This contribution responds to the so-called judicial amendment to the Constitution of the Slovak Republic of 9 December 2020, which was published in the Collection of Law No. 422/2020, which resulted, inter alia, in major changes of the position, composition, and powers of the Judicial Council of the SR; the author points to the evolution of the Slovak Judicial Council since 2001 as well as summarizes the circumstances that led to its establishment, also changes in its constitutional status, composition, presidency, and competencies. The contribution includes concrete details how, according to recent constitutional reform, the system of checks and balances in the composition of the Judicial Council of the Slovak republic was implemented, to eliminate the judicial corporatism and negative consequences of political influence on that matter. The essential part of this document is the comparative analysis of the selected aspects of the composition of judicial councils in the selected European states. Special attention is paid to the issue of the majority of the judges among other members and the influence of the political forces in the process of selecting the members of the judicial councils. All of these used methods of scientific research led the author to formulate and identify the system of checks and balances in the composition of the judicial councils to ensure the independence and effectiveness of the judicial council and even for the whole judiciary in a national and/or European environment.
Key-words: the Judicial Council of the Slovak Republic, the system of checks and balances, the composition of the judicial councils, the presidency of the judicial councils, the Judicial Councils of the Southern model
JEL Classification: K19, K40
DOI: 10.24818/TBJ/2022/12/2.01

Digital currency is supported by blockchain as the underlying technology, and possesses the characteristics of decentralization, programmability, and security verification based on cryptographic principles. In fact, it can be divided into legal digital currency and non-legal digital currency depending to whether the digital currency is issued by the competent authority. China’s legal digital currency (DC/EP) has implemented early and already has a certain scale of development. This article examines the legal issues that arise from the implementation of a legal digital currency in China, issues that Chinese lawmakers inevitably face. These legal issues may arise at both domestic and international levels, such as personal privacy protection, currency sovereignty conflicts, potential cross-border crimes risks. This article emphasizes that on the one hand, the development of legal digital currency must be carried out within a reasonable legal framework to avoid new systemic risks caused by the development of technology. On the other hand, it is also necessary for China to put in place as soon as possible an appropriate legal framework, explore the international cooperation of diversified supervision as well to ensure the healthy development of legal digital currency.
Key-words: Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), DC/EP, legal challenges, financial supervision, international cooperation.
JEL Classification: K22, K33
DOI: 10.24818/TBJ/2022/12/2.02

The military actions taking place in Ukraine brought a major influx of refugees to the Czech Republic. A majority of them, being either citizens or residents of Ukraine, were carrying various official documents (such as residence permits, driving licences, university diplomas etc), issued by the competent authorities of their state of origin. The massive circulation of these persons in the Czech Republic automatically implied a necessity to deal with the implications of such documents, or with their absence (such as in the case of students, not carrying any educational certifications). This article deals with how the administrative law of the Czech Republic addressed the fact that various documents, issued by the authorities of Ukraine are being used for various purposes in the Czech Republic. Taking into consideration that one may expect further influx of Ukrainian citizens to our territory and their residence in the Czech Republic, this article also aims to outline a way forward.
Key-words: international administrative law; tailor-made laws; Leges Ukrainae; mutual recognition; translation of official documents
JEL Classification: K23, K32
DOI: 10.24818/TBJ/2022/12/2.03

National (civil) courts play a significant role in enforcing EU competition law as functional Union courts. This scientific article objective is to investigate the extent to which the European Commission is obligated to follow the decisions of national civil courts. The analysis requires an examination of the appropriate legal framework. As a result, in the first part of the paper, the European Commission obligation to take into account the decisions of the national courts from primary law perspective will be examined. Based on this, the second part explore the link between the European Commission and national courts from the standpoint of relevant secondary law. From the scientific methods we have used the analytical and descriptive method to analyse the current situation. By comparative method we introduce different views on the legal regulation. The presented topic has not been thoroughly examined in the literature on the subject thus far, giving the chance to identify avenues for future research.
Key-words: Competition, European Commission, EU Law
JEL Classification: K15, K21
DOI: 10.24818/TBJ/2022/12/2.04

