information distribution: public vs. private”. At this event, the problems of integrating digital technologies in various spheres of human life were discussed from a legal point of view, in particular the way software companies and social network providers deal with user data. The discussions covered the terms and conditions for using user data for software products, who owns this information and whether this user data is subject to intellectual property. How users can protect their personal data on the Internet was also discussed. During the round table, representatives from Russian and foreign courts, Russian Ministers and Information Technology companies exchanged their points of view and tried to formulate a common position on this key issue.
Participants in the conference with the German expert Markus Schlüter (3rd from right) and Dirk Benkendorff (to his left)
This year the IRZ continued the cooperation with its long-standing partner, the Law Academy of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, and organised the international scientific-practical conference on “Current regulatory problems in healthcare: theory and practice” in Izhevsk on 18 April 2019.
The conference addressed the following target groups:
Representatives of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Udmurtia;
employees of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation;
employees of the Izhevsk branch of the Law Academy and
senior doctors.
The German speakers were Markus Schlüter, Presiding Judge at the Higher Regional Court of Dresden, and Deputy Secretary Dirk Benkendorff, Head of Division of “Fire Protection, Rescue Service and Disaster Management“ in the Saxonian State Ministry of the Interior. Markus Schlüter covered the civil-law aspects of the topic and gave a lecture on „Doctors in court – topical issues of liability for medical malpractice in Germany under civil law“. Medical liability under criminal law was explained by Dirk Benkendorff in his lecture on “Criminal law for the medical profession and rescue service in Germany”.
The participants had a lively exchange during the conference. The Russian doctors were very interested in the interpretation of legal terms and in further legal training events. For the German experts, it was interesting to learn that the Law Academy in Izhevsk offers an additional qualification for doctors in the law on liability for medical malpractice. Back in Germany, they want to check whether there is also a need for further legal training for emergency doctors in the Free State of Saxony and how such training could be put into practice. The Russian side also announced that some ideas gained from the lectures of the German experts will be included in upcoming legislative proposals.
Discussions with representatives of the Hanseatic Bar Association: Sabir Kekhlerov (head end, centre), advisor to the Prosecutor General, former representative of the Prosecutor General for the RF and a member of the President’s Council for the Russian Federation for the codification and perfection of legislation on civil law Russian Federation
From 5 to 7 December 2018, the IRZ organised a study visit for a high-ranking delegation from the Russian Federation (RF) to Hamburg. On the Russian side, the visit was organised by the RF Association of Lawyers, which invited high-ranking representatives from various organisations and authorities in the RF to discuss the subjects of the insolvency of legal entities, tax law and intellectual property with their German colleagues. The delegation was led by Sabir Kekhlerov, advisor to the Prosecutor General, former representative of the Prosecutor General for the RF and a member of the President’s Council for the Russian Federation for the codification and perfection of legislation on civil law.
To begin their visit, the delegation was welcomed to the Hamburg Rathaus (city hall) by Hamburg’s Finance Minister Dr. Andreas Dressel. German speakers then went on to explain the subjects “Taxation issues in standard insolvency proceedings” and the “Fight against corruption”:
Melf Christian Volquardsen, Head of General Fiscal Law, levying;
Michael Jahn, Consultant in levying and enforcement and
Hans Randl, Deputy Director, Hamburg services and organisation.
Within the framework of this visit, two representatives from the Federal Tax Service for the RF took the opportunity to give presentations on dealing with tax liabilities and the latest developments in tax administration in the RF.
At the Regional Court of Hamburg, the group was welcomed by its President, Dr. Marc Tully, who presented an overview of the role of the Regional Court together with Heike Hummelmeier and Malte Hansen, both Presiding Judges at the Regional Court, and then went on to explain the possibility of international commercial criminal cases being processed in English at the Regional Court of Hamburg.
Dr. Holger Schatz, Head of Law Enforcement and Law, welcomed the delegation to the judicial authority in Hamburg. Afterwards, Regional Court Judge Dr. Axel Herchen, Head of the Insolvency Court in Hamburg, and Dieter Gerichhausen, Judicial Officer and Head of Department at the Insolvency Court, led expert discussions on selected issues of insolvency law with the delegation members.
At the meeting at the Hanseatic Bar Association, the participants were welcomed by its President Dr. Christian Lemke. Following an overview of the role of the Bar Association, the delegation members were able to discuss legal training in Germany and intellectual property with the attending speakers, lawyers Tatjana Baki, Dr. Rolf-Eckart Schultz-Süchting and Dr. Thorsten Klinger.
Following a welcome speech by Prosecutor General Dr. Jörg Fröhlich, and an overview of the work of public prosecutor’s offices in Hamburg, Public Prosecutor John Oliver Strutz and government official Alfred Knütter gave a lecture on criminal investigations of legal entities in the course of insolvency cases.
At the last stop of the visit at the Gerichtsvollzieherverband Hamburg e.V. (Association of Court Bailiffs), the Russian guests discussed the activity of court bailiffs with Senior Court Bailiff Jonny Krautwurst, who is also Chairman of the Association, and his colleague Wilkowsky, Managing Director of the Association of Court Bailiffs. The members of the delegation showed a great deal of interest in the explanations and discussions with their German colleagues, which was also reflected in the many questions they asked their German counterparts.
The successful German-Russian dialogue is set to continue in the same format.
