THE ROLE OF INDEPENDENT LEGAL RESEARCH IN THE SERVICE OF SUSTAINABILITY: FROM SWISS EXPERTISE TO STRATEGIC GUIDELINES FOR UKRAINIAN LAWMAKING
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51989/NUL.2026.2.29Keywords:
sustainable development, corporate impunity, EU Directive 2024/1760 (CSDDD), due diligence, independent legal research, legal deontology, SLAPP lawsuits, NAS of Ukraine, public interestAbstract
The article explores the role of independent legal research in ensuring sustainability and countering corporate impunity. The authors analyse systemic flaws in corporate governance that allow multinational corporations to externalise social and environmental costs. Using the Airbus case (2020) and "Epstein files" as examples, the importance of legal deontology and the threats of "academic capture" are highlighted.
Martial law in Ukraine makes it vulnerable to numerous risks (specifically, regulatory arbitrage due to the country's need for reconstruction investments) inherent in the countries of the Global South, despite Ukraine's European identity and its constitutionally enshrined strategic course towards EU integration.
Special attention is paid to Ukraine’s post-war recovery, focusing on the implementation of the EU Directive 2024/1760 on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), anti-SLAPP (Strategic lawsuit against public participation) mechanisms, and the institutional independence of scientific expert centres to protect the public interest.
A specific focus is placed on developing mechanisms for modernising the institutional status of Ukraine’s national scientific institutions through a transition from a hierarchical management model to functional autonomy based on the Swiss experience (specifically the SICL model) as autonomous centres for scientific research and lawmaking expertise for the protection of the public interest.
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