International Business Law The newsletter of the IBL master program, Faculty of Law, University of Macau ISSUE 04, February 2014 — WWW.UMAC.MO/FLL/IBL

L egislators, judges, lawyers,

legal scholars and many

more interested in law, con-

stantly produce an ever growing

and already almost infinite

amount of legal materials that

no one can possibly read in a

lifetime. This phenomenon has

already been recognized by

critical concepts like “plethora of law”1, “gigantesque mag-

ma législatif et réglementaire” (French for “gigantic legisla-

tive and regulatory magma”) 2or “Normenflut” and

“Gesetzesflut” 3(German for “flood of norms” or “flood of

laws”), or other excessive forms of “juridification”4. Moreo-

ver, more and more of these materials are just a “mouse-

click away”, that is to say instantly available via internet

search engines (eg , or – if you want to save time to con-

sult both – www.baigoogledu.com/), official webpages

(eg https://docs.wto.org/ dol2fe/ Pages/ FE_Search/

FE_S_ S001.aspx for the WTO or https://treaties.un.org/

Pages/ UNTSOnline.aspx?id=1 for the United Nations Trea-

ty Series UNTS)) or specialised electronic databases (eg

LexisNexis, Westlaw, Heinonline).

At the same time as the legislative materials, case law and

legal writings proliferate, academic publishers and univer-

sities follow this trend by launching many new and ever

more specialised legal journals or book series, which fur-

ther contributes to the increasing total volume of legal

materials. Unfortunate for author planning to submit a

manuscript, almost every journal or book publisher has its

own rules of citation or so-called “style guides”. This is not

1

Macau rules of thumb of legal citation?

some thoughts about research in view of a plethora of rules of legal citation

Rostam J. Neuwirth

Research & Study

2

to even mention the various differ-

ences between different scientific

disciplines, for which a good and

concise overview is presented in the

book “Cite Right” [UM Library: Call

No PN 171 F56 Lip 2011]. Apart from

other scientific disciplines and just

for our legal universe, unluckily, the

diverse spectrum of differences rang-

es not only from footnotes via end-

notes to “in-text citations”. Only for

books (monographs or edited ver-

sions) as well as articles or book

chapters, the discrepancies go much

deeper and concern different sets of

data, such as the last name and first

name of the author (cited in full or

abbreviated), title and subtitle of the

text (in bold, underlined or italics),

as well as year and place of the pub-

lication as well as the name of the

publisher or publishing house. Things

become even more complex, when

we try to cite electronic materials,

webpages, and let alone movies or

media content.

The same difficulties encounter

postgraduate, both master and PhD

students, enrolled in law faculties

of universities around the world,

who are in the process of writing

their theses or research papers. To

both provide relief (but also compli-

cate things further to some extent)

some law faculties have issued their

own citation guides, which students

and researchers must follow. One

well-known example of a legal cita-

tion guide is the so-called

“Bluebook”, a legal citation style

compiled by several US universities

for the US legal system, the 19th

edition (2012) of which is also avail-

able in the UM library [Call no. KF

245 Blu 2010]. This guide has the

disadvantage of mainly serving le-

gal sources in the English lan-

guage and therefore is of little

help for a research engaging in

cross-border, multilingual, trans-

national or international as well

as comparative legal studies. In

this regard, the “Canadian Guide

to Uniform Legal Citation” issued

by the McGill Law Journal is

slightly better as it is published

as a bi-lingual (French and Eng-

lish) style guide and therefore

better serves not only the bi-

lingual legal system of Canada

but also an international re-

searcher. Therefore, I have or-

dered a copy of the 7th edition

(2010) of the Canadian guide for

our library [Call no. KE 259 Can

2010]. Still, even the Canadian

guide will not provide students

of our own Faculty of Law, which

is a tri-lingual (Chinese, Portu-

guese, and English) faculty, with

detailed information as to the

proper citation of materials in at

least Chinese and Portuguese

language. As our own Faculty

has not drafted or compiled a

Macau Uniform Citation Guide,

both the Bluebook and the Ca-

nadian Guide provide some use-

ful guidance as to what infor-

mation really matters to the sub-

sequent reader of the academic Things become even more complex, when we try to cite electronic materials, webpages, and

let alone movies or media content.

