On 9 December 2020, the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (“MLVT”) issued Notification 041/20 on Extending the Deadline for the 2021 Foreign Employee Quota Application (“Notification”). Through the Notification, the MLVT has delayed the submission deadline for 2021 foreign employee quota applications until 31 January 2021, being two months after the original deadline ...
Over the last 4 years, the Belgian Competition Authority (“BCA”) has increasingly scrutinised anticompetitive restraints in vertical agreements and assessed these restraints under Article IV.1 of the Belgian Code of Economic Law and Article 101 TFEU ...
What Happened: OFAC settled with BitGo, Inc. for $98,830, resolving 183 apparent violations of multiple US sanctions programs for processing digital currency transactions on behalf of individuals located in sanctioned jurisdictions ...
The FCA has published details of the financial penalties imposed during 2020 showing a significant fall on previous years in the number of penalties imposed and aggregate value. It also calls for greater resources to help tackle frauds and scams. In 2020 the FCA imposed 11 fines totalling £192,570,018. Despite the number of fines reducing significantly there was still a range in the issues which resulted in penalties being imposed ...
In general, individuals admitted into Hong Kong under various types of visa may apply for extension of stay within four weeks before the date of expiry, and they must be physically present in Hong Kong at the time of submitting the application and the collection of visa label upon approval. Due to the ongoing pandemic across the globe, this restriction has brought extra hurdles to a lot of applicants who are employees of companies and/or members of families ...
The President recently signed into law the Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act (S. 2258) (116th Cong. (2020)), which amends the Antitrust Criminal Penalty Enhancement and Reform Act of 2004. It grants stronger protections to employees who come forward with claims of antitrust violations. Specifically, the law prohibits employers from discharge, demotion, or suspension, as well as any discrimination against any employee who assists in a government antitrust investigation ...
On December 4 th , 2020, Supreme Decree No. 2,097 of the Ministry of Finance (hereinafter, the “ Decree ”) was published in the Official Gazette, which extends the enforcement of the benefits established in titles I and II of law No.21,227 (“ Employment Protection Act ”) and in law No ...
December 23, 2020 the Luxembourg legislator has published the law of 19 December 2020 implementing financial restrictive measures (“law of 19 December 2020”). This law has repealed the law of 27 October 2010 enhancing the anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing legal framework ...
Minimum Wage Increase The Act of 15 December 2020 amending article L.222-9 of the Labor Code comes into force on 1 January 2021.The new legal provisions increase the minimum wage by 2.8%: raising unskilled employees' minimum monthly wages from EUR 2,141.99 gross to EUR 2,201.93 gross; and raising qualified employees' minimum monthly wages from EUR 2,570.39 gross to EUR 2,642.32 gross. The index applicable to employees' wages (834,76) remains however unchanged ...
On January 4, 2021, law No. 21, 299, which allows the postponement of mortgage loans installments and sets a state guaranty to guarantee the so postponed installments was published in the Official Gazette (the “New Law”) ...
If anyone had told you that 2020 would be a year in which you are virtually guaranteed a lie-flat bed in economy class, businesses instructed employees not to come into the office, and budget supermarket Sheng Siong’s shares outperformed bank blue chip DBS’s, you would have sent the chap to have his head checked.But as the new coronavirus spread worldwide, the ensuing Covid-19 pandemic forced billions into lockdown ...
After a hectic first quarter, the focus shifted dramatically after the lockdown in mid-March. Within a few days, we went from negotiating new financings within most industries to assisting our clients with urgent waivers and liquidity loans. After the initial chaotic period, we have, however, seen a more normalized period with considerable activity where strong companies and good projects have been able to obtain new financings on acceptable terms ...
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the “Act”), which was signed into law on December 27, 2020, includes several updates to the Paycheck Protection Program (the “PPP”) originally established by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (as modified by the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020, the “CARES Act”) ...
On December 27, 2021, the National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC”) and the Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”) issued two revised versions of negative lists (collectively the “2021 Foreign Investment Negative Lists”), which came into effect on January 1, 2022: Special Administrative Measures (Negative List) for Foreign Investment Access (2021 Edition) (the “2021 National Negative List”) ...
On Dec. 22, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued warning letters to five companies for violations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) related to the sale of cannabidiol (CBD) products.[i] CBD is the primary non-psychotropic compound in Cannabis sativa plant. The FDA stated the companies who were served warning letters illegally marketed CBD products for the treatment or prevention of medical conditions, including COVID-19 ...
On Jan. 19, 2021, the two recent final rules issued by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding changes to the Physician-Self Referral Law (Stark Law) and the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) regulations (respectively the OIG Final Rule and the CMS Rule, collectively the Final Rules) will become effective ...
The City and County of San Francisco (SF) issued a COVID-19 surge-related travel and quarantine order (Quarantine Order) on Dec. 16, 2020, and an updated Shelter-In-Place Order (SIP Order) on December 9 (updated Dec. 30, 2020). Under those orders, every person who enters SF after having been outside the Bay Area within the last ten days must quarantine for 240 hours from the time of arrival in SF. However, two exceptions apply to those working on construction projects in SF ...
California employers operate under the most comprehensive Labor Code and legal regime in the Nation. The past year has challenged employers with unprecedented compliance during a global pandemic, which has already led to an influx of employment litigation. In addition to managing remote work forces in an ever-evolving regulatory climate, employers in 2021 will also be required to comply with a substantial number of legislative additions taking effect in the New Year ...
The recently enacted COVID-19 Related Tax Relief Act of 2020 and the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020, both of which are part of the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021,” includes the following provisions that expand and extend changes intended to provide relief to retirement plan sponsors and participants affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and other disasters ...
On New Year’s Day 2021, Congress passed—over President Trump’s veto—a defense appropriations law containing the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (“AML Act”) and the Corporate Transparency Act, as part of a sweeping new set of anti-money laundering reforms that create important new beneficial ownership disclosure obligations for a wide range of small companies, and contain both good and bad news for financial institutions ...
The Government Emergency Ordinance no. 220/30.12.2020 on 2020 on the application of social protection measures after January 1, 2021 in the context of the spread of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, as well as for the amendment of some normative acts was published within the Official Gazette no. 1326 dated December 31, 2020 ...
FINANCIAL SERVICES BURSA MALAYSIA SECURITIES EXPANDS MARKET MAKING FRAMEWORK Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad (“Bursa”) has, via Participating Organisations’ Circular No. R/R 13 of 2020 issued on 24 November 2020, made amendments to the rules and directives of Bursa in relation to the expansion of the market making framework ...
On 23 December 2020, the Royal Government of Cambodia (“RGC”) issued a press release and rolled out ‘Round 7’ of measures aimed at mitigating the impacts of COVID-19 on businesses and workers in Cambodia. The RGC in their press release noted the positive update with respect to the development of a COVID-19 vaccine and the fact that Cambodia has to date managed to effectively control COVID-19 ...
This edition of our Q&A series focuses on real estate financing and loan securitization issues in the Lao PDR. Given the continuing global uncertainty and economic disruption caused by COVID-19, investors are increasingly concerned about their ability to secure, dispose or otherwise transfer assets that are often now subject to revamped or revised local rules and regulations ...
This edition of our Q&A series focuses on real estate financing and loan securitization issues in Bangladesh. Given the continuing global uncertainty and economic disruption caused by COVID-19, investors are increasingly concerned about their ability to secure, dispose or otherwise transfer assets that are often now subject to revamped or revised local rules and regulations ...
