On March 28, 2014, the White House released its Climate Action Plan Strategy to Reduce Methane Emissions. The oil and natural gas sectors are clearly in the cross-hairs for reductions. The report indicates the oil and natural gas sector was responsible for 28 percent of man-made methane emissions in 2012—second only to the agricultural sector, which accounts for 36 percent of emissions ...
The Constitutional Court has confirmed a decision of the Western Cape High Court that section 44 of the Land Use Planning Ordinance is unconstitutional and invalid, thereby closing off the ability of developers and objectors to appeal to province to overturn and replace unfavourable rezoning, subdivision and departure decisions made by local authorities ...
When the National Environmental Management: Waste Act, 59 of 2008 (“NEMWA”) came into operation, in July 2009, the operation Part 8 of Chapter 4 (the “Contaminated Land Provisions”) was deferred to a later date. In terms of a recent government gazette, [1] the Contaminated Land Provisions will now come into operation on 2 May 2014 ...
This paper is a virtual, international roundtable discussion of recent developments in environmental law, including developments pertaining to sustainability and energy development. The questions and answers include a discussion of recent greenhouse gas permitting developments in Texas, the role of sustainability in project development, measures for a corporation to take to become sustainable, hot issues in the environmental area, and the environmental impact of fracking. 4 ...
On March 28 2014 Law 642/2013 - a milestone of the government's anti-corporate raider policy - entered into force. Revival of the bill, which had previously gathered dust in parliamentary committees for several years, was a response to numerous calls from the international community to take measures to counter illegal takeovers and acquisitions of businesses ...
On April 9 last, the Superior Court of Québec issued its judgement1 on a motion for a declaratory judgment pertaining to trademarks in the English language on public signs and posters. The applicants, Magasin Best Buy Ltée, Costco Wholesale Canada Ltd, Gap (Canada) Inc., Old Navy (Canada) Inc., Corporation Guess? Canada, la Compagnie Wal Mart du Canada, Toys “R” Us Canada Ltée and Curves International Inc ...
Following the Supreme Court’s decision in Bridge Trustees in 2011 (see further here), the Government announced that it would legislate to directly counteract the effect of the judgement and make it clear that benefits under a pension scheme cannot be regarded as money purchase benefits if it is possible for a funding deficit to arise in respect of any of those benefits ...
The release of the second installment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment Report on March 31, 2014, provoked the usual calls for urgent and immediate action in response to climate change, including in particular at the international level in the form of a new climate treaty built upon domestic regulatory regimes.1 Irrespective of whether these calls for action are overly strident or carefully measured, the law plays a central role ...
The new EU Procurement directive was published in the Official Journal of the EU today (28 March 2014) and will come into force on 17 April 2014. This article summarises some of the key changes from the new Directive which are likely to be of interest to both the public and private sector. The UK will have 2 years to implement the Directive but the government has suggested that it will be implemented in a shorter timescale ...
The Executive Branch announced days ago the 3 main investment projects which will be promoted under the Public-Private Partnership regime in Paraguay. With the enactment in the month of March of the Regulatory Decree of the Public-Private Partnership Law (Law 5102/2013), the projects are expected to be advanced immediately ...
In terms of section 29 of the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act 39 of 2004 (“NEMAQA”), which provides for pollution prevention plans: “(1) the Minister of Environmental Affairs (the “Minister”) may: (a) declare any substance contributing to air pollution as a priority air pollutant; and (b) require persons falling within a category specified in the notice to prepare, submit to the Minister or MEC1 for approval, and implement pollut
NEW CVM DECISION SIMPLIFIES TRANSACTIONS INVOLVING PRIVATE INVESTMENT IN PUBLIC EQUITY (PIPEs) At a meeting held on January 7, 2014, the majority of the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (“CVM”) Board (Colegiado) accepted the appeal lodged by João Fortes Engenharia S.A., within the context of CVM Proceeding No ...
On 3 March 2014, the Government presented the bill ”Enhanced competition supervision” (Sw: “Förbättrad konkurrenstillsyn”) (Governmental Bill, prop. 2013/14:135) which contains several suggested changes to the Swedish Competition Act which relate, inter alia, to leniency and the possibility to suspend time limits during merger control assessments ...
As we indicated a few months ago, the partial reform of the intellectual property law continues its journey towards the Lower House of the Spanish Parliament. On Friday, February 14, the Cabinet approved the text of the preliminary bill, which must now get the green light from the consultative bodies and be debated in Parliament as a bill before its definitive approval. The main lines of the approved text are those we advanced in our previous post: 1 ...
Following a period of consultation, the Government has confirmed that legislative changes will be made to ensure that “protected persons” will not be affected by the statutory amendment power being introduced as part of the abolition of defined benefit contracting-out ...
Administrative fines and increased fees for exploitation of the environment are increasingly included in environmental regulations as sanctions. Lawmakers in Poland more and more often provide for administrative financial sanctions for environmental violations because they are more convenient to enforce than criminal sanctions, which require proof of fault on the part of a specific perpetrator. Moreover, criminal liability may be imposed solely on individuals ...
Most marketers and retailers know that the consumer protection laws require that their advertising claims be substantiated, truthful and not misleading. But the new year is a good time to take stock of advertising campaigns, practices and procedures to make sure they pass muster under the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) latest guidance. The FTC’s recent enforcement actions provide a starting point ...
On January 13, 2014, the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA" or "the Agency") announced the availability of a much-anticipated draft guidance on its intended regulation of product promotion conducted via social media, titled Fulfilling Regulatory Requirements for Postmarketing Submissions of Interactive Promotional Media for Prescription Human and Animal Drugs and Biologics ...
Sierra Club v. Bostick (W.D. Oklahoma) In June 2012, environmental groups filed suit in the US District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma challenging the US Army Corps of Engineers’ issuance of Nationwide Permit (NWP) 12 for utility line projects, and use of NWP 12 for the Keystone Pipeline Gulf Coast Project.Sierra Club v. Bostick, 5:12-cv-00742-R (W.D. Oklahoma) ...
In the United States, new rules will soon be taking effect making consideration of vapour intrusion risk a mandatory step in the Phase I environmental site assessment (ESA) process. Companies should review their real estate portfolios and consider whether properties may be at risk. In Canada, mortgage financing and asset sales are expected to be affected by the new diligence standard (that includes checking for vapour intrusion risks) in the near future ...
For more than twenty years, the federal government has attempted to limit the number of unsolicited phone calls consumers receive through the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. § 227 (“TCPA”), which is perhaps best known for governing the famous “Do Not Call” list. Businesses, including banks and financial institutions, must understand the statute and stay abreast of its changes because the penalties for violating the TCPA are steep ...
The federal Endangered Species Act is designed to prevent the taking of endangered species and imposes a regulatory program geared toward the protection and conservation of federally listed species and their critical habitat ...
More than three years after first announcing that it was considering issuing regulations applying the Americans with Disabilities Act to websites, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) appears on the verge of announcing its proposed rules for website accessibility. While the DOJ originally stated that it anticipated issuing its Title II website accessibility rules for websites operated by state and local governments by November 2013, it now expects to issue these rules by the end of the year ...
THE 1979 STATUTE It is well known that, under the legal regime for the protection of agricultural lands, the acquisition of agriculturally zoned lands with a surface area of four hectares or more by a person not residing in Quebec is subject to the authorization of the Commission de protection des terres agricoles. This is the object of the Act respecting the acquisition of farm land by non-residents (CQLR chapter A-4.1) (the “Act”), which has been in force since December 21, 1979 ...
