It has now been clarified that a consultancy, which is not itself active on a certain market, can be found guilty of participation in an anti-competitive cooperation. This was decided by the Court of First Instance in a judgment from 8 July, 2008, T-99/04, AC-Treuhand AG v the European Commission. The judgment is unique in that it is the first time this principle has been upheld in any of the community courts ...
On 1 November 2008, a number of major changes were introduced to the Swedish code of judicial procedure, the law that regulates legal proceedings in court. The majority of the changes are aimed at speeding up the proceedings with the aim that the state will save costs for the legal system. The changes are referred to as "A more modern trial" in the committee report ...
The amendments to Russian Federal Law “On the insolvency (bankruptcy)”, adopted and came into force in January, 2009, affected both general and procedural provisions of the Law. We at ALRUD Law Firm provide full professional service at the highest level for our clients therefore we ought to analyze the impact and the consequences of these substantial changes of the procedure of bankruptcy ...
The general increase of commercial disputes caused by the global economic crisis has resulted in growth of litigations involving debtors domiciled or with assets abroad. Though there are certain similarities between countries in the enforcement of judgment procedures, the creditor has to take state differences into account as well ...
Six months on from the implementation of sections 20 and 21 of the Road Safety Act 2006, and occupational road safety remains a significant cause for concern for employers. The Act introduced two new offences of causing death by careless driving and causing death whilst unlicensed, disqualified or uninsured, with offenders finding themselves facing up to five years’ imprisonment for what could be a momentary lapse of concentration ...
China's Anti-monopoly Law ("AML") became effective on 1 August 2008. This new piece of legislation has attracted attention worldwide because of its potential impact on foreign investments in China. This article will outline the key activities prohibited by AML and explain how AML will affect foreign investors. Three main types of activities are specified under AML, namely (1) monopoly agreements, i.e ...
The Bank of Portugal set up a regime to govern the advertising of the banking products and services that come under its supervision in Regulation No. 10/2008, of 9 December, which came into force on 1 January 2009. The Regulation builds on the general regime laid down in Articles 77 and 77-C of the General Credit Institutions and Financial Companies Regime (the RGIC), as most recently amended by Article 2 of Decree-Law 211-A/2008, of 3 November ...
In response to the current global financial crisis, on 9 October 2008, the Chairman of the Capital Markets and Financial Institutions Supervisory Board (BAPEPAM-LK) issued a new regulation on buybacks of shares by public companies (Decree No. Kep-401/BL/2008 or Regulation No. XI.B.3). This new regulation provides fewer requirements than the previous regulation issued in 1998, Regulation No. XI.B.3 which remains valid ...
Government Regulation No. 63 of 2008 on the Implementation of the Law on Foundations (“GR 63/2008”) was issued on 23 September 2008. GR 63/2008 is the implementing regulation of Law No. 16 of 2001 as amended by Law No. 28 of 2004 regarding Foundations (“Foundations Law”). Under GR 63/2008, foundations must have a name and be registered in the register of foundations at the Ministry of Law and Human Rights ...
A new regulation has been issued by the Minister of Health, namely Regulation of the Ministry of Health No. 1010/MENKES/PER/XI/2008 regarding the Registration of Medicines (“Regulation 1010/2008”). Regulation 1010/2008 revokes previous Ministry of Health Regulation No. 949/Menkes/Per/VI/2000. Under Regulation 1010/2008, a medicine to be distributed in Indonesia must first be registered before a Distribution License (Izin Edar) can be applied for ...
This is largely a codification of duties which already existed under previous legislation or the common law. However, the Act does introduce some new duties. With effect from 1 October 2008, every director of a company now has a statutory duty to avoid a situation in which he has, or can have, a direct or indirect interest that conflicts, or possibly may conflict, with the interests of the company (a ‘situational conflict') ...
On May 22, 2008, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered its decision in a case involving the notion of reasonable foreseeability in negligence actions. This judgment, written by the Chief Justice, confirms that tort law must compensate harm done on the basis of reasonable foresight, and must not be considered as insurance ...