Research & Study

text that one has completed. The

Graduate School of the University of

Macau, however, has issued Rules on

Handling Academic Dishonesty 5which indirectly provide some guid-

ance about what to avoid and also as

to how to cite correctly.

Finally, in the absence of a Macau

Guide of Uniform Legal Citation,

there are still three principal rules or

“rules of thumb”, which researchers

at the Law Faculty may consider: (1)

A first rule of thumb is

“accessibility”, which means that all

information provided must make it

possible for the reader to find the

cited source in order to be able to

duly identify and verify it; (2) The

second rule of thumb is

“consistency”, meaning that once

an author has adopted a specific

citation style, s/he must follow

and apply it consistently (in differ-

ent languages) throughout the

entire document, article or thesis.

Last but not least, a third rule of

thumb is called the “golden rule of

citation”, which means that you

may want to cite others in a way

you want to see your works cited.

Finally, for all remaining questions,

consult your colleague, course in-

structor or supervisor.

Good luck and lots of fun with le-

gal research in the digital age!

3

The same difficulties encounter postgraduate, both master and PhD students, enrolled in law

faculties of universities around the world, who are in the process of writing their theses or

research papers.

FOOTNOTES

1 See H.P. Glenn, “Persuasive Authority”,

(1987) 32 McGill L. J. 261 at 286.

2 See B. Oppetit, “Les tendances régressives

dans l’évolution du droit contemporain” in J.-F.

Pillebout, ed., Mélanges dédiés à Dominique

Holleaux (Paris: Litec, 1990) 317 at 317.

3 See e.g. the former German President R.

Herzog before the Deutschen Juristentag in

1998 warning of the danger of a flood of norms

by criticising the excessive use of legislation by

the European as well as the German authorities

and calling for the deregulation of the existing

regulatory regime; “Herzog: Das Recht muss

bürgernäher werden. Grundsatzrede auf dem

Deutschen Juristentag”, Süddeutsche Zeitung

(26 September 1998) at 6.

4 See G. Teubner, “Juridification: Concepts,

Aspects, Limits, Solutions” in G. Teubner, ed.,

Juridification of Social Spheres (Berlin: Walter

de Gruyter, 1987)

5 UM Rules on Handling Academic Dishonesty,

available at: http://www.umac.mo/grs/

Plagiarism%20and%20Academic% 20Honesty/

rules_ student_ academic_dishonesty.pdf.

Research & Study

4

THE MOOT AND ADVOCACY

IBL Master Program Students’ Interview with Professor Sten Idris Verhoeven

We are honored to interview Professor Sten Idris Verhoeven who is one of the training teacher of our Moot and Advocacy club (short for MAC). This interview is

mainly about two competitions of the MAC.

Q : Can you briefly introduce the ac-

tivities of MAC this year?

S: This year, we participate in two moot

court competitions. Both are dealing

with issues of international law and

those issues are related to the future we

care about. One is the Philip C. Jessup

International Law Moot Court Competi-

tion (in short Jessup). This competition is

worldwide, around 200 teams partici-

pate in it, and it develops new cases eve-

ry year. The topic of this year is about

“law of the sea”. Last year, the problem

addresses the factual and legal conse-

quences of climate change on statehood,

migration, and sovereign lending. Last

year we sent a team and this team

achieved in becoming “the best new

team” of the competition. What we have

to do in the first semester is to prepare a

memorial for both sides, one for the

applicant, one for the respondent. The

second semester we need to prepare for

the oral rounds, to train them how to

answer questions in Ameri-

can style. In the competi-

tion, the judge will ask you

questions and you have to

respond to those questions.

In answering those ques-

tions you need to be very

self-confident.

The second one is also

about international law, but

it is about international

criminal law—The Interna-

tional Criminal Trial Compe-

tition (in short ICC). The

International Criminal Court

is located in The Hague and

the competition also takes place in The

Hague. This competition contain five stu-

dents in a team, the same number as for

Jessup. Last year students in the competi-

tion needed to submit three legal opinions

as prosecutors, defense lawyer and repre-

sentatives of the victim.

Q: Are there any different skills require-

ment in the two competitions?

S: They are not so much different from

each other. Both competitions involve the

same skills: research skills, oral skills and

writing skills. The biggest different is that

in Jessup the judges of the international

round are more argumentative; in the ICC

judges also ask questions, but there is less

debates than in Jessup. But for the rest,

they are very similar.

