The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress passed Amendment (5) to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China (the "Amendment") on 28 February 2005. The Amendment was promulgated by President Hu Jintao and became effective on the same date. The Amendment introduces detailed penal provisions on credit card abuse and fraud and on damaging military equipment. We discuss the new sections regarding credit card abuse and fraud below ...
After a prolonged period of development, the announcement in August of the Board of Directors for Scotland's Futures Forum has finally seen this body come to fruition. The development of the Forum has included a substantial period of investigating overseas models, canvassing MSPs and running a conference involving 140 representatives from a number of sectors ...
On February 2, 2005, the Court of Appeal rendered judgement in L’Union-vie, compagnie mutuelle d’assurance v. Laflamme1, and allowed the appeal of Union-Vie, the defendant in the case. In the court of first instance, Union-Vie had been ordered to pay insurance proceeds of $200,000 further to the death, on September 27, 2001, of the Plaintiff’s spouse, pursuant to a life insurance policy issued on the basis of an insurance application dated October 23, 1998 ...
On March 18, 2005, the Quebec Court of Appeal handed down an important decision confirming that the evidence relating to the behaviour and practices of a “reasonable insurer” need not be provided by an expert witness. In CGU Compagnie d’assurances du Canada v. Sylvain Paul et al., (J.E. 2005-705), Justices Louise Mailhot, René Dussault and Marie-France Bich dealt with this issue in connection with an objection to evidence made by the attorney representing the insured, Mr ...
China presents enormous opportunities for the wealth management industry, as the domestic financial market and players develop increasing sophistication. The financial regulators in China are pushing ahead with financial market reforms and regulations, across the equity and bond markets, over banks, insurance companies, securities companies, securities investment fund management companies, trust investment companies and other financial institutions ...
Central Portal for Public Procurement has been recently launched at www.cvpp.lt. The portal publishes information on the public procurement conducted in Lithuania; the main purpose of the portal is to materialize the electronic procurement methods currently lawful under the Law on Public Procurement of the Republic of Lithuania. The main novelty introduced is the possibility to conduct electronic procurement under the normal commercial practice ...
Armando Aznar J. of the Court of Québec recently rendered a harsh judgment against an insurance company.1 Although the amounts at stake were minimal, the decision may have a significant impact on insurers. This is one of the rare judgments where an insurer was ordered to pay exemplary and moral damages for having made allegations in the pleadings based on unjustified suspicions resulting in damages to the integrity and honesty of its insured ...
On June 28, 2005, amendments to Articles 420 and 421 as well as the addition of a new Article 414bis of the Health Law were published in the Federal Official Gazette, entering into force the following day. Article 414bis provides that herbal products, food supplements, perfumes and beauty products may be seized, as a precautionary measure, when they have been improperly advertised by being held out as medicines or as having characteristics or therapeutic qualities which they do not have ...
It is just six months on from the introduction of the freedom of information regime, and there is already a wealth of advice and guidance available to public bodies on FOI. Private businesses however, are not as lucky. This article helps redress this imbalance ...
Judgments of the European Court of Justice in Merk, Sharp & Dohme BV v. Etat Belge (C-245/03) and Glaxosmithkline SA v. Etat Belge (C-296/03) of 20 January 2005 Directive 89/105, on the transparency of medicines pricing and reimbursement rules (hereinafter the “Directive”) was first interpreted in 2001 and 2002, when the European Court of Justice (hereinafter the “ECJ”) rendered two decisions regarding the implementation of the Directive in Austria and in Finland ...
Proposal for Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the Visa Information System (VIS) and the exchange of data between Member States on short stay-visas This regulation will enter into force from on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. Official Journal of the European Union, C 052 of 2 March 2005 ...
The judgment of the European Court of Justice in Denuit and Cordenier (C-125/04) of 27 January 2005 The case developed out of a dispute between tourists and a travel agency regarding the price of tourist package services. Under the arbitration clause of the initial agreement between the parties, the tourists brought their claims before a Belgian arbitration court ...
