With the economy facing downward pressure, the Hong Kong Government is rolling out various supporting and funding measures to help enterprises. The $30 billion HK$ Anti-epidemic Fund The Legislative Council Finance Committee approved the $30 billion Anti-epidemic Fund on 21 February 2020, more than half of which - HK$16.9 billion - will serve as one-off cash injections to retailers, food and beverages service providers, start-ups and other businesses ...
New anti-harassment law in time for new virus panic. The COVID-19 crisis that began in Wuhan, China, brings to mind earlier epidemics. In 2003, we were in the grip of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars). It was the first pandemic in the era of the Internet, blogging and social media. Amid the panic about infections, one individual was widely labelled a “super spreader”. Her name and personal details were published ...
BVI government welcomes announcement. Blacklist expands to include 12 jurisdictions.On 18 February 2020, EU Finance Ministers updated the EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions, upgrading the British Virgin Islands to whitelist status, which designates the country as a fully co-operative tax jurisdiction in line with all of the tax good-governance standards ...
Several recent reports claim that the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic in China is beginning to slow down and generally under control, prompting businesses in China to resume operations. In order to minimise further spreading of the virus as employees return to work, the PRC government has issued different local rules and guidelines to ensure enterprises are adequately prepared ...
Summary On January 13, 2020, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) issued final regulations to implement the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 (FIRRMA)1 (the “Regulations”2). The Regulations go into effect on February 13, 2020. CFIUS’s existing regulations (the “Pilot Program”) will continue to apply to transactions that close prior to February 13, 2020 ...
On 30 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the outbreak of novel coronavirus or COVID-19 constituted a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). The COVID-19 is a respiratory illness caused by a new coronavirus which first originated in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, the death toll from which has reportedly surpassed 1,000 on mainland China, while confirmed infections have passed 40,000 globally ...
Chairperson of the Information Regulator, Advocate Pansy Tlakula, recently sent a request to President Cyril Ramaphosa to declare that the remaining provisions of the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (“POPIA”) commence on 1 April 2020(“Commencement Date”). It is expected that the president will act on this request ...
In November 2019, the Financial Market Commission published, for public consultation purposes, a proposed amendment to its Updated Regulations Compendium (URC), by means of enacting a new Chapter 20-10, on Information Security Management and Cybersecurity (the New Regulation) ...
As we enter into a new decade, we cannot over emphasize the importance of protecting your brands. In this digital age, trademarks are becoming more vulnerable to infringement. Mass production and counterfeit products are swamping the market ...
While many countries have introduced far-reaching obligations to report cyber incidents, Switzerland has not yet followed this lead. However, on 13 December 2019 the Federal Council adopted a report which considers key issues with regard to the introduction of a general reporting obligation for operators of critical infrastructure. The report also discusses possible implementation models. A decision is expected by the end of 2020 ...
Recent enforcement actions initiated by the Bureau of Industry and Security’s (“BIS”) Office of Antiboycott Compliance (“OAC”) serve as a warning to U.S. persons (including U.S. companies) with business interests in and around the Middle East. It is easy for the complacent to run afoul of OAC’s Antiboycott Regulations when evaluating and responding to otherwise routine documents such as a letters of credit, shipping certificates, or purchase orders ...
With the signing of a Protocol of Amendments (“PoA”) and the approval by the U.S. House of implementing legislation, the United States, Canada and Mexico are on track for final approval of the US-Canada-Mexico Agreement (the “USMCA”) by the middle of February 2020, which is the anticipated time frame for the vote by the U.S. Senate. If that proceeds as expected, the USMCA would take effect 90 days later, before the end of May ...
Summary of Public Policy and Prior Amendments The Minimum Fuels Storage Public Policy (the “Public Policy”) was released by Mexico’s Ministry of Energy (“SENER”) on December 12, 2017. The objective is to improve energy security in Mexico and ensure adequate energy supply and competitive prices, through the establishment of mandatory minimum fuel inventories and reporting obligations ...
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”), the interagency panel at the Department of the Treasury that reviews transactions for potential national security risks, recently released the public version of its latest annual report to Congress ...
Will the release of its digital currency be China’s next salvo in its bid for world domination?One of the biggest developments in global finance has recently occurred, but not enough people are talking about it. It features technology, money and a battle between global superpowers ...
Carey partner, Diego Peralta, and associate, Vesna Camelio, contributed to the Q&A section of the Chilean chapter in the first edition of the “Foreign Direct Investment Regimes: A practical cross-border insight into FDI screening regimes”. To read the full article, click here: https://www.carey.cl/download/filebase/noticias/_notes/Chilean-chapter-ICLG-Foreign-Direct-Investment-Regimes ...
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a final rule on January 11, 2019, introducing electronic registration requirement for employers seeking to file H-1B cap-subject petitions. The final rule went into effect on April 1, 2019, though the electronic registration requirement was suspended Fiscal Year 2020 (October 1, 2019 – September 30, 2020) to allow USCIS to complete user testing and ensure the system and process are fully functional ...
The U.S. District Court in Portland, Oregon, issued a 28-day temporary restraining order (TRO) in an unusual weekend session just before the “Presidential Proclamation on Suspension of Entry of Immigrants Who Will Financially Burden the United States Healthcare System” was to go into effect on November 3, 2019. Judge Michael H. Simon agreed to “freeze things the way they are” so a determination can be made on the merits of the case ...
Almost at the same time as the much-noticed and controversially discussed Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (see Update IP No. 12: Agreement on the Reform of the Digital Copyright Law) and barely noticed by the public, another European Directive on copyright law was adopted ...
The U.S.-China trade dispute continues to simmer with multiple significant developments in the past several weeks: The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced the exclusion process for Chinese imports subject to List 4A Section 301 tariffs will open on Oct. 31, 2019 and conclude on Jan. 31, 2020. List 4A and 4B tariffs on an estimated $300 billion of goods imported from China, effective Sept. 1, 2019 and Dec ...
Yesterday, in a closely-followed case, the Supreme Court decided not to hear an appeal brought by the Domino’s pizza chain, which sought to overturn the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal’s decision that entities selling online must make their websites and apps accessible to people with disabilities ...
CFIUS inbound investment national security review expanding to certain non-controlling foreign investments in critical technology, critical infrastructure, and sensitive personal data, as well as to certain real estate transactions. The U.S. Treasury Department published proposed rules in the Federal Register on Sept. 24, 2019, concerning changes to the review process for foreign investment conducted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) ...
On 3 October 2019, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) published its groundbreaking ruling in case C-18/18 establishing that the EU enables national courts to order information societies such as Facebook to remove defamatory information. This also encompasses equivalent versions of previously declared illegal information. In doing so, the ECJ effectively held that EU law does not preclude injunctions issued by national courts from producing worldwide effects ...
