On October 13, 2005, the Court of Appeal rendered judgment in two cases involving The Maritime Life Assurance Company and its insured, Madeleine Houle. In the first case, the Court of Appeal stated that the insurer is entitled to obtain a counter expertise by summoning its insured by writ of subpoena (art. 399 C.C.P.) even if it had its insured examined previously. In the second case, the Court ruled on the right of an insurer to have the insured examined by the expert of its choice (art ...
Employment Law Update In This Issue... Change to Win Coalition Focuses on Certain Industries to Revitalize Labor Movement ...... 1 Boss’s Workplace Fling May Be Everybody’s Business ............. 2 Employers Must Recognize the “Duty to Act” ........................... 4 Work Eligibility and Citizenship — It May Be Time To Dust Off Those I-9s ................................... ...
The Government has recently announced changes to the proposed regime of confirmation by directors of compliance by a company with its obligations. This note explains the background to the announcement and comments on the new proposals. Background - 2003 Act From the time that the Companies (Auditing and Accounting) Act, 2003 was first published there was considerable and widespread concern voiced about the proposed regime for Directors’ Compliance Statements ...
“We consider that the Competition Act, 2002 captures the bulk of the anti-competitive practices which the Groceries Order was originally designed to prevent. However, we consider it desirable to significantly strengthen the Act in some respects and particularly to specially prohibit resale price maintenance, unfair discrimination and “hello money”. Such provisions will, henceforth, be enforced by the Competition Authority ...
On Wednesday 21 December, Ms Justice Laffoy issued her long-awaited judgment in Fyffes’ multi-million euro insider dealing action against Jim Flavin and his company Development Capital Corporation plc (DCC) and two of its subsidiaries. The decision follows 87 days of evidence, which closed in July 2005. Ms Justice Laffoy ruled that the defendants were not in possession of price sensitive information at the time they sold their shares in Fyffes and as such, no civil liability to Fyffes arose ...
Under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), employers who provide group health plans and have 20 or more employees must offer continuation coverage to “qualified beneficiaries” who have lost health coverage as a result of certain qualifying events. This article addresses a number of common COBRA-related issues ...
From 1 October 2006, new legislation comes into effect intended to combat age discrimination. During a recent series of seminars, commercial law firm Shepherd and Wedderburn carried out a survey of delegates to understand employers' concerns and see what efforts they are making to take the new law on board. More than one in four delegates claimed they themselves intended to work past the anticipated default retirement age of 65 while a further 15% were unsure ...
Scottish Enterprise has a number of schemes to make it easier for small to medium-sized businesses to access growth funding, such as a loan, equity finance - where the investors take shares in your company - or a combination of the two ...
The new Irish Commercial Court is living up to expectations by providing a fast and effective means of resolving commercial disputes. A&L Goodbody recently secured for a full hearing within two days of a case being accepted by the Court. The matter involved an arbitrator's referral of a point of law. The speed as well as the terms of decision were crucial in protecting the client's interest ...
The Ministry of Labour and Social Security (“MLSS”) issued the Letter on Issues Relevant to the Occupational Qualification Certificates Held by Foreigners Seeking Employment in China on 13 September 2005. The Letter is likely to make it more difficult for foreigners to take up employment in China in positions or jobs for which Occupational Qualification Certificates must be held ...
In Hong Kong, some employers grant to employees more than one day off per week while the Employment Ordinance (“EO”) only requires the employer to grant one rest day in every period of seven days. Under such circumstances, there is a question as to whether the employees are entitled to an alternative holiday when the statutory holiday falls on a day off ...
In Hong Kong, it is quite common for employers to grant commission or allowance in addition to basic salary to the employees as part of the remuneration package. Under the EO, eligible employees are entitled to holiday and annual leave pay in respect of holiday or annual leave taken by the employees. There is a question as to whether commission is to be included in “wages” for the purpose of calculating the holiday and annual leave pay to the employees ...