Q: Is there any relation between these two

competitions?

S: No, these two competitions are inde-

pendent. Jessup has been set up to honor

the Judge of United Nations Interna-

tional Court of Justice, Philip C.

Jessup, and began in 1960. But the

ICC only exists for a couple of years.

Q: What is the standard and process

to choose the students to partici-

pate in those competitions?

S: This is a very good question.

Sometimes it is very hard to disap-

point students. We are looking for a

very special kind of students. So if

you are not selected, don’t be disap-

pointed. We are not saying that you

are bad student. The students we

are looking for, of course, need to

have a very good research skill,

which is one important thing. If you

are good in research, we are looking

for you. But, we also need students

who have good oral skills. Further-

more, the ability to connect to other

people is also important. Sometime

it is very hard to find students that

are both good in research and oral

skills. So, a student with a good re-

search background, but who has less

oral skills, is fine; or someone who

has good oral skills, but lacks in re-

search, can also be selected. Finally,

good writing skills are also im-

portant. We will try to balance the

team. Selecting only five researchers

is not good. And five good speakers

are fine, but if it comes to research it

might cause problems. So we bal-

ance the team with people who are

good in research and also with peo-

ple who do well in oral debate. In

addition, we are also looking for

Research & Study

people who are fitting in the team,

which means that we need team play-

ers as well. So as conclusion, we are

looking for people who are confident,

can work in a team, have good research

skills and good oral skills. If these four

elements are within you, you will make

the best choice for us.

Q: Can the students only participate in

the competition for one year?

S: No. There is no limitation, because

sometimes people need to grow. Before

they participated in the competition,

the selected students had good re-

search skills, but after they took part in

it, they became more confident in Eng-

lish. And if they apply the second year,

of course, they can be selected again.

For the other students, if we don’t se-

lect you this year, you can improve your

skills and apply next year.

Q: If the question involves gray issues,

how do you determine whether the

answer is right or wrong for the compe-

tition?

S: Of course, there are many issues for

which there is no black and white an-

swer. The arguments are not really a

right or wrong. But there are some an-

swers which are stronger and more

convincing; though in the end you can

argue it both sides. So in practice, we

need to find out which argument is go-

ing to be used and which one is strong-

er. As a professor, I have the responsi-

bility to find it out. It is, however, not

possible to tell the students the answer

directly. It is more that I am saying:

“Look, this argument is not convincing.

It is fine. Maybe we have a point. But

let’s make it more convincing.” We are

not going to make the decision for the

team, it is up to the team to make their

decision. We can only give them consul-

tation. We are the coaches and we will

give assistance, but in the end, it is their

own choice and learning experience.

Q: Last year our school obtained a very

good result. Can you tell us the special

characteristics of the team members?

S: Of course, these people did very well,

but you don’t need to treat them as sort of

superhuman beings. Some members in the

team are naturally talented, that is true.

But most people have been training. The

training was on a regular basis, we trained

the oral skills, and each student trained

three or four times a week. Of course, we

put serious pressure on them and it may

even look immoral on some occasions, but

we have a lot of experience in how far we

can push students to improve the written

and oral argument. It sounds difficult but

it is not. It was basically being aware how

to do research, how to write arguments,

how to balance the different arguments,

and how to develop the structure. All of

that is something you can learn. Evidently,

some people were quicker than others to

learn. However, we selected people who

can learn quickly because our time was

limited. We only had a couple of months,

so we had to select those people who can

learn quickly or flexibly. That was the

strength the team had.

Q: We know that your students in the

team will use a “memorial” in the compe-

tition. Can you briefly introduce the con-

cept to us?

S: Memorials are an important part of the

competition. It is written in a very argu-

ment style. A memorial is not the same as

a thesis. In Jessup you have to develop a

story. The memorial is to make your

points in a certain logical order. If you

don’t make your point logically, why

should the judge favor your position? So,

we write it down in very short sentences

each discussing a particularly point. Most-

ly, it only mention several points. You

5

need to be clear what you are going to ar-

gue and your structure must be very logical

to convince people.

Q: Can you tell us some interesting story

about last year?

S: Oh, I need to protect their privacy. They

were all hard working. Some of them were

sometimes hard to persuade. So, we need

to make sure that they changed their mind.

