On February 7, 2018 the SEC Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) issued the 2018 National Exam Program Examination Priorities. In introducing the examination priorities for 2018, OCIE describes the four pillars upon which the work of OCIE is based: promoting compliance; preventing fraud; identifying and monitoring risk; and informing policy. OCIE includes in the examination priorities factual data relating to the increase in examinations of investment advisers ...
As we described in our client alert dated September 14, 2016, in the aftermath of the real estate downturn from 1989 to 1993, when real estate mortgage lenders began to contemplate making new mortgage loans, they sought to create new legal structures to prevent their prospective borrowers from filing for Chapter 11, and to ameliorate the adverse consequences, if such a filing were to occur. One such structure is a device commonly referred to as the “Golden Share ...
SECTION 1: Market Overview 1.1 Please provide an overview of the project finance market in your jurisdiction. Project financing is a well-established finance scheme in Israel, widely implemented in the last 15-20 years. It is used for debt financing in a variety of sectors, particularly where public private partnership (PPP) projects are involved ...
On January 31, 2017, the First Appellate District Court in the case Santa Barbara Channelkeeper v. City of San Buenaventura found that an allegation of excessive water diversion to protect endangered fish species under the rule of reasonableness and the public trust doctrine, could not be resolved without consideration of all competing water users in the system ...
The recent end of the value-added tax (“VAT”) relief period for property developers in South Africa, who temporarily let their residential units, may have a significant impact on their cash flow. BackgroundOrdinarily, property developers acquire or develop fixed property (including residential properties) for the purpose of resale ...
In a major departure from over 20 years of practice, the EPA announced on January 25 that it is withdrawing the “once in, always in” (OIAI) interpretation of the hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) program. The OIAI required sources of HAPs to permanently comply with Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standards applicable to major sources of HAPs, even when those sources’ emissions are below major source levels ...
After Atlanta-based developer, Carter USA, pulled out as the master developer of the Banks Project along Cincinnati’s riverfront, the project effectively stalled. However, the Joint Banks Steering Committee (JBSC), charged with offering recommendations with respect to this project, reconvened January 23, 2018 to take two actions ...
We previously reported on oral arguments before the Supreme Court regarding which court has original jurisdiction to hear challenges to the Clean Water Act’s “waters of the United States” (“WOTUS”) definition. On January 22, 2018, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in National Association of Manufacturers v. Department of Defense that only district courts have original jurisdiction to hear such challenges ...
With the aim of breathing a bit of fresh air into the Slovenian construction legislation, three new laws have been adopted recently and will be applied with effect from 1 July 2018. The current Construction Act will be replaced with both the new Building Act and the Architectural and Civil Engineering Activities Act, while the current Spatial Management Act will also be subject to certain amendments ...
In recent months the Serbian Parliament passed amendments to Serbian tax laws, including the Law on Personal Income Tax (PIT Law), the Law on Contributions on Mandatory Social Insurance (CMSI Law), the Law on Corporate Income Tax (CIT Law), and the Law on Value Added Tax (VAT Law). These amendments introduce tax relief for salaries paid to employees in newly incorporated legal entities ...
The end of 2017 saw a number of changes in the regulatory framework of the Rwandan financial sector, the most significant of which included a change in the law governing the regulator of the financial sector (the National Bank of Rwanda) and the enactment of the New Banking Act governing the organisation of banking, both of which were gazetted in October 2017 ...
MoneyGram International Inc. (MGI) and Ant Financial, a subsidiary of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA), announced last week the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS or the Committee) failed to approve their proposed merger. CFIUS is an inter-executive agency committee which reviews, and has the authority to reject, certain transactions that may affect the national security of the United States ...
Sen. Cornyn (R-TX), along with co-sponsors Sen. Feinstein (D-CA), Sen. Burr (R-NC), Sen. Peters (D-MI), Sen. Rubio (R-FL), and Sen. Klobuchar (D-MN), introduced the “Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2017” (FIRRMA) November 8, 2017. This proposed bill, and a companion bill of the same name introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep ...
