The National Treasury (“NT”’) published its draft Taxation Laws Amendment Bill with accompanying Explanatory Memorandum on 28 July 2021 (the “draft Bill”). By now it is well known that the draft Bill contains a fairly radical proposal: section 20 of the Income Tax Act, 1962 (“the Act”) will be amended to limit the amount of an assessed tax loss that may be set-off against taxable income ...
It seems like an eternity ago since the World Health Organisation declared a pandemic on 11 March 2020. Governments around the world have responded to the pandemic in different ways, including various degrees of lockdowns, travel restrictions and fiscal and monetary support for some of the most affected industries. This has led to unprecedented disruptions of the global economy and affected business models of many multinational enterprises (“MNEs”) ...
Last night, only days ahead of a general election the minority Government in Norway is likely not to win, a proposal for dramatic changes to the upstream petroleum tax regime. It was announced at 18.00 hours Oslo time in a hastily called press conference by the Minister of Finance Mr Sanner (Conservative) and the Minister of Petroleum and Energy Ms Bru (Conservative) ...
Kindly note that Decree No. 221, of the Ministry of the Interior and Public Security, was published today, extending the validity of Supreme Decree No. 102, of 2020, of the Ministry of the Interior and Public Security, which provides for the temporary closure of places authorized for the entry and exit of foreigners, due to public health emergency of international importance given the outbreak of the new Coronavirus (2019-NCOV) , until September 30, 2021 ...
On 20 July and 10 August 2021, the Thai cabinet passed new resolutions granting relief measures to members of the public living in red zones in 29 provinces (including Bangkok) who have been particularly affected by government lockdown measures aimed at containing and reducing cases of COVID-19 infection. These measures notably include providing financial support to employers and employees registered with the Social Security Office (“SSO”) ...
[!<CDATA[ With the United States’ recent withdrawal from Afghanistan, it is only a matter of time before the government begins terminating certain federal contracts for the convenience of the government. Accordingly, government contractors need to know their rights and obligations so that they can be best positioned if one or more of their contracts are terminated. This article provides a user-friendly guide for government contractors on these important rights and obligations ...
[!<CDATA[ Effective September 1, 2021: HB 1578 closes the loophole of the previous version of Chapter 38 of the Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code so that parties will be able to recover attorneys’ fees from LLCs, LLPs, LPs, or other organizations in lawsuits for breach of contract. Generally, Texas law provides that each party to a lawsuit is responsible for her attorneys’ fees ...
[!<CDATA[ In one of its recent opinions, Kellogg Brown & Root Services, Inc. v. Sec’y of the Army, the Federal Circuit issued new guidance on what contractors must show to prove the reasonableness of costs incurred following an (alleged) government-caused delay. The U.S. Army (the “Army”) and Kellogg Brown & Root Services, Inc. (“KBR”) contracted for KBR to deliver thousands of trailers to Iraq by an agreed-upon deadline ...
[!<CDATA[ Multi-building condominium projects often raise unique legal issues as they do not squarely fall within the definitions used in state statutes. The Minnesota Supreme Court recently addressed the unique nature of multi-building condominium projects in Village Lofts at St. Anthony Falls Association v. Housing Partners III-Lofts ...
[!<CDATA[ This term the Supreme Court is set to resolve a circuit split over the extent of a federal district court’s power to order a person “who resides in or is found” in its district “to give testimony or statement or to produce a document or other thing for use in a proceeding in a foreign or international tribunal” pursuant to 28 U.S.C Section 1782(a) ...
[!<CDATA[ In May of this year, the Supreme Court of Wyoming held that a subsidiary of Sinclair Oil could invoke statutory bad faith damages after prevailing in a coverage dispute with its insurer, Infrassure. The court rejected the district court’s analysis that accepted the insurer’s narrow interpretation of Wyoming’s insurance code ...
On August 31st, 2021, with 64 votes the Congress approved the Law regarding the Creation of the Bitcoin Trust (“FIDEBITCOIN”), by means of which a trust is constituted in the Development Bank of the Republic of El Salvador (“BANDESAL”), to benefit the users of the National Wallet, represented by the Republic of El Salvador, whose purpose will be to support the alternatives for bitcoin convertibility provided by the Salvadoran Government ...
Margin ratchets are a concept that the banking and finance world are familiar with. Increasingly these are linked to ESG loans with both lender and borrower engagement. How do they work in practice, what are the benefits and what are the potential risks? Typically margin ratchets are linked to financial covenants – more often than not leverage – they incentivise borrowers to improve their financial health over the life of a loan ...
The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has set the country's women's rights back 20 years. This is why we should care. “All I could see around me were the fearful and scared faces of women and ugly faces of men who hate women, who do not like women to get educated, work and have freedom. Most devastating to me were the ones who looked happy and made fun of women.” – The Guardian, 15 August 2021 ...
The objectives in brief The Government would like to see the aquaculture industry grow, provided that it can do so in a sustainable manner. Statistics produced by the Directorate of Fisheries show that Norway produced and sold a total of just under 1.5 million tonnes of rainbow trout, trout and Atlantic salmon in 2020 ...
On August 27, 2021, the Regulation of the Bitcoin Law (the “Regulation”) was published in the Official Gazette of El Salvador. The Regulations will enter into force on September 8, one day after the entry into force of the Bitcoin Law ...
The UK Government has announced that businesses will have a further year to start using the UKCA marking for goods placed on the GB market, extending the deadline to 1 January 2023. What is a UKCA mark? The UKCA (UK Conformity Assessed) marking is the new UK product marking that is used for certain goods that are placed on the GB market and covers most goods which previously required the EU CE marking, known as ‘new approach’ goods ...
May 2021 saw the election of seven ‘Metro Mayors’ outside London, underlining the government’s renewed enthusiasm for devolving powers beyond Westminster as part of its ‘levelling up’ agenda. The powers of each Mayor and Combined Authority vary but a common thread is the use of devolved planning powers to accelerate housing delivery ...
