Law No 20,590 (the “Law”), that authorizes the issuance and operation of pre-funded payment methods or any other similar system (the “Prepaid Cards”), by non-banking entities, when these systems involve that the issuer or the operator regularly engages in monetary obligations with the general public or to specific sectors or groups thereof, was published and came in force on October 29, 2016 ...
We are pleased to announce that Karanovic & Nikolic team, together with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, has supported UniCredit S.p.A. (Italy) in a recently closed take-over of the CEE business of UniCredit Bank Austria AG including shareholdings in 13 banks in Southern Europe and CEE as well as a relevant loan portfolio ...
The September issue of the International Financial Law Review (IFLR) included an international briefing article entitled “Facilitating Creditor-Debtor Dealings”. The article was contributed by SyCipLaw partner Russel L. Rodriguez, senior associate John Christian Joy A. Regalado, and associate Jo Margarette W. Remollo ...
? The reform of the French law of obligations implemented by the French ordinance No 2016—131 of 10 February 2016 (the Ordinance), conducted after public consultations and high quality working papers, constitutes the deepest overhaul of French contract law since the Civil Code of 1804. The Ordinance applies to contracts entered into as from 1 October 2016,2 including amendment agreements, tacit renewals and novated contracts executed or occurring after that date ...
With the public comment period closing in a few days, the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) “first in the nation” cybersecurity regulation is one step closer to becoming law ...
Over the summer, several European blue chips, certain Fortune 500s and major Asian corporates accelerated their entry strategy for Iran. Some are investing in Iran pursuant to the Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Act 2002 (“FIPPA”), which, amongst other things, provides a sovereign guarantee from the Iranian government ...
Latest news reports are informing us that the European Energy Community (EC) went back on their threats of suspending Serbia's membership, after a series of fruitful negotiations between EC's representatives and the Serbian Ministry of Energy. The agreement which allowed for this development stipulates that Serbia has accepted the plan of action regarding the restructuring of Srbijagas, at the same time complying with the requirements of the Third Energy Package ...
Recent news bring us an update from the Energy Community (EC), whose latest report has outlined that Serbia has not resolved the key issue of non-compliance with the aquis – something that presents a continuous violation of obligations under the EC Treaty – by not completing the separation of Srbijagas and Yugorosgaz activities in accordance with the "Second Energy Package" ...
SyCipLaw partners Jose Florante M. Pamfilo and Franco Aristotle G. Larcina contributed the Philippine chapter of Herbert Smith Freehills’ 1st edition of Guide to Restructuring, Turnaround and Insolvency in Asia Pacific. The Guide is intended to provide an understanding of the legal framework in different jurisdictions, as well as to address key practical issues commonly encountered when dealing with companies in financial difficulties ...
In the past several years, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, and other government bodies have mandated recall of hundreds of products from the market.In some cases, companies have voluntarily recalled products due to their potential for risk of injury ...
Africa Tax in Brief Ethiopia: Treaty and amending protocol with the Netherlands enter into force The Ethiopia-Netherlands Income Tax Treaty, 2012 and the exchange of notes, signed on 10 August 2012, entered into force on 1 September 2016, and the amending protocol to the treaty, signed on 18 August 2014, will enter into force on 30 September 2016. The exchange of notes generally applies from 1 September 2016 ...
According to latest media reports, the governments of Serbia and Bulgaria have agreed on the formulation of a new memorandum for the task of building a gas pipeline between the two countries, during a recent meeting of the group for gas connections in Central and South East Europe that was held in Budapest ...
The Second Eastern Economic Forum was held on 2nd and 3rd December in Vladivostok. The participants presented various investment projects ready for implementation. On 3rd September Maxim Alekseev, ALRUD Law Firm Senior Partner, participated in Russia-ASEAN session. Its primary topic was discussion of the declaration on main areas of cooperation between Russia and ASEAN adopted on Russia-ASEAN summit held in Sochi on 19-20 May, 2016 ...
TAXATION TAX ON IMMOVABLE PROPERTY PAYMENT FOR 2016 Notifications No. 12723 dated 5 August 2016 & No. 13466 dated 16 August 2016 Per Notification No. 12723, the General Department of Taxation (“GDT”) informs owners of immovable property (“Property”) which is subject to the Immovable Property Tax (“IPT”) to pay the IPT to the tax authorities by 30 September 2016. Late payment of IPT is subject to penalty ...
Corruption is a scourge which transcends frontiers. In response to this situation, Canada has chosen to pass the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act (hereinafter referred to as the "CFPOA") in 1998, then reinforced the regime thereof more recently. The difficulty with this Act lies in the fact that the offences must have been committed abroad. International cooperation thus remains essential to its application. The difficulties related to the transnational nature of corruption are real ...
Recently, the Emirates Insurance Authority (the “Insurance Authority”) proposed a regulation in draft form concerning marketing of insurance policies by banks (the “Draft Regulation”). It is intended to regulate local insurance companies that market insurance policies through banks in the UAE ...
The Mexican government announced the second bid of Round 2 on August 23, 2016. This will be the seventh upstream bid round in Mexico since passage of the energy reform in mid-2014. The new bid round (named Round 2.2), comprises 12 onshore blocks for exploration in the Burgos and Southeastern Basins, covering collectively 5,006 km2 , with prospective resources of approximately 643.2 million barrels of crude equivalent and an original volume of approximately 93 ...
Darko JovanovićandMarko Ketler, Partners at Karanović Nikolić, recently commented on the state of the regional NPL market in a View More
Over the past few months the issue of offshore jurisdictions and the role they play in the global economy has come under extreme scrutiny, especially from onshore governments seeking to increase tax revenues. The recent Panama Papers Leak has only served to fuel the flame and has resulted in more people who know very little or nothing at all about offshore jurisdictions calling for their demise ...
African Union: Import tax introduced At its 27th summit recently held in Rwanda, the African Union (“AU”) decided to implement an import tax of 0.2% to be charged on all imports of goods (excluding basic necessities) in each member state. It is expected that EUR1-billion will be collected through this tax, making the AU financially autonomous. Morocco, the only African country currently not a member of the AU, is in the process of being reintegrated into the AU ...
The Philippine section of Getting the Deal Through: Aviation Finance & Leasing 2015 was contributed by SyCipLaw senior associate Bhong Paulo A. Macasaet with associates Aldous Benjamin C. Camiso, Diana S. Gervacio, and Maricar G. Ramos ...
The Act of 22 July 2016 Amending the Energy Law and Certain Other Acts was published on 2 August 2016. The act is intended to eliminate the black market in fuels, strengthen competition on the market, and improve Poland’s energy security. The amendments introduced by the act primarily concern the market for natural gas and liquid fuels ...
On July the 27th 2016, Law No. 20.936 that establishes New Power Transmission Systems and creates an Independent Coordinating Body for the National Power System (the “Transmission Law” or “New Law”) was published. Its stated objectives are to ensure that transmission does not become an obstacle to power generation, increase competition in the electrical market and boost the development of non-conventional renewable energies ...
ANGOLA: Securities Code Regulations enacted The Securities Code Regulation (Regulation No. 6/16) (the "Regulation") was approved by the Council of Administration of the Capital Market Commission and gazetted on 7 June 2016. The Regulation contains the organisation rules and administrative requirements for open companies and other issuers of securities admitted to trading in regulated markets ...
