ENSafrica’s MOHS department recently represented AngloGold Ashanti Limited in a South African Labour Court case, which has culminated in a judgment that sets out important legal principles and requirements. These relate to the instructions issued by Inspectors of Mines in terms of section 54 of the Mine Health and Safety Act, 1996 (the “Act”) ...
Trade mark law may be contained in statutes, but judges are the ones who interpret the statutes. Judges are also the ones who eventually decide whether one trade mark is confusingly similar to another. It is these factors that make the “Question the Trade Mark Judges” event that recently took place at University College London so fascinating for anyone interested in trade marks ...
The recent Supreme Court of Appeal (“SCA”) case of Transnet v Total is important not only for those in the petroleum industry, but also, more generally, when it comes to aspects of competition and discrimination, as well as the impact of changes in the law on existing contracts and vested rights ...
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 ...
The European Commission has opened an in-depth merger investigation into the planned acquisition of Cemex Croatia by Duna-Drava Cement ('DDC'). Registered in Hungary, DDC is jointly controlled by German construction material producers HeidelbergCement and Schwenk. DDC inter alia operates a cement plant in Kakanj, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Cemex Croatia, an arm of the international cement heavyweight Cemex, controls three cement plants in the Croatian coastal city of Split ...
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" ...
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 ...
Media reports are letting us know that the "Serbia - A Strategic Crossroads between Western and Eastern Europe," conference was held in Paris on 15 September, where the French companies were presented with the political and economic environment in Serbia, as well as with the ensuing investment opportunities and the possibility of financing economic projects ...
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 ...
Recent news reports from Bosnia tell us that the BiH government, represented by the federal prime minister for economic issues and investments, Suvad Osmanagic, paid a visit to Bihac with Ludovico Camozzi, the president and owner of Camozzi – an Italian company that produces industrial automation machinery. The main purpose of this visit was to see Kombiteks, a textile production company that has been in bankruptcy and in and out of operation for the past 15 years ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 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 ...
The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 ("CDM 2016") come into force on 1 August 2016. The legislation includes transitional provisions, so that, where a project has already started by 1 August 2016, the Client must appoint a Principal Designer before 1 August 2017 (unless the project ends before that date). In the meantime, the existing CDM Co-ordinator must comply with the duties of a Principal Designer ...
The July 2016 issue of the International Financial Law Review (IFLR) included an international briefing article entitled “Renewable energy projects”. The article was contributed by SyCipLaw partner Rafael L. Encarnacion. The article discussed the challenges that the national legal regime poses to foreign investors seeking a higher equity stake for renewable energy projects, and the difficulty of procurement with either-end users or distribution utilities ...
According to latest news reports, Plinovodi – the company managing Slovenian gas pipelines, will be brought under majority state control, while the energy company, Petrol, is due to secure a majority stake in the gas wholesaler Geoplin under a contract signed this month. It should be noted that the Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SSH) and Petrol are currently the largest Geoplin shareholders. Geoplin, in turn, is the sole shareholder of Plinovodi ...
