The Wills and Probate Registry in the Dubai International Financial Centre (the “Registry”) opened in late April of this year. It is now possible to register a will in Dubai, and to have a high degree of confidence that it will be enforced in accordance with its terms. Prior to the establishment of the Registry, it hadn’t been possible to be so confident that foreign wills would be enforced in the United Arab Emirates ...
As businesses begin to reopen, many organizations will examine ways to protect their workers and attract returning customers. Various mechanisms to screen customers for COVID-19 risks will become more common. Examples include providing customers with questionnaires regarding their travel history, exposure to others, and symptoms, or temperature scanning before entry. Organizations will be permitted to screen individuals in a reasonable manner, depending on the circumstances ...
The Decree, which came into force on 20th September 2021, has abolished the Emirates Maritime Arbitration Centre (EMAC) and the DIFC Arbitration Institute (DAI). The Decree has taken the local legal and business community by surprise, and has given rise to legitimate concerns as to its impact on arbitration proceedings presently underway ...
Do you have the right to copy source code written and developed by someone else? The answer to this question depends on the situation; however, even in the context of open innovation, intellectual property rights will be the starting point for any analysis required to obtain such an answer. In the software industry, open-source licences allow anyone to access the source code of corresponding software, free of charge and with few restrictions ...
The way one handles documentation can make or break claims and defenses. Good documentation may increase your chances of prevailing in disputes that could arise down the road and may help avoid embarrassing landmines in general. When a party files a lawsuit or arbitration demand, parties may use rules of procedure to request documentation from parties in the dispute, and from entities outside the dispute that they otherwise may not be able to obtain ...
On October 28, 2022, the Department of Defense’s amendments to FAR 52.212-3 and FAR 52.219-1 became effective. These changes amended the Federal Acquisition Regulations to be in line with prior changes by the SBA to its mentor-protégé program, and recognize that a mentor-protégé joint venture qualifies for a socioeconomic program (8(a), HUBZone, WOSB, etc.) if one of the parties to the joint venture meets the associated requirements of the socioeconomic program ...
In the past week, there were several important updates made to the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) by the Department of Defense (DoD), General Services Administration (GSA), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) ...
[!<CDATA[ On September 7, the CFPB issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding Dodd Frank Section 1071. This provision of the Dodd-Frank Act will require that financial services providers making loans to small businesses, women-owned businesses, and minority-owned businesses collect and report HMDA-like data points to the CFPB. The Bureau, in turn, will make some of this data publicly available ...
The courts have always dealt with big issues and complex questions. But are the courts the right place to tackle perhaps the biggest issue of all? In recent times there have been a number of high profile court actions relating to climate change, leaving courts in various parts of the world grappling with this complex and difficult issue ...
We consider the first post Lloyd v Google decision considering loss of control damages under the GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 and its implications for the future of data and privacy litigation. It suddenly became much more difficult to bring collective privacy claims in England in November last year when Google succeeded in the Lloyd v Google litigation before the UK Supreme Court ...
Recently, several African startups have been making positive impact in their communities leading to a number ofcountriesenactingor planning to establish a Startup Act. In this article, our Oluwapelumi Omoniyi examines the benefits of a Startup legislation and considers if Nigeria’s nascent startup ecosystem needs a startup Act ...
The coronavirus crisis could make the ability of a business to perform pending contracts harder. Even though so-called ‘hardship’ clauses are perfectly valid and enforceable under Belgian law, hardship is not generally accepted as a principle of Belgian contract law. Until the rules on obligations of the new Civil Code, which recognise hardship, enter into force, there are exceptions and creative ways to deal with this problem ...
In the last few years, pension deemed trust issues have been a subject of debate before the courts. The Supreme Court of Canada itself addressed some of these issues in the Indalex case ...
Thailand’s traditional alcoholic beverages have been developed for centuries and their growth potential has been recognized in the global market. Several indigenous alcoholic beverage brands have received international recognition and are sold globally. This has continued even though Thailand’s manufacturing of alcoholic beverages-related laws (the “Laws”) are very restrictive ...
In many aspects, the Personal Data Protection Act B.E. 2562 (2019) (the “PDPA”) has posed considerable challenges to organizations. One of the biggest concerns and the most frequently asked questions center around the concept of data protection officer (“DPO”). Though the obligations regarding the appointment of a DPO apply to both data controllers and data processors, it is important to note that not every organization needs a DPO ...
The Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice recently issued an updated guidance document on theEvaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs. The new document, which significantly expands on the prior version issued in early 2017, largely follows the structure of its predecessor but provides much more detail than ever before. Indeed the new version is more than double the length of the prior version ...
Pension-Linked Emergency Savings Accounts (“PLESAs”) are a special retirement plan feature created under SECURE ACT 2.0. PLESAs were first permitted to be made available to participants as of January 1, 2024. PLESAs, which provide a flexible savings opportunity for non-highly compensated employees, can be added to certain defined contribution plans. New guidance regarding this option has been released, which may be of interest to employers and plan sponsors ...
The World Bank Group has released its Doing Business 2017: Equal Opportunity for All report. This is the 14th in an annual series of reports providing objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement in 190 economies ...
Prior user rights have long been recognized in Canadian patent law. These rights, which are a defence against patent infringement, are seen as a means of ensuring fairness by allowing a person who has independently manufactured, used or acquired an invention that is subsequently patented to continue using the invention ...
You intend to take on the North-American market? The Province of Quebec is amongst the best place to do so because of the bilinguism (English and French), important business with the United States of America, tax credits, etc. Here are a few practical issues you should consider.The Corporate FormIn Canada, there are many legal forms under which a company can do business. The majority of business people choose an incorporation ...
India and Japan share a long history. Buddhism, which was born in India, travelled to Japan around the 6th century. The first major interaction between Japan and India seems to have been Japanese assistance to Shri Subhash Chandra Bose in the fight for Indian independence (1943-45). Post WWII, Japan and India signed a peace treaty and established diplomatic relations on 28th April, 1952 ...
The election of Mr. Donald J. Trump as President of the United States has resulted in much consideration by corporates of existing strategies with respect to Iran. Mr. Trump’s lack of experience in public office and some of his election campaign statements continue to cause anxiety. Will Mr ...
The legal landscape for doing business in Iran has changed significantly in the past seven months. On July 14, 2015, the P5+1 (the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, China and Russia), the European Union and Iran agreed and signed a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (“JCPOA”) contemplating the easing of certain Iran related sanctions ...
Tensions in the Middle East have continued into 2016 as conflicts among global powers and regional powers play out in the region. But 2016 is also the year of hope – the year when peace may begin in Syria and Yemen. This is also the year that the UAE has appointed a Minister of Happiness, and even more relevantly, a Minister of Tolerance ...
Over the summer, several European blue chips, certain Fortune 500s and major Asian corporates accelerated their entry strategy for Iran. Some are investing in Iran pursuant to the Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Act 2002 (“FIPPA”), which, amongst other things, provides a sovereign guarantee from the Iranian government ...