Introduction: On June 9, 2005 the Supreme Court of Canada released its landmark decision in Chaoulli v. Quebec (Attorney General) in which a majority of the Court struck down provisions of Quebec’s Health Insurance Act and Hospital Insurance Act which prohibit private insurance for health care services that are available in the public health care system ...
What's your Freedom of Information forecast? Reasonably sunny, distinctly rainy or altogether a bit hazy? Whatever your response, it is possible to brighten your outlook and weather those FOI storms. If you’re an in-house lawyer in a public body in Scotland you'll no doubt be more than familiar with the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. Five months on from the Act's full implementation date of 1 January 2005, it's time to take stock of your public body's progress so far ...
On May 20, 2005, the Supreme Court issued its judgment in the Smith & Nephew Inc. v. Louise Glegg and Christopher Carter and Gilles Dextradeur v. Louise Glegg cases1 ...
On May 10, 2005, the Court of Appeal held in Pierre Roy & Associés Inc. v. Bagnoud [2005] QCCA 492, that sums transferred by Ms. Bagnoud to Investors Services Ltd. (“Investors”) were a trust according to the agreements entered into between Ms. Bagnoud and Investors. This decision is one of the first interpretations by the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court decision in Bank of Nova Scotia v. Thibault.1 Facts In July 1998, after her employment was terminated, Ms ...
What is State Aid? The State aid rules seek to control the aid or assistance which is provided by EU Member States to businesses. Article 87 of the EC Treaty states that “any aid granted by a Member State or through State resources in any form whatsoever” is incompatible with the common market. The Commission and the European Court of Justice have a considerable discretion in determining what amounts to State aid and have given the term a wide definition ...
The Federal Civil Liability Law was published in the Federal Official Gazette on December 31, 2004 and entered into full force and effect in January 1, 2005. This law has as its objective that of determining the bases and proceedings for recognizing the right to claim indemnification by those suffering loss or damage as a consequence of improper actions of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the federal government and its agencies ...
On February 8, 2005, the Court of Appeal issued two judgments1 that clarify the burden of proof of the parties with respect to the nullity of an insurance contract. These two judgments are all the more interesting given that they deal with the issue of the impact of criminal history on the moral risk that the insured or the prospective insured poses for an insurer. The Rouette judgment, written by Mr ...
Revised Guideline on the Sharing and Use of Consumer Credit Data through a Credit Reference Agency On 18th January 2005, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (“HKMA”) issued a revised statutory guideline, namely the Supervisory Policy Manual on the Sharing and Use of Consumer Credit Data through a Credit Reference Agency (IC-6) (“CRA Guideline”) ...
Out of general interest, we are forwarding the following Informative Note with respect to the first oral trial in Mexico, something that took place in the Municipality of Montemorelos, State of Nuevo Leon, in February 2005. Oral trials have been possible since November 25 of last year when the law of Nuevo Leon changed to allow this in non-serious culpable felonies. The trial was an example of judicial speed. Within a period of five hours, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m ...
Introduction Advocate General Jacobs, in delivering his Opinion in Syfait and others v Glaxosmithkline (Case C-53/03, 28 October 2004), has found in favour of Glaxosmithkline (GSK) by stating that the refusal by a dominant pharmaceutical company to fulfil all orders from wholesalers does not automatically constitute an abuse of a dominant position, despite such refusal clearly limiting parallel trade of the products in question ...
In November the UK government bowed to pressure from unions and bereaved relatives and announced its intention to produce a draft bill on corporate killing for England and Wales. This bill, if successful, would have enabled companies to be prosecuted for management failures that resulted in a person's death. No such government bill has however, been forthcoming. Nor is it likely that any such government bill will appear before the 2005 general election ...
From Land’s End to John O’Groats, roving reporters, tabloid writers and broadsheet columnists, have been riding on the wave of the new freedom of information acts. As a result of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, and its UK counterpart, the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the public now has a statutory right to recorded information held by most public sector bodies. Although the new right only came into force on 1 January 2005, its effect is retrospective ...
