With the U.S. economy not as robust as it once was, it seems that Americans are currently more interested in selling their Canadian assets, particularly recreational property, than buying Canadian assets. It is therefore useful to consider the issues that arise when a U.S. person sells Canadian real estate. The following points are relevant: The U.S ...
Yesterday, U.S. Attorney General Jefferson Sessions issued new guidance reversing the federal government’s former position that gender identity is protected under Title VII. In a memo sent to the heads of all federal agencies and the U.S. attorneys, the attorney general stated that as a matter of law, “Title VII does not prohibit discrimination based on gender identity per se ...
Introduction Last week, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced that American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO) had concluded the negotiation of the first trade agreement under the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade.1 This is the first bilateral trade agreement since the promulgation of the Taiwan Relations Act in 1979 ...
The rule has long been the source of controversy and confusion. This decision of the Board provides some welcome clarification non two aspects of the rules, being the relevant time for determining whether the reflective loss rule should apply (the "Timing Issue") and the definition of a 'common wrongdoer' for the purposes of the reflective loss rule (the "Common Wrongdoer Issue"). Primeo Fund (the appellant) was a Cayman Islands company in official liquidation ...
The amendments are expected to come into force in the third quarter of 2022 after the Limited Partnerships (Amendment No.2) (Jersey) Law 202- (the “Amendment Law”) has received Privy Council approval ...
Order in Council no. 292/2011, published on 8 November, updated the list of countries, territories and regions with clearly more favourable privileged tax regimes ( known as ‘tax havens’) appearing in the earlier Order in Council no. 150/2004 of 13 February. It also excluded from the list two countries that are members of the European Union (EU): Cyprus and Luxembourg ...
The Governor's Office of Planning and Research (OPR) has recently issued two technical advisories with helpful California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) guidance on two prominent California land use topics. The first advisory outlines potential CEQA exemptions for immediate-term disaster recovery, with the goal of helping communities and public agencies prepare their climate change adaptation and resilience strategies ...
Earlier this year, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (the “MEMR”) issued Regulation Number 10 of 2018 on The Second Amendment to Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Regulation Number 10 of 2017 on the Principles of Power Purchase Agreements (“MEMR Reg 10/2018”) which came into effect on 13 February 2018 ...
On March 20, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) jointly issued guidance regarding the tax credits available to certain small employers who are required to provide new types of paid leave to employees under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (Act), enacted on March 18, 2020 ...
The IRS recently modernized the public approval process (“TEFRA approval”) for private activity bonds (“bonds”) for TEFRA approvals given on or after April 1, 2019. States and political subdivisions issuing bonds, or on whose behalf bonds are issued (“issuers”), and states and political subdivisions whose geographic jurisdiction contain the site of a project (“hosts”) may take advantage of these new rules ...
Even though OSHA has advised that no specific standard covers the novel coronavirus, human resource and safety personnel must be mindful of the generally-applicable standards that might apply. OSHA has issued several guidelines that, while not the rule of law, do offer guidance on addressing COVID-19 issues, including recordkeeping and 300 log reporting obligations. On April 10, OSHA issued guidance that appeared to limit what cases would be required to be reported on OSHA 300 logs ...
UPDATED - We have updated several items as clarifications have been made. We will continue to update as more frequently asked questions are posed. When Congress passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act ("CRA"), it left much for the U.S. Department of Labor ("DOL") to explain. The DOL has published a temporary rule offering its interpretations of the CRA, and the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) has established a procedure for claiming the tax credits ...
Texas has now joined the growing ranks of states that have passed laws aimed at increasing tax collection from online retail transactions. Although Governor Rick Perry vetoed an earlier bill (H.B. 2403) providing that out-of-state retailers that have relationships with certain Texas “affiliated” entities will be deemed to be doing business in Texas for purposes of the sales and use tax, language virtually identical to that found in H.B. 2403 is included in S.B ...
On June 27, 2022, the United States Supreme Court ruled that doctors who act in subjective good faith in prescribing controlled substances to their patients cannot be convicted under the Controlled Substance Act (“CSA”). The Court’s decision will have broad implications for physicians and patients alike ...
On January 19, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published its proposed rule barring most non-compete agreements that would apply to employees. We previously summarized the proposed rule here. The deadline for comments on the proposed rule is March 20, 2023. Comments can be submitted online at Regulations.gov or in writing to Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite CC-5610 (Annex C), Washington, DC 20580 ...
As discussed in our previous Alert, the French government has imposed Sunshine-like obligations on the pharmaceutical industry. Article 2 of Law No 2011-2012 of 29 December 2011 on the Strengthening of Health Protection for Medicinal and Health Products ("loi relative au renforcement de la sécurité sanitaire du médicament et des produits de santé" or "Loi Bertrand") inserted Articles L. 1453-1 in the French Code of Public Health ("Code de la santé publique" or "CSP"). Article L ...
March 24, 2022 By: John Epperson and Peter McGaw UPDATE: At the time Buchalter published its client alert regarding the new ASTM Standard for Phase I Environmental Site Assessments (Phase I ESAs), we noted that the new ASTM Standard would not be considered “All Appropriate Inquires” for purposes of establishing defenses under CERCLA until the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) amended its regulations to incorporate the new Standard ...
On August 8, 2023 the President of the Russian Federation signed and published new Decree 'On suspension by the Russian Federation of certain provisions of the Double Tax Treaties' No. 585 (the “Decree No. 585”) ...
UPDATE - On March 20 in the evening, Governor Wolf issued a revised list classifying businesses as life-sustaining and non-life-sustaining. The press release, list and frequently asked questions can be found here. In addition, Governor Wolf has extended the timeframe for enforcement of the order. The Pennsylvania General Assembly recently completed the Appropriations hearings related to the FY 2020-2021 budget. The plans to resume the legislative session were altered due to COVID-19 ...
On Oct. 25, 2021, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2021-02 (the Bulletin). In the bulletin, the DOL revised and extended the temporary enforcement policy related to the DOL’s Fiduciary Rule/Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2020-02 (the DOL Fiduciary Rule) ...
As we previously mentioned in our last blog post, the West Virginia Legislature passed at least three bills this past session that affect consumers or financial transactions. The first of those bills is HB 2464. HB 2464 amends Article 6 of the WVCCPA, specifically section 46A-6-107, prohibiting the disclaimer of warranties and remedies for goods that are the subject of or intended to be the subject of a consumer transaction ...
Bank Indonesia recently updated its regulation on domestic non-deliverable forward (DNDF) transactions. Bank Indonesia Regulation No. 24/7/PBI/2022 on Foreign Exchange Market Transactions (“BI Reg. 24/7/2022”) replaces the previous regulation on DNDF, BI Regulation No. 20/10/PBI/2018 (as amended). BI Reg. 24/7/2022 makes some noteworthy amendments on the DNDF terms and introduces new thresholds and provisions on DNDF transactions ...
We would like to provide you with an update on some changes in the legal regulation of medicines in Russia made due to dynamic spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) ...