The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has published in the Federal Register a Notice of a “Request for Comments on Negotiating Objectives Regarding Modernization of the North American Free Trade Agreement With Canada and Mexico.” In the Notice, USTR advises that it will accept written comments by June 12, 2017 and will hold a public hearing at the U.S ...
"WHAT BELT AND ROAD SNUB MEANS FOR SINGAPORE’S TIES WITH CHINA" Thus the headline from the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on 18 May 2017.China had concluded its Belt and Road Forum, to which 29 other heads of government were invited. Only 3 from 10-member ASEAN were excluded: Singapore, Thailand and Brunei. Even smaller nations, with less-established diplomatic ties to Beijing, sent their heads of government ...
Once the new Commercial Companies Law was enacted as Federal Law No. 2 it gave existing companies time to achieve compliance with its terms. Article 374 provides that a further one-year extension could be granted by Resolution of the Cabinet, and such an extension was in fact granted. Article 374 also provides that a company that fails to achieve compliance shall be deemed dissolved ...
ANGOLA: Budget Law, 2017 details publishedOn 10 February 2017, the provisions of Budget Law, 2017, enacted on 31 December 2016, were published. In terms of the Budget Law, 2017 the 10% withholding tax on technical services and management fees paid to non-residents for the provision of foreign technical assistance or management services (Contribuição Especial sobre as Operações Cambiais de Invisíveis Correntes), which was introduced by Law No ...
In the 2017 South African Budget Review, specific statements were made from a tax and exchange control perspective in relation to fund managers. We briefly consider below whether these statements constitute a relaxation of the exchange control restrictions applicable to South African residents, and the taxes to be considered ...
The Philippine Court of Appeals (CA) denied the petition by NGO Ang Aroroy ay Alagaan, Inc. and certain individuals, for the issuance of a writ of kalikasan against Filminera Resources Corporation, and its directors and officers. The petitioners have claimed that Filminera, which operates in the Philippine province of Masbate, had been causing environmental damage in the conduct of its mining operations in violation of local law, and that a writ of kalikasan should be issued ...
As published in international media, Brazil is still facing economic problems related, for example, to economic growth rate and unemployment. However, Brazil remains a country where investment opportunities continue to exist. Brazil has the advantage of having a large internal market due to the size of its population and of being well positioned geographically in South America, so the country can be a platform for the export of products to other countries in the region ...
On March 23, 2017, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) approved new regulations on greenhouse gas emissions from oil and natural gas production and storage facilities. The regulations, which focus on methane emissions, represent the most aggressive effort by any U.S. jurisdiction to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from oil and natural gas production ...
A federal court in the District of Columbia has ordered the U.S. EPA to complete its review of air toxics emission standards for 13 source categories by June 30, 2020. Under the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, EPA must set maximum achievable control technology ("MACT") standards for stationary sources of hazardous air pollutants. The agency must review and, if necessary, revise those standards every eight years. 42 U.S.C. §§ 7412(d)(6), 7412(f)(2) ...
On the eve of the provisional entry into force of the Canada-Europe Free Trade Agreement, understanding its implications should be a top priority for any company wishing to expand its activities over the course of the next few years. The vote held at the European Parliament in favour of the ratification of the Agreement makes its entry into force imminent ...
The courts’ widening of liability for polluted land and groundwater continues. From two new rulings it can be understood that taking responsibility in agreements can be held against the company that has chosen to be responsible. The fact that a person who pursues an activity or takes a measure (an “operator”) which results in pollution is also liable for the pollution is made clear in chapter 10 of Sweden’s Environmental Code ...
The California State Water Resources Control Board issued a notice today that all water users diverting water in California under Water Rights Permits, Licenses, Stockpond Certificates and Registration for Livestock Stockpond, Small Domestic or Small Irrigation uses must submit their annual water use reporting for the 2016 calendar year by April 1, 2017. All such reports must be filed online via the Report Management System (RMS) located at https://rms.waterboards.ca.gov/ ...
On August 1, 2016, the legislative rule promulgated to implement the Aboveground Storage Tank Act became effective. The Rule is 63 pages long and contains detailed requirements for registering, designing, installing, operating, maintaining and closing tanks subject to the AST Act. The following is a handy reference list of the more significant compliance deadlines established in the Rule ...
In the latest development relating to West Virginia’s new aboveground storage tank (“AST”) legislation, yesterday afternoon the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (“WVDEP”) filed with the West Virginia Secretary of State its finalized Interpretive Rule outlining mechanisms for compliance with the imminent deadlines under the Aboveground Storage Tank Act (the “AST Act”), W. Va. Code §§ 22-30-1 et seq ...
The U.S. General Services Administration recently added Green Globes as an additional third-party green building certification system for federal government construction projects. With this addition, many are now asking about the difference between Green Globes and LEED. Green Globes has emerged, in some parts of the U.S., as a rival building option to the more well-known Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (“LEED”) system ...
In our previous articles (part one, part two and part three), we discussed ways in which trademarks are maintained and protected through filings that are mandatory and which filings would result in abandonment or cancellation if not timely submitted. There are also optional filings a trademark owner can take advantage of to optimize and secure its rights under a U.S. trademark registration. An Affidavit of Incontestability Under Section 15 is one such method ...
With the spotlight recently cast upon it by the burgeoning Marcellus and other shale reserve developments, the oil and gas (“O&G”) industry has found itself increasingly the object of regulatory scrutiny. While the majority of commentary and new regulation has focused on the O&G industry’s fracking activities, the heightened regulatory attention has led to new levels of exposure in areas which the industry has traditionally not had extensive entanglement ...
Late yesterday afternoon, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) published on its website what it characterizes as a “rough draft” of its forthcoming emergency[1] rule (the “Draft Rule”), which is 79 pages in length. This Draft Rule comes nine days after the agency’s release of an Interpretive Rule implementing, in part, the new Aboveground Storage Tank Act (the “AST Act”), a summary of which is available here ...
On February 3, 2015, House Bill 2574 (“HB 2574”) was introduced in the West Virginia Legislature. HB 2574 proposes to remedy the unintended consequences to businesses created by the passage of the Aboveground Storage Tank Act (the “AST Act”) during the 2014 regular session of the Legislature immediately following the contamination of the Elk River from Freedom Industries, Inc ...
By the time you are reading this, the October 1 deadline to register all aboveground storage tanks (“ASTs”) in West Virginia has passed, and the world is still turning. If you have not yet registered your ASTs, it is still a good idea to register any tanks that qualify as ASTs as soon as you can. However, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (“WVDEP”) is proceeding with implementation of the Aboveground Storage Tank Act, W. Va ...
On August 7, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Summit Petroleum Corp. v. United States EPA, et al., Case Nos. 09-4348/10-4572, dealt the United States Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") a major setback in its efforts to aggregate multiple, often disperse, emitting units in the oil and natural gas industry as a single stationary source - thus subjecting them to more stringent controls under the Clean Air Act ("CAA") ...
2016 was the driest year in South Africa since rainfall records began in 1904‚ with the current drought predicted to continue well into 2017. Climate variables resulting in such devastating droughts are giving rise to increased competition for dwindling water resources in parts of South Africa. When water is critical to the ongoing operation of a business, it is important to establish precisely what right a business has to water and how to protect this right ...
The Trump Administration has signaled its intent to roll back the scope of federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act in an Executive Order issued on February 28. The Executive Order directs U.S. EPA and the Corps of Engineers to consider rescinding or revising the "Clean Water Rule," which defines when the Clean Water Act applies to wetlands, ponds, intermittent streams, and other water bodies that have a "significant nexus" to "navigable waters ...
