In 2015, according to Sensis, 56% of large and 31% of small-to-medium sized Australian businesses had a social media presence of some kind. Of these, more than half reported measuring the success of their social media investment by their numbers of 'likes', followers and subscribers ...
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?) ...
A recent wave of consolidation in the telecommunications sector has seen TPG Telecom acquire iiNet for $1.6 billion, Vocus Communications acquire Amcom Telecommunications for $653 million and Vocus acquire M2 Group in a 'merger of equals' valued at $3.0 billion. These three transactions have now created two industry powerhouses – TPG and Vocus. All three transactions were implemented by way of a scheme of arrangement between the notional target and its shareholders ...
Recent “gun jumping” rulings across Europe have included fines on investors and serve as reminders that exchange of information between two competitors during an M&A negotiation has to be treated with caution.In fact, if the focus in an M&A deal is usually on merger control clearances, the path towards the completion of the operation has also to be monitored very closely, in the sense that the companies involved should remain independent competitors until the deal is effectively closed ...
The April 2016 issue of the International Financial Law Review (IFLR) included an international briefing article entitled “New foreign investment rules.” The article was contributed by SyCipLaw partner Marietta A. Tibayan.Read the article online at the IFLR website ...
Tensions in the Middle East have continued into 2016 as conflicts among global powers and regional powers play out in the region. But 2016 is also the year of hope – the year when peace may begin in Syria and Yemen. This is also the year that the UAE has appointed a Minister of Happiness, and even more relevantly, a Minister of Tolerance ...
ExportWise magazine has published the “First 5 Calls” series on the Philippines. Published by Export Development Canada (EDC) for Canadian exporters and investors, ExportWise’s “First 5 Calls” series seeks to provide practical, on-the-ground advice from five market experts who each address a particular aspect of doing business in a certain country, such as legal and regulatory, market entry and distribution, customs, human resources, etc.SyCipLaw partner Hiyasmin H ...
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONSPROMULGATION OF THE LAW ON TRADE UNIONS, Royal Kram № NS/RKM/1516/007, dated 17 May 2016The Law on Trade Unions is intended to: (a) provide rights and freedom for enterprises, establishments and persons governed by the provisions of the 1997 Labour Law and persons serving in air and maritime transportation and (b) sets out the organization and functioning of professional organizations of employees and employers ...
The Lagos Tax Appeal Tribunal (“TAT”) on 12 February 2016 ruled in favour of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (“FIRS”) in its case with Vodacom Business Nigeria Limited (“Vodacom”) that satellite-network bandwidth capacities provided to Vodacom outside Nigeria by New Skies Satellites (“NSS”), a Dutch incorporated company, are liable to value added tax (“VAT”) in Nigeria ...
Lana Sarajlić, attorney-at-law in cooperation with Karanović & Nikolić, participated in a Business Briefing on 10 May, which was hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), on the topic of data protection developments and trends in BiH practice ...
BOTSWANA: Protocol to treaty between Botswana and Sweden enters into force The amending protocol to the Botswana/Sweden Income Tax Treaty (1992), which was signed on 20 February 2013, entered into force on 1 December 2015. The protocol generally applies from 1 December 2015 for the provisions on exchange of information and from 1 January 2016 for the remaining provisions ...
At the opening ceremony of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (“FOCAC”) summit held in Johannesburg in December 2015, the President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, announced that China intends to invest US$60-billion in Africa over the next three years. This undoubtedly reaffirms the commitment by China and Africa to bilateral cooperation, thereby furthering China’s “One Belt, One Road” foreign policy ...
The European Commission has presented an Action Plan setting out ways to reboot the current EU VAT system to make it simpler, more fraud-proof and business-friendly. The current VAT rules urgently need to be updated so they can better support the Single Market, facilitate cross-border trade and keep pace with today's digital and mobile economy ...
2015 was a record year in the Hungarian M&A market. Both in terms of value and number of transactions, 2015 was the best year since 2008, with approximately 160 closed transactions and an aggregate value of approximately EUR 2 billion. Although the acceleration follows global trends, the Hungarian market has a few specifics that will further enhance a growing M&A market in 2016 as well ...
It won’t be long before Malaysia becomes a party to the Madrid Protocol with strong indicationspointing towards Malaysia acceding to this treaty by 2013. The Madrid Protocol system, which is a global trademark registration system is administered centrally by the International Bureau of the WorldIntellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), located in Geneva, Switzerland ...
Over the previous couple of years, the region of South-Eastern Europe, or more specifically, the Western Balkans, has enjoyed a globally acknowledged position of an investment hot-spot. This comes as no surprise if we take into account how the socialist past of encompassing countries has provided their contemporary incarnations with a number of state-owned companies in core industries, all of which now present viable targets for Private Equity funds and M&A activities in general ...
Over the previous couple of years, the region of South-Eastern Europe, or more specifically, the Western Balkans, has enjoyed a globally acknowledged position of an investment hot-spot. This comes as no surprise if we take into account how the socialist past of encompassing countries has provided their contemporary incarnations with a number of state-owned companies in core industries, all of which now present viable targets for Private Equity funds and M&A activities in general ...
ANGOLA: Budget Law 2016 published Law No. 28/15 (“Budget Law 2016”), which had been adopted on 31 December 2015, was published on 30 January 2016 and applies with effect from 1 January 2016. The Budget Law 2016 provides for: · the introduction of a Special Contribution on Banking Operations, to be levied at the rate of 0.1% on all financial operations by banking and non-banking financial institutions governed by the Financial Institutions Framework Law (Law 12/15 of 27 June 2015) ...
It is well-known that a solid framework for attracting investment is a key strategy for fostering investments in a sector as big and significant as telecommunications are. As consolidation and M&A activities continue to be looked for in the region, there is an idea that the use of new technology and smart solutions is the best way to gain a competitive advantage over other market participants ...
On February 29, 2016, the European Commission issued a draft of the so-called Adequacy-Decision for the new agreement between the European Union and the USA called EU-US Privacy Shield to facilitate data transfers between the European Union and the USA. It is doubtful whether the Privacy Shield will be a reliable basis for a simplified transfer of personal data ...
Further to our previous alert relating to inspections of the Russian Data Protection Authority (‘DPA’) we would like to draw your attention that DPA is also entitled to undertake measures of so-called systematic monitoring in order to supervise compliance of data controllers with the Russian legislation on personal data. These measures mainly cover checking websites and information placed in a public domain ...
The United States has announced that it has signed with Cuba a new agreement covering air services between the two countries. The new agreement, which replaces a suspended accord dating back to the 1950s, authorizes up to 110 daily round trip scheduled flights between the two countries by airlines of each respective country. The agreement permits twenty (20) scheduled non-stop flights between the U.S ...
The United States and the European Union recently concluded a new agreement aimed at allowing U.S. companies to continue to collect, use and disclose personal information concerning European citizens, while still preserving their fundamental rights ...