Sometimes we needed to be harsh. Unfor-

tunately, sometimes people have to hit

their head against the wall until they real-

ize that they have to change the argument.

So, we try to protect them not to hit the

wall, to tell them to go back and find the

right way. It is normal that sometimes peo-

ple do more research so that they will often

know more about this area than the pro-

fessor. But, of course, we have our experi-

ence and we know which argument can

work and which doesn’t work. Some argu-

ments can be written down very well on

paper, but are hard to explain orally since

they are too complicated to explain. So we

need to persuade students to change the

pleading. Some students were very shy in

the beginning, but after a while, they

opened up. And they had no problem at all

speaking in public, even in English. I think it

is a very good experience. You see that the

people are evolving, which is the most

beautiful part of it, not the winning. Of

course, winning is nice, so many people

want it. But winning is influenced by so

many elements, you cannot control the

judge. Everyone will make a tiny mistake.

The most important aspect is to see the

students evolving and learning from the

experience.

Thanks to the patience of Professor Sten

Idris Verhoeven, we have discovered a lot

of useful information on the activities of

MAC. We give the best wishes to our

school teams this year. The hardworking of

students and coaches will gain them the

best benefit.

T he IBL Program is pleased to wel-

come Dr. Alexandr Svetlicinii as the

new Assistant Professor the Faculty of

Law University of Macau. Alexandr ob-

tained his legal education at the Free

International University of Moldova in

Chisinau. After completing an LL.M Inter-

national Business Law program at the

Central European University in Buda-

pest, Prof. Svetlicinii pursued his doctor-

al research at the European University

Institute in Florence, where under super-

vision of Prof. Dr. Heike Schweitzer he

defended his dissertation on the legal

rules and economic analysis of the EU

merger control. Prof.Svetlicinii is respon-

sible for teaching Business Law at the

Faculty of Business Administration and

Commercial Contracts at the Faculty of

Law. In the following passages Dr. Svet-

licinii presents himself in various aspects

including among others his professional

and academic experience, teaching and

research interests and the impressions

of the new UM campus.

“I come from the Republic of Moldova, a

small Eastern European country with the

turbulent history, which made its way

from being part of the Romanian state, to

being the republic of the Soviet Union, to

finally gaining independence in 1991 and

currently integrating itself into the Euro-

pean Union after the perusing of the As-

sociation Agrement at the EU Eastern

Partnership summit in Vilnius in Novem-

ber 2013. While Romanian is Moldova’s

official language, Russian is widely spo-

ken. This makes Moldovan people

uniquely bilingual – we can speak one

Latin and one Slavic language using Latin

and Cyrillic alphabets.

The size of the country, its geographic

position, the continuous political, eco-

nomic and social transition has prompted

many Moldovans to go abroad for em-

ployment, education, family reunification

and other personal and professional rea-

sons. Following the path of almost 30% of

my fellow citizens I made a choice to pur-

sue my education and then professional

career outside of my home country. After

completing my legal education in Moldo-

va I was admitted for the International

Business Law LL.M program at the Central

European University in Budapest. The

program had a unique international for-

mat and content: there were no more

than two students from the same country

in our class and the professors from the

top European and US universities deliv-

ered their inspiring lectures on various

specialized business law subjects. Deter-

mined to develop an academic career I

entered the PhD program at the Europe-

an University Institute in Florence to

write a thesis on the role and interaction

of legal rules and economic analysis in

the context of the EU merger control re-

gime. This competition law research re-

quired a great deal of understanding of

economics and the functioning of specific

economic sectors and markets. It also

involved interaction with antitrust en-

forcers, judges, economists and legal

practitioners, which diversified the ap-

proaches and deepened the knowledge.

The competition law has remained the

focus and passion of my academic re-

search and practical work ever since.

It was an honor and pleasure to join the

ranks of international faculty of the Uni-

versity of Macau, Faculty of Law. One of

the main reasons for coming to Macau

was an intention to continue competition

law research with special focus on small

market economies and developing coun-

tries. South-East Asia represents an inter-

esting and challenging case study in this

regard. In 2008 China entrusted the en-

forcement of competition rules to three

different state institutions dividing the

areas of merger control, pricing abuses

and non-price anti-competitive practices.

Research & Study

6

Welcome our new staff!

