SyCipLaw has released the latest update of its market entry guide, SyCipLaw's Doing Business in the Philippines: A General Guide. The guide covers the setting up of a corporation or a branch office in the Philippines, post-SEC registration permits, how Philippine entities are taxed, tax incentives available, and merger notification rules ...
The Cambodia Competition Commission (“CCC”) has issued Decision on Pre-Notification Thresholds for Business Combinations dated 14 March 2023, which sets out the thresholds for Pre-Notification under the Law on Competition. The CCC has the power to amend the thresholds by written decision ...
March 31, 2023 By: Michael Flynn and Brett Voets On March 30, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued the long-awaited final version of its rules on Small Business Lending under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.[1] The new rule imposes significant burdens and risks on lenders, and will likely result in significant amounts of loan-related data being made public, as discussed below ...
Time is running out for developers that have not yet signed the Developer Remediation Contract. The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove, delivered a clear message last week: “The Responsible Actors Scheme is coming. Only developers who behave responsibly will be trusted to build the homes of the future. Any eligible developers who fail to do the right thing will need to find a new line of work” ...
Biometric identifiers are unique to every individual. They include your fingerprints, facial structure, and even how you walk. There is the Illinois Biometric Information Protection Act (“BIPA”), and biometric protection bills are currently working their ways through the legislatures in Maryland and Mississippi ...
By: Jeffrey M. Dennis Data privacy, sometime referred to as the protection of personal information, has developed into one of the most significant challenges facing the franchise industry. As the number of franchises in the United States continues to increase, franchisees and franchisors are becoming more reliant on customer information to grow and maintain their loyal customer bases ...
Whistleblowing or simply put, the act of drawing attention to or complaining about perceived wrongdoing, misconduct, unethical activity within one’s organisation has been a topic of great relevance in the last few years. While there is no federal law relating to whistleblowing in the UAE, there have been significant legal developments in this area. The Dubai Law No ...
March 28, 2023 By: Meghna Parikh The Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative continues to raise the stakes for government contractors. This initiative uses the False Claims Act (“FCA”) to hold government contractors accountable for knowingly (1) failing to monitor and report cyber data breaches, (2) implementing inadequate cybersecurity measures or (3) misrepresenting their cybersecurity practices ...
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its final report on “guidelines of MiFID II product governance requirements” yesterday ...
On March 24, 2023, The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited ("HKEX") published its consultation conclusions ("Consultation Conclusions") regarding the proposed new listing regime for specialist technology companies ...
We previously provided an update regarding the enactment of a capital gains tax (the “Tax”) in the State of Washington (read about it here). In that article, we noted the Tax was subject to at least one lawsuit in Washington. That lawsuit resulted in the trial court striking down the Tax, which caused an appeal to the Washington State Supreme Court (the “Court”) ...
On March 17, 2023, the General Services Administration (GSA) announced it will be holding a Tribal Consultation on April 3, 2023, in Las Vegas, Nevada, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:50 p.m., Pacific Time. The Tribal Consultation will be held at the Reservation Economic Summit 2023 (RES 2023), in Caesars Palace ...
Ensuring the safety and security of funds is a top priority for financial institutions worldwide. To this end, the South African Government has put in place various regulations to guide the operations of financial institutions. We have written several articles on the recent changes to the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, 2001 (“FICA”) and the regulations promulgated under FICA ...
Law and regulation in this area are developing at pace and it’s no longer just those businesses looking for ESG linked products which need to be analysing their Environmental, Social & Governance (‘ESG’) behaviours. This article considers what businesses may wish to be doing voluntarily, either as good practice or in preparation for a financing, in terms of developing their ESG practices ...
Paul Carney and Craig Thomas explore the impact of the Chancellor's 2023 Spring Budget on the taxation of pensions in the UK. The Chancellor’s budget statement on 15 March caused many to be surprised and some to be perplexed ...
This article looks at what ESG means, what we really mean when we talk about ‘ESG lending’, and the types of ESG lending available. When people talk about ‘ESG Lending’ they’re often talking about sustainable lending - encompassing social loans, green loans and sustainability linked loans. Potentially available to all businesses, now is a great time to get familiar with these types of products, as well as the corresponding jargon ...
Beneficiaries of UK, USA or other non-EU state subsidies will have to notify the European Commission under a new regime when engaged in certain mergers & acquisition (M&A) transactions or tendering for certain EU public contracts.This notification obligation commences on 12 October 2023. The transaction cannot be completed or the procurement contract entered into, until consent has been received from the European Commission following notification ...
As businesses continue to operate in an increasingly globalised economy, the transfer of personal data across international borders has become a critical aspect of many operations. However, with the latest legislative changes from the EU, it has become more challenging to transfer data lawfully to third countries. By now, you may have had requests to amend your contracts with international counterparts ...
The Regulation’s overall goal is to encourage Member States to carry out Strategic Mineral Projects involving minerals such as e.g. Copper, Titanium, Nickel – battery grade, Lithium – battery grade, and Rare Earth Elements for magnets. The aim for the EU’s extraction capacity is set to be at least 10 % of the Union’s consumption of strategic raw materials ...
Namibia’s emerging green energy industry has the potential to create thousands of jobs and contribute billions to the country’s GDP. In November 2022, the Namibian Government released the Namibia Green Hydrogen and Derivatives Strategy Report (the “GH2 Strategy Report”) which drew significant attention from locals, who are anticipating the development of legislation for Namibia’s green hydrogen sector ...
The purpose of section 197 of South Africa’s Labour Relations Act, 1995 (“LRA”) is to protect and maintain employment in circumstances where a transfer of business takes place. In terms of section 197 and section 197B(1)(b), a “transfer” means the transfer of a business by one employer (the old employer) to another employer (the new employer) as a going concern ...
Debtors hoping to discharge their obligations in bankruptcy may find a new hurdle based on the US Supreme Court’s Feb. 22 ruling. Relying on the plain language of the Bankruptcy Code, and Congress’s use of passive voice, the Supreme Court held that funds obtained through fraud, regardless of who committed such fraud, are not dischargeable through bankruptcy ...
Jersey offers a range of fund types and structures to suit the needs of sophisticated sponsors and investors including Jersey Private Funds, Notification Only Funds (also known as Eligible Investor Funds) and Collective Investment Funds (CIFs), such as Jersey Expert Funds and Jersey Listed Funds ...