Commission adopts temporary State aid 'credit crunch' framework The European Commission has adopted a temporary state aid framework, designed to help tackle the spiralling negative effects of the 'credit crunch' on the real economy. Under the framework, Member States can - after notifying the Commission - put into effect a range of aid schemes aimed at helping otherwise sound companies that are finding it difficult to access funding ...
Effective January 1, 2009, the rules governing the right to obtain tax registration as a self-employed business person has been changed. Thus, it is now possible for non-executive directors to obtain registration as such. The amendments are made by clarifying the term "business". This is achieved by introducing additional criteria when assessing whether an independently conducted business is at hand or not ...
The new Income Tax Law is Law No. 36 of 2008. It intends to boost the competitiveness of Indonesia's economy and create a favorable investment climate. Under the new law, income tax for corporations will be 28% flat in 2009, replacing the existing progressive system. The rate will be further reduced to 25% in 2010 ...
Family Intervention Tenancies (FITs) are a new type of tenancy to be introduced by Sections 297-298 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008. They will be another tool for registered providers (the new term for both Registered Social Landlords and local authorities to tackle anti-social behaviour ...
Today when financial experts are busy in measuring the depth of present financial turmoil, layman is cursing Governments and experts are blaming sub-prime mortgage payment defaulters but no-body in the economic fraternity could appreciate that it was a policy failure. Moreover, no one in the financial world could imagine the enormous size of the trouble that lending on sub-prime would bring the world’s biggest financial catastrophe of the century ...
Following consultation with national competition authorities and the public, the European Commission has published enforcement priorities guidelines, which it will follow when applying Article 82 to exclusionary conduct by dominant companies. Throughout the guidelines, the Commission reiterates that Article 82 should protect competition and consumers – rather than individual competitors (an approach previously advocated by Commissioner Kroes) ...
Contents Acquisition of control of a corporation… Unexpected tax consequences The corporate veil again! Resigning as a director: It’s not merely a formality! Don’t forget the deemed year-end! Acquisition of control of a corporation… Unexpected tax consequences By Philippe Asselin [email protected] ...
The 2009 State Budget Bill was presented to Parliament on 15 October. The general discussion and voting on the Bill are scheduled for 5, 6 and 7 November while the special discussion and voting and final overall discussion and voting are scheduled for the 27th and 28th of the same month ...
On 16 September 2008, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) gave a preliminary ruling in joined cases C-468/06 - C-478/06 specifying that a refusal by a pharmaceutical undertaking that holds a dominant position on a relevant pharmaceutical market to supply wholesalers with a view to impeding parallel export of such wholesalers from one Member State to other Member States constitutes an abuse of a dominant market position under Article 82 of the EC Treaty ...
To ascertain compliance with laws and regulations relating to excise, on 23 June 2008 the Minister of Finance issued Regulation No. 91/PMK.04/2008 regarding Excise Audits, to conduct excise audits on factories, warehouses, importers, distributors, and anyone who uses imported goods that have been granted an excise exemption. The regulation came into force on 15 August 2008. The form of the audit can be a general audit, special audit, or investigative audit ...
After the enactment last year of the Investment Law, a new "negative list" of investment fields closed or conditionally open for investments was issued by Presidential Regulation No.77 of 2007. This has been amended by Regulation No.111 of 2007 ...
As national governments have taken increasingly drastic steps to shore up their banking systems so the Commission has been working overtime dealing with the State aid fallout. Many of the measures taken by Member States could distort competition - a serious worry in the current volatile climate. Against this backdrop, the Commission has been keen to stress that it wants to work with Member States to ensure financial stability ...
A new Swedish Competition Act will enter into force on 1 November 2008. The Act was passed by parliament on 11 June 2008. The new legislation means further harmonisation with EC competition rules and it also introduces a number of new features in order to enhance cartel enforcement. One of the new features is the introduction of trading prohibitions. The rules regarding fines will become both clearer and stricter in an aim to enhance legal certainty ...
On 3 April 2008, the Supreme Administrative Court announced a decision in a case which has given rise to strong reactions among tax law specialists. The criticism has been harsh and concerns the Supreme Administrative Court’s decision to give the Swedish CFC-rules precedence over the Swedish-Swiss tax treaty ...
Ahead of the autumn finance bill, the government has stated that SEK 30 billion will be designated for reforms in the labour market and enterprise, welfare and investments for the future. 13 of these 30 billion are earmarked for an “enterprise package” which, inter alia, includes a reduction in corporate tax from 28 percent to 26.3 percent ...
The business world is in continuous evolution. In order to remain competitive, a professional must be aware of the developments that may affect or influence his or her practice. It is in this spirit that we have created “RATIO”, a quarterly legal information publication intended to support you in the achievement of your professional goals. The name of this publication is a term employed in both the legal and accounting professions ...
On November 18, 2004, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decisions in Haida Nation v. British Columbia (Minister of Forests) and Weyerhaeuser, 2004 S.C.C. 73 (“Haida”) and Taku River Tlingit First Nation v. British Columbia (Project Assessment Director), 2004 S.C.C. 74 (“Taku”) ...
1. The recently published Decree-Law 55/2008 of 26 March has set out the regulatory provisions necessary for implementing incentive measures for the speedier recovery of areas in Portugal that suffer most from typical inland regional problems, as provided for in the Tax Benefits Statute (EBF) ...
The United States Supreme Court's recent decision in Stoneridge Investment Partners, LLC v. Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. et al. is one of the most important securities law decisions handed down by the Supreme Court in many years. It establishes new guidelines in cases where investors seek to hold third parties (such as vendors, as well as attorneys or accountants) liable for participating in securities fraud ...
Are Municipality has been ordered by the European Commission to reclaim the unlawful state aid which the municipality paid to Konsum in Jämtland? The Commission’s decision underlines the importance of governmental authorities, municipalities and county councils monitoring the provisions on state aid in business transactions involving private players ...
Several major changes to the PRC’s Tax Law have come into effect since 1 January 2008. These include the unification of the income tax treatment of all enterprises (foreign and domestic as well as joint-venture companies), resumption of the previous 20 % withholding tax on outgoing dividends to be paid by foreign investment companies to their foreign parent companies, lower effective income tax rates and introduction of the concept of “resident enterprises” ...
ARGENTINE TAX SYSTEMPOLITICAL CONFIGURATIONThe Republic of Argentina has three levels of Government (Jurisdictions): Nation, Provinces and Municipalities.The government system of the Nation and the Provinces has three powers: The Executive that deals with the Administration, the Legislative in charge of passing the Laws, and the Judiciary responsible for the Administration of Justice ...