As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread throughout the world, governments and leading financial institutions across the South and Southeast region continue to issue various initiatives, stimulus measures and relief efforts within their respective countries in an attempt to shore up the hardest hit sectors and vulnerable groups directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic ...
On April 22, 2020, the Governor issued Executive Order N-55-20 pursuant to a provision of the Government Code that grants special powers to the Governor to suspend statutes during a state of emergency where the Governor determines and declares that strict compliance with the statute or regulation would prevent, hinder, or delay the mitigation of the effects of the emergency. (Gov. Code, §§ 8567 & 8571 ...
In the Loop: With the Hanson Bridgett Government Group COVID-19 has changed the way California public agencies conduct their Brown Act meetings, creating new challenges and opportunities. Utilizing their experience serving as general counsel to a number of public agencies, Hanson Bridgett attorneys Claire Collins and Allison Schutte created their Top 10 list of recommendations on how to conduct virtual "Brown Act" Board Meetings to guide any public agency. 1 ...
In a landmark victory for Federally-qualified health centers, a California Court of Appeal confirmed last October that federal and state law requires the State of California to pay FQHCs “100 percent” of their costs of furnishing core and other ambulatory services to Medi-Cal beneficiaries. (Tulare Pediatric Health Care Center v. State Department of Health Care Services (2nd Dist. 2019) 41 Cal.App.5th 163 ...
The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) has now made a further announcement concerning the extension of deadlines, to the effect that deadlines falling within March 16 to August 7, 2020, are extended to August 10, 2020. CIPO is otherwise still open for business and our IP team members have been continuing operations and transacting with CIPO on a regular basis, in a remote and secure manner ...
Today (16 July 2020), the ECJ handed down its long-awaited judgment on the validity of Standard Contractual Clauses in international data transfers (ECJ, judgment of 16 July 2020, case C-311/18). In a surprise move the Court of Justice declared the EU Commission's adequacy decision on the Privacy Shield - the agreement that allows data transfers to certain companies in the USA - to be invalid. On the other hand it confirmed the validity of the Standard Contractual Clauses ...
This is a briefing on the issuances as of July 16, 2020 on the following matters in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic: A. General Community Quarantine (GCQ) over Metro Manila is Further Extended until July 31, 2020 B. Recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Issuances and Notices B.1. SEC Main Office Closed until July 26, 2020 B.2. SEC Notice to all Non-stock Corporations on the New Deadline for the Online Filing or Submission of the Mandatory Disclosure Form (MDF) B.3 ...
On July 15, 2020, the Federal Reserve published a number of changes to the Main Street Lending Program’s frequently asked questions, which FAQs were amended to provide further guidance on a number of issues. The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston MSLP web page has links to clean and redline versions of the new FAQs: https://www.bostonfed.org/supervision-and-regulation/supervision/special-facilities/main-street-lending-program/information-for-lenders/docs ...
The Scheme On 29 June 2020, the Hong Kong Government launched the Pilot Scheme on Facilitation for Persons Participating in Arbitral Proceedings in Hong Kong (Scheme), under which (1) arbitrators, (2) expert and factual witnesses, (3) counsel and (4) parties to an arbitration are allowed to participate in arbitral proceedings in Hong Kong as visitors for a period not exceeding their visa-free period, without first obtaining employment visas which are normally required but for the Scheme ...
On July 10, 2020, in United States v. Ruan, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the convictions of two Alabama doctors for running an opiate “pill mill.” Among many other things, the government charged that the doctors used “incident to” billing to charge Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama under the doctor’s identification for visits conducted entirely by nurse practitioners, which that insurer (unlike some others) prohibited under its policy ...
The National Institute of Industrial Property (INAPI) recently issued Notice No. 524, which provides that it will be possible to enter simple (scanned) digital copies of powers of attorney, without requiring the original document or an electronic document with an advanced electronic signature, thus making it possible to continue the processing of applications for registration, renewals, recordals, among others, during the quarantine period produced by Covid-19 ...
Resolution No. 61/202 of Chilean Tax Authority amends instructions on Certificate No. 66 on donations and expenses associated with the global outbreak of Covid-19 July 6, 2020 On June 17, the Internal Revenue Service issued the Resolution No. 61 through which it modified the Resolution No. 49, which creates the certificate that recipients must issue for the donations they receive in the context of the health crisis produced by Covid-19. According to Resolution No ...
By adopting the Act on the Establishment of the Economic Stabilization Fund of March 27, 2020, the German Parliament and the Federal Council established the Economic Stabilization Fund(“ESF”) as a special fund to stabilize the real economy in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ESF is intended to support German companies in the real economy suffering from the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic by providing liquidity and capital support ...
Key Points The Supreme Court's upcoming decision regarding the Affordable Care Act could render its tax provisions retroactively unconstitutional. Depending on the outcome, there is a potential opportunity for refunds on open tax years for taxpayers who paid the net investment income tax and additional Medicare tax. For most taxpayers, the deadline for a protective claim of refund on a 2016 tax return, filed without extensions, is July 15, 2020 ...
Key Points The cash value of employees’ donated leave time paid to a qualified charitable organization in 2020 under an employer-sponsored leave donation program is not taxable wages or compensation. Employers may take a tax deduction for such payments as a business expense or a charitable contribution ...
With the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) since 18 March 2020, the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) as well as the Recovery Movement Control Order, the Government has issued a number of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to control the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic ...
Government submits bill establishing tax measures linked to the Emergency Plan for Revenue Protection and Economic and Employment Reactivation July 6, 2020 With the purpose of promoting the country's economic recovery, the last June 25 a bill with the new tax measures announced a few weeks ago by the government was introduced in the Congress ...
On June 24, Law No. 21,242 was published, establishing a transitional benefit for certain independent professionals consisting in the possibility of obtaining cash benefits for 3 months, continuously or discontinued, within the next 6 months. This benefit must be subsequently returned to the Treasury in 3 annual installments of 20%, 40% and 40% of the amount received ...
In a decision contrary to current Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) rules, the United States Supreme Court has found the mark BOOKING.COM as a whole is not generic and that combining a generic term with “.com” does not necessarily result in a composite term that also is generic. Background Booking.com B.V. (“Booking.com”) sought to federally register the mark BOOKING.COM, and related variations, for travel services ...
The German government launched an aid program to support start-ups and young growth companies in the corona crisis aimed at providing start-ups with liquidity quickly. One of the pillars of this program is the Corona Matching Facility (CMF), where KfW Capital and the European Investment Fund (EIF) are “matching” investments of private venture capital funds (VC funds). The aid is therefore linked to the investments of VC funds ...
The glacial pace at which the federal government has implemented cannabis policy–particularly in light of the rapid evolution of cannabis laws at the state level–is at the same time predictable and frustrating to those seeking a measure of certainty ...
On June 30th, the following Resolutions issued by the Corporation for the Promotion of Production (“CORFO”, for its Spanish acronym), were published in the Official Gazette: Resolution Nº36. By means of this Resolution certain coverage programs were temporarily modified within the State of Constitutional Exception of Catastrophe due to public calamity ...
