The Federal government’s COVID emergency loan programs and credit facilities have moved into critical new phases. As highlighted by the recent media focus on the new SBA PPP Forgiveness Questionnaire for borrowers, both borrowers and lenders face new and challenging issues regarding these loan programs, particularly PPP loans and the Main Street Loan Program. PPP Loan Program – For most borrowers, the time period for spending PPP loan proceeds has expired ...
The HKMA has developed a two-year roadmap to promote Regtech adoption in the Hong Kong banking sector (“Roadmap”), as set out in a White Paper entitled “Transforming Risk Management and Compliance: Harnessing the Power of Regtech” (“White Paper”). The White Paper presents the case for wider adoption of Regtech in Hong Kong, outlining a series of actions that the HKMA will take, or consider taking, to accelerate its adoption ...
On 25 November 2020, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong SAR Carrie Lam presented her fourth Policy Address, which includes various proposals to create more jobs in both the public and private sectors through the Job Creation Scheme established under the anti-epidemic fund measures, enhance support to employees through the Love Upgrading Special Scheme for Retraining, and create employment opportunities for young people in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) ...
On November 25, 2020, the Brazilian Senate approved Bill of Law No 4,458/2020 ("BL 4458"), which amends Law No 11,101/2005 ("BBL"), to update the legislation regarding the judicial reorganization, pre-packaged reorganization and bankruptcy liquidation of businessmen and companies. BL 4458, which provisions have already been approved by the House of Representatives, will now be sanctioned by the President ...
Key Points On Nov. 3, 2020, a substantial majority of California voters passed the California Privacy Rights and Enforcement Act (CPRA). The CPRA replaces the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), bringing California Privacy law more in line with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and considerably strengthening the privacy rights of California residents. CPRA will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2023 ...
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has expanded the definition of close contact to now evaluate exposure cumulatively over a 24-hour period such that “15 cumulative minutes of exposure at a distance of 6 feet or less can be used as an operational definition for contact investigation,”[1] Because the newly expanded definition is not limited, it impacts many different industries (inclu
Hong Kong’s Financial Services and Treasury Bureau (FSTB) issued a public consultation paper on 3 November 2020 (Consultation) proposing the introduction of a licensing regime for virtual asset services providers (VASPs), as well as other changes to Hong Kong’s anti-money laundering regime ...
On Nov. 20, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued two final rules, which implement changes to the Physician-Self Referral Law (Stark Law) and the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) regulations. The proposed rules were released in October of 2019 ...
As concern over cybersecurity continues to grow,[1] defense contractors have been waiting for the Department of Defense (DoD) to roll out its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program. That rollout has occurred, with DoD’s recently published interim rule Assessing Contractor Implementation of Cybersecurity Requirements (DFARS Case 2019-D041)[2] (“Interim Rule”), effective Nov. 30, 2020, and providing for a five-year phase-in of CMMC ...
On November 16, 2020, the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services (OIG) issued a Special Fraud Alert addressing the fraud and abuse risks of speaker programs that are commonplace in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries ...
The United States Trademark Office formally announced it will raise the vast majority of its trademark filings fees and implement some new fees as of Jan. 1, 2021. These higher costs will impact every aspect of trademark prosecution, including appeal, cancellation and opposition proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Trademark owners would be wise to take a look at their upcoming deadlines and potentially take action on them before the end of the year ...
This article has been published in PLI Chronicle. The market for consumer products derived from cannabis and its components, including cannabidiol (CBD), is exploding. U.S. sales of CBD products is expected to exceed $20 billion by 2024, up from just $1.9 billion in 2018. TheCBD market is expected to develop across diverse industries such as cosmetics and skin care, health products, food and beverage, pet products, and pharmaceuticals ...
On Nov. 9, 2020 the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (“OCIE”) issued a risk alert detailing its series of examinations of investment advisers operating from numerous branch offices and with operations geographically disbursed from the adviser’s main office. This examination initiative focused on the compliance and supervisory practices relating to advisory personnel working within the advisers’ branch offices ...
The new issue of Legal Insight magazine includes a timely article by Anastasia Kayukova, Senior Associate at ALRUD Law Firm, and Anastasia Sidorenko, Junior Associate at ALRUD Law Firm. It is dedicated to the difficulties of determining the criteria, by which the FAS of Russia (Federal Antimonopoly Service) assesses the need to approve transactions related to the acquisition of “de facto” control rights ...
The Government proposes to consult the Panel of Financial Affairs of the Legislative Council on the introduction of a statutory corporate rescue procedure and insolvent trading provisions to the Legislative Council in the first quarter of 2021. The Companies (Corporate Rescue) Bill was originally introduced in 2000, but was never enacted and has since lapsed ...
The Copyright Office of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has invited comments and suggestions to amend the Copyright Act before November 30, 2020. Mid last year, the DPIIT proposed a set of amendments to the Indian Copyright Rules. While these amendments sought to increase transparency and provide clarity for right holders, many other essential modifications were overlooked ...
On Nov. 3, 2020, California voters approved Proposition 24, marking a significant shift in the U.S. privacy landscape. Proposition 24 enacted the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (CPRA),[1] a major expansion of the existing California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which many businesses continue to grapple with since becoming effective in January 2020. Most notably, the CPRA establishes a stand-alone privacy regulator, the first U.S. state to do so ...
On November 16, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS OIG) issued Special Fraud Alert: Speaker Programs (Fraud Alert) to “highlight the fraud and abuse risks associated with the offer, payment, solicitation, or receipt of remuneration relating to speaker programs by pharmaceutical and medical device companies ...
The Government of India has been very active in putting in place the necessary framework to implement the objectives of the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’. The ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ or a program of self-reliance announced by the Government of India intends to focus on the five key pillars of economy, infrastructure, system, vibrant demography, and demand ...
What will UK data protection look like after Brexit 2.0 on 31 December 2020? Regime 1: the 'UK GDPR': the UK's new bespoke version together with the Data Protection Act 2018 The UK GDPR will be the UK data protection regime based on the 'EU GDPR' (see below) ...
The HHS Office for the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology issued an interim final rule on October 29, 2020, extending the compliance date for the information blocking rule under the 21st Century Cures Act to April 5, 2021 ...
While public attention focused on the federal and state elections, Michigan voters made an important decision—they adopted Proposal 20-2, which amended Michigan’s Constitution to extend its protection from unreasonable searches and seizures to electronic data and communications ...
