As of February 2014, Amendments to the Gas Market Act have become applicable in Croatia. The amended Act defines the new role of wholesale supplier of natural gas. Supplier should be company that domestic natural gas producers will sell the gas under regulated price and conditions and who will then resell the natural gas at another regulated distribution price to local suppliers that ultimately supply end users with natural gas ...
On 26 November 2013 the Danish Government and the Government of Greenland handed over their scientific documentation for sovereignty over the continental shelf northeast of Greenland to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) and thereby submitted a claim for an area of approximately 62,000 square kilometres off the Greenlandic north coast between Greenland and Svalbard (Norway) ...
A payroll tax reduction with potential savings of up to SEK 2,760,000 per annum is available from January 1st 2014 for companies conducting research and development (R&D) on a full or part time basais. According to the new rules, the payroll tax amount for the associated salaries for persons working in R&D can be reduced by 10 per cent which equates to SEK 230,000 per month on a group level (SEK 2,760,000 per annum) ...
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
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 Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) has temporarily suspended the issuance of private letter rulings on master limited partnership (“MLP”) “qualifying income” under Internal Revenue Code Section 7704(d) during the pendency of an internal committee review of existing rulings in that area ...
The Minister of Trade has promulgated Regulation No 04/M-DAG/PER/1/2014 on 11 January 2014 which lists: 1 - 186 refined and processed mining products which are restricted to be exported (Attachment I of the regulation), such as metallic minerals, non-metallic minerals and rocks (including silver, gold and copper which contain certain levels of certain mineral elements) ...
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently released a proposed rule on the definition of “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act. If enacted, the rule could create significant new hurdles for real estate development projects that are near streams or wetlands by effectively removing permitting authority from state agencies and establishing federal oversight by the EPA and the Corps ...
On 7th March 2014 the Supreme Court of Appeal delivered judgment in the as yet unreported case of Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service v Mobile Telephone Networks Holdings (Pty) Ltd, (966/2012) [2014] ZASCA 4 (7 March 2014) which dealt with the deductibility of audit fees incurred for a dual or mixed purpose and the apportionment thereof for tax purposes in light of section 11(a) of the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962, as amended (‘the Act’) read with sections 23(f) and 23(g) of the A
Times have certainly changed. Ten years ago a tax query from a SARS assessor would find its way to the desk of the financial director or in-house tax advisor who would send it off to their auditors. The auditors would, in turn, give it to their tax department who would draft a reply to SARS and hope the matter went away. If not, an informal meeting between the financial director and tax advisor at the audit firm would usually settle the dispute ...
In Roshcon (Pty) Ltd v Anchor Auto Body Builders CC (“Roshcon”) the Supreme Court of Appeal (“SCA”), in a unanimous judgment drafted by Wallis JA, has clarified the issues caused by its previous decision in SARS v NWK Limited (“NWK”). Roshcon was not a tax case; it concerned supplier and floorplan agreements relating to the sale of trucks, with a reservation of ownership to a finance house as security until the trucks were fully paid for by the purchaser ...
Each of the Common Monetary Area (CMA) Member States presented their 2014/15 Budgets during February 2014. An overview of the Budgets of Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland reveals Namibia as the only country proposing fiscal amendments of any significance. A common theme of these Budgets is a concern about the increased uncertainty regarding the future of the South African Customs Union (SACU) and a firm intention to reduce reliance on SACU revenue ...
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 ...
The South African Revenue Service (“SARS”) has extensive powers in terms of the Tax Administration Act No. 28 of 2011 (“the TAA”). In terms of section 46(1) of the TAA, SARS may, for the purposes of the administration of a tax Act in relation to a taxpayer (“Taxpayer”), require such taxpayer or another person (“Third Party”) to submit relevant material that SARS requires within a reasonable period. SARS may require such relevant material to be submitted orally or in writing ...
The Taxation Laws Amendment Act, 31 of 2013 (the “TLAA”) introduced with effect from 1 April 2014, a new section 8F into the Income Tax Act, 58 of 1962 (the “Act”) in order to reduce the opportunity for the creation of equity instruments that are artificially disguised as debt instruments (“hybrid debt instruments”) ...
The Taxation Laws Amendment Act, No 31 of 2013 introduced amendments to the VAT registration provisions contained in the Value-Added Tax Act 89 of 1991 (“the VAT Act”), aimed primarily at streamlining the VAT registration process. These amendments came into force on 1 April 2014 ...
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 ...
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 ...
On April 22th, 2014, the Federal Electricity Commission announced an international public bid, which number is not yet assigned, for the construction of 5 gas pipelines. These five gas pipelines will have capacity, amongst all of them, for 5 thousand 650 million cubic feet per day, according to the following: The largest of the pipelines, which will go from El Encino in Chihuahua to La Laguna between Coahuila and Durango, shall be 423 kilometers in length and 1,500 million cubic feet per day ...
European Commission imposes fines of €302m on participants What does this mean for you? The decision The European Commission has imposed fines totalling just over €300 million on the participants in a cartel involving the supply of underground and submarine high voltage power cables for important high voltage power cable projects in the EEA (including large infrastructure and renewable energy projects such as offshore wind farms) ...
Mexico’s Senate received on April 30, the first round of the long-awaited secondary legislation to implement the constitutional energy reform effective last December. This first legislative package includes 9 new laws and modifies 12 existing laws. We anticipate that the package will be discussed and voted on during the extraordinary legislative sessions by the end of June. Below we list some of the highlights ...
Quebec regulations create numerous obligations in connection with equipment that poses a risk to the environment. Replacing PCB-containing transformers, for example, or having high-risk oil and gas equipment inspected. Regulatees may be required to file reports, maintain registers or hold permits. From a regulatory perspective, the management of ozone depleting substances is a big file ...
