The government is pushing ahead with the establishment of a Responsible Actors Scheme (RAS) provided for under s.126 and 129 of the Building Safety Act 2022. The Scheme is initially aimed at major housebuilders and other large developers that have developed or refurbished multiple residential buildings that are known to have life-critical fire safety defects ...
By imposing the obligations, the regulation aims to end unfair practices and conduct which is harmful to competition and end users by the companies acting as gatekeepers in the online platform economy. Under the DMA, a firm will be considered as a designated gatekeeper if three criteria are met. First, the company must have a significant impact on the European market which is determined by the company’s turnover ...
It would be a surprise to many, but it has been common knowledge to criminal practitioners for years, that a criminal defendant’s sentence for a crime which they have been convicted can be increased based on consideration of conduct that the jury acquitted ...
Generative AI has become a worldwide sensation recently with the launch of ChatGPT, Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, and other eye-catching products. Large language models such as ChatGPT have shown their phenomenal capacity for human language comprehension, human-machine interaction, text writing, programming, reasoning, etc. by generating output that is often on a par with the level of human intelligence, if not better ...
Brian O'Shaughnessy is an intellectual property partner at Dinsmore and board chair of the Bayh-Dole Coalition. He wrote this article for InsideSources.com. The American inventor is under attack, and it’s coming from our government ...
The Metaverse, retail and brand protection When first confronted with concepts such as cryptocurrencies and NFTs, it took most of us quite some time before we felt it was “safe enough” to make our first online purchase. For some, it was a case of calling a friend to find out if their experience was legitimate before taking that leap! Well, safe to say this is no longer the case ...
With cloud technology becoming increasingly important, data centres provide services critical to many businesses. Given the strategic value of data center to digital transformation, it is essential that data center vendors have a clear plan to manage the risks they face. What are some of the key risks for data center vendors Security Digital and physical security risks have been listed as the top 5 data center security risks for 2023 ...
On May 7th, 2023, it was held the election of the members of the Constitutional Council, the body in charge of preparing the Proposal for a New Constitution based on a preliminary draft that is currently being prepared by the Expert Commission. According to the election results, the Constitutional Council will be composed of 51 members, politically distributed as follows: 23 elected members representing the Partido Republicano (right-wing political party) ...
On 28 April 2023, a new law was adopted on additional restrictions on devices for the consumption of nicotine-containing products (the “Law” and “Devices”, respectively). The Law introduces special new aspects on the retail, advertising and manufacturing of Devices as well as further restrictions on turnover of nicotine-containing products ...
Electronic Money Institutions (EMIs) are financial institutions that offer electronic money services to customers. Legislation on EMIs is partially harmonised in the EU as there is only an Electronic Money Directive (Directive 2009/110/EC) (“EMD”) rather than a regulation. In Malta, the EMD is transposed in the Financial Institutions Act, Chapter 376 of the Laws of Malta ...
The SEC Division of Examinations (“Examinations”) issued a Risk Alert on April 26, 2023 to highlight the importance of establishing written policies and procedures for safeguarding customer records and information at branch offices. Examinations provides that a branch office includes any location other than a firm’s main office, including offices of any independent contractors through which a firm may offer investment products and services ...
The progression of online financial ecosystems supporting any modern economy hinges on the citizens’ use of new financial technologies. In Malta, the word ‘fintech’ is neither defined by law nor found in the jurisdiction’s primary legislation. Yet, local stakeholders on the island commonly limit the meaning of the word to blockchain-based finance ...
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is a UK independent agency established by legislation that ‘must seek to promote competition…for the benefit of consumers’. To do so the CMA may carry out research. The CMA announced on 4 May 2023 it is opening an initial review of competition and consumer protection considerations in the development and use of AI foundation models ...
The UK government has proposed legislation (the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill) that would materially affect merger control for transactions of both UK and non-UK companies. This comment addresses the proposed introduction of a mandatory reporting regime as a prior step to the current merger control regime in the UK ...
The UK government has proposed legislation (Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament) that would materially affect merger control for transactions. This comment addresses the proposed changes that would be of concern to those engaged in mergers affecting local markets ...
On April 26th, 2022, the Senate unanimously approved in particular (first constitutional procedure) the Bill that establishes a Framework Law on Cybersecurity and Critical Information Infrastructure. As a result, the legislative proposal passed to the second constitutional procedure waiting to be discussed by the Chamber of Deputies ...
Prejudgment interest may not come to mind when drafting a settlement agreement. But it can become a crucial issue if one settling party later sues another for misrepresentation related to the agreement and the parties disagree over which state’s prejudgment interest rules apply. States vary widely in the amount of prejudgment interest available. In some cases—as in Conway v. Planet Fitness Holdings, LLC, 101 Mass. App. Ct ...
On March 11, 2023, the West Virginia State Legislature enacted the Student Journalist Press Freedom Protection Act (the “Act”), Senate Bill 121. The Act requires “public high schools, colleges, and universities [to] allow for the free expression of student journalists in school sponsored media ...
Rodney Keister was challenging the University of Alabama’s grounds use policy, which requires individuals to obtain a permit before speaking publicly on campus. In his arguments, Keister asserted that the space he was using to preach and distribute religious literature is a “traditional public forum” protected by the First Amendment ...
We are pleased to announce that Emi Rowse (Igusa), partner and head of Japan Practice at Kudun and Partners, has been officially enlisted in the Thailand Arbitration Center (THAC) Panel of Arbitrators! THAC has granted Emi the THAC Empanelment Certificate, recognizing her extensive experience and expertise in the field of arbitration. At Kudun and Partners, we are committed to providing our clients with the highest quality legal services, including effective and efficient dispute resolution ...
