In its continuing efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19, on April 3, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) recommended that the general public wear, on a voluntary basis, “cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies) especially in areas of significant community-based transmission” of coronavirus ...
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”) offers relief to businesses affected by COVID-19 through various programs, including forgivable loans and federal income tax credits. However, the CARES Act prevents businesses from claiming certain benefits that are considered duplicative ...
This supplements our inBrief dated 3 April 2020, which reported on measures implemented by the UAE authorities in response to COVID-19 up to 9:00 a.m. that day. Many new measures have been introduced since then. We now report on new measures taken up to 9:00 a.m. on Monday 6 April 2020 ...
In our previous legal alert we informed that Act on Employment Services[1]was amended so that allowances to maintain job positions and to maintain employees during the emergency situation, state of emergency and state of distress (the “State of Crisis”) can be provided to a broader group of employers compared to the currently available options under the Act on Employment Services ...
Guarantees for bank loans and loan interest bonifications were introduced as afinancial aid to small and medium-sized enterprises (“SMEs”) to be provided by the state under Act on certain extraordinary measures in the area of finance in relation to the spread of dangerous contagious human disease COVID-19 that was adopted by the National Council of the Slovak Republic on 2 April 2020 (the “Act”) ...
Current status: March 31, 2020 Increasingly far-reaching restrictions with respect to the COVID-19 virus also bring to light the issue of timely drafting, auditing, adoption, and publication of annual and consolidated financial statements, in particular for listed companies. This against the background that capital market-oriented companies, i.e ...
The new measures adopted by the European Commission Last Friday, the European Commission (“Commission”) has adopted an amendment to existing State aid rules to widen the perimeter of the national measures which can be authorized based on the exceptional legal framework to cope with the current crisis. a. In particular, the Commission considered the following measures:a. More support for research and development related to the current health crisis ...
The COVID-19 outbreak has impacted the manufacturing, transportation and supple chains underpinning countless aspects of trade and commerce on a global basis. Additionally, the shelter-in-place orders have caused nonessential businesses to shut down, resulting in many of them being unable to meet their contractual obligation. Force Majeure Whether coronavirus can be considered a force majeure depends on the wording of the provision ...
On April 1, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a temporary rule regarding the implementation of the emergency paid sick leave and Expanded Family and Medical Leave (“EFMLA”) requirements established by the recently enacted Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”). The DOL temporary rule covers significant ground in terms of delineating workers’ and employers’ rights and responsibilities under the FFCRA ...
In order to cope with the public health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of North Macedonia has instituted a number of administrative measures aimed at preventing the spread of this virus, but also at dealing with the economic consequences of the crisis ...
A recent report published by the White House Council of Economic Advisers (“CEA”) on drug pricing in the United States of America has put the cost of medicine and the access thereto by the poor, firmly back in the spotlight, and on a global scale. In the CEA report, President Donald Trump’s administration argues that the USA pays higher prices for pharmaceuticals because other developed countries have systems in place to actively force down drug pricing ...
A fierce fight for the leadership of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (”WIPO”) reflects an ever-growing recognition of the importance of IP. The US has seemingly secured a major victory in its quest to prevent a Chinese official from becoming the director general of WIPO. It has achieved this by backing a candidate from Singapore, Daren Tang, the head of the Singapore Intellectual Property Office ...
Disputes arising from an employer’s failure to promote an employee have become an established feature in South African workplaces, especially in the public sector. They have also been the subject of a large number of arbitrations by virtue of the provisions of section 186 (2)(a) of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (“LRA”). This section provides that the definition of an unfair labour practice includes unfair conduct by an employer relating to the promotion of an employee ...
South Africa is in lockdown in the face of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, and although we aren’t able to meet face-to-face over this period, we know how important it is to stay in touch, and we will continue to keep you up-to-date on recent tax developments. In this regard, it feels like a lifetime ago that the South African Minister of Finance delivered his 2020 Budget Speech on 26 February 2020 ...
South Africa is a party to a number of international environmental agreements, including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Control (“UNFCCC”), 1992, the Kyoto Protocol, 1997 and the Paris Agreement. In terms of the Paris Agreement, governments have made a commitment to ensure that global average temperatures remain below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. For South Africa, a country that relies heavily on fossil fuels to generate energy, this is a mammoth task ...
A recent posting by United Kingdom IP firm Beck Greener discusses a very interesting European Union case involving sound marks. If you have any interest in trade marks, you will know that trade marks can take many forms. Although most trade marks are words or logos, trade marks can be all sorts of things… straplines (slogans), product shapes, store layouts colours, sounds, smells or tastes. But many of these more exotic types of trade marks can be difficult to protect ...
Over the past few years, more and more companies have started publishing news content written by artificial intelligence (“AI”) algorithms. This includes Chinese technology giant, Tencent, whose rapid growth has shaped the trajectory of Naspers, the South African company that currently still owns a bit more than 30% of Tencent. Tencent publishes content produced by automated software known as Dreamwriter ...
Why aren’t young influencers taking IP seriously? If you’re over 19 (and you are because you’re reading an article about intellectual property) there’s a good chance that to you “TikTok” is the sound that a clock makes, even though in this case it’s been written by someone who can’t spell. But for younger people, the term has a different meaning altogether ...
On 26 March 2020, directions were issued by the Minister of Home Affairs pursuant to the regulations published in terms of the Disaster Management Act, 2002 to provide temporary measures in respect of entry into or exit out of South Africa in order to prevent and combat the spread of the coronavirus (COVID‑19) ...
On 15 March 2020, the South African President declared a national state of disaster in terms of the Disaster Management Act, 2002. A number of measures have since been implemented by the government to counteract the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19), and several regulations, directives and guidelines have consequently been published ...
A state of emergency, in order to combat the Coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic, has been imposed in Mozambique, with effect from 1 April 2020. This follows the Presidential Decree issued by President Filipe Nyusi on 30 March 2020 and ratified by the Mozambican Parliament. This unprecedented state of emergency is intended to last until 30 April 2020 ...
Following the issuing of what has colloquially been called the “Lockdown Regulations” to reduce the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in South Africa, there has been a hasty scramble for essential services to comply with the provisions of the Regulations and to register on the Essential Services Portal ...
Employers, contracting companies, enterprises and individuals who use employees, contractors, or people in arrangements of phone or cellphone orders, website orders, mobile apps, digital platform, gig economy, and freelancers, for delivery service or the purchase and delivery of goods and merchandise, must comply with the following prevention and promotional measures: Set appropriate communication channels for notifying suspected cases of Covid-19 to the District, Department or Munici
