St. Petersburg International Legal Forum
St. Petersburg Digital Legal Forum 9 ½
Rule of Corona
Online tracks:
- “Human Rights under Quarantine”:
- Limits of human rights restriction in order to protect people from the virus: involuntary sequestration, ban on mass meetings and manifestations, new powers for army and police, the issue of specificity and clarity of requirements imposed under quarantine.
- Commensuration of requirements applicable in different jurisdictions with similar levels of previously achieved human right guarantees (France, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom). Does the rigidity of requirements depend on the level of democracy?
- Quarantine and ECtHR.
- Legal statuses of quarantine (emergency, threat, high alert): different words describing the same?
- “Quarantine and Civil Law”:
- Is it the epidemic itself or its outcomes that make a Force Majeure?
- Fair distribution of risks between counterparts in contract.
- Mitigation of the burden on businesses by imposed by regulators (easy-term loans, exemption from liabilities to government under public purchase contracts).
- Free services and open licenses.
- Remote trading and payments.
- Amendments to loan liabilities.
- “Remedies during Pandemic”
- What cases should be deemed “urgent court cases” to be heard regardless of the quarantine?
- Possibility of transfer to online proceedings: only for the period of quarantine, or from now on?
- Bankruptcy moratorium: who would benefit from it?
- How can acts by government authorities be appealed?
- Procedural aspects: suspension of limitation periods, case examination deadlines, means of notification, etc.
- Enforcement during quarantine.
- “Remote Employment”
- How will the rights of an employee and an employer change? Revolutionary perception of a labor function: no more power of a company over an employee. No more employment agreements, just job contracts?
- Vacations, sickness leaves, or remote workplaces?
- Liability for accidents in the course of labor function performance at home, control over business hours, reimbursed expenses, etc.
- Migration and visa problems during quarantine.
- “The Virus’ Information Environment”
- Liability for proliferation of rumors and panic.
- Change of the roles of mass media, Internet providers, bloggers.
- Blocking fake news.
- Impact of information about the virus spread on markets, companies capitalization.
- “Public Administration and Legislation during Epidemic”:
- Prompt preparation and adoption of public authorities’ decisions during the uncertainty about the virus spread?
- Who should decide — politics or doctors?
- Government support measures (tax holidays, limited audits).
- Will the hierarchy of laws and regulations collapse? What should be done to ensure the legal unity within a jurisdiction?
Website of the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum 9 1/2: Rule of Corona