The article examines areas of combating corruption in Ukraine, as a country with a high level of corruption, and some other countries with successful experience in combating corruption crimes. The article highlights features of state policy and criminal legal means of combating corruption crimes in Ukraine. The shortcoming of the state policy in the field of overcoming corruption were revealed, among which is the fact that Ukraine does not meet the requirements of international instruments for interaction between government and the public. The mechanism of counteraction to corruption in Ukraine is defined and the reasons of high level of corruption in Ukraine are revealed. The international experience in the fight against corruption crimes has been studied in order to identify and borrow effective experience in combating corruption. The experience of countries with a low level of corruption shows that the system of measures to prevent corruption should be based on the principles of legality, publicity, transparency, inevitability of punishment of perpetrators of corruption crimes. Based on foreign experience, recommendations for improving the anti-corruption mechanism in Ukraine have been developed.
Key-words: corruption, crimes, criminal liability, anti-corruption mechanism, combating corruption.
JEL Classification: K14, K42
DOI: 10.24818/TBJ/2022/12/2.05

30 years after the beginning of democratic transition, deconcentrated state administration (DSA) in Croatia and Hungary stands on different pathways - one led to the abolition of county state administration offices and extensive fragmentation of DSA, the other led to the integration of DSA and transforming county government offices to one of the biggest first-instance state administration bodies in Europe. The paper compares developmental paths of Croatian and Hungarian DSA during this period putting it into broader institutional context of changes in local self-government system. The comparation of Croatian and Hungarian case explores the interplay of historical heritage, pressures from international and EU environment, and national specificities on shaping contemporary territorial administration systems, role that DSA plays in post-socialist countries, and the factors that dictate its developmental changes, roles, and significance in territorial administration system.
Key-words: deconcentrated state administration, territorial administration system, territorial administration reforms in post-socialist countries, deconcentrated state administration in Croatia and Hungary.
JEL Classification: H19, H83, K23
DOI: 10.24818/TBJ/2022/12/2.06

This article explores the problems of legal regulation of the implementation of the "right of drug addicts for rehabilitation" in Ukraine‚ and the foreign experience of individual EU countries in this area. The methodology of this scientific work is based on the system of methods of general scientific and special-legal methods of cognition. This paper reveals the features of the implementation of the "right of drug addicts to rehabilitation", establishes the concept of "rehabilitation of drug addicts", as well as the term "right of drug addicts to rehabilitation", the legal status of individual subjects is studied. Who are involved in the implementation of rehabilitation services for drug addicts. It is proposed to divide legal acts that cover the implementation of the “right of drug addicts to rehabilitation” into two groups: (1) general and (2) special. It is emphasized that the legal framework that would cover an effective state system for the rehabilitation of drug addicts in Ukraine has not yet been created, and as a result, a large number of drug addicts do not have access to rehabilitation services‚ or do not receive them at all. Directions for optimizing the legislation of Ukraine on the rehabilitation of drug addicts are given, with an emphasis on the implementation in practice of effective programs for the rehabilitation of adolescents who are dependent on psychoactive substances, taking into account their age groups. It is proposed to adopt a special Law of Ukraine on the rehabilitation of drug addicts. It is concluded that the effective implementation of advanced methods for the rehabilitation of drug addicts in Ukraine, taking into account international standards, should be a priority part of state policy, and it is important to use the principle of a holistic approach to the legal regulation of such rehabilitation assistance.
Key-words: legal regulation‚ right of drug addicts to rehabilitation‚ rehabilitation of drug addicts‚ protection of the rights and legitimate interests of drug addicts‚ foreign experience.
JEL Classification: K14, K24
DOI: 10.24818/TBJ/2022/12/2.07

The main aim of the EU food legislation is health protection of consumers. The key regulations, Regulation 1169/2011 on food information to consumers and regulation on nutrition and health claims are intended to ensure that consumers have sufficient information about the quality of the food product. That is why there is an effort by the EU to constantly improve food legislation in order to provide consumers with information in an acceptable and useful form. Currently the nutrient profiles and botanical health claims are in the focus of the EU Commission. However, this increases the requirements on food producers, in particular on the packaging of the product, which must fit even more information in a reasonably large font, and on the environment, as the amount of waste produced increases with increasing packaging area. The paper deals with the selected legal arrangements related to the health and nutrition claims on the food in EU food legislation in the context of judgments of the Court of Justice of the EU and point out the actual questions in relation to them.
Key-words: food, EU food legislation, consumer, health claims, nutrition claims.
JEL Classification: K13, K23, K32
DOI: 10.24818/TBJ/2022/12/2.08