The Construction Industry Arbitration Commission of the Philippines (“CIAC”) has original and exclusive jurisdiction over disputes arising from, or connected with, contracts entered into by parties involved in construction in the Philippines. Construction disputes may range from contractual money claims to disputes over the execution of the construction work. Construction disputes may involve government or private contracts ...
As seen in Bank Director The process of establishing a de novo bank always has been complicated and time-consuming, and occasionally even painful. But since the beginning of the financial crisis, it seems that obtaining deposit insurance for a de novo bank has become a nearly impossible task. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. received 1,738 applications for deposit insurance from 2000 through 2008, and approved 1,258 of those applications—an approval rate of 72 percent ...
Earlier this week, the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) published draft amendments to EMIR-related regulatory technical standards (RTS) that align the treatment of variation margin (VM) for FX forwards with the supervisory guidance applicable in other key jurisdictions. More specifically the draft amendments propose that the requirement to exchange VM for physically settled FX forwards shall only target transactions between institutions (credit institutions and investment firms) ...
The U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”) issued a determination at the end of 2017, finding that solar panel imports are hurting domestic businesses that operate in the solar industry. The ITC’s determination was issued in connection with a trade case filedby a Georgia-based company, Suniva, Inc., shortly after filing for bankruptcy protection. SolarWorld Americas, Inc. joined Suniva’s petition ...
On October 16, 2017, EPA Administrator Pruitt issued the “Directive Promoting Transparency and Public Participation in Consent Decrees and Settlement Agreements.” At the same time, Pruitt issued a memorandum to EPA assistant administrators, regional administrators and the office of general counsel explaining the rejection of “sue and settle” tactics by his administration ...
For many years EPA has taken the position it could take enforcement action based on agency review and calculation of projected emissions in determining New Source Review (NSR) applicability for pre-construction permitting for modification of an existing source ...
On October 16, 2017, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt signed an order reversing a long-standing EPA position that EPA has the authority to review previous state decisions on new source permitting applicability when reviewing Title V permits. The order denied a petition by Sierra Club requesting that EPA object to the issuance of a Title V operating permit to the Hunter Power Plant in Castle Dale, Utah ...
Kentucky Regulatory Amendments On September 15, 2017, the Division for Air Quality submitted amendments to 401 KAR 59:015 for new indirect heat exchangers and 401 KAR 61:015 for existing indirect heat exchangers. The Division stated the amendments were necessary to provide clarity for regulated entities and to remove duplicative requirements covered by federal regulations ...
EPA continues to make progress in its effort to repeal and replace the Clean Power Plan (CPP). EPA held public hearings on November 28-29, 2017, in Charleston, West Virginia to take testimony on its October 10, 2017, proposal to repeal the rule. EPA is accepting comments on the proposal to repeal the rule through January 16, 2018. EPA announced it will hold three additional public comment sessions due to the “overwhelming response” to the West Virginia hearing ...
In its bill, Extended Environmental Crime Provisions, from earlier this year, the government has proposed extending the scope of offences for environmental crime committed in conjunction with waste management. The proposal means that all waste management that can cause significant pollution, which is harmful to human health, animals or plants or that can cause other significant environmental nuisance is to be punishable. The penalty for the crime is a fine or imprisonment for up to two years ...
The draft laws implementing AMLD 4 set out strict rules to allow for protection against improper access to the information on BOs. At the of 2017, the Luxembourg Parliament published two draft laws to implement new transparency measures provided by Directive 2015/849 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing (“AMLD 4”) ...
Earlier this year, Law No. (19) of 2017 was gazzetted which amends the procedures contained in Law No. (13) of 2008 on Interim Property Registration in Dubai. This law stipulates the procedures which developers must follow if a buyer breaches an off-plan sales contract. The new law is an important development in Dubai and will assist developers who are facing a difficult real estate market and increasing buyer default ...
