Legal due diligence processes are widely known in the context ofmergers and acquisitions (M&A) and corporate reorganisation projects. Their aim is to analyse the operations and organisation ofcompanies to identify their degree of compliance with applicable legal and contractual regulations, the level of risk of non-compliance, and the potential sources of legal and contractual liability ...
Decree-Law 36/2021, which amends Decree-Law 176/2006 of 30 August ("Medicines Statute"), was published on 19 May. The new Decree-Law introduces a ban on the advertising of discounts on the price of medicines subject to medical prescription that are reimbursed by the National Health Service ("NHS") or that contain narcotic or psychotropic substances ...
There is a growing consensus among business stakeholders and society at large that mere compliance with legal rules is not enough tolive up to the requirements of business integrity. Moreover, legal rules often use vague concepts and ethics are also useful to give concrete expression to the required practices ...
Net zero targets now cover in excess of two thirds of global GDP and over a fifth of the world's largest public companies, according to the latest report published by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit and Oxford Net Zero. This global shift towards net zero has reshaped the development landscape with demand for sustainable buildings being driven not only by regulators, but by investors and occupiers ...
Following the latest creditors’ meetings on May 12 and May 19, 2021, Kudun and Partners is pleased to announce that Thai Airways Public Company Limited (THAI)’s business rehabilitation plan and its amendment proposal has been widely accepted by the majority of THAI’s creditors ...
When corporate executives are charged with crimes, their companies often foot the bill for their defenses. Sometimes those bills can be hefty. And while companies sometimes seek to recoup the expenses when the executives are convicted, a recent decision from the influential Judge Jed Rakoff of the Southern District of New York makes clear that the criminal restitution process may not be their best approach ...
In early April as the statewide vaccination rate began to rise and major population centers across California began to see significant decreases in positive COVID cases and hospitalization rates, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the State plans to reopen in full on June 15, 2021. As of the date of this Alert, California has one of the lowest number of COVID cases per 100,000 people and the fourth lowest number of COVID hospitalizations in the United States ...
Florida has joined a growing wave of states offering individuals, businesses and other organizations significant protections against Covid-19-related legal claims. But how does Florida’s new law — “Civil Liability for Damages Relating to Covid-19” (codified at section 768.38, Florida Statutes) — work? And what do businesses need to know — and do — now? The law’s practical effect Begin with the law’s practical effect ...
In a judgment of 22 April 2021, the European Court of Justice found that a lease contract entered into between an Austrian authority and a real estate company before the construction of the building did not constitute a contractual building contract, as the authority had not had a decisive influence on the design. The authority's requirements thus did not exceed the requirements that a tenant usually places on a building of a similar nature ...
Ownership of mines and minerals separately to surface land poses a risk for developers that must be assessed and mitigated as appropriate. It is not uncommon for mines and minerals to be owned separately to the land at the surface and in certain areas of the country, particularly the north, it is frequently encountered ...
Since the UK left the EU there have been monumental changes to immigration law that employers should consider while planning future recruitment and team structures. The free movement of people has ended and with it comes the need for EU workers to register under the European Settlement Scheme by 30 June 2021, the Skilled Worker visa and changes to other existing routes under the points-based system and even new routes ...
Robo-Advisors (sometimes spelt as Robo-Advisers) are digital investment advisory platforms that provide automated, algorithm-driven financial planning services with little to no human supervision. In this article our Oluwapelumi Omoniyi takes a cursory look at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s new rules on Robo-Advisors and highlights the rationale behind the move to regulate Robo-Advisors ...
Private open-ended fund companies (OFCs) in Hong Kong are subject to regulation by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). The SFC has taken a streamlined approach to regulating private OFCs. (I) High degree of flexibility No investment restrictions: Pursuant to the SFC’s revised Code on Open-Ended Fund Companies (OFC Code) all investment restrictions for private OFCs have been removed ...
This blog post highlights certain amendments to British Columbia’s Real Estate Development Marketing Act (“REDMA”) Policy Statements 5 and 6 which came into effect May 1, 2021. Policy Statement 5 sets out circumstances under which a developer is deemed to have permission to begin early marketing of a real estate development before a building permit is issued for the development ...
The Oregon Senate will soon be deciding on a bill that would allow an owner of a lot or parcel at least two acres in size in an area zoned rural residential to build an accessory dwelling unit, or “ADU,” on that lot or parcel, provided there is already a single-family dwelling on the lot or parcel ...
It is a truism to say that infill development in Oregon is fraught and expensive. This is apparently not lost on the Legislature, which over the past four years has enacted a number of laws to reduce local permitting barriers on infill projects in an attempt to provide for more affordable and middle-income housing ...
The internet may be global, but enforcement is always local—and there are plenty of (expensive) ways to find out the wrong way that you should have been doing something where you might not expect it. A typical example is the legal requirement to appoint an EU data protection representative if you’re not based in the EU, or a UK representative if you’re not based in the UK ...
Preface On 26 April 2021, the Futures Law of the People’s Republic of China (Draft for Consultation) (“Futures Law (Draft)”) was deliberated at the 28th Meeting of the 13th Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, and was later issued for public consultation on 29 April 2021, receiving keen, widespread interest of the domestic futures industry and the over-the-counter (“OTC”) derivatives market ...
The government has published its much-heralded Bill to outlaw the payment of ground rents under long residential leases. Background The payment of ground rents by residential tenants of long leases has become something of a cause celebre, particularly where leases include ground rents that double every five, ten or twenty years making those leases less valuable and potentially unsaleable ...
The Court of Appeal has unanimously held that a tenant’s statutory declarations given to landlords were valid even though they did not specify the precise term commencement date of the leases to be contracted out. Landlords will be relieved that the Court of Appeal did not adopt an overly legalistic and commercially impractical interpretation of the contracting-out requirements ...
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 ...
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On May 12, Schwabe collaborated with Moss Adams to host a virtual roundtable that explored legal realities around owning and operating a hemp business in Oregon. Schwabe attorneys Lisa Schaures and Joe Hobson were joined by Jacob Crabtree of Columbia Hemp Trading Company, Sunny Summers of the Oregon Department of Agriculture, and Ryan Kuenzi of Moss Adams. Our panelists discussed the evolving nature of the hemp industry at the state and federal level in Oregon ...
