On Tuesday, December 22, 2105, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a much- anticipated opinion regarding the constitutionality of the prohibition against “disparaging” trademarks. In an 9-3 en banc opinion, the Federal Circuit held that the exclusion of disparaging trademarks under Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act violates the First Amendment.Many of the marks rejected as disparaging convey hurtful speech that harms members of stigmatized communities ...
On December 4, 2015, President Obama signed H.R. 22, Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, into law. The new law reauthorizes federal highway and transit programs for five years. While most of the attention on the legislation has focused on the new funding for transportation infrastructure, the measure also includes significant policy changes related to motor vehicle safety and enforcement actions by the National Highway Transit Safety Administration (NHTSA) ...
On December 18, 2015, Congress passed the “Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015” (the “Act”), which provides significant reforms to the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act of 1980 (“FIRPTA”) and to the rules applicable to real estate investment trusts (“REITs”). To read the full alert, click here ...
The current Constitution of Ecuador was enacted in 2008. In the past seven years it had few changes. The last one was introduced by a resolution of the National Assembly (Congress), which was issued on December 21th 2015. This last amendments are: Reelection of popular election authorities (elected by voting).- The amendments allows to the current authorities to run as candidates to be re-elected indefinitely ...
In a situation where a taxpayer could choose between two transactions, the law does not require the taxpayer to choose a transaction which would bring along the largest amount of payable taxes. Taxpayers have the right to organise their activities in a manner which would entail the smallest possible tax burden and the state cannot reproach them for it. The only issue can be about distinguishing the permitted solutions of tax optimisation from obtaining dishonest tax concessions ...
On 2 November 2015, the South African National Treasury published a Draft Carbon Tax Bill (the “Bill”) for public comment, with the comment period commencing immediately and continuing until 15 December 2015. Measurement, reporting and verification (“MRV”) of emissions data arising from greenhouse gas related activities underpin the effective functioning of the proposed carbon tax ...
Equity crowdfunding will soon have a new framework in which to operate in Canada and this is excellent news for investors and startups alike ...
Last April 27, the Court of Appeal of Quebec dismissed the appeal, from the bench, by the Attorney General of Quebec concerning the use of English trademarks on public signs ...
I. The Liechtenstein Tax ReformThe former Liechtenstein Tax Act dated back to 1961. It was completely revised and the new Tax Act entered into force on 1 January 2011 (hereafter referred to as "Tax Reform"). The ratio for the year 2008 between the overall tax revenues in Liechtenstein and its GDP was 16.9%. In comparison, the equivalent figure in the USA was 20.3% and 23.1% in Germany.Liechtenstein has AAA rating and is totally debt free ...
The Court of Justice has issued a judgment invalidating the European Commission’s Safe Harbour decision. This means that participation in the Safe Harbour programme by US entities is no longer grounds for European companies to transfer personal data of EEA citizens to the United States. On 6 October 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union held that the European Commission’s decision approving the Safe Harbour programme is invalid (Schrems v Data Protection Commissioner, Case C-362/14) ...
Corporations that are in need of liquidities can, simply put, not afford to wait until the end of the fiscal year to receive payment of refundable tax credits. For this reason, some lenders offer to advance funds to eligible taxpaying corporations (hereinafter “Taxpayers”) in the form of a loan, while taking security on their future tax credits as collateral (“Advance Tax Credit Financing”) ...
Across Africa, investments in infrastructure have failed to keep pace with growth and demand, creating a tremendous infrastructure deficit. Less than 40pc of the population across the continent, and only 26pc of the population of sub-Saharan Africa, has access to electricity.Approximately, 34pc of the population has access to improved sanitation facilities, and 35pc lack access to clean drinking water ...
NEW REQUIREMENTS FOR PRIVATE PLACEMENTS(“Regulation 45-106”) OBLIGATION TO KNOW YOUR INVESTOR WELL Issuer’s obligations: Ask questions Verify the investor’s declared income and assets Confirm the relationship between the investor and the issuer Obtain proof of the investor’s status Keep the documents on file Last May, the Canadian Securities Administrators amended Regulation 45-106 respecting Prospectus Exemptions(“Regulation 45-106”)as we
What has happened?On 16 September 2015, the Federal Government introduced the Tax Laws Amendment (Combating Multinational Tax Avoidance) Bill 2015. The Bill contains two significant proposals, both of which were signalled in the 2015-16 Federal Budget in May 2015 (see 2015-16 Federal Budget - key tax announcements for business) ...
With effect from 1 April 2015, the business of a hedge fund has been declared to be a collective investment scheme (“CIS”) in terms of section 63 of the Collective Investment Schemes Control Act 45 of 2000 (“CISCA”). Accordingly, hedge funds are now subject to and regulated by certain prescribed provisions of CISCA ...
The Philippines recently enacted Republic Act 10667 or the Philippine Competition Act which defines, prohibits and penalizes anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominant position, and anti-competitive mergers and acquisitions. It also creates the Philippine Competition Commission, which has original and primary jurisdiction to deal with cases involving violations of the Act. The Act was published on July 24, 2015 and took effect on August 8, 2015 ...
This year’s amendment of the Waste Act is forcing changes in the scheduling of incinerator projects. Target load start-up tests must be postponed until after the integrated permit is issued. This may give rise to claims by contractors for prolonging the project completion period because of a change in the law. In Poland there are currently six communal waste incineration plants under construction with EU funding ...
On July 22, 2015, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) released proposed regulations (the “Proposed Regulations”) providing that in certain circumstances a service provider’s allocations of a partnership’s income may be treated as compensatory payments for services under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”) ...
SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan contributed the Philippines chapter of Herbert Smith Freehills’ Guide to anti-corruption regulation in Asia Pacific 2015. The Guide provides a practical approach to applicable anti-bribery legislation and enforcement regimes. Contributed by managing partner Rafael A. Morales, partner Russel L. Rodriguez, and associate Vera Marie H ...
The Ecuadorian Civil Code is based in the code that made the great Chilean jurist Andrés Bello. The majority Civil Codes in Latin America are based in the Andres Bello Civil Code´s, which is based on the Civil Code of Napoleon Bonaparte. It has had several reforms over the time, on which attempt has been made to update to the reality and circumstances of each time. The Ecuadorian Civil Code is divided in four books: i) Persons; ii) Goods; iii) Succession upon death; and, iv) Obligations ...
Ecuador is no stranger to the “State Capitalism” economic stream which prevailed in South America in the last two decades. This way to directly involve the central government to the country’s economy has triggered deep changes to the commercial relationships ...
Following President Obama’s announcement on December 17, 2014 of a policy to normalize relations with Cuba,the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) amended its Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) amended its Cuban Assets Control Regulations (CACR) on January 16, 2015, to implement the policy change ...
Download a free copy of the Philippine section of The Public-Private Partnership Law Review edition 1, which was contributed by the SyCipLaw Partners Marievic G. Ramos-Añonuevo and Arlene M. Maneja.Aside from the Philippines, other jurisdictions covered include Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Ireland, Japan, Mozambique, Paraguay, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States ...
The Act of 21 December 2013 concerning the financing of small and medium-sized undertakings (the “Act”) was published in the Belgian State Gazette on 31 December 2013. The Act entered into force in 2014 and applies to all Credit Agreements that have been concluded since that date. The Act applies to all Credit Agreements entered into between an Undertaking and an EEA Provider of Credit ...
Download a free copy of the Philippine section of The Tax Disputes and Litigation Review edition 3, which was contributed by the SyCipLaw Partner Carina C. Laforteza with Associate Mark Xavier D. Oyales ...
