Judgement of the European Court of Justice in case C-287/03 – Commission v. Belgium, dated 12 May 2005 The decision follows an action of the Commission against Belgium for breach of Article 49 of the EC Treaty providing for the free movement of services. The Commission alleged that the way in which the prohibition of a “linked offer” under Belgian law was applied constituted an obstacle to free movement ...
In Nicaragua, we did not have a Tributary Code as a unique legal body, the attributions of the Tributary Administration and the regulation of the different tributary procedures, the rights and duties of the contributor, were dispersed in our legislation existing in several cases, inapplicable norms, conflicts of application of the same, lack of adaptation to the actual technological recourses, among others ...
On November 24, 2005, the Supreme Court of Canada handed down its decision in the case of Mikisew Cree First Nation v. Canada (Minister of Canadian Heritage).(1) In the decision, the Supreme Court confirmed that, while governments have the power under treaties to authorize land uses which infringe on treaty rights, the exercise of that power imposes on governments a duty to consult where the taking up of land adversely affects those rights ...
The Scottish Parliament has set out a concrete timetable for business rates to be cut in Scotland to the level of those in England by April 2007 in a bid to boost competitiveness. Finance Minister, Tom McCabe, confirmed the timetable for this equalisation in a statement to the Scottish Parliament on 6 October 2005, outlining plans to stagger its implementation. It is proposed the reduction occurs over a two-year period ...
British industry is undergoing a period of unprecedented regulatory reform as part of a government drive to reduce the costs and burdens on business. Over the next year, it will become clearer how effective this reform will be. Following independent recommendations from the Hampton Review and the Better Regulation Task Force (BRTF), Chancellor Gordon Brown launched the Better Regulation Action Plan in May 2005 with the aim of boosting flexibility and enterprise ...
BRITISH COLUMBIA LEGAL UPDATE Prepared for 39th Annual Canadian Property Tax Association National Workshop Cross Canada Legal Panel September 25 – 28, 2005 INTRODUCTION The following is an overview of legislative changes and caselaw developments in British Columbia property assessment and taxation since last September’s session. The review is not intended to be exhaustive, but instead to provide a cross-section of topical cases which may be of interest both to the B.C ...
Consultation Paper on Conditional Fees On 14 September 2005, the Law Reform Commission of Hong Kong Conditional Fees Sub-Committee (the “Sub-Committee”) published a consultation paper on conditional fees (the “Consultation Paper”) recommending, among other things, that the existing prohibitions against the use of conditional fees in certain types of civil litigation by legal practitioners be lifted, so that legal practitioners may choose to charge conditional fees in appropriate cases ...
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 ...
The Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation jointly issued the Notice on the Issue of the Levy of Individual Income Tax on Income Derived by Individuals from Stock Options on 31 March 2005 ("Notice"). The Notice, which entered into effect on 1 July 2005, provides a number of guidelines regarding the taxability of such schemes. Taxable event The Notice applies to stock options granted to employees of listed companies or their holding companies ...
The State Administration of Taxation ("SAT") issued the Notice on Relevant Issues in Adjusting the Method for Calculation of Individual Income Tax Annual Lump Sum Bonus Etc. Received by Individuals on 21 January 2005. The Notice, which took effect on 1 January 2005, repeals two SAT Notices issued in 1996 and addresses the issue of the calculation of individual income tax ("IIT") on annual bonuses ...
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 ...
As mentioned in our information bulletin of June 8, on June 7, 2005 the Federal Official Gazette published an “Executive Order to Amend the Value Added Tax Law” which altered the procedure for calculating the crediting of valued added tax by removing operations not taxable ...
It is quite common in Hong Kong for employers to arrange an employee's employment by using dual contracts to take advantage of the tax position. Under Hong Kong law, only income derived from Hong Kong is taxable and earnings under a foreign employment contract with non-Hong Kong entity in respect of duties carried out outside Hong Kong are not taxable. However, the benefits under this arrangement may reduce following a recent UK guideline ...
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 ...
Amendments made to the Quebec Professional Code in 2001 authorize professional orders to allow their members to exercise their professional activities within the framework of a limited liability partnership, or a joint-stock company. In 2002, the Ordre des comptables agréés (Order of Chartered Accountants) was the first professional order to adopt a regulation to this effect. The Quebec Bar and the Ordre des comptables généraux licenciés (Certified General Accountants) followed suit in 2004 ...
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 ...