Bank Indonesia issued Regulation No. 10/7/PBI/2008 on 19 February 2008 regarding Offshore Loans of Non-bank Companies. Offshore loans are one of the key factors which may have positive and negative impacts on balance of payments, monetary stabilization and development continuity ...
After lengthy discussion, the Indonesian House of Representatives finally passed the Bill on Limited Liability Companies into law on the 23rd of July 2007 and it was then signed by the President on the 16th of August 2007 and enacted as Law No 40 of 2007 regarding Limited Liability Companies ("Law 40"). Law 40 revokes the previous limited liability companies law, ie Law No. 1 of 1995 regarding Limited Liability Companies ("Law 1") ...
Since 26 April 2007, Indonesia has had a new Investment Law, namely Law No. 25 of 2007 regarding Investment (“New Investment Law”). The New Investment Law replaces two old laws; ie Law No. 1 of 1967 regarding Foreign Investment, and Law No 6 of 1968 regarding Domestic Investment, both as amended. The New Investment Law accommodates both foreign and domestic investment ...
Latest Developments Although we have not witnessed any major legislative or policy changes during the last year, these seem to be forthcoming in 2009 as the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) developed draft amendment to the Competition Act 2001 introducing fundamental changes into national merger control regime ...
On June 17, 2008, the Supreme Court of Lithuania rendered a decision restricting the rights of the trademark owner to revoke his consent to use a trademark as a company name. In UAB Solvex Baltic v. UAB Scandihouse (Case No 3K-3-335/2008 (S)), the owner of the trademark SCANDIHOUSE petitioned the defendant to change its company name ...
A new Act which comes into force on 16 January 2009 imposes serious new penalties for directors, employers and employees who are convicted of a health and safety offence. The Bill received Royal Assent on 16 October 2008 and unlike the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act, this has had a relatively easy journey through the parliamentary stages ...
Summary The Court of Appeal held that administrators were personally liable in costs for litigation in circumstances where a creditor challenged whether the purpose of administration could be achieved. The case highlights a number of important points for administrators and in particular the high standards expected of them following an appointment. Facts Joint administrators were appointed to Ulva Limited ("Ulva") by the sole director on 14 August 2007 ...
Act No. 125/2008, Coll., on Transformations of Commercial Companies and Cooperatives, taking effect 1 July 2008, supersedes the existing regulation of intra-state transformations in the Commercial Code and newly regulates certain transformations with foreign elements, i.e. cross border mergers and transfer of assets to a foreign participant ...
On 22 May 2008, the Court of Appeal handed down its judgment in Dŵr Cymru's appeal against part of the CAT's judgement in the long running Albion Water case [FOOTNOTE: Dŵr Cymru Cyfyngedig v Albion Water Limited [2008] EWCA Civ 536 and [2006] CAT 23 and [2006] CAT 36]. The main subject of that appeal was the correct interpretation of the law on the abuse of margin squeeze ...
A new Swedish Competition Act will enter into force on 1 November 2008. The Act was passed by parliament on 11 June 2008. The new legislation means further harmonisation with EC competition rules and it also introduces a number of new features in order to enhance cartel enforcement. One of the new features is the introduction of trading prohibitions. The rules regarding fines will become both clearer and stricter in an aim to enhance legal certainty ...
Patents offer useful services. With them, the holder can prevent competitors from offering products using the patented technology. In addition to the rights that a patent holder has had up until now (injunction, disclosure, indemnification), now a fourth right is joining in on the action and is continuously gaining in significance. This right involves the right to inspection. It is especially important in the case of process patents and at trade shows ...
Until recently there was a significant amount of confusion and uncertainty on whether or not it is trade mark infringement for a search engine to allow certain 'keywords' to be sponsored by a third party who is not the trademark owner. The above scenario was encountered in the recent case of Wilson v Yahoo UK Limited where Mr Wilson was the owner of several Community trade marks under the name 'Mr Spicy' ...