The Basic Laws of Israel that comprise the county’s constitution specifically grant Israel’s citizens the right to privacy as a basic human right. This practice note provides an overview of the regulation of data protection and privacy in Israel, presented in a question and answer format. Legislative Framework • Question 1: Summarize the legislative framework for the protection of personally identifiable information (PII) ...
As seen in Bank Director The process of establishing a de novo bank always has been complicated and time-consuming, and occasionally even painful. But since the beginning of the financial crisis, it seems that obtaining deposit insurance for a de novo bank has become a nearly impossible task. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. received 1,738 applications for deposit insurance from 2000 through 2008, and approved 1,258 of those applications—an approval rate of 72 percent ...
As you likely know, Brexit negotiations are underway, with the UK scheduled to withdraw from the EU on March 29, 2019. As a result of the withdrawal, all EU laws will cease to apply to the UK as of March 30, 2019 unless additional agreements or transitional processes are put into place before the scheduled exit ...
Earlier this week, the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) published draft amendments to EMIR-related regulatory technical standards (RTS) that align the treatment of variation margin (VM) for FX forwards with the supervisory guidance applicable in other key jurisdictions. More specifically the draft amendments propose that the requirement to exchange VM for physically settled FX forwards shall only target transactions between institutions (credit institutions and investment firms) ...
The U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”) issued a determination at the end of 2017, finding that solar panel imports are hurting domestic businesses that operate in the solar industry. The ITC’s determination was issued in connection with a trade case filedby a Georgia-based company, Suniva, Inc., shortly after filing for bankruptcy protection. SolarWorld Americas, Inc. joined Suniva’s petition ...
On October 16, 2017, EPA Administrator Pruitt issued the “Directive Promoting Transparency and Public Participation in Consent Decrees and Settlement Agreements.” At the same time, Pruitt issued a memorandum to EPA assistant administrators, regional administrators and the office of general counsel explaining the rejection of “sue and settle” tactics by his administration ...
For many years EPA has taken the position it could take enforcement action based on agency review and calculation of projected emissions in determining New Source Review (NSR) applicability for pre-construction permitting for modification of an existing source ...
On October 16, 2017, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt signed an order reversing a long-standing EPA position that EPA has the authority to review previous state decisions on new source permitting applicability when reviewing Title V permits. The order denied a petition by Sierra Club requesting that EPA object to the issuance of a Title V operating permit to the Hunter Power Plant in Castle Dale, Utah ...
Kentucky Regulatory Amendments On September 15, 2017, the Division for Air Quality submitted amendments to 401 KAR 59:015 for new indirect heat exchangers and 401 KAR 61:015 for existing indirect heat exchangers. The Division stated the amendments were necessary to provide clarity for regulated entities and to remove duplicative requirements covered by federal regulations ...
EPA continues to make progress in its effort to repeal and replace the Clean Power Plan (CPP). EPA held public hearings on November 28-29, 2017, in Charleston, West Virginia to take testimony on its October 10, 2017, proposal to repeal the rule. EPA is accepting comments on the proposal to repeal the rule through January 16, 2018. EPA announced it will hold three additional public comment sessions due to the “overwhelming response” to the West Virginia hearing ...
In its bill, Extended Environmental Crime Provisions, from earlier this year, the government has proposed extending the scope of offences for environmental crime committed in conjunction with waste management. The proposal means that all waste management that can cause significant pollution, which is harmful to human health, animals or plants or that can cause other significant environmental nuisance is to be punishable. The penalty for the crime is a fine or imprisonment for up to two years ...
The draft laws implementing AMLD 4 set out strict rules to allow for protection against improper access to the information on BOs. At the of 2017, the Luxembourg Parliament published two draft laws to implement new transparency measures provided by Directive 2015/849 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing (“AMLD 4”) ...
The 41st session of the administrative council of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (“ARIPO”) recently took place in Lilongwe, Malawi. Several documents on the administrative aspects of the organisation were discussed at the meeting, including the proposed programme of activities for 2018, and proposals to amend some ARIPO treaties to continually keep them in line with international trends ...