On 23 December 2005, the District Court delivered its judgment on a sex and family status discrimination claim in the case of Lam Wing Lai v YT Cheng (Chingtai) Ltd DCEO 6/2004. The Defendant was a Hong Kong company carrying on the business of trading in industrial raw materials and the Plaintiff was employed as the secretary to the director between 21 May 2001 and 11 November 2002 ...
The Ministry of Labour and Social Security (“MLSS”) issued the Letter on Issues Relevant to the Occupational Qualification Certificates Held by Foreigners Seeking Employment in China on 13 September 2005. The Letter is likely to make it more difficult for foreigners to take up employment in China in positions or jobs for which Occupational Qualification Certificates must be held ...
Scottish Enterprise has a number of schemes to make it easier for small to medium-sized businesses to access growth funding, such as a loan, equity finance - where the investors take shares in your company - or a combination of the two ...
On 6 April 2006, new regulations, called the Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment - TUPE - Regulations 2006 came into force to replace the well-known 1981 Regulations. These are the Regulations that make provision for protection of employees ? from dismissal and in their terms and conditions - where a business is transferred from one company to another. TUPE 2006 differs in a number of ways from the 1981 Regulations ...
Gas Natural’s high profile courting of Endesa has had a choppy ride on the roller coaster ship of public takeovers. Not only is the desired companion resisting the marriage, but also is she summoning the high waves of competition law in her defence. Not much of the public debate of the competition law aspects is focussed on the merits of perhaps one of the last industry transforming mergers in the Spanish energy markets ...
On 13 December 2005, the European Court of Justice ("ECJ") found Marks and Spencer plc ("M&S") could claim group tax relief from UK tax authorities in relation to the losses incurred by its former European subsidiaries that had ceased trading in Belgium, France and Germany in 2001. M&S argued that just as UK resident companies in a group may set off their profits and losses among themselves, so the same should be possible for the losses of foreign subsidiaries ...
Some important changes to the Act respecting the legal publicity of sole proprietorships, partnerships and legal persons (the “Act”) took place effective January 1st, 2006.The Act generally applies to all legal persons, partnerships and individuals carrying on an activity in the Province of Québec and requires those entities to register with the Enterprise registrar ...
A 100% Quebec Parental Insurance Plan A new Quebec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP) came into force on January 1, 2006. This plan provides for payment of benefits to all workers eligible for the plan who take a maternity leave, parental leave, paternity leave or adoption leave. This plan replaces the federal employment insurance plan. Beginning in 1996, Quebec informed Ottawa that it wanted to implement its own parental insurance plan ...
In April 2005 a new Disability Discrimination Act was passed by Westminster. The Act extends existing non-discrimination legislation, primarily the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. While some provisions of the Act came into force in December 2005, many others will be coming into force over the course of 2006. It is essential that businesses are aware of their new responsibilities under the Act and prepare for its implementation ...
As it is considered as of general interest, we would like to mention that on December 30, 2005, the Federal Official Gazette published an executive order amending Article 117 and Article 118 of the Financial Institutions Law ...
China presents enormous opportunities for the wealth management industry. Since the opening up of China’s banking and other financial industries to foreign investments, foreign banks, securities companies, insurers and fund management companies have sought to establish presence in this market through the setting up of representative offices, branches, foreign direct investments and joint venture companies ...
November and December 2005 saw the Hong Kong real estate investment trust (“REIT”) market burst into life, with the listing of three REITs on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong – The Link REIT (Hong Kong retail and car parks), Prosperity REIT (Hong Kong commercial) and GZI REIT (office buildings in Guangdong, PRC) ...
In 2006, the SFC plans to conduct another investigation into licensed investment advisers. This follows a report issued in February 2005, in which the SFC noted industry practices that posed “serious regulatory concerns”. It is timely, then, for investment advisers to review their adherence to the standards of conduct expected of them by the SFC. We set out below some of the practices that investment advisers should adopt to ensure regulatory compliance ...
