South African Minister of Economic Development, Ebrahim Patel, has announced that, from 1 May 2016, cartel conduct (price fixing, market allocation and collusive tendering) comprises criminal activity. Directors or persons with management responsibility who participate in cartel conduct or who are aware of cartel conduct and fail to take appropriate action can be criminally prosecuted ...
The fairly long waiting time for registration of trademarks at the Polish Patent Office often means that instead of seeking protection in Poland, businesses decide to register with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO, formerly OHIM). Although much more expensive, proceedings there are generally fast and simple. Major changes have now been made to Poland’s Industrial Property Law with the aim of making the Polish Patent Office more competitive with EUIPO ...
The unprecedented arrest of two public officials in connection with alleged municipal bond fraud further escalates the government’s relentless patrol of the municipal securities industry. On April 14, 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filed civil fraud charges against the town of Ramapo, New York, the Ramapo Local Development Corp ...
The Uruguayan Government announced a non-binding call for expressions of interest in order to define the demand for the purchase of gas in relation to the regasification plant GNL del Plata, which is under construction by Gas Sayago (owned by the state-owned companies UTE and ANCAP). The call launched today refers to services of storage capacity, regasification or reloading of LNG and will remain open until May 6th, 2016 ...
Republika Srpska's Minister of Industry, Energy, and Mines, Petar Đokić, together with a group of entrepreneurs, recently visited a business forum in Nizhny Novgorod – one of the leading industrial areas in Russia – for the purpose of promoting investments in the region ...
On April 4, 2016, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed a complaint against certain ValueAct entities (“ValueAct”) for failing to comply with the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (“HSR Act”). Specifically, the DOJ alleges that ValueAct improperly relied on the “passive investment exemption” with respect to the acquisition of shares in Baker Hughes Incorporated (“Baker Hughes”) and Halliburton Company (“Halliburton”) ...
The Republic of Serbia's Commission for Protection of Competition, upon completion of an in-depth procedure, has approved Imlek's acquisition of Niška Mlekara's shares, making them 100% owners of this dairy company. The fulldecision document regarding this case has been published on the Commission'sofficial website ...
In the latest development in the Sun Capital litigation, following remand by the First Circuit Court of Appeals, on March 28, 2016, the Federal District Court of Massachusetts found Sun Capital Partners III, LP and Sun Capital Partners III QP, LP (collectively, “Sun Fund III”) and Sun Capital Partners IV, LP (“Sun Fund IV,” and together with Sun Fund III, the “Sun Funds”) liable for the withdrawal liability of Scott Brass Holding Corp ...
The United States Department of Justice launched a one-year pilot program, effective April 5, 2016, incentivizing companies to disclose facts about corporate officers, supervisors, employees, and agents involved in violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 78dd-1, et seq. The FCPA makes it a crime for a U.S. citizen or entity, among others, to bribe a foreign official to gain a business advantage ...
Using the Infrastructure Development Partnership Law (Ley de Alianzas para el Desarrollo de Infraestructura Económica) enacted in 2010 and its specific Rules, the Guatemalan Government through the corresponding government agencies (Agencia Nacional de Alianzas para el Desarrollo de Infraestructura Económica – ANADIE and the Programa Nacional de la Competitividad – PRONACOM), is promoting a project portfolio under BOP scheme (built/operate/transfer) ...
As we are slowly nearing the mid-point of 2016, it is a good time to look back on the export values of companies in Serbia during the previous year, as it is made possible by a set of Serbian Ministry of Finance's recently published data in this regard. According to the Ministry, the total value of the top 15 exporters in the first seven months of 2015 had totalled at approximately EUR 2.2 billion, asFiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) led the way with an export value of EUR 814 million ...
Bosnia Bank International (BBI), with support from its Dubai partners and the government of Dubai, has recently presented the Sarajevo Business Forum(SBF) to entrepreneurs from the United Arab Emirates ...
1. Background and Issue Labour representation at board level is a well-established part of the German corporate governance system. According to the German Co-Determination Act, a corporation with more than 2,000 employees has to establish a co-determined supervisory board composed of an equal number of shareholders’ and employees’ representatives ...
We have news on the M&A front coming from the south of our region, where there have been reports aboutViva Fresh, a Priština based Kosovan grocery retailer, looking to sell a minority stake to the View More
This blog post, written by Milica Filipović, was published by Compliance Champion Spotlight, a forum for individuals and o
Another set of amendments to the Law on Technological Industrial Development Zones ("Law") was recently enacted by the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia. The amendments address the specific activities which are allowed or prohibited under the Law in the area of information and communication technology. All activities that are allowed to be conducted within these zones are now exhaustively listed in the recently-amended Law ...
The Government of Republic of Macedonia, acting through the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning ("Ministry"), recently published another public call for the awarding of concessions of HPP Ćebren and HPP Galište, and two other public calls for concession of total 48 new small hydro power plants ("SHHPs") ...
Amendments to the Law on Technological Industrial Development ZonesAnother set of amendments to the Law on Technological Industrial Development Zones ("Law") was recently enacted by the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia. The amendments address the specific activities which are allowed or prohibited under the Law in the area of information and communication technology ...
On Friday, 25 March 2016, Karanović & Nikolić hosted a lunch on its premises, with the goal of promoting our practice's pro bono activities. Patricia Gannon, Senior Partner, gave a speech where she stressed the importance of actively giving back to society and those members of our community who have never been in a privileged position to do so themselves. The luncheon was concluded with the introduction of lawyers within the practice who have been the most engaged in this area ...
This alert describes certain information regarding the recently filed bankruptcy case of Emerald Oil, Inc. and is an example of current developments in the energy industry.Emerald Oil, Inc. and its subsidiaries (collectively referred to as the “Debtors”) filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S ...
The Office of Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) issued a revised Handbook for examination of Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Lending on March 16, 2016 (the “March 2016 Handbook”). This March 2016 Handbook replaces and significantly revises the OCC’s prior version issued April 9, 2014, which is no longer available on the OCC website (the “April 2014 Handbook”) ...
Following up on the announcement from Mexico’s Ministry of Energy about a month earlier, on March 22, 2016, the Energy Regulatory Commission (“CRE”) approved the regulatory framework to allow the importation of gasoline and diesel into Mexico as of April 1, 2016. The regulations trigger open access to the storage facilities and transportation pipelines owned by PEMEX LOGISTICA (“PEMEX”). The regulations cover the following: i ...
The South African Labour Courts have, until now, not had the opportunity to consider what impact, if any, a so-called “gardening leave” provision may have on the enforceability of a restraint of trade. This issue, among others, came before the Labour Court in Johannesburg in the case ofVodacom v Godfrey Motsa and MTN Group (J74/16). Judgment was handed down by Van Niekerk J on 9 February 2016 ...
In a recent statement to the press, the Slovenian Minister of Economic Development and Technology, Zdravko Počivalšek, labelled the Serbian spas as great tourism potentials and 'undiscovered gems', before continuing to declare Slovenian interest for investing in them ...
Do hashtag trade marks need special consideration? There’s been quite a bit of discussion on the issue of hashtag trade marks of late, and there was a particularly useful article on the topic in a recent edition (1 February 2016) of the International Trademark Association (“INTA”) Bulletin. The article was entitled “Are Hashtags Capable of Trademark Protection under U.S. Law?”, and it was written by Carrie L. Kiedrowski and Charlotte K. Murphy of the firm Jones Day ...
