Bayer AG, a German chemical company, and Monsanto Co., an American agrochemical corporation recently announced they have signed a definitive merger agreement under which Bayer plans to acquire Monsanto to create “a Global Leader in Agriculture ...
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 ...
Despite being in existence for years, many have only recently become familiar with encryption. This follows heightened publicity around its use on popular social media platforms purportedly offering end-to-end encryption. Encryption (or cryptography) has been described as a mathematical formula or algorithm that encodes and decodes information, with only authorised persons having access to such information through a key ...
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 ...
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 ...
Financial technologies need specific legal solutions and an open approach to the law. There are lots of indications that financial technology, or FinTech, is one of the next chapters in the digital revolution unrolling before our eyes. The role of finance in the economic life of the society was laid bare by the last financial crisis. The tragic consequences of errors committed on Wall Street, i.e ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Earlier this year, we released our inaugural cyber survey report, Perspectives on Cyber Risk (the Report), intended to provide insight into Australian organisations' cyber risk posture and cyber resilience capability.Perhaps one of the more surprising findings in the Report was that surveyed organisations did not appear to be overly concerned about the risk of regulatory action flowing from a cyber breach ...
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 ...
On July 1st, 2016 the Pilot Patent Prosecution Highway agreement (PPH) executed by the member states of the Pacific Alliance (Chile, Mexico, Colombia and Peru1) came into force.The PPH Pilot Program is an agreement executed by the patent offices of said countries, which allows applicants to request an accelerated examination process of a patent application ...
On June 23rd the United Kingdom (UK)1 decided, by means of a referendum, to exit from the European Union. This decision is known as “Brexit”. According to Art. 50 of the Treaty on European Union, the UK must notify the European Council – which for this purpose represents the EU – of its intention to exit, after which the parties will negotiate an agreement setting out the arrangements of that withdrawal and of the future relationship between the UK and the EU ...
The US Second Circuit Court of Appeals, overturning an earlier court ruling from a lower court, has held that the US Government cannot compel Microsoft to hand over emails stored on a server in Dublin in a narcotics case. The decision is a milestone victory for privacy rights and will be greatly welcomed by US technology companies storing data abroad ...
The European Commission has today adopted the Privacy Shield. The Privacy Shield is intended to provide a framework for EU-US data transfers. What is the Privacy Shield? European data protection law restricts the transfer of personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA) unless the country to which the data is transferred ensures an adequate level of data protection ...
Last week, Governor Snyder wrote Michigan's congressional delegation to stress the importance of fully funding upgrades to the Soo Locks. Snyder urged Congress to replace the Davis and Sabin Locks with a single, larger lock that would provide redundancy should the Poe Lock fail. The Poe Lock is currently the only lock capable of handling the 1,000-foot freighters used to transport raw materials like iron ore ...
After the conclusion of the public consultations conducted by the Philippine Competition Commission ("PCC") on May 24, 2016 and the lapse of the period for the submission of comments and suggested revisions to the draft implementing rules and regulations issued on May 10, 2016, the PCC has published the final implementing rules and regulations (the "Rules") of the Philippine Competition Act ("PCA") last June 3, 2016. The Rules took effect on June 18, 2016 ...
FTAs between Colombia and Korea and between Colombia and Costa Rica will soon enter into force. The FTA between Colombia and Korea will enter into force on July 15. This is Colombia’s first FTA with an Asian country. Through this FTA, Colombia aims to strengthen trade relations with one of the most dynamic regions of the world as well as to attract investment.This FTA is of great importance for the Colombian agricultural sectors, as Korea is a major importer of these goods ...
Martine Samuelian and Virginia Barat, JEANTETThis article is supplementing the May 2016 issue of the Lavery Capital newsletter, number 9, which discusses the potential extension of the European passport regime (the ?Passport?) ? established under EU Directive no. 2011/61/EU (the ?Directive?) ? to Canadian investment fund managers (?Canadian managers?) ...
