Introduction On 22 December 2022, the Malta Financial Services Authority (‘MFSA’ or ‘the Authority’) issued a stakeholder consultation on the proposed establishment of a new framework for Notified Professional Investor Funds (‘NPIFs’). The NPIF framework proposal seeks to introduce a new fund structure, complementing the existing fund frameworks in Malta ...
In response to the pandemic, the Canadian government launched in the spring of 2020 the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (the ?CEWS?), a program that provides employers with a subsidy based on the remuneration paid to their employees and income they lost during the pandemic. Section 125.7 of the Income Tax Act (the ?ITA?) sets out how the subsidy is to be calculated, and likely caused problems for those who had to interpret this ambiguous provision without supporting doctrine or jurisprudence ...
On January 5, 2023 the SEC announced a settled Administrative Proceeding with Randy Robertson. Mr. Robertson previously served as the co-portfolio manager for the BlackRock Multi-Sector Income Trust (“BIT”). While serving as the co-portfolio manager for BIT, Mr. Robertson explored the possibility of a BlackRock investment opportunity regarding a potential secured lending investment relating to print and advertising expenses associated with film distribution. Mr ...
On January 19, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published its proposed rule barring most non-compete agreements that would apply to employees. We previously summarized the proposed rule here. The deadline for comments on the proposed rule is March 20, 2023. Comments can be submitted online at Regulations.gov or in writing to Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite CC-5610 (Annex C), Washington, DC 20580 ...
Following the Court of Justice of the European Union (the "CJEU") ruling which invalidated the "public access" feature of the Luxembourg Register of Beneficial Owners (the "RBE"), the Ministry of Justice required Luxembourg Business Registers (the "LBR") to immediately suspend all public access to the RBE pending the introduction of access rights more in line with the conclusions of the CJEU’s ruling ...
On January 16, 2023, the Commission for the Financial Market (“CMF”) announced the beginning of the implementation of Law No. 21,521, known as the “Fintech Law”, which will come into force on February 3, 2023. The entry into force of the Fintech Law is an extremely relevant milestone for the financial industry since, among other things, it establishes a regulatory framework for services based on Fintech technologies that were not regulated by our legislation ...
A new type of leave was approved by Parliament on 6 December 2022, along with three other bills dedicated to putting culture back at the heart of Luxembourg society. On 13 December 2022, Bill of law no. 7948 was exempted from the need for a second constitutional vote and on 12 January 2023, the law of 6 January 2023 introducing cultural leave [1] was published. The law comes into force on 1 February 2023 ...
On November 22, 2022, the State Administration for Market Regulation ("SAMR") issued for public comments a draft revision to the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China (the "Draft Revision", the "AUCL"), which reflects the government's ongoing efforts against unregulated unfair competition activities emerging in tandem with fast-evolving market forces that continue to give rise to new business forms and models ...
After lengthy debates in the Parliament, the new Social Dialogue Law, i.e. Law no. 367/2022 was published in the Official Gazette no. 1238/2022 on December 22, 2022, the lawmakers opting to expressly repeal the “famous” Law no. 62/2011 with the entry into force of the new legislative framework, which is not at all surprising considering the many changes brought on by the new law. Law no ...
In the second part in this series, we take a look at the possible changes that could be made to improve the Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR) and the Agency Worker Regulations 2010. Working Time Regulations - 48-hour week The WTR derive from the EU Council’s Directive on working time (1993) and the Council Directive on the protection of young people (1994) ...
The Online Safety Bill is to be amended to include an offence for officers or senior managers of key tech companies who fail to comply with duties to protect children online. As currently drafted, the offence will apply to senior managers and officers (or those purporting to fulfil such functions) of "user-to-user services" (better known as social media sites, but they could include many online businesses, including forums, online gaming sites and cloud storage providers) ...
Matters of cross-border company mobility are addressed at European Union level by means of Directive (EU) 2017/1132 (the “2017 Directive”) which provides for cross-border mergers and domestic divisions of public limited liability companies ...
Overview On 4 November 2022, the Ministry of Commerce of Cambodia issued two new regulations, namely, Prakas 226 on the Formalities and Procedures of Inspection and Investigation under the Law on Competition (“Prakas 226”) and Prakas 227 on the Conditions and Procedures of Negotiated Settlement under the Law on Competition (“Prakas 227”) ...
On 19 October 2022, the Council of the EU announced that political agreement (the ‘Political Agreement’) had been reached with the EU Parliament on the review of the Regulation on European long-term investment funds (the ‘ELTIF Regulation’) ...
This briefing sets out the key requirements of PIPA and the steps that your organisation can take to prepare for its implementation. PIPA coming into force PIPA was enacted in 2016 to regulate the use of personal information in Bermuda by individuals, companies, public authorities and other organisations ...
Operating expenses (“OpEx”) and common area maintenance fees (“CAM”) are two important items in any commercial lease, but they are often overlooked after the decision is made on how to split up these fees. Typically, operating expenses are calculated and allocated based on a gross, modified gross, or triple net basis, with the tenant being responsible for a percentage of CAM based on the percentage of the total property they occupy ...
The retail industry has faced numerous challenges over the last year including recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, responding and adapting to inflation as well as supply and distribution issues as a result of the war in Ukraine. Throughout these disruptions, the retail industry has also benefited from the growth of digitalisation and technology, and we explore the opportunities, threats and trends that will continue to emerge in 2023 ...
Much has been written about this Bill and the potential impact that it could have on UK law. Most of this has been directed towards the potential negative consequences, including how numerous protections provided to employees by EU law might be removed. If you are not already aware, the Bill, if passed in its original form, means that all law that is derived from the UKs membership of the EU will cease to have legal effect on 31 December 2023 – the sunset date ...
A recent Employment Tribunal (tribunal) decision provides employers with peace of mind when deciding to implement workplace policies that emerge in response to previously unforeseen workplace risks. We examine Shields v Alliance Healthcare Management Services (Alliance), a case successfully defended by Shoosmiths, and outline the key steps that employers can take to confidently implement reactionary workplace policies ...
With the well-known challenges of the last ten months or so, market conditions deteriorated substantially over 2022 and the venture capital (VC) market became a far more challenging one in which to agree a valuation and raise money. While those challenges are not over, from speaking to VC clients and others, there's a cautious optimism that as 2023 progresses the market will slowly improve ...
Many government agencies set goals for their construction projects to be awarded to disadvantaged business enterprises (DBE). The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) DBE certification program sets antidiscrimination regulations that states can implement for federal funding. The Certification Office for Business Inclusion and Diversity (COBID) is the certifying authority of DBEs (on behalf of the DOT) in Oregon ...
On January 11, 2023 the SEC Division of Investment Management issued an additional Marketing Rule FAQ. The newly issued FAQ addresses gross and net performance requirements applicable to private fund case studies, single investments and/or groups of investments, i.e. extracted performance. Specifically, the Question provides as follows: Q. When an adviser displays the gross performance of one investment (e.g ...
Ukraine is an EU candidate: Can we soon file patent applications for Ukraine at the European Patent Office? The European Council granted Ukraine EU candidate status on 23 June 2022. Will patents granted by the European Patent Office soon also apply in Ukraine? Not immediately, because on the one hand the candidate status legally creates neither rights nor obligations ...
As we enter the new year, we also welcome the implementation of the British Virgin Islands ("BVI") Business Companies Act (the "Act") amendments which came into force on 1 January 2023. The amendments update several parts of the Act and continues to conform with best practice and international standards ...
