Financial Services Malaysia Overnight Rate as Alternative Reference Rate Bank Negara Malaysia (“BNM”) announced on 24 September that the Malaysia Overnight Rate (“MYOR”) is an alternative reference rate for Malaysia. The MYOR: will be administered and calculated by BNM as the volume-weighted average rate of unsecured overnight Ringgit interbank transactions, including BNM’s overnight monetary operations (excluding Standing Facilities) ...
In 2021, warehouse distribution centers were at the forefront of California law, regulations, and environmental initiatives. These efforts seek to regulate labor practices of warehouse operators and the environmental impacts caused by the expansion and concentration of distribution centers over the last decade. This article summarizes AB 701 and other initiatives in California targeting warehouse distribution operations ...
In re: Vivint, Inc., Appeal No. 2020-1992 (Fed. Cir. Sept. 29, 2021) In an appeal from the United States Patent Trial and Appeal Board, the Federal Circuit addressed whether a party may challenge the validity of an issued patent by ex parte reexamination when the challenger has repeatedly tried to use inter partes review (“IPR”) to forward the same argument. The Federal Circuit held that, when applying 35 U.S.C ...
In our final quarterly case law update for 2021, we look at some of the key cases published since July 2021 and consider the lessons we can learn from them. Furlough and redundancy As a result of the backlog within the Employment Tribunal system, we are only just starting to see the Tribunal making decisions on the actions taken by employers during the pandemic, specifically in their use of furlough under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) ...
We are often asked to opine on the status of anti-discrimination law on the island, as many believe that it does not exist. In fact it does exist, albeit to a limited extent: The Sex Discrimination (Employment) (Guernsey) Ordinance 2005 renders it unlawful for employers to discriminate against employees and job applicants on grounds of sex, marriage or gender reassignment ...
Due to the non-renewal of the constitutional state of exception of catastrophe, the health authority modified the Covid-19 regulations. The main changes are mentioned below: A. STEP-BY-STEP PLAN MODIFICATION On October 1st 2021, Exempt Resolution No. 994 was published in the Official Gazette, which regulates and establishes a new version of the “Step-by-Step Plan” ...
[!<CDATA[ In which office are you located? Houston Tell us a little about your practice. I primarily handle banking and financial services litigation matters here at the firm, although I jump on regulatory compliance matters when the opportunity presents itself. Our practice group focuses on state and federal laws and regulations governing financial institutions like lenders, servicers, credit furnishers, and the like ...
[!<CDATA[ The federal government established many new funds in 2020 to assist health care providers with the financial burden of COVID-19. One such fund, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) Provider Relief Fund (PRF), is a $178 billion federal appropriation to health care providers impacted by COVID-19. Since its inception, the CARES Provider Relief Fund has consistently changed and its guidance evolved ...
Bill 64, also known as the Act to modernize legislative provisions respecting the protection of personal information , was adopted on September 21, 2021, by the National Assembly of Quebec ...
The Personal Information Protection Law (the “PIPL”) will take effect on 1 November 2021. It follows the fundamental rules on protecting personal information under the Cybersecurity Law and Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). We highlight below the key points in the PIPL on processing personal information within China, and outbound transfer of personal information, which may impact businesses whether they are operating in or outside the PRC. 1 ...
Although Oregon’s 2021 legislative session turned out to be relatively quiet from a tax perspective, we did experience some changes to Oregon’s Corporate Activity Tax (“CAT”). Those changes were primarily in the form of SB 164. The enactment of SB 164 ushers in the following CAT changes. Fiscal Year Filings ...
Is the sale or purchase of software by an agent on behalf of its principal a sale or purchase of ‘goods’ for the purposes of the Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993 (the “Regulations”) within the technology sector? Following the Court of Justice of the European Union (the “CJEU”) preliminary ruling in The Software Incubator Ltd v. Computer Associates UK Ltd case, we move a step closer to a much-needed consistent answer ...
1. General 1.1 Prevalence of Arbitration Litigation continues to be the primary method of resolving disputes in Malaysia, for both domestic and international disputes. This is not expected to change in the near future ...
Executive Summary For organisations transferring personal data from the EEA, the new form of model clauses must now be used for any new transfers agreed as of 27 September 2021. Existing arrangements using the “old” European model clauses have until December 2022 to be replaced with one of the new versions ...
The Technology and Construction Court in Downs Road Development LLP v Laxmanbhai Construction (UK) Ltd [2021] EWHC 2441 (TCC) held that an Adjudicator’s decision not to consider a line of defence was a breach of natural justice and was not enforceable, nor could part of the decision be severed. The case also contained interesting commentary as to the ‘intent’ behind the issuing of a payment notice, and how this may affect the validity of the notice ...
On Monday the White House announced that the COVID-19 travel restrictions imposed on passengers from the UK and most of the EU would be eased, allowing fully vaccinated passengers to enter the country from early November. This will be welcomed by families that have been kept apart as a result of the ban first imposed by President Trump 18 months ago. The UK moved to end similar restrictions on US travellers in July, and both sides of the pond are once again open for business ...
In a recent appeal by a pharmacy, Doorstep Dispensaree Limited (“Doorstep”), against a Monetary Penalty Notice and an Enforcement Notice issued against it by the Information Commissioner’s Office (the “ICO”), Doorstep was partially successful, specifically against the level of fine imposed by the ICO under the Monetary Penalty Notice ...
In October 2020 the Information Commissioner’s Office (the “ICO”) announced that it was issuing a Penalty Notice to British Airways (“BA”), imposing a financial penalty of £20 million following a data breach that resulted in hackers obtaining the personal data of 400,000 BA customers. This was a significant reduction from the ICO’s original intention to issue a fine of £183 million ...
Covering employee wages since 1 March 2020, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ("furlough") is set to end on 30 September 2021, with a deadline for final claims to be made by 14 October 2021. Employers still using the scheme should be engaging with employees about its end, and may now need to make some tough decisions that have been postponed while furlough continued ...
The shift to flexible working has never been more pronounced than now as we make a steady return to the workplace following the pandemic. National headlines recently highlighted the risk for employers of failing to properly consider requests for flexible working. The case of Thompson v Scancrown Ltd t/a Manors resulted in the claimant, Mrs Thompson, being awarded just over £180,000 for indirect discrimination following the rejection of her flexible working request ...
The government has announced a series of measures to tackle ongoing shortages of heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers and poultry workers in the UK. This includes relaxing immigration rules to offer over 10,000 temporary visas in the run up to Christmas. Brexit, the Coronavirus pandemic, tax changes and additional factors such as an ageing workforce have all contributed to a shortage of food processing workers and HGV drivers in the United Kingdom ...
“... an adjudicator should think very carefully before ruling out a defence merely because there was no mention of it in the claiming party’s notice of adjudication. That is only common sense: it would be absurd if the claiming party could, through some devious bit of drafting, put beyond the scope of the adjudication the defending party’s otherwise legitimate defence to the claim ...
On September 15, 2021, the one-year-long suspension of the Philippine Competition Commission’s (PCC) power to review mergers and acquisitions motu proprio under Republic Act No. 11494 (the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, or the Bayanihan 2) ends. This means that starting September 16, 2021, the PCC may again review mergers and acquisitions motu proprio ...
