On 25 August 2014, BKPM issued Circular Letter No. 252/A.8/2014 on Company Folders. This new system is known as the Electronic Investment Service and Investment Licensing System (Sistem Pelayanan Informasi dan Perizinan Investasi Secara Elektronik or SPIPISE). BKPM aimed to introduce the SPIPISE system on 1 October 2014. A company must have a “Right to Access” to create a “Company Folder” ...
On 16 September 2014, the House of Representatives finally passed the Bill on Copyright (Copyright Bill). The Copyright Bill repeals and replaces the current copyright law, Law No. 19 of 2002 on Copyright. The Copyright Bill regulates various new topics which were not discussed in the current Copyright Law, among others as below. Copyright as a form of movable intangible property may be encumbered and registered as collateral under fiduciary security, pursuant to Law No ...
In a recent Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) Opinion Procedure Release, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) provided guidance on the scope of successor liability in international M&A transactions ...
Download a free copy of the Philippine section of The International Capital Markets Review2015, which was contributed by the SyCipLaw partner Maria Teresa D. Mercado-Ferrer with associatesJoan Mae S. To and Earla Kahlila Mikhaila C. Langit.Reproduced with permission from Law Business Research Ltd. This article was first published in The International Capital Markets Review – Edition 4 (published in November 2014 – editor Jeffrey Golden) ...
On September 19, 2014, British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (“GSK”) announced that the Chinese Hunan Province Changsha Intermediate Court found its Chinese subsidiary (“GSK China”) guilty of bribing doctors and governmental officials in China. GSK China as a legal entity was sentenced a record-breaking monetary penalty of RMB 3 billion (approx. US$490 million) ...
On 19 June 2014, The Directorate General of Immigration issued Circular Letter No. IMI-1118.GR.01.11 of 2014 on Granting Re-entry Permits for New or Renewal Applications for Temporary Residence Permits and Permanent Residence Permits ...
In a landmark opinion released on December 10, 2014, the Second Circuit clarified the scope of tippee liability for insider trading in that circuit by requiring a tippee to have knowledge that a tipper gained a personal benefit from the disclosure of material nonpublic information ...
Back in 2007 and 2008, the Swiss Parliament was debating changes to Swiss corporate law. On 1 January 2014, the CompO was put into force, temporarily governing the subject matter of the Minder initiative. Now, the Swiss Federal Council released the Pre-Draft which would, however, not only integrate most of the provisions of the CompO into the Swiss corporate law, but in addition to several fundamental changes to certain features of Swiss corporate law strengthen corporate governance ...
A federal court has denied Target Corporation’s motion to dismiss class action claims brought against it by issuing banks. The banks are seeking recovery of losses they allegedly incurred as a result of Target’s data breach in December 2013 ...
MUNICIPAL TAXES: IS IT POSSIBLE TO REDUCE THE BILL? Audrey-Julie DallaireThe tax pressure stemming from municipal taxes certainly constitutes an irritant for businesses. It was recently described as “unjustified” and “unfair for SMEs” by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), which made the following observation:[TRANSLATION] “(…) in 2013, for real-estate assets of equal value, Quebec SME owners pay on average 2 ...
Bosnia & Herzegovina enacted a new Law on Public Procurement on 28 November 2014. This new legislation aims to improve current public procurement rules through key changes which will increase the level of transparency in Bosnian procurement and through more precise definitions for groups of suppliers, among other changes ...
Businesses and consumers who suffer loss because of the anti-competitive behaviour of others may sue for damages. Some businesses have mounted major actions to claim damages in various courts to recover losses due to cartels, abuses of dominance and other breaches of competition law. The European Union is trying to encourage such actions so as to deter anti-competitive behaviour but also to facilitate the payment of compensation as a way of restoring the competitive balance to the economy ...
Last week, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced the latest in a series of “gun-jumping” enforcement actions over the past several years. DOJ’s settlement with two particleboard manufacturers, arising from alleged improper pre-merger coordination, includes $3.8 million in civil penalties, as well as disgorgement of $1.2 million in profits ...
On October 31, 2014, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized its approval for the State of Texas to issue greenhouse gas (GHG) permits for new and modified facilities. In response to legislation enacted in the 2013 Texas Legislative session, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) had submitted a state implementation plan to replace the existing federal program with TCEQ-issued GHG permits ...
A crucial task for law firms is creating agreements that safeguard clients´ interests bycomplying with local law while not being governed by it Latin American markets such as Brazil, Panama, Colombia and Peru are providing law firms with significant opportunities for cross-border work, particularly in energy, oil and gas exploration, infrastructure, financial services and consumer products, according to Hunton & Williams’ Fernando C. Alonso, chairman of the firm’s Latin American Practice Group ...
More than 30 earthquakes jolted the area in and around the City of Azle, Texas - 20 miles north of Fort Worth - last November through January. In response to citizen concerns, the Texas House Committee on Energy Resources created a Subcommittee on Seismic Activity, to investigate whether there was a link between earthquakes and increased oil and gas production and disposal wells ...
In yet another indication of the increasing prominence of water use issues in BC, the Supreme Court of British Columbia recently upheld the practice of the BC Oil and Gas Commission to grant recurrent short-term water approvals for oil and gas activities under the Water Act ...
Environmental laws should not be understood as a limit to economic growth and development but as a crucial part of economy: the wise use of natural resources means greater benefit from raw materials and lower costs for inputs. At the same time, the quality of life for Brazilian citizens should be enhanced by an effective program of environmental sustainability ...
Despite diminishing enforcement budgets for state and federal agencies, a combination of technological and regulatory developments could significantly increase risk of enforcement activity in coming months and years. In particular, EPA is actively pursuing three key enforcement initiatives that will boost the likelihood that companies will face enforcement actions under the Clean Air Act ...
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has conducted India’s first dawn raid. The CCI raided offices of UK-based construction equipment maker JCB, earlier today, in connection with a case of abuse of a dominant position. The Indian Competition Act (Act) accords power to the Director General (DG) to conduct such raids after obtaining a warrant from the chief metropolitan magistrate ...
The Draft Report of the Competition Policy Review released yesterday aims to set the pathway for resuscitating productivity growth in Australia, shining a light on areas of the economy in need of reform. It focuses on what is needed to promote productivity enhancing choice, diversity and innovation and focussing on areas such as health, planning laws, power and road transport. The Draft Report recommends changes to key competition laws that apply to all Australian businesses ...
On August 26, 2014, Judge Robert D. Drain of the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York issued a bench ruling in In re MPM Silicones, LLC, Case No. 14-22503 (RDD), on several aspects of the plan of reorganization filed by debtor Momentive Performance Materials, Inc., a specialty chemicals manufacturing company, and its affiliated debtors ...
The Scottish electorate has voted ‘no’ to independence. However, the ‘no’ vote will still result in constitutional change for Scotland, not least because of the pledge by all main UK political parties to devolve further powers to the Scottish Parliament. Additionally, key provisions of the Scotland Act 2012 will come into force over the next two years giving the Scottish government additional powers and a referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU is proposed for 2017 ...
Two top officials of the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division have spoken publicly in the last week about corporate compliance programs. Brent Snyder, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for criminal enforcement entitled his remarks to the International Chamber of Commerce in New York as “Compliance is a Culture, Not Just a Policy ...
On August 15, 2014, the Eleventh Circuit entered a Memorandum Opinion in the Wortley v. Chrispus Venture Capital, LLC case (In re Global Energies, LLC, “Global”)1 unwinding a section 363 sale order entered in 2010 by the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida based on a finding of bad faith in the filing of an involuntary bankruptcy case in 2010 ...
