As of August 7th, 2018, the amendments of the Consumer Protection Law (CPL), which includes for the first time, the consumer protection in the field of electronic commerce (e-commerce), taking that as the contracting process or the goods, services and commercial information trading through data communication webs ...
In Union of Medical Marijuana Patients v. City of San Diego, the California Supreme Court unanimously held that the City of San Diego failed to analyze the potential environmental impacts of its medical marijuana dispensary law. While the main issue in this case was the definition of a project under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the ruling has important ramifications for the legal cannabis market as a whole ...
The U.S.-China trade dispute escalated yet again as the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced a fourth round of tariffs of 10 percent on an estimated $300 billion of goods imported from China not already subject to Section 301 tariffs. At the same time, the USTR continues to accept List 3 exclusion requests and is working to complete review of List 1 and List 2 exclusion requests. 1. USTR Announces Section 301 Tariffs on $300B of U.S ...
Reform is in the air for Central America’s tax systems. Alfredo Rodríguez, Diego Martín Menjívar, Armando Manzanares,Carlos Taboada and Diego Salto Van der Laatof Consortium Legal take a look. Central America’s tax systems have certainly evolved over the past few years. Looking ahead, the need to increase fiscal revenues and the lack of modernised systems will trigger further reforms in most of the countries ...
On August 19, 2019, the chairman of the National Credit Union Association issued a letter with guidance to all credit unions. Prior to August 19, hemp businesses had difficulty locating banks or other entities that would permit them to conduct normal merchant banking activities. That issue has, in part, been addressed by this letter of guidance. Questions remain, however, regarding many merchant services and whether FinCEN will issue a similar guidance ...
This summer, the IRS significantly increased its efforts to police the taxation of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other similar cryptocurrencies. On July 26, 2019, the IRS announced that it had begun sending letters to taxpayers who potentially failed to pay cryptocurrency taxes associated with digital currency transactions or failed to properly report those transactions. By the end of August, the IRS anticipates that it will have sent over 10,000 letters to taxpayers ...
The Bureau of Cannabis Control recently published two new fact sheets on its website as a resource for industry stakeholders, licensees, and the general public. The facts sheet help everyone better understand the different responsibilities of the cannabis distributor (Type 11) and the cannabis distributor transport only (Type 13) licensee by providing a list of required procedures and guidelines for various distribution activities ...
In order to comply with the international guidelines regarding corporate transparency, the government of Panama enacted Law 52 of October 27, 2016 in the Official Gazette. This Law establishes the obligation for Panamanian companies and other entities to maintain accounting records, financial records and supporting documentation of all transactions that took place during the last five (5) years, so that their financial status can be easily determined with reasonable accuracy ...
The Singapore Convention cements the Lion City’s reputation as a dispute resolution hub, making mediation easier to enforce globally. Clients who come to see me about commercial disputes often ask for the same thing: fast resolution. I tell them that there are two tried-and-tested ways to resolve financial claims. First, you can litigate in court and have a judge make a legal ruling on the dispute, in the full gaze of the public ...
The past year has been a busy one for AML compliance in the UAE. In October 2018, Federal Decree-Law 20 of 2018 on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism and Illegal Organizations (AML Law) came into force. It contained features recommended by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and brought UAE laws in line with international AML standards ...
On 12 June 2019, the Tax Court of South Africa delivered its judgment in ABC (Pty) Ltd v C:SARS (case no. 14287). The court was tasked with determining the application and interpretation of South African double taxation agreements (“DTAs”) entered into with the State of Kuwait (the “SA-KW DTA”), the Kingdom of the Netherlands (the “SA-NL Protocol”), and the Kingdom of Sweden (the “SA-SE Protocol”) ...
The various changes to the so-called debt waiver provisions in section 19 of the South African Income Tax Act, 1962 (the “Act”) and paragraph 12A of the Eighth Schedule to the Act in terms of the Taxation Laws Amendment Acts of 2017 and 2018 have come and gone. It is understood that there is now finality in terms of the debt waiver provisions as contained in the Act, which we discussed in a previous article ...
The Association Des Hoteliers et Restaurateurs Ile Maurice (“AHRIM”), an association of hotels and restaurants in Mauritius, and the Sea Users Association, an association of civilians, recently won an important appeal. The appeal was against the grant of an Environmental Impact Assessment (“EIA”) licence to a fish farming project by the Minister of Social Security, National Solidarity, and Environment and Sustainable Development ...
On 18 March 2019, South Africa’s National Treasury published revised Electronic Services Regulations, significantly expanding the scope of electronically supplied services that are subject to value-added tax (“VAT”). The publication follows the Minister of Finance’s announcement in the 2017 Budget Review that the regulations defining electronic services would be broadened ...
Having gone through a number of substitutions and amendments, the debt reduction rules contained in section 19 of the South African Income Tax Act, 1962 (the “Act”) and paragraph 12A of the Eighth Schedule to the Act now provide for the implications arising for a debtor where a debt owed to a creditor is waived, cancelled or capitalised by way of the issue of shares etc ...
Introduction On 30 April 2019, the South African Revenue Service (“SARS”) published draft rules, schedules and forms for the implementation of the carbon tax and provided details on the envisaged carbon tax administration, including the registration of clients, licensing of emissions facilities, carbon tax environmental levy accounting and the application of allowances as rebates ...
It is standard practice that for a share transfer in a private limited liability company to be effective, the transferor and transferee must execute a share transfer form, pay stamp duty on it and present it to the company for registration, together with the related share certificate, if any. The Ugandan Companies Act, 2012 prohibits the transfer of shares unless a proper instrument of transfer has been delivered to the company ...
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed into law the Carbon Tax Act, 2019, which comes into effect on 1 June 2019. With the passing of the carbon tax into law, a price on carbon emissions is now a reality for the South African economy.The impact of the legislation, along with complementary measures such as the national greenhouse gas emission reporting regulations, will have a transformative effect on the South African economy ...
On 20 May 2019, Rwanda was admitted as a member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) Development Centre, becoming the first East African country to join the Development Centre. Founded in 1961, the OECD Development Centre is an independent platform that enables developed economies to interact, share knowledge and have policy dialogues with developing economies ...
We recently reported on a ruling of the new advertising authority in South Africa, the Advertising Regulatory Board (“ARB”). The dealt with the issue of misleading advertising. In this article, we’ll look at three more rulings that make it clear that the ARB deals with a range of important issues ...
South Africa recently held its general national election and the result was a win for the incumbent African National Congress (ANC) party. The election was fought against a backdrop of massive unemployment and a stagnant economy. During the course of the election, there was considerable focus on the issue of property rights and particularly, the possible expropriation of immovable property, especially farms ...
An article that appeared in the South AfricanDaily Mavericknews site, “Plain packaging for cigarettes is a bad idea”,suggests that the plain packaging debate is not yet over. A recap We’ve discussed plain packaging for cigarettes on a number of occasions. We’ve looked at how Australia has been at the forefront of this issue, with 2011 legislation requiring all brands of cigarettes to be sold in identical green packs featuring graphic images ...
A recent decision of the Mauritian Industrial Property Tribunal (the “Tribunal”) will provide some comfort to international brand owners. The case involved an application by a foreign company to cancel a trade mark registration obtained by a local party. The facts inStrategic Foods International Company LLC v Meher Banon Gokhoolwere all too familiar ...
On 31 May 2019, South Africa’s Department of Trade and Industry gazetted certain amendments to the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (“B-BBEE”) Codes of Good Practice. These amendments will become effective on 31 November 2019. The following are the key amendments to take note of ...
