Advocate General Sharpston has recently expressed her opinion in the Commission v Republic of Finland case that ensuring a sufficient degree of transparency for the award of sub-threshold procurements should be determined by national law, rather than Community law. If these views were to be followed by the ECJ, it would provide renewed impetus to create national rules on low value awards and represent a meaningful evolution of the ECJ's past case law ...
The Companies Act 2006, which is likely to come into force towards the end of 2007, represents the first attempt to codify directors' duties in UK law. In broad terms, a director's duties currently include the requirement to exercise reasonable skill, care and judgement, not to exceed the powers given to him/her, to avoid conflicts of interest and to act in good faith and in the interests of the company ...
The long-awaited revision to the United States federal franchise regulation which requires presale disclosure throughout the country will become effective July 1, 2007, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) January 23. The FTC Franchising Trade Regulation Rule (“FTC Rule”), initially adopted in 1979, has been under review since the early 1990s. Although the focus was upon making the disclosures and compliance burdens more relevant to changes in the U.S ...
IntroductionThe ECJ's decision in Placanica has quite rightly generated a lot of comment in this publication and in the press more generally. As the dust settles three views have emerged as to the potential impact of the judgement ...
It is generally accepted that mentoring is important to the retention and professional development of attorneys – particularly minority attorneys. However, despite touting their mentoring programs, it appears that few, if any, law firms and corporations “get it right.” Assigning a mentor often results in a few lunches between two people who may or may not have anything in common ...
The European Commission continues its interest in the energy sector in 2007 by imposing record fines on participants in a gas insulated switchgear cartel and carrying out unannounced inspections on several power transformer manufacturers suspected of participating in a cartel. Siemens and ABB confirm involvement in both investigations. A record fine of EUR 992 for a lifts and escalators cartel has also been announced ...
"Outsourcing" is defined as an event in which the regulated financial services firm (the "outsourcing entity"), contracts with a service provider to perform any aspect of the outsourcing entity's regulated or unregulated functions that could otherwise be undertaken by the entity itself. The service provider may be a related party within a corporate group, or an unrelated third party entity ...
A Chinese commercial bank recently launched an investment product under the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investors scheme (QDII) which takes in Renminbi funds from mainland investors and invests in offshore equity funds, fixed income instruments and money market products denominated in foreign currencies. This is an important breakthrough as previously QDII products from banks only invested in fixed income instruments ...
Following a year and half long market investigation, the OFT published on 7 December 2006 its report on the commercial use of public sector information (PSI). The report makes a number of recommendations aimed at increasing "fair" access to PSI, particularly where the public sector body holding the information is itself active in providing value added products to end users ...
The CAT has confirmed, with the Court of Appeal's blessing, that it will not only srcutinise a regulator's decision but that it will also, in certain cases, substitute the regulator's decision with that of its own without remitting the case back to the regulator for a second bite at the cherry.The CAT's approach offers possibilities for both a complainant and for those companies subject to regulatory investigation ...
The countdown towards implementation of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) is well underway. The Directive, which replaces the existing Investment Services Directive, is due to come into force across the European Union by 1 November 2007. Member States are required to have the necessary enabling legislation and regulatory rules in final form by 31 January ...
Under UCITS Regulations, UCITS III funds are permitted to use financial derivative instruments (FDIs) not only for hedging but also as part of their general investment policies. The Irish Financial Regulator requires that the risks involved in using FDI are properly managed, measured and monitored in an ongoing basis through designing and implementing a comprehensive risk management process (RMP) ...
In a speech on 20 November 2006, Mrs Alexa Lam, the SFC's Executive Director of Intermediaries and Investment Products, announced that the SFC will continue its focus on ensuring that financial products are not mis-sold in Hong Kong and that investors are provided with appropriate advice from their investment advisers (IAs) ...
In late 2006, China’s National Social Security Fund Council for the first time granted overseas mandates to 10 global investment managers to manage in total USD 1 billion of the National Social Security Fund (“NSSF”). It is reported that the NSSF, China’s national pension fund of last resort, has total assets worth of around USD30 billion.The 10 managers are AllianceBernstein, Allianz, AXA Rosenberg, BlackRock, JanusINTECH, Invesco, PIMCO, State Street Global Advisors, T ...
The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) recently issued draft rules namely, Regulatory Measures on Offshore Investment of Insurance Assets, governing China's insurance companies' investment in their assets offshore and the appointment of foreign investment managers ...
The role that Asian banks will play in film financing in Asia is a challenging and necessary one as we continue to see the fast paced growth of the Asian film industries. Asia is, so far, an untapped resource of ideas, stories, shooting locations, skilled crew, talent and effective film making techniques ...
In recent years, we have seen a surge in co-productions in Asia, whether in the form of co-productions between parties from different parts of Asia (which would normally involve both financial and production contribution from all parties), or co-productions between Western and Chinese parties ...
When the company was purchased, you will have entered into a Share Purchase Agreement. If you think that there might be potential for a warranty claim, you need to revisit the agreement to establish the basis of your claim and the manner in which it requires to be processed. The warranties in your agreement amount to assurances from the seller with regards to the condition of the business and outstanding liabilities at the time the deal was completed ...
Legislation and jurisdiction1. What is the relevant legislation and who enforces it?Competition is regulated under Competition Law no. 21/1996, as subsequently amended andsupplemented (the Competition Law), and under Competition Council regulations andguidelines. The Romanian competition legislation generally follows the provisions of EuropeanCommunity legislation ...
Comprehensive regulation of antitrust and unfair competition activities was established in Taiwan when the Fair Trade Act came into effect in 1992 (as amended, the ¡§Fair Trade Act¡¨). The regulatory framework is similar to civil law systems such as those used in Germany and Japan. Over the past 12 years, the Fair Trade Act has been amended three times, the most recent amendments being made after Taiwan¡¦s accession to the World Trade Organization in 2002 and taking effect in 2003 ...
The Jebel Ali Free Zone (the "Free Zone") has authorized for the first time the incorporation of a commercial entity in the Free Zone owned by multiple parties. Dubai Implementing Regulation No. 1/99 (the "Implementing Regulation"), permits the incorporation in the Free Zone of "free zone companies" (a "FZCO") to be regulated by a new FZCO Department, which will have the responsibility for the formation, registration and regulation of FZCOs ...
The Emirates’ first stock exchange, the Dubai Financial Market, has been trading since mid 2000. A stock exchange was subsequently established in Abu Dhabi. Although the two markets are not presently linked, they are both subject to regulation under the UAE Securities & Commodities Exchange Law (the “Law”), which is a Federal legislation ...
Pursuant to the Act on Supervision of Financial Market, the National Bank of Slovakia has issued this Measure, which defines the content, format, terms, form, method, procedure and place of submitting the reports of the allotment funds, which issue allotment fund certificates in the Slovak Republic, by asset management companies and branches of foreign asset management companies for statistical purposes. This Measure is published in the Bulletin of the National Bank of Slovakia (Issue No ...
