The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) are increasing their scrutiny and enforcement of ‘green claims’ to protect consumers from 'greenwashing'. What are green claims? Green claims (also known as ‘environmental claims’ or ‘eco-friendly claims’) are claims that a product, service, or business provides a benefit or is less harmful to the environment ...
Following a wave of recent prosecutions in relation to cash fraudulently obtained through the various Covid-19 support schemes, we consider the criminal and civil ramifications on a legitimate business which has received cash from someone who has been prosecuted and offer some helpful tips to reduce the risk of your business inadvertently laundering the proceeds of crime ...
The Royal Government of Cambodia has issued the Sub-Decree on Requirements and Procedures for Business Combinations dated 6 March 2023 (“Merger Sub-Decree”). The Merger Sub-Decree elaborates on the prohibition on anti-competitive business combinations set out in Article 11 of the Law on Competition. The Merger Sub-Decree was officially implemented on its signature date (of 6 March 2023) and will be enforced within 6 months of that date ...
Grey-listing by the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) has major implications for countries and companies alike. These implications include reputational damage, economic consequences, and increased compliance costs, which can lead to restricted foreign investment and reduced capital inflows ...
The Republic of the Union of Myanmar intends to promote foreign investments in the electric vehicle sector in Myanmar by means of a mix of legal and policy initiatives aimed at incentivizing such investments. For the purpose of this article we have considered the year 2022 as the most critical year for legal regulations on electric vehicles (“EVs“) and have pivoted our discussion on legal developments prior to, during and after 2022” ...
Malta, as a European Union (‘EU’) Member State, is bound to apply the 2019 Hague Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters, also known as the Hague Judgments Convention, from the 1st of September 2023 ...
In the waning days of 2022, FDA issued an updated Food Code with several important updates. FDA is responsible for more than a quarter of the U.S. economy, and the Food Code impacts virtually every American ...
On January 19, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published its proposed rule barring most non-compete agreements that would apply to employees. We previously summarized the proposed rule here and here. The original deadline for comments on the proposed rule was March 20. On March 6, the FTC announced it is extending the deadline to submit comments to April 19. As of March 9, a total of 16,965 comments (8,848 electronically) have been received on the proposed rule ...
On January 19, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published its proposed rule barring most non-compete agreements that would apply to employees. We previously summarized the proposed rule here and here. The original deadline for comments on the proposed rule was March 20. On March 6, the FTC announced it is extending the deadline to submit comments to April 19. As of March 9, a total of 16,965 comments (8,848 electronically) have been received on the proposed rule ...
Trademark owners have already faced a number of changes since the Trademark Modernization Act (“TMA”) first began to take effect in 2021. However, it’s a small change to the provisions regarding attorney representation at the US Trademark Office that may have the most costly impact to trademark owners and lead to an unintended loss of rights. The provision is 37 CFR § 2 ...
Shoosmiths’ CR&A team were instructed by Teneo, the special administrators of Sova Capital Limited, on their directions application relating to a proposed sale of “trapped” securities which had traded on the Russian Stock Exchange ...
On Tuesday, February 21, 2023, Decree Nº318/2022 of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was published in the Official Gazette, enacting the "Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership" (CPTPP), which has entered into force as of that date. The treaty seeks to promote the economic integration of the parties, generating a common framework for trade policy, government procurement, intellectual property, electronic commerce, investment, among others ...
On Tuesday, February 21, 2023, Decree Nº318/2022 of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was published in the Official Gazette, enacting the "Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership" (CPTPP), which has entered into force as of that date. The treaty seeks to promote the economic integration of the parties, generating a common framework for trade policy, government procurement, intellectual property, electronic commerce, investment, among others ...
18.71 Duty to establish procedures for the enforcement of IP rights The treaty establishes a duty to improve, streamline and simplify procedures aimed at preventing and prosecuting intellectual property infringements. 18.72 Presumptions regarding IP rights A duty is incorporated in order to extend to related rights the presumption of ownership already contemplated in our legislation for intellectual works ...
Among the main aspects regulated by the CPTPP in terms of trademarks, domain names and patents, the following should be considered: Recognition of non-traditional trademarks and collective and certification trademarks The Treaty states that the fact that a sign is visually perceptible shall not be a condition for the registration of a trademark, and the possibility of registering sound and olfactory marks is contemplated ...
International Women’s Day is celebrated on 8 March each year. The aim is to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women and strive for the acceleration of gender parity. The theme this year is #EmbraceEquity. In light of the celebration of IWD, this article considers potential barriers to women securing leadership roles, in particular how timing can be a crucial factor in securing leadership roles, and what can be done to alleviate some of those barriers ...
The proposal for the temporary Windfall Tax Act for enterprises operating in the electricity and fossil fuel sectors was approved by the Finnish Parliament on 27 February 2023 in an amended form. An overview of the Government's proposal can be found in our previous article on the subject. The Windfall Tax Act will be applied retroactively to the tax assessment of tax year 2023 ...
Recent months have seen sustained industrial action in the rail sector. On 20 February 2023, the government launched a 12-week consultation on setting minimum service levels for passenger rail. Unlike in many European countries, there are currently no limits in the UK on the number of employees who are able to take part in strike action together ...
The Department for Work and Pensions has announced a revised timeline for pensions dashboard connection. The aim of a Pensions Dashboard is to enable individuals to see information about all their pension saving, including state pension, in one online location. This is to enable individuals to keep track of their pension savings, particularly where they have worked for several different employers ...
Published in Corporate Counsel Business Journal March 1, 2023 CCBJ: To start out, please share your background with our readers, including your involvement with the WSG–Legal 500 Survey of In-House Legal Technology. Herman Raspé: I am a partner at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler in the capital markets group with a focus principally on equity, but also cross-border debt transactions ...
Over the month of February 2023, a number of Legal Notices have been published within the area of company law. A batch of Legal Notices enumerated L.N. 25 of 2023, L.N. 26 of 2023, L.N. 27 of 2023 and L.N. 28 of 2023 were published on the 7th of February regulating cross-border mergers, divisions and conversions of limited liability companies, respectively. On the 21st of February, L.N ...
Cisco has recently released its 2023 Privacy Benchmark Study which explores the impact of data privacy on organisations around the world and why data protection compliance remains mission critical for businesses. The study finds that 95% of companies understand privacy to be a ‘business imperative’, but Harvey Jang, Cisco’s privacy chief, highlights that ‘when it comes to earning and building trust, compliance is not enough’ ...
The UK has traditionally benefitted from access to huge amounts of EU grant funding for important R&D projects, particularly under the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme which saw around 12 percent of the total funds, amounting to around £7billion awarded to UK researchers over a four year period. On 1 January 2021, Horizon 2020 was replaced by a successor programme, Horizon Europe, which runs until 2027 and will make a total of €95 ...
