ESG The Guernsey Financial Services Commission (“GFSC”) ran its Sustainable Finance Week in September and announced three initiatives that came into force from 20 September: The Natural Capital Fund Regime was launched and allows a regulatory designation for biodiversity and natural capital projects that positively contribute and/or reduce harm to the natural world. The regime has arguably more stringent criteria than those for the Guernsey Green Fund Regime ...
Recent months have seen a flurry of developments globally towards the regulation of Artificial Intelligence. Government bodies in the US, UK and EU have released proposals and updates around regulating AI, with each approach showing important distinctions ...
Fast-growing e-commerce has changed lifestyles and invented new ways of consumption, amid which demand has rapidly increased for Internet-based medical services such as online drug sales and online medical diagnosis. Since the regulation and promotion of "Internet-based healthcare services" was included as part of the Outline of the "Healthy China 2030" Plan, China's Internet healthcare industry has been flourishing, channeled by a series of favorable policy decisions ...
In common with the GDPR, The Data Protection (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2017 (the “Law”) places restrictions on the extent to which personal data may be transferred to recipients outside the Bailiwick of Guernsey (“Guernsey”). Under the GDPR, transfers of personal data are permitted without restriction to countries that the European Commission (the “EC”) has assessed as providing an “adequate” standard of protection for personal data ...
A recent decision by a federal court of appeals found a New Orleans’ city code limiting short-term rentals of residential properties (such as AirBnB, Vrbo, Vacasa, etc.) to only landlords who lived inside the city was unconstitutional.In Hignell-Stark v. City of New Orleans, 46 F.4th 317 (5th Cir. Aug. 22, 2022), the Court held the city ordinance was an undue burden on interstate commerce ...
The global Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) on 21 October 2022 placed Myanmar in the category of “High-Risk Jurisdictions Subject to a Call for Action,” commonly referred to as the “blacklist,” due to its failure to implement its action plan that expired in September 2021. The international watchdog has called upon its members and non-members to apply enhanced due diligence to business relations and transactions with Myanmar ...
The Criminal Procedure (Amendment No.2) Rules introduce changes to private prosecutions. The Rules amend the existing Criminal Procedure Rules 2020, introducing new criteria that may well serve to curtail the increasing number of private prosecutions, thereby reducing the consequent pressure on the courts and all those involved. The Criminal Procedure (Amendment No.2) Rules The Criminal Procedure (Amendment No.2) Rules (S.I ...
On 3 October 2022 the Environment Secretary (‘ES’), Ranil Jayawardena, announced proposals to raise the maximum civil penalty for water companies who pollute the environment by 1,000-fold, from £250,000 to a proposed £250 million. The proposals are subject to consultation, but if they are implemented, it is hoped they would help to prevent water companies from causing serious polluting incidents and preserve public and environmental health for future generations ...
In re: Apple Inc., Appeal No. 2022-162 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 8, 2022) In our Case of the Week, the Federal Circuit granted Apple’s petition for mandamus, directing the District Court for the Western District of Texas to vacate a scheduling order that would require Apple and counter-party Aire Technology Ltd ...
On Wednesday, November 9, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court held a three-hour oral argument in the Brackeen v. Haaland case. Brackeen involves constitutional challenges to the federal Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA) that could have far-reaching consequences on many areas of federal Native peoples’ law, from Tribal sovereignty to the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program. ICWA ...
A recent decision by a federal court of appeals found a New Orleans’ city code limiting short-term rentals of residential properties (such as AirBnB, Vrbo, Vacasa, etc.) to only landlords who lived inside the city was unconstitutional.In Hignell-Stark v. City of New Orleans, 46 F.4th 317 (5th Cir. Aug. 22, 2022), the Court held the city ordinance was an undue burden on interstate commerce ...
Since 2013, the National Medical Products Administration ("NMPA")Center for Drug Evaluation("CDE")has been releasing a Drug Review Annual Report ("Report")each year, which summarizes its work on drug review of the previous year ...
