In Hungary, Act XXXIII of 1995 on the Protection of Inventions by Patents (the “Patent Act”) is the key piece of legislation in respect of inventions created in employment relationships. The Act differentiates between employees’ inventions and service inventions in its provisions applicable to this domain ...
On April 25, 2007 the BC Government introduced Bill 31: the Human Rights Code (Mandatory Retirement Elimination) Amendment Act, 2007. Once the amendments are in force, the changes to the legislation are to be effective January 1, 2008.Currently, the BC Human Rights Code defines “age” as being an age of 19 years or more and less than 65 years. Following the amendment, “age” will be defined as being an age of 19 years or more ...
The Employment (Amendment) Bill 2006 (the "Bill") was gazetted on 8 December 2006 and was read in the Legislation Council for the first time on 20 December 2006. The Bill proposes that commission be expressly included in the calculation of certain statutory payments under the Employment Ordinance (“EO”) ...
The Court of Final Appeal recently made a ruling in Poon Chau Nam v. Yim Siu Cheung t/a Yat Cheung Air-conditioning & Electric Co. casting light on determining whether a worker should be treated as an employee or an independent contractor under the Employees Compensation Ordinance ("ECO").This is an appeal case from the District Court and the Court of Appeal. The appellant worker suffered personal injury in a work-related accident at a building ...
First conviction on offence to make false or misleading statement to claim MPF benefitsAccording to section 43E of the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance ("MPFSO"), a person who, in any document given to the MPFA, an approved trustee or an auditor of an approved trustee or of a registered scheme in connection with the MPFSO, makes a statement that the person knows to be false or misleading in a material respect, or recklessly makes a statement which is false or mislea
The Labour Law of the People's Republic of China ("PRC") came into effect on 1 January 1995. The PRC Labour Law sets out the basic legal framework for the administration of employment/labour relationships and is applicable to all labour/employment contracts entered into between a PRC entity (including any foreign invested company) as employer and an individual as employee rendering services in the PRC ...
The financial services industry recently witnessed a plethora of competition investigations. The banking sector, in particular, has attracted the attention of competition watchdogs in an increasingly complex regulatory environment. Following an 18-month European sector enquiry, UK banks seem to have largely escaped the danger of significant enforcement actions, except possibly in relation to credit cards ...
February 2007 UK retail sales rose 0.6% on a like-for-like basis against a weak comparative in February 2006, when sales had fallen. The three-month trend rate of growth weakened in February to 0.9% from 1.1% in January for like-for-like sales, but rose to 4.2% from 3.6% for total sales, reflecting the continued growth of retail space.Clothing and footwear were still difficult but food sales improved, helped by Valentine’s Day, after a flat January ...
On January 22, 2007, the Commission des lésions professionnelles (the “Board”) handed down a decision in Harvey et Brasserie Labatt ltée(1) further to a motion for revocation filed by the employer against a decision rendered by a first commissioner ...
According to the Equal Opportunities Commission, 52% of men and 48% of women say they want to work more flexibly and 6.5 million people in the UK could be using their skills more fully if greater flexible working was available. The suggestion is that rigid models of work are driving highly qualified workers into jobs below their skill level in order for them to have a life outside of work ...
The Supreme Court of Canada recently handed down a highly anticipated judgment in McGill University Health Centre (Montreal General Hospital) (the “MUHC”) vs. Syndicat des employés de l’Hôpital Général de Montréal (2007 SCC 4) ...
"Outsourcing" is defined as an event in which the regulated financial services firm (the "outsourcing entity"), contracts with a service provider to perform any aspect of the outsourcing entity's regulated or unregulated functions that could otherwise be undertaken by the entity itself. The service provider may be a related party within a corporate group, or an unrelated third party entity ...
A Chinese commercial bank recently launched an investment product under the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investors scheme (QDII) which takes in Renminbi funds from mainland investors and invests in offshore equity funds, fixed income instruments and money market products denominated in foreign currencies. This is an important breakthrough as previously QDII products from banks only invested in fixed income instruments ...
This paper was prepared for the Pacific Business & Law Institute's 12th Annual Conference on The Essential Tasks of Pension and Benefit Plan Trustees, held in Vancouver, British Columbia on February 20, 2007 Most lawyers are familiar with claims for coverage under disability insurance ...
On November 30, 2006, the Human Rights Tribunal of Quebec released a judgment in which it concluded that a grievance arbitrator did not have jurisdiction over litigation stemming from allegations of employment discrimination. In the case of Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse v ...
Do you offer your employees group insurance? If so, since January 1, 2007, under the Act respecting prescription drug insurance, you must deduct directly from the remuneration paid to each of your employees his or her portion of the premium applicable to the basic prescription drug insurance coverage stipulated in the group insurance contract.The Act respecting prescription drug insurance (R.S.Q., c. A-29 ...
The BC Privacy Commissioner recently issued two decisions which address “employee personal information”, as well as some other issues of interest under the BC Personal Information Protection Act (“PIPA”) ...
Part III of the Canada Labour Code sets out the employment standards minimums for federally regulated employers. It was enacted in 1965 and had not been systematically reviewed since then. In December 2004, the federal government appointed Professor Harry Arthurs, a former Dean of Osgoode Hall Law School, to conduct a comprehensive review of Part III. Professor Arthurs issued his final report (324 pgs) on October 30, 2006 ...
The countdown towards implementation of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) is well underway. The Directive, which replaces the existing Investment Services Directive, is due to come into force across the European Union by 1 November 2007. Member States are required to have the necessary enabling legislation and regulatory rules in final form by 31 January ...
The December 2006 SFC Enforcement Reporter provides a timely reminder that carrying out regulated activities without a licence is a highly risky endeavour in Hong Kong. This caps off a year where there were a number of significant enforcement actions for unlicensed dealing activities ...
Under UCITS Regulations, UCITS III funds are permitted to use financial derivative instruments (FDIs) not only for hedging but also as part of their general investment policies. The Irish Financial Regulator requires that the risks involved in using FDI are properly managed, measured and monitored in an ongoing basis through designing and implementing a comprehensive risk management process (RMP) ...
In a speech on 20 November 2006, Mrs Alexa Lam, the SFC's Executive Director of Intermediaries and Investment Products, announced that the SFC will continue its focus on ensuring that financial products are not mis-sold in Hong Kong and that investors are provided with appropriate advice from their investment advisers (IAs) ...
In late 2006, China’s National Social Security Fund Council for the first time granted overseas mandates to 10 global investment managers to manage in total USD 1 billion of the National Social Security Fund (“NSSF”). It is reported that the NSSF, China’s national pension fund of last resort, has total assets worth of around USD30 billion.The 10 managers are AllianceBernstein, Allianz, AXA Rosenberg, BlackRock, JanusINTECH, Invesco, PIMCO, State Street Global Advisors, T ...