Dr Alexandr Svetlicinii attends the 9th Annual Asian Competition Fo-

rum Conference in Hong Kong.

Research & Study

Given the significance of the Chinese

economy, international community

(business and legal) are closely following

the legislative developments and en-

forcement practices in China, curious to

see how the free market competition can

be enforced in the framework of a social-

ist economy dominated by the state-

owned enterprises. Hong Kong, an inter-

national business hub, has established its

national competition authority in 2013

and will start actively enforcing its com-

petition legislation in 2014. The ASEAN

countries set out to implement a com-

mon market by 2015. Once in effect, it

should foster penetration of the domes-

tic markets by the foreign companies

thus increasing competition and encour-

aging regional consolidation and cooper-

ation. At the same time it will present a

great challenge for competition law en-

forcement: anti-competitive practices

initiated by companies in one ASEAN

country might have an effect on the mar-

kets of other ASEAN members. In such

conditions the goals of preservation of a

competitive environment within the

ASEAN common market will require a

great deal of harmonization of competi-

tion laws and policies as well as technical

cooperation amongst the national com-

petition authorities. These current devel-

opments present a challenging study

field for a competition law researcher,

which I intend to explore at the Universi-

ty of Macau.

Being a newcomer to Macau, this is not

my first experience in South-East Asia.

Several years ago after the completion of

my master studies I have been very in-

terested in commercial arbitration and

its regional specifics. This interest has

brought me first to Singapore where I

have completed an internship program

with the Singapore International Arbitra-

tion Centre witnessing various commer-

cial disputes with participation of compa-

nies, arbitrators and legal counsel from

various Asian jurisdictions. I also had an

opportunity to observe commercial arbi-

tration in China as it was administered by

the Beijing Arbitration Commission and

Shenzhen-based South China Sub-

Commission of the China International

Economic and Trade Arbitration Commis-

sion (CIETAC). Fascinated by Asian diver-

sity I travelled in the region visiting Cam-

bodia, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

This past experience of working and

learning in South-East Asia made my stay

in Macau easier but not less exciting in

terms of accommodating to the new liv-

ing and working environment. The first

big change was climate as for the past

couple of years I have been living in Esto-

nia, a Nordic European country where

winter was long and daylight scarce. In

this sense Macau felt like a summer holi-

day destination, even though seaside

activities are somewhat limited here.

Another big change was moving to the

new campus, which required lots of pa-

tience, persistence and understanding.

Awaiting the availability of the Staff

Quarters I have been offered temporary

accommodation in one of the residential

colleges, where I stayed in the room in-

tended for two undergraduate students.

So, I got everything double: two beds, two

desks, two chairs, two shelves, etc. This

arrangement was coupled with other tem-

porary inconveniences such as crowded

bus transportation, absence of kitchen

and washing machine, isolation from the

rest of Macau and other “accessories”

that come with the life on the active con-

struction site on the part of the Hengqin

island that only recently has been placed

under the jurisdiction of Macau SAR.

But, as with any other situation, there are

always some advantages. One is the abun-

dance of space, which is luxury in the rest

of Macau. Simple calculations will show

that the inhabitants of the new campus,

or the “pioneers” as we are called by one

of my colleagues, enjoy the greatest space

per person ratio in Macau. As a result,

there are no crowds, no waiting lines

(except in the morning at the bus stop),

no traffic and plenty of space for jogging

and walking. As it will all change later this

year when the new campus will be fully

“domesticated” we might all remember

these as “good old days” when you were

the only person in line for food in the caf-

eteria or the only jogger on the riverside

promenade.”

7

20th anniversary of the EU-Macau

Trade and Cooperation Agreement

8

Events& Activities

O n November 23, 2013 a reception was organized in the Macau Tower by the Government of Macao

Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the European Un-

ion Office to Hong Kong and Macao on the occasion of the celebration of the “20th Anniversary of the Ma-

cau-EU Trade & Cooperation Agreement”.

The Macau-EU Trade & Cooperation Agreement was originally signed in Brussels on June 15, 1992 between

the (then) European Economic Community (EEC) and Macao in order to develop, extend, and deepen the

economic and trade relations as well as to reinforce the existing ties between them by means of coopera-

tion.

