This week, BNY Mellon (“Mellon”), the nation’s oldest bank, announced it was making good on its February 2021 plan to develop the infrastructure necessary to serve as custodian for digital assets. Mellon announced the launch of a proprietary crypto custody software developed in partnership with Fireblocks, a digital asset custody, transfer, and settlement platform. With its announcement, Mellon became the first large U.S ...
With the end of the year just around the corner, it’s a good time to reassess plans and action-items. When reviewing your year-end estate planning or business transition concerns, there are several things to contemplate and review, such as year-end gift giving and tax considerations. Below is a list of items we’ve identified that you might want to consider as you plan for the end of the year and future transitions ...
Weisner v. Google LLC, Appeal No. 2021-2228 (Fed. Cir. Oct. 13, 2022) In its only precedential patent case this last week, the Federal Circuit again revisited the thresholds for disposing of cases under Section 101, brought on a motion to dismiss. In a split decision, the Court affirmed the dismissal of two patents, but reversed the district court concerning two other patents, all of which shared the same specification ...
On the 12th of July 2022, the Malta Financial Services Authority (the “MFSA”) issued a Consultation Document on the reporting of major ICT-related incidents with a consultation period expiring on the 5th of August 2022. The MFSA worked on introducing an updated major ICT-related incident reporting process that replaces the previous process that was communicated on the 25th of September 2019 entitled ‘Cybersecurity – Threat Mitigation’ ...
The Oregon legislature passing Senate Bill 1501 in March of this year set the stage for the Oregon Department of Forestry’s (ODF’s) rulemaking process to implement a comprehensive set of changes to Oregon’s Forest Practices Act (FPA). The rulemaking process is now nearing its conclusion. ODF held hearings and informational meetings on draft rules implementing changes to the FPA stemming from the Private Forest Accord Report throughout September ...
On Aug. 16, President Joe Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022. Although it garnered headlines mostly for its $80 billion commitment to the Internal Revenue Service, the IRA went a long way toward providing tax incentives to real estate and related industries. Selecting a few primary issues from the IRA, as with any large-scale legislation, can be a challenge ...
On September 29, 2022, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) issued a final rule amending its small-business size regulations to incorporate the U.S. Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) revision for 2022 (NAICS 2022) into its table of small-business size standards ...
On 30 September 2022, the Foreign Exchange Supervisory Committee (“FESC”) of the Central Bank of Myanmar (“CBM”) issued Letter No. FE-73 (23/2022) as a result of discussions held during meeting No. (53/2022). The letter has allowed fuel import entities to make repayments of financing agreements in Chinese yuan (“RMB”) in a bid to prevent delays in oil distribution to consumers in Myanmar ...
An increasing number of cases highlighting potential clashes between employees holding gender critical beliefs and the rights of other employees protected by the Equality Act 2010, leave employers having to carefully perform a balancing act of rights ...
President Biden’s Executive Order on US data transfers came at the end of last week, signalling a “dramatic step” for EU-US data relations, with knock on consequences for the UK expected. The superlatives can’t get strong enough for US data lawyers commenting on its impact. The problem Under the EU and UK GDPR an international transfer requires “adequate safeguards” to be in place ...
The morning of February 24 began as an ordinary day for IP attorneys Julia Semeniy and Yuliya Prokhoda, with planned court hearings, client meetings and routine school runs in Ukraine. But when Russia began its onslaught on the country, in an act of internationally condemned aggression, their lives changed dramatically ...
On July 15, 2022, Justice François Lebel of the Court of Québec rendered a decision confirming that, in the case of the sale of immovable property, a clear and unambiguous exclusion clause, whereby the warranty is waived at the buyer?s risk, results in a break in the chain of title preventing the buyer from taking any legal action under such warranty against the seller and previous sellers ...
It’s hard to explain to someone who has never been accused of a crime that they cannot use their own money, and this situation could last for months. Nonetheless, an institution exerting this effect functions under Polish law and can impact both individuals and companies This institution is the freezing of accounts. In general it is used where there is a suspicion that funds in an account have a criminal origin or are related to an offence ...
On October 7, 2022, the White House released its National Strategy for the Arctic Region, further developing the federal government’s approach to the northernmost region, which is under intergovernmental purview. The document is an update to a policy released in 2013, and is intended to express the federal government’s “affirmative U.S ...
The Guernsey Financial Services Commission (“GFSC”) has published its Guidance for CIS on measures to counter the risk of greenwashing (“Guidance”) which applies to all collective investment schemes which are authorised or registered under the Protection of Investors (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2020 and to those responsible for preparing the prospectuses and other marketing materials of such schemes ...
In Ismail v Life Entabeni Hospital, the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (“CCMA”) had to decide whether an employee had been unfairly discriminated against on the basis of her religion as a result of the employer’s “bare below the elbow” policy (“BBE policy”) which did not permit the wearing of long sleeves by those employees working in general wards and the ICU ...
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 ...
‘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 ...
S African countries grapple with the measures necessary to meet their nationally determined commitments (“NDCs”) under the Paris Agreement, it is critical to be primed to attract sustainable finance, and for central banks and regulators in each country to create a fertile environment for this redirection of capital ...
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 ...
This article focuses on the key aspects of the New Homes Quality Code (NHQC), which developers must consider and implement at the reservation and pre-contract stages ...
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 ...
On October 5, 2022, during the Tribal Consultation session in Washington, D.C ...
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 ...
