It has been a little over a year since the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”), an international initiative established to combat money laundering published its Mutual Evaluation Report (“MER”) on South Africa in which it identified major “weak spots” in our compliance processes. The FATF gave the country a deadline of February 2023 to remedy all the deficiencies or face possible grey listing ...
On 10 October, the Government submitted the State Budget Law Proposal for 2023 Parliament Bill 38/XV/1st to the Portuguese Parliament. This budget proposal comes in a demanding economic environment that is characterised by high inflation and the prospects of a slowdown in most economies ...
‘Coming out’, whether as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer, absolutely still matters. With changing societal attitudes and the recent courageous public announcements of two professional footballers, it is hoped that it is getting easier. Nonetheless, workplace statistics still show that LGBTQ+ employees do not openly voice their sexuality and/or gender identity at work through fear of discrimination and harassment ...
After more than 10 years, the Department of Finance has finally issued Revenue Regulations (RR) 7-2022, which provides "the policies and guidelines for the availment of tax incentives under the Renewable Energy Act of 2008" ...
On 7 October 2022 the President of the Russian Federation has signed Federal Law No. 387-FZ 'On Amendments to Article 52 of the Arbitrazh Procedure Code of the Russian Federation and Article 45 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation'. The Federal Law comes into force on 18 October 2022 ...
Please be informed that today the online form for submission of applications for IT accreditation according to the new rules was launched. As a reminder, on September 30, 2022, the Russian government approved the new rules and criteria for IT companies1 accreditation ...
as published in West Virginia Banker magazine, Fall 2022 A recent survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers (“PwC”) revealed that U.S. executives now consider cyberattacks the number one risk their companies face. Concerns about cybersecurity have moved beyond the Chief Information Security Officer (“CISO”) to the entire C-suite and corporate boards ...
In the case with number 609/2018 TA decided on the 29th of September 2022, the employee was alleging that he had suffered an injury whilst performing his duties as a gardener. The defendant company employing the plaintiff rejected responsibility for this alleged incident ...
The passing of Her Late Majesty marks the end of an era, the sudden absence of a reassuring figure who has been with most of us for all of our lives, but it is only the latest in a series of seismic events to remind us of constant change and of our need to continually adapt. With rising inflation and increasing energy costs and an anticipated fall in donations, charities face meeting more demand from fewer resources and the question of what they should be doing at this time ...
On 13 September 2022, the Microfinance Supervision Committee (“Committee“) under the Ministry of Planning and Finance issued Directive No.4/2022 (“Directive“), which outlines risk-based management strategies required of microfinance institutions (“MFIs“) to combat money laundering and terrorism. The Directive also pertains to Section 69 (c) of the Anti-Money Laundering Law (Union Parliament Law No ...
The SEC’s final rule for its pay versus performance disclosure will require registrants to disclose information reflecting the relationship between executive compensation actually paid by a registrant and the registrant’s financial performance. The rules implement the Dodd-Frank Act’s pay versus performance disclosure mandate ...
Following rehearing en banc, an evenly split full Fourth Circuit has affirmed the district court’s dismissal of a qui tam action based on the defendant’s “objectively reasonable” interpretation of ambiguous regulations—the Safeco defense. Though the Fourth Circuit panel’s decision is now vacated, no circuit split exists on the question. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court is weighing a possible grant of cert in two similar Seventh Circuit cases ...
Annex II is a list of cooperative jurisdictions maintained by the EU that reflects ongoing cooperation between the EU and its international partners and the commitments of these countries to reform their legislation to adhere to agreed tax good governance standards. Its purpose is to recognise ongoing constructive work in the field of taxation, and to encourage the positive approach taken by cooperative jurisdictions to implement tax good governance principles ...
October 4, 2022 By Braeden Mansouri and Alicia Guerra On September 28, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law two of the most anticipated housing bills of this legislative session: AB 2011 and SB 6. Both bills have the potential to increase significantly the amount of land available for residential development by deeming housing a permitted use in certain types of commercial zones ...
A Fourth Circuit ruling in a False Claims Act case has created a 4-4 circuit split over the issue of the act’s knowledge requirement, Bradley partner Elisha Kobre explains. This makes the issue ripe for the US Supreme Court, where a ruling on whether an objective or subjective standard should apply will resonate in FCA litigation for years, he says. The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit’s en banc decision Sept ...
In this article, we look at three IP-related matters that have come up recently. THREATS - BREACH OF CONFIDENCE / PRIVATE INFORMATION There’s been an interesting UK court decision dealing with breach of confidence: Clearcourse Partnership and others v Jethwa (2022). In this case, a party involved in a business sale heard and used information that he was not supposed to hear ...
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) recently filed fraud charges against the City of Rochester, New York (“City”), former City executives, and the City’s municipal advisor, reminding us of the importance of up-to-date, accurate disclosures when it comes to the financial condition of political subdivisions, as well as the risks of issuing debt using outdated financial statements ...
With the COVID-19 Inquiry (“the Inquiry”) now open, and applications for Core Participant status for Modules 1 and 2 currently being assessed, potential applicants will need to consider how their participation in the Inquiry will be funded. Section 40 of the Inquiries Act 2005 provides that funding for legal representation can be awarded out of the Inquiry budget. As the Inquiry will be funded by the government this is, in effect, public funding ...
Provisur Technologies, Inc. v. Weber, Inc., Appeal Nos. 2021-1942, -1975 (Fed. Cir. Sept. 27, 2022) In this week’s Case of the Week, the Federal Circuit reviewed an IPR decision and addressed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s consideration of certain evidence submitted to supplement a prior art disclosure. The Court also found that the Board violated the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) by failing to sufficiently explain its rationale concerning its obviousness determinations ...
Introduction: Lawyers as Stewards of a Noble Profession In the final scenes of the movie “A Few Good Men” – one of the great classics of legal cinema – under dramatic, but extremely risky cross-examination by Lt. Daniel Kaffee (played by Tom Cruise), Col. Nathan Jessup (played by Jack Nicholson) admitted to directing the kind of “Code Red” discipline which led to the unintentional death of a Marine stationed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba ...