As it was stressed by both prominent speakers at the event, ever since the entry into force of the agreement,

the bilateral ties between the parties to the agreement have strengthened not only in terms of trade but also

other areas, such as culture and education. Finally, the extension of the existing strong ties is also exempli-

fied by the signing of an agreement between Macau and the EU “on certain aspects of air ser-

vices” (Horizontal Agreement) on that same day.

The students from the Master program of

International Business Law (IBL) of the Fac-

ulty of Law of the University of Macau were

invited by the Government of Macao Special

Administrative Region (SAR) of the PRC and

the European Union Office to Hong Kong

and Macau to participate in this grand event,

in company with Prof. Rostam J. Neuwirth

and Prof. Alexandr Svetlicinii.

Events& Activities

The European Commission President José Manuel Barroso with UM professors and students

The European Commission President José Manuel Barroso with Prof. Rostam J. Neuwirth ,Prof. Alexandr

Svetlicinii , Prof. Manuel Trigo, Prof. Rui Martins, Prof. Wang Jianwei, and Prof. Song Weiqing (from left

to right)

9

©EU(COURTESY of Ms. J. RUSSELL )

©EU(COURTESY of Ms. J. RUSSELL )

Events& Activities

10

0

U.S Consulate General Economic Officer Discusses U.S. Trade Goals

in Asia at the class

O n November 15, 2013, the Consul for Economic

Affairs of the United States Consulate General

in Hong Kong, Mr. Mark Lanning, delivered a lecture

on the "U.S. Trade Goals in Asia" in the framework of

the IBL class in International and Inter-Regional Trade

Law. His lecture was followed by an intensive discus-

sion involving the 30 IBL students participating in the

T he last class of “International and Inter-Regional

Trade Law” was held on December 6, 2013 in the Au-

ditorium II of the Library and featured a guest lecture by

Prof. August Reinisch (Professor of international and Eu-

ropean law as well as Dean for International Relations at

the Faculty of Law of the University of Vienna). In his

lecture entitled “Recent Developments concerning the

Immunities of International Organizations”, Prof. Rei-

nisch discussed the role, scope and relevance of interna-

tional organizations’ privileges and immunities which are

necessary for the fulfilment of their purposes or func-

tions. Professor Reinisch has published a large number of books and articles not only on various issues of In-

ternational Law and European Law but also the international law on foreign Investment. For further reading,

several books of Prof. Reinisch are also available in the UM Library.

course. Generally, Mr. Lanning recognized that

the United States welcomes China’s economic

rise which dispelled the myth among the stu-

dents that it has been attempting to "contain"

China, for instance, by trying to keep it out of

negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership

(TPP). Finally, other issues that were discussed

included various trade policy issues from the re-

gional and multilateral level, such as current de-

bates being conducted in the context of the Asia

Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum

and the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Open lecture International and

Inter-Regional Trade Law

Events& Activities

O n October 13th, the majority students of International Business Law, went to the green hills of Co-

loane which belongs to the annual class activity held by Professor Rostam, Sten, Alexander tradi-

tionally. We were really touched by what others done during the hiking.For instance, we could gain encour-

aging words from each other; we could get a bottle of water, a piece of biscuit or a hand to pull from our

classmates. When Professor Sten said “Congratulations. You all finished this hiking”, we all warmly ap-

plauded ourselves. This activity strengthened our friendship and the confidence to weigh our gain and loss

rational under any condition. And in the evening, we together enjoyed a

delicious dinner. Hiking, not simply stays in the exercise of body, but

tempers our will with hard training, as well as the transcendence of the

whole body and

mind when we feel

fear or weakness.

Furthermore, in-

creasing people from

the world including

us are attracted by its

unique human land-

scape and beautiful

natural scenery of

Coloane.

11

Coloane Hike !

12

O n 5 November 2013, the new campus of

University of Macao, located on the

East coast of Hengqin Island, Zhuhai, Guang-

The surprise figures!

The size of the new campus 1 km2

Total building area 940,000m2

East-West length 650m

South-North length 1,600m

Student At least 10,000

Underwater tunnel 1,570m

Green space 430,000m2

Water area 110,000m2

Parking spots for light vehicles ≈2,500

New campus

is coming !

dong, to the South of the Lotus Bridge, separated from

Macao by a waterway, was inaugurated, signaling a mile-

stone in the development of higher education in Macao.

