As part of the implementation of the Mexican Energy Reform of 2013, several new regulations and administrative guidelines affecting the hydrocarbons and power industries were issued. These are of particular importance to oil and gas producers, power generators and others looking to invest or expand operations in Mexico’s dynamic energy sector. I. Hydrocarbons March 6, 2017.Ayín-Batsil Farmout ...
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, We would like to inform you that the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation (hereinafter - the "Prosecutor General Office") has prepared a number of amendments and suggestions in the field of counteracting corruption offences. Suggestions have been prepared pursuant to the instruction given by the Presidium of the Presidential Council for countering corruption ...
The turmoil within the Croatian retail company Agrokor, which owns Mercator, the largest Slovenian retailer, caused a significant stir in the Slovenian public, with the suppliers and especially in politics ...
It seems absurd that South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal (“SCA”) should be called on to decide what the word “between” means. But that’s exactly what happened in the recent patent case of Orica Mining Services v Elbroc Mining Products. In the process, the SCA very clearly opted for a purposive interpretation of patent claims. The two parties involved, Orica and Elbroc, supply goods to the mining industry ...
The Department of State (“DOS”) published in the Federal Register a Notice to implement the presidential initiative for extreme vetting of visa applicants. Emergency review of the DOS proposal has been requested from the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”). The DOS has requested approval. If granted, the emergency approval would be valid for 180 days, although permanent approval could still be sought ...
In a recent decision concerning off-site drilling, the Texas Supreme Court affirmed the San Antonio Court of Appeals1 and held that an oil and gas operator could drill through the mineral estate underlying an adjacent tract of land without the adjacent mineral lessee’s permission. Lightning Oil Co. v. Anadarko E&P Onshore LLC, No. 15-0910, 2017 Tex. LEXIS 463, --- S.W.3d --- (Tex. May 19, 2017) ...
A unanimous Supreme Court held on June 5, 2017, that the SEC’s ability to recover funds through disgorgement is subject to a five-year statute of limitations. The SEC routinely seeks disgorgement as an equitable remedy in actions alleging securities law violations and asserted that disgorgement was not a penalty subject to the five year statute of limitations under 28 U.S.C. § 2462 ...
Amongst the numerous topics covered by the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II), the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has decided to provide further guidance on the requirements regarding product governance through its guidelines dated 2 June 2017 which focus on the target market assessment by manufacturers and distributors of financial products ...
The Minister of Mineral Resources, Mosebenzi Zwane (the “Minister”) recently gazetted the Broad-Based Black Socio-Economic Empowerment Charter for the South African Mining and Minerals industry, 2017 (the “2017 Mining Charter”), which comes into effect on the date of publication ...
Earlier this year, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) reached an important decision in the case Medisanus d.o.o. v General Hospital Murska Sobota (C-296/15) concerning public procurement procedures ...
On June 22, 2017, BOEM announced that, in light of the recent order of the Secretary of the Interior concerning its recent NTL 2016-N01 establishing a new program for financial assurance for decommissioning liabilities on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), it will extend the NTL implementation timeline beyond June 30, except in circumstances where there is a substantial risk of nonperformance of the interest holder’s decommissioning liabilities ...
The European Parliament and the Council of the EU have issued statements of non-objection to the revised draft RTS under the PRIIPs Regulation which were endorsed last month by the European Commission. Finally, the long-awaited level 2 measures have been agreed on and further guidance on level 3 as well as level 4 by the ESAs and the European Commission is expected in the near future ...
Prior to imposing, extending, or increasing any tax, a public agency must submit the tax to a vote of the electorate. However, public agencies need no such approval to impose certain types of fees. In Jacks v. City of Santa Barbara, the Supreme Court considered whether and when municipal franchise fees—fees charged to utilities and others for the use of public rights of way—constitute taxes requiring voter approval ...
The purpose of this article is to highlight the principal changes to the rules and procedures governing national public procurements in Argentina, introduced by Decree 1030/2016. The new Regulation does not introduce substantial changes to its predecessor, although it does include some relevant modifications. Introduction In September 2016, the government of Argentina modified some of the rules and procedures governing national public procurement ...
Earlier this year, the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg published the new law on the renewal of aid schemes for research, development and innovation (hereafter, the “RDI”) and on the missions of the national Agency for the promotion of innovation and research. This law amends the Law on the promotion of research, development and innovation.This reformed law aims at exploiting in Luxembourg all the potential offered by the EU rules related to State aid to RDI ...
On June 26, 2017, the Supreme Court held in California Public Employees’ Retirement System v. ANZ Securities, Inc., that the three-year time limit in the Securities Act of 1933 is a statute of repose that is not subject to equitable tolling. This means that shareholders will not be able to rely on the filing of a proposed class action lawsuit to suspend the running of a statute of repose on their individual claims ...
Contractors who are managing to continue to operate in the offshore oil and gas sector have had some time to adjust their business models and modes of operation to the new commercial realities resulting from the lower oil price. However, the radically different economic circumstances of recent years continue to manifest themselves in challenging commercial scenarios quite unlike those experienced in the better times when the oil price was significantly higher ...
As part of the implementation of the Mexican energy reform of 2013, several new regulations and administrative guidelines affecting the hydrocarbons and power industries were issued during May and June 2017. These are of particular importance to oil and gas producers, midstream companies, power generators, traders and others looking to invest or expand operations in Mexico’s dynamic energy sector. I. Hydrocarbons May 2, 2017 ...
Two years ago, Mexico began a process to completely change the legal framework regulating anti-corruption in the country. On May 27, 2015, a Constitutional amendment was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation to create the new framework against corruption ...
Two and a half years after the expiry of the deadline for the implementation of the Third Energy Package, the Macedonian authorities seem eager to finalise this process in the near future. The new draft legislation has been in the pipeline for quite some time, but until now its adoption was postponed due to different reasons ...
The Interinstitutional Committee for PPP has enacted new regulations for submission of PPPs Projects for its analysis and approval. This new regulation contains the minimum requirements and guidelines that a PPP Project must fulfill to obtain the prior authorization of the Interinstitutional Committee for PPP, before the public entity initiates the bidding process ...
On January 1, 2019, local agencies will be required to comply with new requirements for posting agendas on their websites (AB 2257). The California Brown Act requires that any local agency must post an agenda 72 hours in advance of a regular meeting. If an agency has a website, then the agency is required to post the agenda on their website ...
What’s in the Infrastructure Program? To fortify infrastructure, unlock economy growth potential, and to ramp up investment momentum, lawmakers in Taiwan passed a special bill for Forward-looking Infrastructure Program earlier this year, allocating a budget of NT$420 billion to develop infrastructure needed for the next thirty years ...
