On March 4, 2020, the U.S ...
On March 15, 2020, Governor Whitmer issued an Executive Order, effective 9 a.m. March 16, 2020, through April 13, 2020, imposing two restrictions aimed at preventing price gouging during the COVID-19 emergency. These restrictions, issued pursuant to her powers after declaring a State of Emergency on March 10, 2020, apply to offers or sales of products in Michigan. The first restriction applies only to resales of products acquired from retailers ...
On top of the multiple challenges hitting retail and leisure landlords and occupiers arising from COVID-19, the news that Intu has had to write down the value of its shopping centre portfolio by nearly £2 billion came as further bad news. Intu owns multiple high-profile retail and leisure locations across the UK (including The Trafford Centre in Manchester and the Lakeside complex in Essex) and on 12 March was widely reported as being at risk of insolvency ...
The Financial Services industry has been quick to respond to the struggles facing individuals and businesses during the current coronavirus pandemic, but there are issues they need to consider when implementing their forbearance measures ...
Many organizations may be parties to contracts where the counterparty is seeking to cancel its obligations because of COVID-19. This situation is arising in relation to various commercial relationships, including supply agreements, events planning contracts, and numerous other types of agreements ...
We regularly work with financial institutions to navigate the challenges of implementing, maintaining, and using security procedures for commercial customers’ use of treasury management services. Security procedures are an integral part of the relationship between the financial institution and its commercial customers ...
As the number of novel coronavirus infections (“Covid-19” or “Coronavirus”) and fatalities continue to rise, on 11 March 2020 the Italian Prime Minister issued a decree to impose new emergency measures to contain and manage the spread of the virus (the “11 March Decree”). Always on 11 March, the World Health Organisation has declared that Covid ...
Already, the COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching effects on the global economy and particularly on the German economy as well: interrupted international supply chains, travel restrictions, or the cancelation of major events and trade shows – all of this poses considerable challenges for the manufacturing, trade, transportation, tourism, and event organizer sectors in Germany ...
The COVID-19 virus (commonly known as the “coronavirus”) is affecting companies’ commercial activities around the world, with particular impact on supply chains and employment and insurance law. There is also a question around the measures the competent authorities may impose to prevent or contain the spread of the coronavirus. A ...
This is a question being asked by many companies. Is the severity of this event such that it enables companies to temporarily (or permanently) be excused from performance of their contractual obligations? As is often the case with legal questions, it depends. The term “force majeure” does not have a recognised meaning under English law ...
Introduction The supply chain effects from the global spread of the novel coronavirus have been building for nearly two months, and are expected to reach a peak in the near future (if not necessarily then to recede).[1] The effects have centered on China to date, but the epidemic has spread to other centers of production and the duration of its threat to public health and of the governmental and social measures taken to address its spread remains unknown ...
The outbreak of COVID-19 comes on the back of an already tumultuous two years for the global economy, markets and trade where the US-China "trade war" and other trade tensions and macroeconomic factors have created uncertainty, commercial losses and subdued growth prospects ...
Companies, municipalities, and water systems must now report their per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) use to the federal government. A new federal law requires facilities using 100 pounds per year of a listed PFAS compound to self-report to the national Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). Monitoring and reporting requirements are often prerequisites to cleanup and enforcement, and this collection of data may be a bellwether for the future regulation of PFAS ...
The stock market is undoubtedly one of the most important economic forces in the world. Every year, billions of dollars are moved through stock exchange operations, and year after year, in most jurisdictions, the stock market is promoted as a tool for financing or capturing capital for issuers and as an investment for thousands of participants seeking to place their funds in higher yield investments ...
With the economy facing downward pressure, the Hong Kong Government is rolling out various supporting and funding measures to help enterprises. The $30 billion HK$ Anti-epidemic Fund The Legislative Council Finance Committee approved the $30 billion Anti-epidemic Fund on 21 February 2020, more than half of which - HK$16.9 billion - will serve as one-off cash injections to retailers, food and beverages service providers, start-ups and other businesses ...
On January 27, 2020, the Financial Market Commission (“FMC”) published, for public consultation purposes, a proposed amendment to its Updated Regulations Compendium, by means of introducing two new Chapters: Chapter 21-6, on credit risk-weighted assets determination, and Chapter 21-12, on additional basic capital ...
In our geography in constant transition, resources must be shielded, which is why we must revisit as investors the macro trends as economists call it, prudence in investment matters is imposed without restraining dynamism, only taking it in a gradual and diversified way. Investing in companies or funds with a green seal is one of the strategies that have been outlined for this new year 2020 ...
On February 26, 2020, the Supreme Court ruled in Intel Corp. Investment Policy Committee v. Sulyma, 589 U.S. ___ (2020) (Sulyma) that an ERISA1 plaintiff’s admitted receipt of disclosures about his retirement plan investments was insufficient to prove he had “actual knowledge” of the information therein — the effect of which would have been to trigger a shorter three-year statute of limitations period that would have barred his lawsuit altogether ...
The outbreak of the coronavirus and the measures taken by the Chinese government to contain it have brought production in China as the world's workbench to a complete standstill. Companies that operate in China or purchase such goods are currently facing delivery shortfalls. A similar situation could soon threaten Italy, where the first factory closures have already taken place ...
In a slightly surprising, but nevertheless welcome, South African 2020 Budget Speech today, the Honourable Minister of Finance announced that there would be no significant tax increases to the major taxes for the forthcoming tax year. Widely anticipated increases to value-added tax (“VAT”), income tax, capital gains tax and estate duty did not materialise ...
In response to the impact of COVID-19 and the partial withdrawal of EBA benefits – see our update here – the Cambodian government have issued a number of regulations which are intended to provide some relief to affected businesses in Cambodia. We outline these updates below: Letter 1313 MEF – dated 25 February 2020 Notification no ...
BVI government welcomes announcement. Blacklist expands to include 12 jurisdictions.On 18 February 2020, EU Finance Ministers updated the EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions, upgrading the British Virgin Islands to whitelist status, which designates the country as a fully co-operative tax jurisdiction in line with all of the tax good-governance standards ...
SVW has, across its offices, been giving guidance to clients both under English and Norwegian law as to the Coronavirus impact on shipping contracts, including on force majeure and similar exceptions clauses, and contract frustration. Read our recent publication, touching upon these issues. The Covid19 Virus Only two months have passed since the novel coronavirus was detected in Wuhan, China ...
Summary On January 13, 2020, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) issued final regulations to implement the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 (FIRRMA)1 (the “Regulations”2). The Regulations go into effect on February 13, 2020. CFIUS’s existing regulations (the “Pilot Program”) will continue to apply to transactions that close prior to February 13, 2020 ...
