On June 23, 2023, major amendments to section 45 of the Competition Act1 (the ?Act?) are set to come into force. Adopted in 2022 by the Parliament of Canada, these amendments are primarily designed to harmonize Canadian non-competition law with legislation in various other countries, particularly the U.S., which restricts certain business practices regarded as harmful to workers ...
The 2023 Foreign Bank Tracker, now in its eighth year reveals capital flow trends into Australia via foreign banks, and market analysis of the results ...
International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated each year on 8 march to mark the progress made towards gender equality and what still needs to be done. Several months on, we reflect on learnings from IWD and the importance of continuing the conversation. The first IWD was celebrated in 1911 and it has since grown to become a global movement that is celebrated in many different ways ...
The automotive industry has launched a new LGBTQ+ movement with an aim to provide a safer space for LGBTQ+ people within the industry and drive change within the sector. The movement, named Driving Pride, is focusing on making the automotive sector a more inclusive and supportive industry for LGBTQ+ workers. Major automotive brands including Ford and Jaguar Land Rover have signed up to the movement in a bid to help promote greater diversity and inclusion within their organisations ...
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) is at the forefront of everybody’s considerations when looking at property investment, development and management decisions. The Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) sector has always been naturally pre-disposed to considering such ESG issues from the sector’s early days ...
It is broadly accepted that hydrogen has an important part to play in our net zero future -the shape and the extent of that role, however, is widely debated. Low carbon mobility is one of those areas. Most analysis has focussed on the commanding position held by battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in personal mobility, and some of the advantages which hydrogen fuel cells have in heavy duty or return-to-base applications like buses[1], waste vehicles[2] and heavy haulage ...
Cybersecurity is a looming threat for most businesses. The impact of a major cyber event can resonate for weeks, months, and even years after the initial attack. To mitigate the risks to consumers, there have been several legislative updates to address these evolving threats, including a significant change for entities in, and adjacent to, the financial services space ...
June 5, 2023 By: Joshua Robbins and Stephanie Shea While we wait for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide the fate of the Chevron doctrine governing courts’ deference to agencies’ interpretations of law, its recent decision in another case has flown under the radar. In Calcutt, III v. FDIC, 598 U.S ...
On 16 March 2023, in Joined Cases C‑438/21P to C‑440/21P, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) interpreted the concept of a ‘global marketing authorisation’. It held that Article 6(1) of Directive 2001/83 (the Community Code) sets out exhaustively the line extensions for which the marketing authorisations (MAs) will fall under the same global MA as the initial MA ...
Monday, May 29, 2023, marked the official end of the 88th regular session of the Texas Legislature. It was an especially active session for the energy industry, which saw the passage of several bills that, if signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott, will have significant and long-term impacts on the oil and gas, renewable energy and power sectors in Texas ...
On June 1, 2023, the United States Supreme Court issued an important decision addressing the intent element of the False Claims Act (“FCA”) in United States ex rel. Tracy Schutte v. SuperValu Inc. and United States ex rel. Thomas Proctor v. Safeway, Inc. The FCA imposes liability on anyone who “knowingly” submits a false claim to the federal government and defines “knowingly” to include actual knowledge, deliberate ignorance, or recklessness ...
On May 30, 2023, National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo took yet another step to ban restrictive covenants in the employment context. In a memo issued to all regional offices, she set forth her view that nearly all non-compete provisions, with very limited exceptions, violate the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) ...
I. INTRODUCTION The post-Soviet states, including the Russian Federation, are mired in corruption across all levels of government-the judiciary, parliament, executive and executive agencies.' Naturally, a "culture of corruption" within government distorts several necessary components that make up the rule of law. Corrupt parliament members will not be responsive to the citizenry ...
May 31, 2023 By: Stephanie Shea The California Unruh Act (specifically, California Civil Code § 51) prohibits “all business establishments of every kind whatsoever” from discriminating based on citizenship or immigration status, among other things. That protection applies to all persons within the jurisdiction of California. At the federal level, (simply put,) the federal civil rights statute (specifically, 42 U.S.C. § 1981), prohibits alienage discrimination ...
On May 30, 2023, the Expert Commission concluded the vote on the preliminary draft of the New Constitution, sending it to the Constitutional Council for discussion. After having reached cross-party agreements on most of the proposed amendments to the first draft, the Expert Commission approved in Plenary Session the text of the preliminary draft, which consists of 14 permanent Chapters, with their respective transitory provisions. The structure of the draft would be the following: Chapter I ...
In November 2021, the New York City Council passed a bill requiring that artificial intelligence (“AI”) tools used by employers to make or assist in hiring decisions or internal promotions undergo bias audits to screen for discriminatory effects. Under the City Charter, the bill became law a month later after it was returned unsigned to the Council by then-mayor Bill DeBlasio ...
Introduction Last week, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced that American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO) had concluded the negotiation of the first trade agreement under the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade.1 This is the first bilateral trade agreement since the promulgation of the Taiwan Relations Act in 1979 ...
The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (“Clery Act”) is a federal consumer protection law that provides campus members and the public with information about campus safety ...
May 26, 2023 By: Stephanie Shea The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act of 2018 amended TILA to require the CFPB to issue rulemaking addressing Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) loans. Specifically, the Act required the CFPB to apply TILA’s ability-to-repay (ATR) requirements to PACE loans and to apply TILA’s civil liability provisions to a PACE lender’s violation of those ATR requirements ...
The Crowdfunding Service Providers Bill reached First Reading stage in Parliament on the 17th of May, 2023. This proposed Act aims to implement provisions of Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 on European crowdfunding service providers for business and it provides for the establishment of a regulatory framework for crowdfunding service providers (hereinafter referred to as “CSPs”) for business, including the organisation, authorisation and supervision of CSPs ...
Contents Please click on the links below to jump to the relevant section: Overview Guarantees Collateral Security Financial assistance Syndicated Lending/Agency/Trustee/Transfers Withholding, stamp and other taxes; notarial and other costs Judicial enforcement Bankruptcy proceedings Jurisdiction and waiver of Immunity Licensing LIBOR replacement Other matters Overview What are the main trends/significant developments in the lending markets in your jurisdiction? As in o
