Last Call: Do you have any Private Corporations Shares in your RRSP? The 2011 federal budget, which was tabled June 6, 2011 (after the defeated March 23, 2011 budget), proposed various broad anti-avoidance tax measures to counter the implementation of tax planning strategies involving investments in registered retirement savings plans (“RRSP”). One such anti-avoidance measure targets the shares of certain private corporations held in an RRSP after March 22, 2011 ...
In the next year, companies that work in the development of oil, natural gas or minerals will have to publicly make new disclosures of payments of $100,000 or more made to governments. The $100,000 threshold is on a project-by-project basis, and will require companies to provide details of the type and amounts of payments made ...
It is not uncommon in class actions for parties to reach a settlement that provides non-monetary relief to the plaintiffs and a payment of attorneys’ fees to class counsel. In August, however, a California federal court denied preliminary approval of such a settlement ...
On August 29, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission released proposed rules to permit general advertising and solicitation in certain private placement offerings as required by the recently enacted JOBS Act. The proposed rules permit issuers to advertise in connection with Rule 506 private placement offerings so long as the securities are sold only to accredited investors ...
Obtaining necessary regulatory approvals for a wind project does not mean that opponents won’t stand in the way of development. Wind development takes years of work. Locations must be evaluated and sites eventually selected. In addition, experts must prepare reports examining every aspect of the wind farm and its impact on the surrounding area, including sound impact stud- ies, compliance analyses and wildlife assessments ...
Can a building name become a geographical indicator with the consequence that businesses operating from that building cannot include the name in their trade marks? The recent decision of the Federal Court in Mantra IP Pty Ltd v Spagnuolo [2012] FCA 769 has held that the mark "Q1" is inherently adapted to distinguish the services of the accommodation provider, Mantra IP Pty Limited (Mantra), even though "Q1" was also the name of the iconic high rise apartment in wh
On August 29, 2012 the German Federal Cabinet (Bundeskabinett) has passed a draft “Third Bill regarding new Energy Law Regulations” (Drittes Gesetz zur Neuregelung energierechtlicher Vorschriften). Such draft bill shall accelerate the further development of German offshore wind energy ...
Despite the Commonwealth Court's recent decision striking down Act 13’s limits on municipalities enacting zoning ordinances more restrictive than the state’s uniform requirements, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission ("PUC") has begun enforcement of Act 13's impact fee provisions. Specifically, the PUC has started to review some municipalities' ordinances that seek to regulate drilling activity ...
The 2011 drought caused record-breaking conditions throughout much of Texas. Farmers, ranchers, and others whose livelihoods depend on reliable sources of water are feeling the effects of the water shortage first-hand. Aside from being subject to locally imposed water-use restrictions, ordinary residents have also noticed receding water levels in Texas lakes, rivers and streams. Unfortunately, Texas’ water problems are not expected to improve any time soon ...
In our December 2011 newsletter we reported on Hong Kong's Competition Bill. Subsequent to that newsletter, further revisions were made to the original Bill and we outline below the provisions now to be enacted. The Bill was passed on 14 June 2012 and will come into effect on a day to be appointed by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development ...
The new Companies Ordinance ("Ordinance") passed on 12 July 2012 is expected to become effective in 2014, whereupon:provisions about insolvency and winding up in the current Companies Ordinance ("Current CO") will be retained but retitled as the "Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance (Cap. 32)"; the prospectus regime under the Current CO will be moved into the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 577); and all other provisions under the Current CO will be repealed ...
Since 2010, foreign investors are allowed to sell their own goods and products through direct online distribution in China, while direct online distribution of goods of third parties is still subject to approval. Other value-added telecommunications services ("VATS") are still limited to foreign investment and subject to approval ...
Entertaining a trading partner may be marketing, but if the gesture conveys to the guest an expectation of favourable treatment in awarding a contract, it may be regarded as a form of economic corruption.The question posed in the title - on its surface unrelated to the law - has been raised with us on several occasions recently, by various clients and with respect to various situations ...
Just before Christmas 2011, the government presented a gift to the Polish energy sector in the form of a longawaited package of proposed new energy legislation, including a new Energy Law, the Gas Law and the Renewable Energy Sources Act ...
How difficult is it to carry out a merger or acquisition under Polish law? It really all depends on the complexity of the business model of the undertaking, and not just the legal aspects. Polish practice, much like the practice in other countries within the Continental legal system - such as France and Germany - has adjusted to solutions from the Anglo-Saxon legal tradition, which plays a dominant role in corporate transactions ...
Tomasz Wardynski, Sabina Famirska and Antoni Bolecki of Wardynski & Partners co-authored the chapter on cartel regulation under the Polish law in this year’s report of Getting the Deal Through. The 2012 edition of Getting the Deal Through – Cartel Regulation provides information on application of competition regulation in 46 jurisdictions worldwide ...
The 2012 edition of Getting the Deal Through - Restructuring & Insolvency provides information on restructuring and insolvency law in 53 jurisdictions, including entities excluded from general bankruptcy proceedings, types of security on moveable and immoveable property, types of bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings, possibilities of doing business after declaring bankruptcy, bankruptcy estate liquidation rules, the effects of declaring bankruptcy, creditors’ r
You are the general counsel of a public company. The CEO walks into your office one day and says that the board of directors has identified a merger target for the company, a public company incorporated in Delaware, but time is of the essence. The CEO asks you what the differences are between one-step and two-step mergers ...
In Securities and Exchange Commission v. Bartek, the Fifth Circuit held that the federal “catch all” statute of limitations for government enforcement actions - 28 U.S.C. § 2462 - begins to run when the violation occurs, not when the government discovered the violation.1 The court also held that the statute, which bars actions seeking a “civil fine, penalty or forfeiture,” covers injunctions under certain circumstances ...
In a recent decision, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals considered the issue of stock price rebounds in reviving a securities fraud class action suit that had been dismissed by the district court for failure to adequately allege an economic loss as a matter of law. In Rosado v. China North East Petroleum Holdings Ltd., No. 11-4554-cv (2d Cir. Aug ...
The Bankruptcy Code provides a number of “safe harbors” for forward contracts and other derivatives. These provisions exempt derivatives from a number of Bankruptcy Code provisions, including portions of the automatic stay,1 restrictions on terminating executory contracts,2 and the method for calculating rejection damages ...
This week, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an expert witness’ event study as insufficient to demonstrate loss causation at trial in a securities fraud class action. In Hubbard v. BankAtlantic Bancorp, Inc., No. 11-12410 (11th Cir. July 23, 2012), the court affirmed the trial court’s decision in favor of the defendants because the plaintiffs’ expert testimony did not sufficiently isolate the effects of the alleged fraud on the company’s stock price ...
On July 26, 2012, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court issued its decision in Robinson Township, et al. v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, involving the challenge brought by seven townships and boroughs to the Act 13 provision preempting local regulation involving oil and gas operations, codified at 58 Pa. C.S. Section 3304 ...
On July 2, 2012, the North Carolina Senate and House of Representatives voted to override Governor Perdue’s veto of Senate Bill 820, known as the Clean Energy and Economic Security Act (the “Act”), legalizing hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling within the State but delaying permitting until the General Assembly takes additional legislative action to allow it ...
The Personal Data (Privacy) (Amendment) Ordinance 2012 was formally adopted on 6 July 2012. The text of the Amendment Ordinance has undergone a number of changes since it was first introduced as the Personal Data (Privacy) (Amendment) Bill 2011 one year ago. One major change is the requirement to obtain express responses (as opposed to deemed consent) from the data subject for the use of personal data in direct marketing ...
