If anyone had told you that 2020 would be a year in which you are virtually guaranteed a lie-flat bed in economy class, businesses instructed employees not to come into the office, and budget supermarket Sheng Siong’s shares outperformed bank blue chip DBS’s, you would have sent the chap to have his head checked.But as the new coronavirus spread worldwide, the ensuing Covid-19 pandemic forced billions into lockdown ...
On December 27, 2021, the National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC”) and the Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”) issued two revised versions of negative lists (collectively the “2021 Foreign Investment Negative Lists”), which came into effect on January 1, 2022: Special Administrative Measures (Negative List) for Foreign Investment Access (2021 Edition) (the “2021 National Negative List”) ...
On December 27, 2020, President Trump signed the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021” into law. Most referred to this as the Coronavirus Relief Bill and thought that it only contained a stimulus package. However, within it, were also changes to intellectual property law ...
Key Points In a rare move, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals published two opinions about subjects that are hardly ever discussed in the court's published National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) decisions. For the first time in more than three decades, the court examined impacts to an old-growth redwood forest, and for the first time since 2016, the court examined indirect (downstream) carbon emissions. In Bair v ...
As part of our ongoing focus on social mobility, we look at the impacts of the pandemic on existing and new social mobility challenges, how we're responding, and what businesses can focus on in 2021. 2020 has been a year like no other. The way we live, work, and connect has changed significantly. The way we do business continues to evolve ...
Reid Hoffman is an American-based venture capitalist, author and entrepreneur at Greylock Partners who is best known for being the co-creator of the social network, LinkedIn ...
Introduction If 2020 has been defined by COVID-19 pandemic, the healthcare industry in 2020 might be defined by a related single issue — telehealth. Those phenomena are obviously connected. While telehealth has been around in varying forms for years, COVID-19 accelerated its growth, use, and acceptance in unprecedented ways. With that growth comes changes. Reimbursement rules have evolved as telehealth has grown and become more accepted ...
Introduction If 2020 has been defined by COVID-19 pandemic, the healthcare industry in 2020 might be defined by a related single issue — telehealth. Those phenomena are obviously connected. While telehealth has been around in varying forms for years, COVID-19 accelerated its growth, use, and acceptance in unprecedented ways. With that growth comes changes. Reimbursement rules have evolved as telehealth has grown and become more accepted ...
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP, the Central Bank of the Philippines) has issued Circular No. 1105, Series of 20201 (Digital Bank Circular) dated December 2, 2020 to provide guidelines on the establishment of digital banks. This circular took effect on December 23, 2020 and was promulgated pursuant to the Monetary Board’s authority under Section 3.2(g) of the General Banking Law of 2000 to create other classes of banks ...
On December 24, 2020, the Brazilian President sanctioned, with some vetoes, an amendment to Law 11,101/2005, which governs judicial reorganizations, pre-packaged reorganizations and bankruptcy liquidations of businessmen and companies. The vetoes can still be overthrown by the Brazilian Congress ...
The Agreement on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) provides for a transition period ending on 31 December 2020. Thereafter, EU trade marks (EUTM) will cease to extend protection to the UK. To safeguard these rights, the UK government has implemented measures to ensure that EUTM owners will continue to enjoy trade mark rights in the UK. Trade mark rights registered as of 31 December 2020 will be automatically cloned into national UK registrations ...
Key issues The consequences in terms of applicable law will likely be limited A jurisdiction clause in general terms and conditions may be insufficient Consumer law may require attention where diverging future regulations are concerned The consequences in terms of applicable law are likely to remain limited Should parties not have included a choice of law in their agreement, then EU-courts apply the Rome I Convention to determine applicable law ...
It is the rare construction project that is completed without any change in the work. In most sophisticated construction projects, the contractual mechanism for managing these changes involves the issuance of a change order. However, managing change orders is not something project teams are always well-trained on, which can cause issues for small and big contractors alike ...
In an update to our client alert from November 30 regarding the San Francisco commercial eviction moratorium previously passed by the Board of Supervisors, we note that, following our publication of the client alert, the Board of Supervisors, on December 1, amended the moratorium to clarify previous language on a retail tenant’s right to terminate its lease that was ambiguous ...
On 24 September 2020, Statistics Indonesia (Badan Pusat Statistik ─ “BPS”) issued BPS Regulation No. 2 of 2020 on Indonesian Standard Business Classifications (Klasifikasi Baku Lapangan Usaha Indonesia ─ “KBLI”), which is known as the 2020 KBLI. The 2020 KBLI came into force on its issuance date and revoked BPS Regulation No. 95 of 2015 on the KBLIs, as amended by BPS Regulation No. 19 of 2017, which is known as the 2017 KBLI ...
Law No. 11 of 2020 on Job Creation (the “Job Creation Law” or known as the Omnibus Law) was issued and came into effect on 2 November 2020. It is mainly based on the principles of the equalization of rights, legal certainty, greater ease of doing business, togetherness, and independence ...
KPPU has recently issued its long-anticipated guidelines on the Indonesian merger control rules (“KPPU Guidelines”) under KPPU Regulation No. 3 of 2019 on The Assessment of Mergers or Consolidations of Business Entities or Acquisitions of Shares in Companies (“KPPU Regulation 3/2019”) issued at the end of last year. The guidelines are relatively long and detailed (almost 100 pages), and some of their content is still subject to the KPPU’s interpretation ...
With the rapid development of technology and the rise of new finance products and players in the fintech industry, banks are pushed to produce new products and innovative services in order to serve their customers and keep abreast of the behaviour of consumers who appreciate the convenience of digital services. In response to this, the Financial Services Authority (Otoritas Jasa Keuangan -- OJK) has issued OJK Regulation No. 12/POJK ...
On 29 September 2020, the Minister of Law and Human Rights (“MOLHR”) issued Minister of Law and Human Rights’ Regulation Number 26 of 2020 on Visas and Stay Permits During the Adaptation to the New Normal Period (“MOLHR Reg. No ...
On 10 December 2020, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) providing guidance to licensed corporations(LCs) on how to meet the obligations in its 31 October 2019 circular on use of external electronic data storage providers (EDSP). The SFC also made consequential amendments to its Frequently Asked Questions on the premises for business and record keeping ...
It is clear that government restrictions and trading difficulties have created an environment in which existing transfer pricing policies will not always be appropriate. The OECD has done well to reach rapid consensus among its members on four key transfer pricing topics, namely: comparability analysis, losses and the allocation of COVID-19-specific costs, government assistance programmes and advance pricing agreements (APAs) ...
The government has launched its long-awaited Energy White Paper, expanding on the government’s 10-point plan for a Green Industrial Revolution. The Energy White Paper commits to the creation and support of up to 220,000 jobs over the next decade, ranging from jobs in major power generation, carbon capture storage and hydrogen projects supported by a new £240 million net zero Hydrogen Fund, to the retrofit of homes and buildings for greater energy efficiency ...
The Brexit transition agreement, which governs the relationship between the European Union and the United Kingdom in 2020, including arrangements relating to data protection, ends on December 31, 2020. Without an agreement, the UK becomes a third country The European Union and the United Kingdom are still in intensive negotiations over how they will shape future trade relations, and it is so far unclear whether they will arrive at a follow-up agreement ...