Mr. Wang Yang, vice premier of the State Council, pre-

sented at the inauguration ceremony. He believed that the

excellent facilities for teaching and research, and a garden

-style environment fully meet the demand of all the staff

and students.

◆ On Oct 31, the Masters of

law students were invited to

join the Program opening

ceremony of 57th Congress

of UIA-International Associ-

ation of Lawyers. The cere-

mony took place at the Ball-

room on 3rd floor, Venetian

Resort Hotel and was fol-

lowed by a welcome cocktail.

◆ The Faculty of Law and the

Graduate Student Associa-

tion of Faculty of Law orga-

nized an Advanced Legal

English Workshop and invit-

ed Professor Fu Weiliang to

give a set of legal English

courses for MIB students.

The course lasted for five

days from the 18th Nov to

the 22nd of Nov.

◆ The Sixth International Con-

ference on "The Legal Re-

forms of Macau in Global

Context” was held on 20th

and 21st November 2013 at

the S.T.D.M Auditorium of

the University of Macau Li-

brary, with Portuguese and

Chinese simultaneous trans-

lations.

◆ The Graduate School orga-

nized an activity on post-

graduate education named

"Dialogue with Postgraduate

Students" so as to enhance

communication with our

postgraduate students on

20th November 2013 . Our

Rector/Vice Rector together

with our Faculty Associate

Deans Prof. Tong Io Cheng

and Prof. Augusto Teixeira

Garcia attended this Dia-

logue.

◆ Lecture entitled ‘The Vienna

Sales of Goods (CISG) and

the problem of Documentary

Sales and Rejection of Docu-

ments’ was believed by Prof.

Guy Lefebvre was held on 6th

of Dec, 2013.

◆ Prof. Susana Camargo

Vieira，a full Professor of the

University of Itaúna, Brazil,

gave an open Lecture about

"The Role of International

Law Association in the Pur-

13

News flash !

suit of International Rela-

tion and Understanding” at

November 11th,2013 in the

Faculty of Law Moot Court.

◆ On 1st November, 2013, an

open lecture on "The Settle-

ment of Investor State Dis-

putes and China: New De-

velopments on Jurisdiction",

was held by Jane Willems

who is an attorney at Law

and arbitrator in the Attor-

ney at Law and Arbitrator.

馬 年 吉 祥

H a p p y C h i n e s e N e w Y e a r

As 2014 has arrived, we wish

our colleagues from the

2012/13 all the best with the

progress of their thesis writ-

ing!

International Business Law newsletter

Issue 4, February 2014

Edited by Rostam J. Neuwirth (Coordinator of the IBL Program)

and Newsletter workshop

( Guo Bochuan, Chen Lina, Li Yaoyao, Pei Jing, Lou Jinna, Xu Yue )

A t the occasion of the publication of the 4th Newsletter of the International Business Law (IBL) Pro-

gram of the Faculty of Law, it is my great pleasure to first welcome our current batch of participants

in the IBL program during the academic year 2013/14 and the new colleagues assisting in in the teaching of

IBL master courses.

Equally, I would like to take this context as an opportunity to thank our Deanship and all current as well as

former academic and administrative colleagues at the Faculty of Law who have and continue to provide an

invaluable contribution to the IBL program. It is my particular wish to thank the former coordinator of the

IBL program, Prof. Jorge Godinho, for his invaluable contribution to the program in the past and hereby

express both my gratitude and joy that he agreed to teach two courses as a visiting professor in the future.

Finally, I wish everyone a Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year and great joy, happiness and progress

in your life, both in- and outside of academia!

————Rostam J. Neuwirth

Afterword: HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR OF THE HORSE !

A perfect meeting place of East and West

International Business Law master program

Faculty of Law, University of Macau

Coordinator: Prof. R.J. Neuwirth ( rjn@umac.mo)

Write to Winnie Tam for details about the IBL program or to re-

ceive this newsletter regularly (winitam@umac.mo)

Or call Winnie at (+853) 839 747 77

WWW.UMAC.MO/FLL/IBL

Follow the IBL program on Facebook!

Besides the official webpage, you can follow the latest news by visiting our

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/International-Business-Law

-University-of-Macau/155143707921702.

We believe it is a good channel to exchange and share information and ideas,

so please feel free to raise questions and leave comments here.