International Law in Brief

The Trial Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) concluded 10 days of closing statements in Case 002/01 against Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea.  According to the press release, Nuon Chea, who served as deputy secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, and Khieu Samphan, the former head of state of Democratic Kampuchea, are charged with crimes against humanity related to the forced movement of the population from Phnom Penh in April 1975, the subsequent forced movement of the population from other regions, and the alleged execution of Khmer Republic soldiers...

The EU Commission has found that the UK’s “patent box” scheme—adopted earlier this year and providing a 10% rate of corporation tax for income derived from patents—violates the EU Code of Conduct for Business Taxation, which aims to prevent countries from operating policies that result in harmful tax competition.  According to a recent article, the patent box violates the code for two reasons.  First, it is not “sufficiently linked to real economic activity” given that “it would allow companies that are merely managed in the U.K. to claim the credit, regardless of whether the actual ‘...

Over 300 senior tax officials from more than 100 jurisdictions and international organizations met in Paris during the 18th Annual Tax Treaty Meeting to discuss solutions to unintended double non-taxation caused by base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS).  According to the press release, the officials “discussed the content of the Action Plan on BEPS released in July 2013 and ways through which developing countries can engage and provide input.”  The Action Plan on BEPS relates to “tax planning strategies that exploit gaps and mismatches in tax rules to make profits ‘disappear’ for tax...

Click here for Judgment (approximately 63 pages); click here for press release (approximately 5 pages)

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the Janoweic and Others v. Russia case brought by relatives of victims the Katyń massacre—the killing of more than 20,000 prisoners of war in the wake of the Red Army’s invasion of Poland in 1939—who argued that Russia had not carried out an effective investigation into their relatives’ deaths while displaying a dismissive attitude towards their requests for information.  The Court first found that it was not...