LATEST UPDATE - April 3, 2020 In response to the Coronavirus pandemic, the President signed H.R. 748, known as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act on March 27, 2020. The bill provides more than $2 trillion of aid to individuals and the public and private sector ...
Federal and state agencies continue to deliver tools and information to help healthcare providers respond to the COVID-19 pandemic since the President declared the COVID-19 outbreak a national emergency. The declaration gave the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) authority to temporarily waive or modify certain requirements of federal healthcare programs ...
COVID-19 brought a tremendous disruption of normal daily life/business affecting personal life and businesses alike. People and companies/ institutions alike are in continuous assessment of solutions and compromises to mitigate the impact of the COVID – 19 pandemic. In the context of a continuously evolving environment, we all need to adapt and try to keep control on negative impact ...
On 1 April the Prime Minister adopted a new decree (the “1 April Decree”) to extend the lockdown measures previously introduced through the decrees issues on 8 March, 9 March, 11 March and 22 March 2020 ...
In keeping with the promise of government to introduce fiscal measures to address the negative impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on business, the South African Revenue Service (“SARS”) released Binding General Ruling (VAT) 52 (“BGR 52”), dated 27 March 2020, that extends the prescribed time periods relating to the exportation of movable goods from South Africa ...
Since the declaration of the national state of disaster in South Africa in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, it has been anything but “business as usual” for most professionals. This is equally true for legal practitioners trying to navigate the directives regarding litigation and court process during the national state of disaster ...
Following our previous ENSight on the assistance scheme announced by the Mauritian Prime Minister, the government has decided to extend its scheme to the informal sector and take general measures aiming to facilitate the life of everyone during this crisis. Self-employed individuals Government has offered, to self-employed individuals, financial support amounting to half of the guaranteed income for the period between 16 March 2020 to 15 April 2020 ...
On 31 March 2020, the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (“DEFF”) published directions (the “Directions”) under the National Disaster Management Act, 2002, to reduce the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19). The purpose of the Directions is to ensure fair processes with respect to certain environmental laws, as a result of the restrictions placed on the movement of people during the lockdown period ...
On 27 March 2020, the South African Revenue (“SARS”) announced much needed value-added tax (“VAT”) relief on the importation of “essential goods” as part of the coronavirus (COVID-19) tax relief measures. Section 7(1)(b) of the Value-Added Tax Act, 1991 (“VAT Act”) imposes VAT on the importation of any goods into South Africa by any person. In terms of section 7(1), VAT is imposed at the standard rate of 15% ...
In an expedited process, a Federal Law amending several legislative acts was passed by the State Duma and Federal Council of the Russian Federation. In particular, the law envisages use of the power of the Government of the Russian Federation to impose, in extraordinary cases, a moratorium on insolvency proceedings and provides a legal regime of such moratorium ...
The Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on March 31, 2020 signed a notice waiving certain deadlines for patent-related filings, if the missed deadline resulted from situations relating to COVID-19 ...
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development ("DCED"), Pennsylvania businesses have until 5 p.m. on Friday, April 3, 2020 to seek an exemption to Governor Wolf's order requiring "non-life sustaining businesses" to close physical locations. Businesses that do not file their exemption by the deadline may lose the opportunity entirely. The application can be found on the DCED’s website ...
Although some industries have halted all non-essential work as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many patent and trademark offices around the world have remained open and operational, largely due to electronic filing capabilities ...
In a recent article, we discussed government efforts to combat fraud in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. We have seen a number of government enforcement actions, including the marketing of coronavirus treatments;selling toothpaste, dietary supplements, creams and other products as treatments to prevent and cure the coronavirus; andprice-gouging on health and safety products. On March 31, 2020, the U.S ...
On Friday, March 27, 2020, the CARES ACT was signed into law. The Cares Act includes provisions for changing deadlines for patents, trademarks, and copyrights. For patents and trademarks, the Act permits the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office to change the deadlines imposed by Title 35 of the United States Code, the Trademark Act, Section 18 of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act ...
With respect to the situation caused by the pandemic and its possible data protection impacts, please find below a summary of the statement of the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) on the processing of personal data in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak, issued on 19 March 2020. The EDPB starts by emphasizing that “[d]ata protection rules (such as the GDPR) do not hinder measures taken in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic ...
The legislator acts - Special regulations on, among other things, deferral of claims, insolvency law, tenancy law and loan agreements in Germany to come. At the end of March, the German legislator adopted special regulations in response to the COVID 19 pandemic in fast-track proceedings. The law was passed by the German parliament (Bundestag) on Wednesday, March 25, 2020, and, in a special session, also by the German Federal Council (Bundesrat) on Friday, 27 March, 2020 ...
The Indian Government has announced a full nationwide lockdown for three weeks (until April 14, 2020) in order to contain the spread of Covid-19. Accordingly, the Indian Trade Marks Registry, Patents and Design Office have been closed till April 15, 2020. Nevertheless, the online filing portal of Indian IP offices is operational. All deadlines falling till April 15, 2020 will become due on the day when the IP offices re-open ...
Due to the reforms and additions to the General Health Act in matters of obesity and labeling of food and non-alcoholic beverages setting a frontal warning system, published in the Federal Official Gazette (Spanish Acronym - DOF) on November 8, 2019 ...
The USCIS has announced it will extend its suspension of in-person services at its field offices, asylum offices, and application support centers (ASCs) until May 4, 2020. It has also indicated it may extend these closures beyond that date if needed. USCIS will continue to provide limited emergency services during these closures ...
