On Jan. 19, 2021, the two recent final rules issued by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding changes to the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and the Physician Self-Referral Law (Stark Law) regulations (respectively the OIG Rule and the CMS Rule, collectively the Final Rules) became effective ...
Pursuant to the Prevention and Suppression of Money Laundering Activities Law (the “AML Law”), which transposes into national legislation the 4thEU AML Directive ((EU) 2015/849), companies and other legal entities must maintain and register, in a central public register to be created for this purpose, information on their beneficial owners ...
The introduction of mandatory pre-installation of applications developed by Russian market players, caused by a wave of cases of abuse by global companies of their dominant position in digital markets, is a significant innovation in Russian antitrust and consumer protection law. To reduce the risks of restricting competition and balance the bargaining power of global corporations with small domestic application developers, amendments to the Law dated February 7th 1992 No ...
In a recent press release, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS/OIG) announced five additional guilty pleas relating to a $1 billion telepharmacy fraud scheme. However, unlike many health care fraud cases, this particular case was investigated over the course of three years by an interagency team comprised of personnel from HHS/OIG, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S ...
When it comes to the general transfer of data to third countries, even, for example, intra-group data transfers, recourse to US providers such as Microsoft (Office 365), Amazon (AWS), Google or Salesforce has been ill-fated since the ECJ ruling of July 16, 2020 (C-311/18 “Schrems II”) ...
Some facts and figures that set out the landscape of merger control, antitrust enforcement and competition litigation in Portugal in 2020. Interim Measures The PCA ordered the Portuguese Professional Football League to suspend its decision preventing teams in the First and Second Football Leagues from signing players that have unilaterally terminated their contracts due to the COVID-19 pandemic ...
The Government of the UAE made another milestone announcement on 30 January 2021, announcing a procedure for the granting of citizenship to foreign nationals in a bid to retain talent in critical sectors and to expand and diversify the economy. Nationality and citizenship in the UAE are governed by Federal Law No. 17 of 1972 Concerning Nationality and Passports, as amended by Federal Law No. 10 of 1975 and Federal Decree-Law No ...
Traditionally, Belgian labour law distinguishes between two forms of telework, namely structural telework, regulated by the Collective Labour Agreement n° 85, and occasional telework, regulated by the Act on Workable and Agile Work. Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, a third category has been added, namely 'Covid telework', which was, at a certain point, recommended but has now been made compulsory again by the government ...
Bradley’s Government Enforcement and Investigations Practice Group is pleased to present the False Claims Act: 2020 Year in Review, our annual review of significant False Claims Act (FCA) cases, developments and trends. Despite the pandemic and the smallest recoveries for the Department of Justice in over a decade, FCA enforcement remains robust. As always, the healthcare industry remains the most frequent subject of FCA cases and investigation ...
The information listed below is categorized by topic for your convenience and includes content from the previous week. Bradley is actively monitoring and engaging with relevant federal, state or local entities on issues related to the coronavirus. Please contact one of the authors if you have any questions. Click on a link below to view the full article, alert, blog, webinar recording or interview ...
Aron Beezley of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP outlines the Justice Department's noteworthy procurement fraud recoveries for fiscal year 2020. The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced1 that it obtained more than $2.2 billion in False Claims Act (FCA) settlements and judgments in the fiscal year ending September 29, 2020 ...
On January 22, 2021, the Federal Official Gazette published Resolution No. 55, by means of which the National Mining Agency (“ANM”) amends Resolutions No. 28/2020 and 46/2020, which deal with the suspension of deadlines of certain procedural and material acts under its competence, and the extension of the terms of mineral titles, due to the current COVID-19 pandemic ...
In recent years, Russia has focused on regulating its IT area. In particular, this has been needed due to the increasing number of cases, when prohibited information has been distributed on various large Internet resources, such as a social network. However, according to Russian government agencies, despite the risks of possible sanctions, many foreign companies still do not respond quickly enough to government requests, or ignore the demands to remove prohibited information ...
When Alabama’s Legislature convenes for its annual session on February 2, lawmakers will once again be asked to consider a bill that would provide certain Alabamians with access to medical cannabis ...
Northern Ireland Mark Blair Partnerships between the public and private sectors have had a big impact in Northern Ireland, and could potentially achieve more. Shoosmiths collaborated with Insider on a series of virtual roundtables across our regions to discuss how processes could be improved, where funding could come from and what successful collaboration could achieve. To read the report from the Northern Ireland debate, please click below ...
On January 25, 2021, President Biden signed the Ensuring the Future Is Made in All of America by All of America’s Workers (Made in America) Executive Order, which not only directs that federal government purchases and procurement go to American businesses and workers, but also calls out the Jones Act for specifically endorsing the nation’s vessels, ports, and merchant crews ...
A new Angolan Public Procurement Law (“PPL”) has been approved recently. Law 41/20 of 23 December revokes Law 9/16 of 16 June and will enter into force on 22 January 2021. The new law will apply to all public procurement procedures beginning after that date and to the performance of subsequent contracts ...
To boost the economy post-Brexit the government is committed to establishing up to 10 freeports across the UK. In our latest freeport bitesize article, we look at some of the planning implications of which bidders and bid participants should be aware. Back in August 2019 the UK Government announced plans to create ten new freeports that would be free of “unnecessary checks and paperwork, and include customs and tax benefits” ...
Hong Kong’s Legislative Council’s Panel on Financial Affairs discussed tax concessions for carried interest in its meeting on 4 January 2021, following the publication of a discussion paper by the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB). The FSTB’s paper sets out proposals to offer a zero percent concessionary tax rate for eligible carried interest distributed by eligible private equity funds operating in Hong Kong ...
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued to Congress its annual bid protest report. As discussed below, this year's report is noteworthy for multiple reasons, including that it shows that protesters received some form of relief from the procuring agency in more than half of the protests filed with the GAO in FY 2020, and the GAO's use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) increased by 210% in FY 2020 ...
On January 1, 2020, Congress overrode President Trump’s veto to pass the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 6395 – 116th Congress (2019-20)), which includes the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (the “AML Act”). The AML Act revises the Bank Secrecy Act to bolster the government’s power to identify and regulate suspicious banking activity ...
On December 27, 2020, the Economic Aid to Hard-Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits and Venues Act (the “Economic Aid Act”) was enacted which, among other things, reauthorized lending under the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) to first-time borrowers (“First Draw PPP Loans”) and for second draws by certain borrowers who have previously received PPP loans (“Second Draw PPP Loans”) ...
