According to the World Bank’s 2019 Doing Business index, Indonesia sits in 73rd position overall out of 190 countries in terms of ease of doing business. President Joko Widodo has set as a target increasing Indonesia’s ranking to 40th position. To boost investment and ease of doing business in Indonesia, in his inauguration speech on 20 October 2019, President Joko Widodo introduced the idea of enacting an Omnibus Law ...
In United States v. United States ex rel. Thrower, No. 18-16408, on November 14, a panel of the Ninth Circuit gave a skeptical reception to the Department of Justice (DOJ) argument that the district court’s denial of the government’s motion to dismiss a False Claims Act (FCA) qui tam complaint against Academy Mortgage Corporation (Academy) invaded the government’s “prosecutorial discretion ...
On November 5, 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division announced the establishment of a Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF) to deter, detect, investigate, and prosecute criminal schemes that undermine the integrity of the government procurement process. One of the highlights of the PCSF is to reprioritize prosecutions of cartel conduct after a several-year decline ...
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) becomes effective on January 1, 2020. As the CCPA deadline looms, businesses need to act now to be ready. In this article, we provide an overview of the CCPA, key changes to the final law, and steps businesses can take to be ready for the CCPA ...
On 7 August 2019 the Federal Administrative Court annulled a Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) order that had limited the price increase of a medicinal product on the list of specialities to two years. The product manufacturer had requested a price increase under Article 67(2) of the Healthcare Insurance Ordinance (SR 832.102), having incurred higher costs following the loss of two suppliers ...
Some are just donkeys with a horn.I will remember 2019 as the year when many unicorns were exposed as donkeys in disguise.Invoking the rarity and mystique of the mythical creature, a “unicorn” is the term the financial market coined for companies worth US$1 billion or more. The year opened with high hopes for such companies that sought an initial public offering (IPO) in the following months ...
Any person injured in his or her business or property by a pattern of racketeering activity may have standing to seek relief pursuant to the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 ...
Hackers delight in targeting U.S. companies during the holiday season triggering a year-end spike in cyber-attacks, with Carbon Black reporting a 57.5 percentincrease in attempted cyber-attacks during past holiday seasons. This year we can expect that threat actors across the globe will remain online throughout the holiday season, looking to capitalize on the distraction of the holidays and the increased internet traffic that comes with online holiday shopping ...
Under a new proposed rule, certain required disclosures could be provided electronically to all retirement plan participants, including former employees and beneficiaries. On October 23, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a proposed rule intended to expand the use of internet technology to furnish ERISA-required disclosures to plan participants, and to reduce printing and mail expenses ...
Under a new proposed rule, certain required disclosures could be provided electronically to all retirement plan participants, including former employees and beneficiaries. On October 23, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a proposed rule intended to expand the use of internet technology to furnish ERISA-required disclosures to plan participants, and to reduce printing and mail expenses ...
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The dangers of workers developing silicosis amid the fabrication of engineered stone has become a topic heavily discussed in the news and elsewhere recently. Silicosis is a lung disease that develops from the exposure and inhalation of silica particles. On October 2, National Public Radio (“NPR”) aired a story entitled “Workers Are Falling Ill, Even Dying, After Making Kitchen Countertops ...
2019 was a banner year for Governor Gavin Newsom. The Governor signed numerous bills into law, most of which are not employer friendly. For an in-depth analysis of how each law might affect your organization, contact your Hanson Bridgett labor and employment lawyer and/or join us for our Annual Client Seminars on January 28, 2020 (Walnut Creek), January 29, 2020 (Sacramento), or January 30, 2020 (San Francisco). Unless otherwise indicated, each new law takes effect on January 1, 2020 ...
Over the past years, the Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/ Head of the National Land Agency (“Minister”) has issued several regulations on location permits due to the progressive system established by the government for the efficiency of investments and licensing. After the Online Single Submission (“OSS”) system became applicable, the Minister issued Regulation No ...
The era of cryptocurrencies has come: whilst they were initially used as a specific means of payment and as a source of investments other functions are now being explored, such as the possibility of cryptocurrencies being directly contributed to a company in the context of its incorporation ...
The False Claims Act (“FCA”) is one of the most powerful anti-fraud weapons available to the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”). It permits treble damages and makes penalties available for each false claim the defendant submitted to a federal payor. The DOJ effectively deployed the FCA against mortgage lenders in the aftermath of the sub-prime lending crisis to obtain, in some cases, billion-dollar settlements ...
On Oct. 31, 2019, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) published its highly anticipated interim final rules, establishing the USDA Domestic Hemp Production Program to be administered by the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) ...
A few weeks ago, CalPERS issued a Circular Letter to provide guidance to contracting agencies about reporting the uniform allowance, a statutory form of special compensation that applies only to classic CalPERS members. The Circular Letter provides much needed guidance about the uniform allowance, specific examples of reportable and non-reportable items, and reporting standards ...
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a final rule on January 11, 2019, introducing electronic registration requirement for employers seeking to file H-1B cap-subject petitions. The final rule went into effect on April 1, 2019, though the electronic registration requirement was suspended Fiscal Year 2020 (October 1, 2019 – September 30, 2020) to allow USCIS to complete user testing and ensure the system and process are fully functional ...
