The COVID-19 outbreak has impacted the manufacturing, transportation and supple chains underpinning countless aspects of trade and commerce on a global basis. Additionally, the shelter-in-place orders have caused nonessential businesses to shut down, resulting in many of them being unable to meet their contractual obligation. Force Majeure Whether coronavirus can be considered a force majeure depends on the wording of the provision ...
A recent report published by the White House Council of Economic Advisers (“CEA”) on drug pricing in the United States of America has put the cost of medicine and the access thereto by the poor, firmly back in the spotlight, and on a global scale. In the CEA report, President Donald Trump’s administration argues that the USA pays higher prices for pharmaceuticals because other developed countries have systems in place to actively force down drug pricing ...
A fierce fight for the leadership of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (”WIPO”) reflects an ever-growing recognition of the importance of IP. The US has seemingly secured a major victory in its quest to prevent a Chinese official from becoming the director general of WIPO. It has achieved this by backing a candidate from Singapore, Daren Tang, the head of the Singapore Intellectual Property Office ...
Disputes arising from an employer’s failure to promote an employee have become an established feature in South African workplaces, especially in the public sector. They have also been the subject of a large number of arbitrations by virtue of the provisions of section 186 (2)(a) of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (“LRA”). This section provides that the definition of an unfair labour practice includes unfair conduct by an employer relating to the promotion of an employee ...
South Africa is in lockdown in the face of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, and although we aren’t able to meet face-to-face over this period, we know how important it is to stay in touch, and we will continue to keep you up-to-date on recent tax developments. In this regard, it feels like a lifetime ago that the South African Minister of Finance delivered his 2020 Budget Speech on 26 February 2020 ...
South Africa is a party to a number of international environmental agreements, including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Control (“UNFCCC”), 1992, the Kyoto Protocol, 1997 and the Paris Agreement. In terms of the Paris Agreement, governments have made a commitment to ensure that global average temperatures remain below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. For South Africa, a country that relies heavily on fossil fuels to generate energy, this is a mammoth task ...
A recent posting by United Kingdom IP firm Beck Greener discusses a very interesting European Union case involving sound marks. If you have any interest in trade marks, you will know that trade marks can take many forms. Although most trade marks are words or logos, trade marks can be all sorts of things… straplines (slogans), product shapes, store layouts colours, sounds, smells or tastes. But many of these more exotic types of trade marks can be difficult to protect ...
Over the past few years, more and more companies have started publishing news content written by artificial intelligence (“AI”) algorithms. This includes Chinese technology giant, Tencent, whose rapid growth has shaped the trajectory of Naspers, the South African company that currently still owns a bit more than 30% of Tencent. Tencent publishes content produced by automated software known as Dreamwriter ...
Why aren’t young influencers taking IP seriously? If you’re over 19 (and you are because you’re reading an article about intellectual property) there’s a good chance that to you “TikTok” is the sound that a clock makes, even though in this case it’s been written by someone who can’t spell. But for younger people, the term has a different meaning altogether ...
This legal analysis focuses on the typical case of a company that although it is not directly targeted by the measures established in order to prevent the spreading of the novel coronavirus, it still registers a decrease of demand, of the level of proceeds and of the production of goods and services ...
This supplements our inBrief dated 3 April 2020, which reported on measures implemented by the UAE authorities in response to COVID-19 up to 9:00 a.m. that day. Many new measures have been introduced since then. We now report on new measures taken up to 9:00 a.m. on Monday 6 April 2020 ...
Since the beginning of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the deferrals of loan payments and other payments (such as leasing payments, etc.) have been provided by credit institutions or other financial institutions voluntarily, upon their negotiations with debtors, upon their discretion and within the formal process for approval of deferred payments with a potential future negative effect on the credit score of the debtor ...
Guarantees for bank loans and loan interest bonifications were introduced as afinancial aid to small and medium-sized enterprises (“SMEs”) to be provided by the state under Act on certain extraordinary measures in the area of finance in relation to the spread of dangerous contagious human disease COVID-19 that was adopted by the National Council of the Slovak Republic on 2 April 2020 (the “Act”) ...
Current status: March 31, 2020 Increasingly far-reaching restrictions with respect to the COVID-19 virus also bring to light the issue of timely drafting, auditing, adoption, and publication of annual and consolidated financial statements, in particular for listed companies. This against the background that capital market-oriented companies, i.e ...
On April 2, 2020, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) issued an interim final rule, providing additional guidance on the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Click here to read the full text of the Interim Final Rule. Here are some of the highlights of new and/or clarified information from the previous guidance issued by Treasury and SBA and the text of the CARES Act: Eligibility Only U.S ...
Among its other consequences, the ongoing global outbreak of Novel Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) has resulted in an economic crisis. In this legal update we present insolvency law issues which may arise during the crisis and we also propose practical solutions for dealing with challenges that companies may face. 1 ...
I. Superintendence of Environment orders the extension of the terms suspension in sanctioning proceedings and other actions. On March 30, 2020 the Superintendence of Environment (“SMA”) issued Exempt Resolution No. 548 (“Res. 548”), which extended the term suspension measures ordered by means of Exempt Resolution No ...
1. The Chilean Supreme Court is vested with the powers to order the suspension of hearings whenever they cannot be carried out because no basic guarantees can be offered for due process. This is due to the restrictions imposed by the Government in the context of the constitutional exception state, such as the limitations to freedom of movement or to the entry into or exit from certain territories, or due to the consequences of the sanitary emergency ...
On April 3rd, 2020, a new Law that amends Law No. 19,983, which regulates the transfer and grants direct enforceability to the copy of invoices, on certain aspects that were recently amended by Law No. 21,131 on 30-days payment, was enacted . The most relevant modifications introduced by this Law aim to benefit small sized businesses (micro, small and medium sized businesses as per defined in Law No ...
On March 30, Decree No. 420, which contains various tax measures that seek to provide greater liquidity to companies, SMEs and employees, was published. The Decree No. 420 considers the following measures: 1. Deferral of the payment of VAT corresponding to the months of April, May and June 2020, under the following rules: to ...
Law No. 21,225 to Support Families and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises due to Covid-19 On April 2, 2020, Law No. 21,225, which materializes some of the measures of the Emergency Economic Plan announced by the Government of Chile last Thursday, March 19, was published. The measures contained in this law are the following: Family Income Support Bonus for recipients of certain family subsidies and individuals or families from the most vulnerable 60% of the population ...
The UAE continues to implement new measures on a daily basis to curb the spread of COVID-19. Those measures are being adopted, announced and implemented at a very rapid pace. For ease of reference, we present here a summary of the key measures that have been implemented by various UAE authorities between 18 March 2020 and the time of this inBrief, 9:00 a.m. on Friday, 3 April 2020 ...
On 26 March 2020, directions were issued by the Minister of Home Affairs pursuant to the regulations published in terms of the Disaster Management Act, 2002 to provide temporary measures in respect of entry into or exit out of South Africa in order to prevent and combat the spread of the coronavirus (COVID‑19) ...
On 15 March 2020, the South African President declared a national state of disaster in terms of the Disaster Management Act, 2002. A number of measures have since been implemented by the government to counteract the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19), and several regulations, directives and guidelines have consequently been published ...