July was a busy month for the FCA in publishing guidance, policy and rules which have a significant impact on a firm’s relationships with its senior managers and staff. On 30 June, and towards the beginning of the “crypto winter”, Sarah Pritchard, Executive Director of Markets at the FCA gave a speech to the City UK Annual Conference entitled “Finding Opportunity in a World of Uncertainty” ...
The U.S. Government Accountability Office issued its annual bid protest report on Nov. 1.[1] This year's report is noteworthy because it shows that protesters received some form of relief from the procuring agency in more than half of the protests filed with the GAO in fiscal year 2022 ...
ESG The Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) ran its Sustainable Finance Week in September and announced three initiatives that came into force from 20 September. The Natural Capital Fund Regime was launched and allows a regulatory designation for biodiversity and natural capital projects that positively contribute and/or reduce harm to the natural world. The regime has arguably more stringent criteria than those for the Guernsey Green Fund Regime ...
On 28 October 2022, the State Administration Council (“SAC”) enacted the Organization Registration Law (“ORL”) via Notification No.46/2022 as per the Section 419 of the Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar The ORL will repeal the former Association Registration Law 2014 (“ARL”) enacted through the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 31/2014 that was subsequently implemented by the Rules Relating to the Registration of Associations on 5 June 2015 ...
Overall, West Virginia’s mid-term election easily can be described as a Red Wave rising, with historic GOP wins in legislative races. At the same time, voters remained cautious when it came to policy decisions, soundly rejecting all four constitutional amendments on the ballot in spite of strong support from the Republican Party and business community. That dichotomy likely will puzzle election watchers for a while ...
President Joko Widodo has just issued Presidential Regulation No. 112 of 2022 on the Acceleration of Renewable Energy Development for the Supply of Power which came into effect on 13 September 2022. The PR on Renewable Energy introduces key major provisions which may significantly affect the electric power industry, especially with the phasing out of coal-fired power plants, and urges prioritizing the development of renewable energy power plants. These advisory highlights the key provisions ...
In our final quarterly case law update of 2022, we discuss four of the most significant employment law cases since August 2022 and the lessons that employers should take from them. Whistleblowing In the case of Kong v Gulf International Bank, Ms Kong made protected disclosures to the Head of Legal, Ms Harding ...
Asters' Counsel and pro bono legal advisor of the Committee on Industrial Ecology and Sustainable Development of the European Business Association (EBA) Anzhelika Livitska contributed to EBA White Paper "Deregulation of environmental legislation in a time of war and reforms aimed for European integration" ...
Summary: On October 28, 2022, the Department of Defense (DoD) issued a final rule amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement by prohibiting the award of any DoD contract to entities that require their employees to sign internal confidentiality agreements or statements that would restrict their employees from lawfully reporting waste, fraud, or abuse related to the performance of a DoD contract to a designated investigative or law enforcement representative who is authorized
On December 3, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) will make a major change to how it processes trademark applications, which is anticipated to affect filing strategies, work flow, and even budgets. Brand owners in the U.S. might be wondering what they need to know about the Trademark Modernization Act’s (“TMA”) shortened office action response deadline ...
Uniloc USA, Inc. v. Motorola Mobility LLC, Appeal Nos 2021-1555, -1795 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 4, 2022) Our Case of the Week is ostensibly a case about whether a patent owner has standing to sue when that patent holder has granted an exclusive license. But the case turns on the application of collateral estoppel, when Uniloc, the patent owner, dismissed an appeal against Apple in an unrelated suit concerning the same facts. The case sounds like a cautionary tale about dismissing cases on appeal ...
Making variations to planning permissions as a scheme evolves is rarely a straightforward process, particularly where the changes go beyond the scope of non-material or minor material amendments. One tool that has been used extensively to achieve variations is the ‘drop-in’ planning application where a new consent is granted for an area that overlaps with the original permission ...
