SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan (SyCipLaw) is once again recognized by Managing IP’s IP STARS 2022 as a Tier 1 firm for its Patent practice. Earlier this year, SyCipLaw was also cited as a Tier 1 firm for its Trade mark work. In addition, the firm’s IP practitioners once again received outstanding rankings this year: Vida M. Panganiban-Alindogan, Partner and Head of IP Department (IPD), Trade Mark StarEnrique T ...
On May 24, 2022, Schwabe and Columbia Bank hosted the “Getting Ahead of Agriculture's Rising Wages and Tightening Labor Market” seminar to assist those working in Oregon’s agricultural industry to address concerns over rising wages and the tight labor market. Attendees heard from a group of industry professionals on a selection of relevant topics. The seminar was informative, engaging, and a big success ...
On 28 May 2022, the Belgian law transposing EU Directive 2019/2161 into the Code of Economic Law (CEL) entered into force (the “Omnibus Act”). The Omnibus Act aims to modernise consumer protection given the increasing development of e-commerce. In addition to new transparency obligations for online marketplaces, the Omnibus Act has new general information obligations, and new unfair commercial practices and obligations for price reduction announcements that apply to all retailers ...
Introduction Republic Act No. 11697, or An Act Providing for the Development of the Electric Vehicle Industry (EVIDA Law), became effective on 15 April 2022. The EVIDA Law outlines the regulatory framework and creates a comprehensive roadmap for the operation of electric vehicles (EVs) in the Philippines. It governs "the manufacture, assembly, importation, construction, installation, maintenance, trade and utilization, research and development, and regulation of electric vehicles" ...
1. Introduction After a long consultation period, the European Commission recently published the new Block Exemption Regulation for Vertical Agreements (Regulation (EU) 2022/720 "VBER"). The regulation will enter into force on 1 June 2022. New Guidelines on vertical restraints ("Guidelines") will accompany the new VBER. Both replace the previous set of rules from 2010 ...
Bob McIntosh, the Tenant Farming Commissioner, has published a blog on the Scottish Land Commission website about the powers that the commissioner has to investigate alleged breaches of codes of practice. It seemed to me that the headline was slightly misleading. It stated boldly “Tenant farmers encouraged to notify the TFC of alleged code breaches” but of course landlords and tenants have duties under the codes and either party is entitled to complain ...
A key feature of Undertakings for the Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (“UCITS” fund) is the Key Investor Information Document (“KIID”), which provides the retail investor with simplified information from the prospectus. UCITS also qualify as Packaged Retail Investment and Insurance Products (“PRIIPS”) ...
One of the objectives of Product Oversight and Governance requirements is for manufacturers and distributors of an insurance or investment product to take into consideration the interests of customers when designing and /or distributing the relevant product ...
SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan (SyCipLaw) has received Tier 1 rankings in “Patents” and “Copyrights/Trademarks” categories in the Philippines on Thomson Reuters’ Asian Legal Business (ALB) IP Rankings for 2022. ALB is a publication that provides insights on legal professionals throughout Asia and identifies and ranks top firms for intellectual property practice in Asia ...
There has been concern within the agricultural industry for some time the race to achieve carbon net-zero is leading to the loss of productive agricultural land to forestry purchasers. Another perceived threat is from investors, both private and institutional, looking to invest in natural carbon, for example, by way of peatland restoration and rewilding projects ...
In March 2021, the Philippine Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) issued Revenue Memorandum Order No. 014-21 (the Memorandum), which streamlines the procedures for non-resident corporations and other juridical entities (collectively "non-resident taxpayers") to access Philippine tax treaty benefits ...
There is concern the race to achieve carbon net-zero is leading to the loss of productive agricultural land to forestry. Investors recognise land with planting potential as an excellent investment, which has had a distorting effect on land values. To some extent, this is simply the operation of market forces. A landowner with an unprofitable farming business may well be tempted to sell land to a forestry investor and there are no restrictions on their ability to do so ...
On 31 March 2022, a legislative Act that makes considerable changes to the sale of consumer goods was published in the Belgian State Gazette. This law transposes into Belgian legislation two European directives: EU Directive 2019/770 on certain aspects concerning contracts for the supply of digital content and digital services and EU Directive 2019/771 on certain aspects concerning contracts for the sale of goods ...
In September 2021, the House of Representatives of the Philippines approved House Bill (HB) 7425 upon its third reading. HB 7425 seeks to impose a 12% value-added tax (VAT) on digital transactions in the Philippines ...
In September 2021, the House of Representatives approved on third reading House Bill (HB) 8942 – the Ease of Paying Taxes Act. The bill proposed to amend the National Internal Revenue Code as amended (the Tax Code) and introduce administrative reforms that will simplify tax compliance and strengthen taxpayers' rights ...
Here we look at some of the possible avenues to explore in relation to contracts governed by English law if you are affected by events unfolding in Ukraine. Reviewing your contracts might seem like a minor inconvenience compared to what has been happening in Ukraine over the last month or so ...
The government are set to introduce new measures on High in Fat, Salt and Sugar (HFSS) food including restrictions on volume offers and new rules on placement and promotion. What is a HFSS food? HFSS foods are food or soft drink products that are assessed as high in fat, salt or sugar in accordance with the Department of Health nutrient profiling model. Foods scoring 4 or more points and drinks scoring 1 or more are classified as HFSS ...
As much of Oregon faces another year of drought, water experts say farmers and ranchers should be aware of all the tools available to them under the state's water rights laws. At a seminar Tuesday, Elizabeth Howard, Oregon water law attorney, and Lindsay Thane, natural resources attorney, both of Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, spoke about nine tools for farmers through the state Water Resources Department, or OWRD ...
On 28 March 2022 the government published its paper Taking charge: the electric vehicle infrastructure strategy1 (Taking Charge) and an accompanying document, Government response to the CMA’s Electric vehicle charging market study (the Response).2 At the current roll-out of approximately 600 public chargepoints installed every month, there will be close to 90,000 chargepoints in the United Kingdom by 2030 ...
Agricultural and rural settings present significant health and safety risks, which must be carefully managed and mitigated by employers and landowners operating in the sector. This was brought into sharp focus after two fatalities led to prosecutions following investigations by The Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Prosecution one In February, a farmer was prosecuted after a tragic fatal incident on farmland in Leeds ...
The establishment by the Scottish Government of a food security task force is a necessary and timely response to the war in Ukraine. In addition to the harrowing humanitarian crisis, the conflict has prompted significant concern among food producers. The UK food sector and consumers are currently facing a perfect storm just as we begin to emerge from the pandemic ...
On 17 March 2022, the Belgian Act transposing the ECN+ Directive and also introducing further amendments into the Belgian Competition Act entered into force. It has introduced merger filing fees, fines for failure to notify mergers and a number of procedural changes that allow a more efficient enforcement and an improved cooperation within the ECN Network ...
The No Surprises Act (Act), which became effective Jan. 1, 2022, is the latest health care law passed with the best of intent: to create consumer protection from unexpected out-of-network medical bills and to create a federal independent dispute resolution (IDR) process to resolve payment disputes between payers and out-of-network providers. Unfortunately, the Act, especially the U.S ...
