Trademark law in Canada is undergoing a major change this year that will go into effect on June 17, 2019. We have compiled the three things you need to know and important steps you may want to take before the June 17, 2019 date passes. 1 ...
On 10 May 2019, the Chief Inspector of Mines published, in terms of the Mine Health and Safety Act, 1996 (the “MHSA”), a Guidance Note on Medico-Legal Investigations of Mine Deaths.Legal status of the Guidance Note:It is important to note that the Guidance Note has been compiled with a view to provide guidance to all relevant stakeholders regarding their roles and responsibilities with regard to medico-legal investigations of both natural and unnatural mine deaths ...
The Trump administration’s significant escalation of the trade dispute with China after months-long U.S.-China trade talks have faltered is a major news headline as the week concludes. The U.S. followed through on its warnings and increased tariffs on an estimated $200 billion of Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent starting May 10th. At the same time, the U.S. announced importers will be able to apply for an exemption from these tariffs ...
Coordinating cross-border due diligence is a key skill that more often than not underpins complex, multi-jurisdictional merger and acquisitions (M&A) and private equity (PE)-led transactions. Where due diligence really adds value is in the early stages of the transaction, when local knowledge and expertise are vital to understanding the context of data room information ...
The presence of a small amount of undeclared sesame in a particular product may seem trivial but, for those who are allergic, it can provoke a major reaction. Such was the predicament faced by Pret a Manger in July 2016, following the death of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse that same month due to the undeclared presence of sesame in a Pret baguette ...
The reportable arrangement provisions were established by the South African Revenue Service (“SARS”) with the objective of obtaining information on certain types of transactions. The circumstances under which a person should report an “arrangement” to SARS, as defined in section 34 of the Tax Administration Act, 2011 (the “TAA”), are contained in sections 34 to 39 of the TAA ...
Texas LawyerMarch 14, 2019By Rodrigo Figueroa According to ERCOT, the entity that oversees 90 percent of the State’s grid, as of January 2019 there was nearly 1,500 megawatts of installed utility-scale solar capacity in the ERCOT region, with that number expected to almost triple to 4,300 megawatts by the end of 2020 (one megawatt is enough to power about 200 homes in Texas during times of high-peak demand) ...
On December 29, 2018, Government Emergency Ordinance No. 114/2018 on the establishment of measures in the field of public investments and of fiscal – budgetary measures, the amendment and completion of certain normative acts and the extension of certain deadlines (“GEO 114/2018”) was published in the Official Gazette ...
The President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has passed an executive order whereby he proposed the creation of the “Logistic Center for the Distribution and Transportation of Petroleum Products” (the “Center”), as a decentralized administrative entity separate from the Ministry of Energy, with technical, operational and management autonomy ...
Some may be wondering what a “telekung” is as it is probably not a common term. A Telekung is a Muslim prayer outfit for females. The general perception of prayer outfits is that they are dull and unfashionable as they have to be modest rather than trendy. However, there has been a drastic shift in the fashion industry in recent years where there are an increasing number of fashionable yet modest clothes in both local and international markets ...
A new rule promulgated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) governing the disposal of coal combustion residuals, also known as CCR or coal ash, raises the risk for civil claims and the need for insurance to cover them.1 The rule, which takes effect Aug. 29, 2018, revises regulations issued in 2015 and has the stated intent of providing utilities and states “more flexibility in how CCR is managed ...
We would like to inform you that on December 27, 2018, the President of the Russian Federation signed the Federal Law No. 549-FZ “On Making Amendments to the Part Four of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation” (previously known as the Bill No. 428309-7) that provides for temporary legal protection to industrial designs during the stage of substantive examination of applications (URL: http://sozd.duma.gov.ru/bill/428309-7) (“Law”) ...
On December 19th, 2018, the Ministry of Labor published Ordinance No. 1,085/2018, for the purpose of amending Regulation No. 22 ("NR-22"), which regulates aspects related to the mining sector occupational safety and health. The reformed NR-22 therefore brings changes to the sections regarding the Disposal of Tailings, Wastes and Products and the Emergency Response Plan, within the framework of the National Policy on Dams Safety ("PNSB") ...
On December 7, 2018, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a Proposed Rule that clarifies procedures and criteria for the de novo medical device clearance pathway. In a statement accompanying the Proposed Rule, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb stated FDA believes the Proposed Rule will help facilitate classification of innovative low- to moderate-risk novel medical devices by providing more structure, clarity, and transparency to the de novo pathway ...
"What are the 'waters of the United States'? As it turns out, defining that statutory phrase—a central component of the Clean Water Act—is a contentious and difficult task." This observation, recently made by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, understates the difficulty in answering what should otherwise be an anodyne question: Does my project require a Clean Water Act permit? At this moment, answers to this question may be far from certain ...
On Nov. 19, 2018, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the U.S. Department of Commerce issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking[1] requesting public comment on criteria for identifying emerging technologies essential to U.S. national security that would be subject to increased export controls ...
Today the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that will end HRSA’s delays in implementing a January 5, 2017 final rule concerning 340B drug price calculations and civil monetary penalties (CMPs) against manufacturers who knowingly and intentionally overcharge 340B covered entities for 340B drugs (the Final Rule) ...
On 18 October 2018, the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Amendment Bill, 2018 was published for public comment. In terms of the Notice that accompanied the Bill, written representations on the proposed amendments may be furnished within 60 days of publication of the notice ...
The oil and gas sector has seen significant changes over the past few years, led by a significant reduction in global oil prices. This has increased the focus on operational efficiency and more flexible ways of working collaboratively to alleviate the effects of protracted price deflation ...
Blockchain is a distributed ledger of data entries. The entries are processed and managed by a series of different computers, or ‘nodes’, which can be running on different servers. Every computer connected to the system keeps a copy of this ledger, meaning that different parties can view and manage the same information in real time. It also makes it exceptionally safe and secure. The energy sector has been relatively slow to adopt blockchain technology ...
The UKCS is the largest decommissioning market in the North Sea. There are around 475 fixed facilities, over 10,000 kilometres of pipeline and approximately 5,000 wells. These will all need to be decommissioned over the next 30 years, when they reach the end of their economic life, at an estimated cost of £59.7 billion ...
In Australia, we're seeing enormous opportunities and some policy challenges in renewable energy ...
Feeling the heat: the draft Climate Change Bill, 2018 Earlier this year, the South African Minister of Environmental Affairs (the “Minister”) published the draft Climate Change Bill, 2018 for public comment. Since then, the Department of Environmental Affairs (“DEA”) has undertaken a road show across the country to solicit comments to the Bill and held further bilateral meetings with stakeholders earlier this year ...
Towards the end of 2018, the South African Minister of Mineral Resources, Gwede Mantashe (the “Minister”), published the Broad-Based Socio-Economic Empowerment Charter for the South African Mining and Minerals Industry, 2018 (the “2018 Mining Charter”). It is indicated that “implementation guidelines” are to be published in the near future. What follows is a summary of a few of the salient features of the 2018 Mining Charter ...
