On 2 March, 25 of the 27 EU members committed to the new "Fiscal Compact" concept, signed the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union. The Treaty, which is technically an intergovernmental treaty and not an EU instrument (due to the UK and the Czech Republic not wishing to sign up to it), was introduced in December 2011 by Germany and France ...
Government guidance that suggests parent companies are unlikely to be snared by anti-bribery legislation that catches a subsidiary could lull businesses into a false sense of security. While it is unlikely that a subsidiary or joint venture partner operating independently and caught by the Bribery Act would make its parent liable, there is other legislation ready to catch the owner ...
Europe’s Finance ministers worked through the night of 20 to 21 February to hammer out the terms of the second Greek bail-out to the tune of EUR 130 bn. While the markets have responded coolly to the deal, ministers remain optimistic that enough has been done to stem the contagion to the rest of the Eurozone. Many experts remain skeptical as to whether the bail-out will be enough to save Greece from ultimately defaulting ...
Not long ago, returns on traditional investment products, for example term deposits, were quite low and did not generate a great deal of interest among those who could spare and would like to invest money with the prospect of some return. Alternatives nearly always carry a higher risk and the various solutions, such as mutual funds, were not well known and poorly understood ...
Pursuant to the 2011 General Rules on Foreign Trade, since January 2, 2012, holders of trademarks that have been registered with the Mexican Industrial Property Institute (“IMPI”) may request the listing of their trademarks at the Mexican Customs Office (“AGA”), through a database developed by AGA ...
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On December 15, 2011 was published in the Official Journal of the Federation the decree by which they renovated and added various articles of the Federal law on protection to the consumer, which entered into force the day after its publication ...
Kocián Šolc Balaštík kicked off the new year by helping complete a significant transaction: the sale of UG Air, an operator of duty free and fashion shops at the international airport in Prague, to Aelia Czech Republic s.r.o. KSB has provided legal advice to UNIMEX GROUP, a.s ...
The Joint Select Committee on Marcellus Shale (the “Committee”) reported a 121 page bill governing horizontal wells that utilize 210,000 gallons of water or more per month or that involve surface disturbance of 3 acres or more. The final version of the bill was posted to the West Virginia Legislature’s website on November 18, 2011 (the “Bill”) ...
November 8, 2011- The Minister of Finance and Economic Development delivered his Budget Speech on the 4th of November 2011. The Budget aims at providing for innovative measures to support key economic sectors (such as ICT/BPO, Tourism, Financial Sector...) and new markets (renewable energies...). The Budget also provides for a National Resilience Plan to support the economy in a global economic downturn ...
The Republic of Panama, using Law No. 35 of May 10, 1996 as a basis, continues making its best efforts to provide the highest possible protection to Intellectual Property, both in the territory of the Republic of Panama as well as also cooperating with the owners of intellectual property rights ...
President Obama recently sent to Congress proposed legislative language and analyses of his proposed deficit-reduction plan. Among the proposed legislative changes is a change to the formula used for calculating the cap on the amount that the federal government will reimburse federal contractors for executive compensation ...
Classification, Authorization and Registration Requirements - All forex operations are subject to registration, but not all are subject to approval, such as the case of those defined as current transactions, which do not require prior authorization from the Bank of Mozambique (“BoM”) ...
The long anticipated America Invents Act (the “Act”) was signed into law today. However, given that certain provisions of the Act are now in effect while others do not come online until March 16, 2013, innovating companies and individuals should consider the impact and timing of those provisions on their overall patent strategy. Below is a link to some practice pointers and strategic tips you may want to consider when operating under the Act ...
There has been much discussion about building one or more ethane cracking plants within the Marcellus gas footprint. However, there has not been as much discussion of building downstream manufacturing facilities that use products produced at the ethane cracking facility. Recently, the West Virginia Legislature enacted revisions to the tax code to stimulate development of downstream manufacturing facilities in West Virginia ...
Bank Indonesia recently issued Regulation of Bank Indonesia No.13/15/PBI/2011 on Monitoring Foreign Exchange Flow Activities in Non-Bank Institutions (“PBI 13”) which will replace and repeal the following regulations by January 2012: Bank Indonesia Regulation No. 1/9/PBI/1999 on Monitoring Foreign Exchange Flows in Bank and Non Bank Financial Institutions (“Regulation 1/1999”); Bank Indonesia Regulation No ...
The government has recently published a consultation document seeking views in relation to its proposals for business rate retention ("BRR") in England and options for enabling local authorities to carry out Tax Increment Financing ("TIF") within the business rates retention system. The business rates consultation may interest developers, the public sector and those involved in renewables or regeneration, particularly those considering Tax Increment Financed projects ...
The aim of the recent freedom of information (FOI) reforms was to encourage a pro-disclosure culture, and to provide additional assistance and guidance to both the applicant and agencies in processing FOI requests. However, since the commencement of those reforms, maintaining the balance between the philosophy and the practical operation of the FOI Act has presented challenges for agencies in meeting their statutory FOI obligations ...
International trade sanctions are becoming an increasingly high profile issue for both practitioners and clients in Australia. Major reforms to Australia's sanctions system will have implications for global companies with any Australian connections ...
On June 22, 2011, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) adopted final rules and amendments under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (the “Advisers Act”), designed to implement various provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) ...
As you will be aware, 1 January 2012 is the go live date for OHS harmonisation. A new OHS Act, Regulation and Codes of Practice will commence in the Commonwealth and in each State and Territory at this time. The new package of OHS legislation will be based on model legislation, so will be substantially similar in each jurisdiction. For detailed information about the state of play in relation to OHS harmonisation, see our HR&IR Update of 22 June 2011 ...
Following the introduction of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Bill 2011 (Bill) and the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2011 (Transitional Bill) into the Commonwealth Parliament (as reported in our news alert of 23 March 2011), the Senate referred the Bill and the Transitional Bill to the Senate Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Committee (Commi
Asters Law Associates Oles Kvyat and Oleksandr Mozheiko talk today about the terms and procedures of the Initial Public Offering on the Ukrainian Stock Exchange The Ukrainian market grows in line with global markets. When global markets decline, the Ukrainian equity market suffers correction as well. The recent financial turmoil experienced by the world in 2009 - 2010 adversely affected the Ukrainian equity market ...
