Lifting of US Sanctions The US Government announced the removal of Sudan from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism effective as of Monday 14 December 2020. After 27 years of US sanctions, such step restores sovereign immunity for the Sudanese government in US Courts. It is also a critical step in the process of reintegrating Sudan into the global economy and offering a lifeline of international financial aid to Sudan ...
A new bill in the California Assembly has the potential to alter substantially the existing legal framework of products liability for online retailers. Assembly Bill No. 1182 (“AB 1182”), which was introduced on February 18, 2021, would impose strict products liability on online retailers who (1) communicate offers of sale and (2) facilitate payment between a third-party seller and a purchaser, even if the online retailer never takes physical possession of the product ...
Further to the decline of the Covid-19 spread in Israel after the successful vaccination rollout, Israel has announced changes in foreign entry policy into the country, which will allow, among others, the regular entry of foreign experts and businessmen. These reliefs come after several months in which the state borders were almost completely closed to foreigners ...
The compliant use of cookies requiring consent has presented a major challenge for website operators for quite some time. Following the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the "Planet 49" case, many operators have adapted the cookie banners they use. However, in doing so, they are faced with the difficulty of designing the cookie banners in such a way that these encourage a high acceptance rate from users, while remaining legally compliant ...
Banking & Finance ESAs issue joint supervisory statement on the application of the Regulation on Sustainability-related disclosures in the Financial Services Sector (SFDR) ESAs issue recommendations on the application of the SFDR ...
On April 9, 2021, the IRS released Private Letter Ruling (PLR) 202114002 (January 13, 2021), which provides additional context to taxpayers worried about whether their Fintech or Insurtech shares represent Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) section 1202 ...
The National Government issued Decree 360 of 2021 that modifies the customs regime contained in Decree 265 of 2019, in order to provide legal security to foreign trade users by specifying the substantial and formal obligations that must be met in the customs procedures and regimes. In addition, it temporarily modified the obligation regarding the minimum amount of liquid assets required of customs agencies ...
The designation of eight new Freeports within England made headlines in the Budget and now the winning bidders have to put into effect their successful proposals. What will this mean in practice for those areas affected and what are the likely issues that Freeport authorities will face? We have pulled together some questions we are asked frequently on Freeports, together with the responses we have been providing to our clients ...
In our previous article, we reported on the Supplemental Arrangement Concerning Mutual Enforcement of Arbitral Awards between Mainland China and the HKSAR (Supplemental Arrangement) made on 27 November 2020, which made certain revisions to the Arrangement Concerning Mutual Enforcement of Arbitral Awards between Mainland China and the HKSAR, as follows: Recognition of arbitral awards -The Supplemental Arrangement clarified that the procedures set out in the Arrangement shall be in
The advent of blank cheque company IPOs. Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) have taken the corporate world by storm. These “blank cheque” shell companies, which raise funds in their initial public offerings (IPO) to invest in potential but as yet unidentified target businesses, have fuelled a listing frenzy in the US. SPAC IPOs have garnered US$87.9 billion in fundraising in the first three months of 2021, already exceeding last year’s total ...
The E-Sign Act was signed into law over two decades ago. To put that into context, smart phones as we know them did not exist—the most popular mobile phone in 2000 was a flip phone, the Nokia 3310, and the first iPhone would not debut for another seven years. The most popular website was AOL because many people were still using AOL as their internet service provider. Google was a fledgling company with its search engine just starting out among the mainstays like Excite and Lycos ...
Gennex Media LLC, a customizable product online marketplace, and its sole officer and shareholder Akil Kurji, have agreed to an FTC consent decree resolving allegations the company falsely claimed its Brandnex novelty products were “Made in USA,” “USA MADE,” and “Manufactured Right Here in America!” when, in many instances, they were wholly imported from China ...
In a recent article published in écho, WSG Member Astrid Wagner, Partner, IP Communication & Technology at Arendt & Medernach, provides insight on the growing risk of damage to information systems in cyber attacks and what cyber protection measures should be taken ...
On 24 March 2021, the EU Member States agreed to begin negotiations with the European Parliament concerning a legislative proposal on health technology assessment. Health technology includes medicinal products, medical devices or medical and surgical procedures, as well as measures for disease prevention, diagnosis or treatment used in healthcare ...
In Facebook v. Duguid, (Case No. 19-511) on April 1, 2021, the United States Supreme Court unanimously confirmed that equipment without the capacity to randomly or sequentially store or produce numbers is not an autodialer for TCPA purposes. The Facebook ruling focuses on text messages, which many institutions are using as a primary method of customer contact, but it is also a victory for those using predictive dialers and preview dialers without random and sequential source codes ...
In August 2020, Kudun & Partners was appointed to represent the largest group of creditors, consisting of 87 savings cooperatives, in the wake of the recent Thai Airways’ petition for rehabilitation. Taken together, these investment entities hold 65% of the airline’s total debenture debt, making them the largest group of creditors ...
If you are responsible for handling data subject requests made pursuant to the EU General Data Protection Regulation or verified consumer requests made pursuant to the California Consumer Privacy Act, chances are you have come across one or more of the myriad companies that purport to be advocating for consumers in making requests on their behalf. These companies include Mine, Privacy Bee, DeleteMe and Revoke ...
Colombia updated its free trade zones regime to increase the competitivity of this investment opportunity. Among others, it now allows three new activities for free trade zones, introduces the creation of a concertation committee to discuss key topics between the Government and the private sector, and it simplified procedures to declare a free trade zone. Decree 278 of 2021 was introduced as a tool towards innovation in the free trade zone regime ...
The Court of Justice of the European Union has given a welcome answer to the question of under what circumstances embedding, by means of the technique of framing, should be regarded as a communication to the public that requires the copyright holder’s prior authorisation. In doing so, it has decided not to follow Advocate General Szpunar’s proposed approach (discussed here) ...
On 14 March 2021, the law of 5 March 2021 on certain rules for the implementation of Regulation (EU) No 2019/1150 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on promoting fairness and transparency for business users of online intermediation services (the “P2B Regulation”) (hereinafter the “Law”) entered into force ...
The legal and practical issues that arise when executing documents electronically with a focus on practical points to consider and pitfalls to avoid. This is quite a hot topic at the moment with businesses having to continue to operate during lockdown ...
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has extended the timeline for filing the 2021 data audit report from 15 March 2021 till 30 June 2021. In 2019, the National Information Technology and Development Agency (‘NITDA’) issued the Nigerian Data Protection Regulation (‘NDPR’) ...
Behind every video game, there is intellectual property (IP) which is worth protecting to optimize monetisation of the game. As discussed in Studios and designers: Are you sure that you own the intellectual property rights to your video games, the first step for studios and designers is to make sure that they own all IP rights on the video game ...
