In EBSA Disaster Relief Notice 2021-01, the Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a critical interpretation of prior guidance that extended certain deadlines for employee benefit plans, participants, and beneficiaries due to COVID-19. We discussed the original guidance in this prior article ...
On March 16, 2021, Decree No. 64 / 2020 of the Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism, was published in the Official Gazette, approving the Regulation that establishes conditions for the treatment and final disposal of wastes from aquaculture activities (the "Regulation") ...
Beginning of Stage 2 of the National Vaccination Plan The Colombian Ministry of Health and Social Protection (Minsiterio de Salud y Protección Social) declared the initiation of stage 2 of the National Vaccination Plan against COVID-19 for the population between 60 and 79 years of age. This does not mean that vaccination for those over 80 years of age will be stopped; these people will continue to be vaccinated without any interruption ...
On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARPA”) which is another coronavirus stimulus package aimed at speeding up the United States’ recovery from the economic and health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic ...
Competition & Antitrust Resolution No. 237/2021 of the Secretariat of Commerce: New prices information regime for companies (SIPRE) By Agustín Waisman and Mercedes Pando Through Resolution No ...
The Insurance Authority has recently gazetted the Insurance (Group Capital) Rules. They will come into effect on 29th March, the same day as the Insurance (Amendment) (No. 2) Ordinance which makes provision for the Insurance Authority to supervise on a consolidated basis designated insurance holding companies and members of their supervised group (see our Client Alert dated 27th May, 2020 regarding designated insurance holding companies) ...
The Insurance Authority has now gazetted the Insurance (Special Purpose Business) Rules. They will come into effect on 29th March, 2021, the same day as the Insurance (Amendment) Ordinance which makes provision for special purpose insurers (see our Client Alert dated 27 May 2020 regarding special purpose insurers). The Rules restrict the sale of insurance linked securities. Insurance linked securities are securities issued through insurance securitisation i.e ...
On Wednesday, March 10, 2021, Supreme Decree N° 007-2021-VIVIENDA was published in the Official Gazette “El Peruano”, which established a three-month deadline for the submission of Cofinanced Private Initiatives (“IPC”) on investment projects for sanitation services ...
On March 4, 2021, Exempt Resolution No. 625 of the Ministry of Mining (“Res. No. 625”) was published in the Official Gazette. Res. No. 265 sets forth a citizen consultation process on the proposal to amend Supreme Decree No. 248 of 2007, which approved the Regulations on the Approval of Projects of Design, Construction, Operation and Closure of Tailings Dams (the “Regulations”) ...
On the 4th March 2021, the Seventh Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union issued its decision on an important matter related to the breach of ambient air quality legislation by the UK government (European Commission v. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, c-664/18). This case is only one among several others filed by the Commission against EU Member States, including France, Italy, Bulgaria and Hungary ...
With the new year comes a new president. Will the new year and administration also bring new water policy? Bet on it. Just as President Trump undid President Obama’s signature water policy decision—the Clean Water Rule, which clarified and arguably expanded federal water permitting jurisdiction—President Biden is likely to rewind many of President Trump’s water policy (and, more generally, environmental policy) decisions over the next four or more years ...
Claims of bad faith present unique challenges for insurers (and their counsel) with respect to attorney-client privilege: if the insurer’s state of mind is at issue, is the legal advice on which the insurer relied also at issue, thereby waiving the privilege? And if so, under what circumstances? The following addresses this issue in the context of a common practice for insurance counsel—authoring denial letters—and two recent holdings that should serve as warnings in th
Regarding the Public Tender Process for the supply of energy and power to distribution companies that will take place this year (“2021/01 Tender Process”), please consider the following: On December 21, 2020, the National Energy Commission (CNE) approved the definitive Tender Rules for this process (the "Rules"), by means of the Exempt Resolution No. 478 ...
On February 9, 2021, Supreme Decree No. 57/2019 of the Ministry of Health, which approves the Regulation on Classification, Labeling and Notification of Hazardous Chemical Substances and Mixtures (the "Regulation"), was published in the Official Gazette ...
With the main goal of the EU being to cut CO2 emissions in order to become carbon neutral by 2050, offshore represents valuable “available space” for the development of clean energy projects. While in some cases offshore is already a crowded place, other offshore locations are still free of significant energy infrastructure. Therefore, planning ahead is more important than ever ...
The judgment of the United Kingdom Supreme Court On 1 May 2020, the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”), the body that oversees the insurance industry in the United Kingdom, announced that it wanted to obtain a ruling from the English courts on the meaning and effect of the sample of business interruption clauses that it selected from eight insurers in particular ...
A recent UK Supreme Court Judgment, the Financial Conduct Authority v Arch Insurance (UK Ltd) & Ors [2021] UKSC 1, clarified whether a variety of insurance policy wordings cover business interruption losses resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and public health measures taken by UK authorities in response to the pandemic from March 2020 ...
The National Mining Agency published for comments: (i) the Draft Resolution by means of which it adopted the Terms of Reference for the selection of proposals for the award of Special Contracts for the Exploration and Exploitation of Minerals in Strategic Mining Reserve Areas; (ii) such terms of reference; and (iii) the special contract minute ...
Late last year, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) issued a draft guidance intended to assist regulated entities and permitting authorities in applying the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in County of Maui, Hawaii v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, concerning Clean Water Act (“CWA”) jurisdiction over discharges to groundwater ...
On January 22, 2021, the Federal Official Gazette published Resolution No. 55, by means of which the National Mining Agency (“ANM”) amends Resolutions No. 28/2020 and 46/2020, which deal with the suspension of deadlines of certain procedural and material acts under its competence, and the extension of the terms of mineral titles, due to the current COVID-19 pandemic ...
Following the bioeconomy trend, the National Policy of Payment for Environmental Services was published, establishing the payment for services that benefit the maintenance, recovery and improvement of ecosystemic services, such as provision services (e.g. water supply), and regulation services (e.g. climatic change programs). On January 14, 2021, the Federal Law No. 14,119 ("Law") establishing the National Policy of Payment for Environmental Services ("PNPSA") was published ...