The trade mark laws of many countries specifically mention product shapes among the items that can enjoy trade mark protection – shape trade marks are often referred to as “3D trade marks”. Yet, registering and enforcing 3D trade marks can be very difficult, particularly in Europe. This is evident from the latest UK court decision regarding London taxis ...
Black Friday tends to lead to unseemly physical scuffles, but, somewhat unexpectedly, this year’s Black Friday also resulted in some interesting trade mark scuffles! Black Friday, the retail and marketing phenomenon that originated in the US before spreading to much of the world, officially happened earlier this year, although many readers will have noted that this particular Friday seems to go on for the best part of a week ...
If you have ever received a trade mark letter of demand, the chances are that you thought one or more of the following things: long, scary, legalistic, absurd, incomprehensible. It is far less likely that you thought any of these things: perfectly reasonable request, clearly explained, a tricky issue handled with charm and tact – but things may be changing. Recently, the trade mark counsel of US company TGI Fridays sent a letter of demand to a bar in Chicago called Moneygun ...
On 1 December 2017, the South African Minister of Economic Development, Ebrahim Patel, published Government Notice no. 41294, which announced the release of the Competition Amendment Bill, 2017 (the “Competition Bill”) for public comment.Members of the public are invited to submit written comments on the Competition Bill to the Economic Development Department within 60 calendar days of publication of the notice (ie, by 30 January 2018) ...
With less than 30 days to go before the new MiFID II regime will be rolled out, funds and management companies/AIFM are increasingly concerned as to how they will be impacted: product governance inducements and payment for research increased client information requirements complex and non-complex products classification How will you be impacted by the new regime? We can help you to get ready! At Arendt, we have built up significant expertise in assisting clients
As registrants prepare for the upcoming proxy season,Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14I(the “Bulletin,” or “SLB 14I”), recently issued by the SEC Division of Corporation Finance (the “Division”), provides helpful interpretations by the Division’s staff and reveal a number of relevant changes in the way certain shareholder proposals will be evaluated ...
When is one a shareholder or member of a company? This issue was recently considered by the Supreme Court of Uganda in Matthew Rukikaire v Incafex Limited, which ruled that a person who has not fully paid up their shares may be considered a member and shareholder of a company with rights to full participation in the affairs of the company to the extent allowed by the types of shares they hold ...
International financial records recently stolen from two offshore services firms and 19 corporate registries maintained by governments were leaked to journalists and their details subsequently published around the world. But beyond the hype, however, we find no intelligent inferences of legal significance in the reporting. For example, the media draws attention to a United States Cabinet member's offshore financial transactions but does not allege that his shipping stake was illegal ...
Californians diverting water should take notice of new measurement and reporting requirements with quickly approaching deadlines. Water right holders diverting between 10 and 100 acre-feet per year have until January 1, 2018, to either (1) install and maintain a measurement device, (2) employ a measurement method capable of measuring the rate of diversion, or (3) submit an alternative compliance plan ...
The term “dawn raid” refers to an unanticipated visit to commercial premises by a regulatory authority. Examples of this could include a squad of policemen entering a warehouse, a team from a financial-services regulator checking trading records at a bank, or an official from the UAE Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation entering your office to check the work permits of all employees present there (an increasingly common practice) ...
An Important Israeli Court Decision for Dual-Listed Companies: The Liability for Breaches of Reporting Obligations by Dual-Listed Companies Is Governed by the Securities Laws of the Foreign Trading Jurisdiction. In 2017 the Tel Aviv District Court (Economic Division, Judge Kabub) issued a decision in Cohen v. Tower Semiconductor Ltd. et al., C.A ...
IRS Announcement 2017-15 provides relief to employees who have been adversely affected by the recent wildfires in Northern California by allowing them to take loans or distributions from retirement plans to alleviate hardships caused by the wildfires. The Announcement also provides relief from verification procedures required under retirement plans with respect to loans and hardship distributions ...
