On February 23, 2017, Law N°21,000 (the “Law”) was published in the Official Gazette of Chile, creating the Commission for the Financial Market (the “Commission”), a professional body and technical entity that will replace the current Superintendency of Securities and Insurance (“ SVS “). The Law will enter into force in August 2018, or at an earlier date if the Commission becomes operational sooner ...
The World Bank Group has released its Doing Business 2017: Equal Opportunity for All report. This is the 14th in an annual series of reports providing objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement in 190 economies ...
In the context of a dispute between a Turkish agent and a Belgian principal, the Commercial Court of Ghent (Belgium) referred a request to the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) concerning the legal protection of a Turkish agent under Belgian/EU law. The agent and principal had expressly agreed that their agency agreement was subject to Belgian law ...
Karanovic & Nikolic employment team has assisted Shepherd and Wedderburn in the development of The European Employment Law Update for 2017. The European Employment Law Update for 2017 provides an overview of the vital reforms being introduced to European employment law over the next year, including areas such as seconding employees, increased protections for whistleblowers, and legislation changes related to increased work-life balance ...
July 1, 2017 is swiftly approaching and companies need to electronically upload information related to injuries and illnesses on OSHA’s Injury Tracking Application (ITA) website. The ITA website is scheduled to go live this month (February 2017) and all covered establishments must complete Form 300A by the July 1 deadline ...
Social media sites, like Facebook, are inexhaustible sources of personal information which can constitute evidence in the context of employer-employee disputes. In matters related to evidence, the general rule is that any relevant evidence is admissible ...
The Ministry of Labour has prepared a draft law providing for protection of persons informing of corruption offences ...
Political uncertainty dominates the headlines, with the fallout from Brexit continuing, leadership changes in the USA and further elections soon to take place across Europe. The legal landscape in Scotland also continues to change ...
In this matter, the employer, Enforce Security Group (“Enforce”), was a private security services provider contracting out security officers to its clients. The security officers were employed on the basis that their period of employment would endure until the termination of the service contract between Enforce and the client whose premises the employee would be assigned to. This type of provision is commonly referred to as an “automatic termination clause” ...
Russia has significantly revised its arbitration laws by adopting two Federal Laws (hereinafter referred to as “Arbitration Laws”)1, which came into effect on September 01, 2016. The main aim of the arbitration reform in Russia was elimination of so-called “pocket” arbitration institutions and improvement of overall quality of arbitration process in Russia ...
'Close of business' is a term many people use in their day to day working life without much thought. But what does it actually mean and should the term be used in contractual documentation? Agreeing to get something done by 'close of business' is a phrase often used when flexibility is required as to the time a task will be completed. It makes it clear the task will be done that day, but not by a particular time ...
The largest U.S.-based for-profit multi- campus international university became the first benefit corporation to go public on February 1, 2017 raising $490 million. This is a significant financial event and shows that the financial markets are available to companies that combine a positive social and environmental purpose along with shareholder profit ...
In a decision rendered on December 1, 2016, the Superior Court of Québec had to rule on a situation which, until that time, was completely novel, and to determine whether lawyers can act in a court action against former employees of a client whom they still have to work with in connection with another related proceeding. The Court declared that the lawyers were disqualified ...
On 1 January 2017, the Liechtenstein reform of the private limited company (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung; "GmbH") entered into force. While being highly popular in many other European countries, the GmbH in the past led a merely marginal existence in Liechtenstein ...
2016 California Labor and Employment Legislation SB 3 Raises California's Minimum Wage SB 3 will increase the state minimum wage to $15.00 per hour over the next six years. The bill sets two minimum wage rate hikes, depending on whether an employer has 26 or more, or 25 or fewer, employees. All employers in the state must comply with the new minimum wage law ...
Comment letters issued in 2016 by the staff of the Division of Corporation Finance of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to reporting E&P companies relating to their 2015 annual reports continue, as in past years, to focus on disclosure issues such as the effects of low commodity prices and proved undeveloped reserves (PUD) conversion rates ...
A judgment “peppad” with advice A recent South African court decision neatly summarises some of the major issues that need to be considered when comparing trade marks in South Africa. In the case of Dinnermates (Tvl) CC v Piquante Brands International (Pty) Ltd and Another, the facts were that a company applied to register the trade mark PEPPAMATE and a device depicting a pepper with a stalk in classes 29, 30 and 31 ...
Africa tax in brief NIGERIA: 2017 Budget presented to National Assembly Highlights of the new treaty include: ANGOLA: Budget Bill, 2017 approved and adopted by National Assembly On 17 November 2016, the National Assembly approved the Budget Bill, 2017. The final version of Budget Law, 2017 was adopted by the National Assembly on 14 December 2016 ...
Occupational Health and Safety Act – important notification of draft Ergonomics Regulations, 2017On Friday, 27 January 2017, a notice (GNR.64) was published in Government Gazette No. 40578, in terms of which the Minster of Labour gave notice of her intention to make Ergonomics Regulations in terms of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993 ...
Section 197 of the South African Labour Relations Act: The ebb and flow of what constitutes a going concern More recently, in 2016, in Rural Maintenance (Pty) Limited and Another v Maluti-A-Phofung Local Municipality, the Constitutional Court dealt with outsourcing and the impact of a transfer of assets by the outgoing entity in evaluating whether a transfer of a business as a going concern existed ...
In December 2016, the South African Supreme Court of Appeal (“SCA”) handed down a rare patent judgment in Pasadena Leather Products CC t/a Pasadena Products and another v Resca and another. In a very measured judgment, the SCA sets out in clear and basic terms how one goes about establishing whether or not a patent has been infringed. This judgment will therefore be very useful for laymen and non-IP specialists ...
Yuppies – do they confuse you? Late last year, the South African Supreme Court of Appeal (“SCA”) handed down an important trade mark judgment in Yuppiechef Holdings (Pty) Ltd v Yuppie Gadgets Holdings (Pty) Ltd. The case dealt with that thorny issue that bedevils so many trade mark cases – confusing similarity. The facts were fairly straightforward. Yuppiechef is an online retail business that specialises in kitchen and household goods ...
In its recent judgment of 21 December 2016, the Tournai Commercial Court (‘Court’) declared it did not have jurisdiction to deal with a dispute concerning the termination of an exclusive distributorship that the parties had agreed to submit to arbitration. This judgment was based on the new definition of arbitrability in the Belgian Judicial Code, which entered into force in 2013, and marks a new era for the arbitrability of Belgian distributorship law disputes ...
The superintending and reforming power of the Superior Court of Québec over the decisions of the Court of Québec is indisputable. It is furthermore confirmed by article 34 of the Code of Civil Procedure1, which grants to the Superior Court powers to judicially review decisions made by the Québec courts, with the exception of the Court of Appeal ...
