British Virgin Islands entities and structures are frequently used to hold assets located onshore, outside the BVI. Sometimes these assets represent the proceeds of wrong-doing including breach of fiduciary duty, breach of express trust, or pure fraud. The vast majority of the 400,000 active BVI companies on the register tend to be holding companies, holding real property, investments, or shares in other companies including shares in trading companies ...
The designation of eight new Freeports within England made headlines in the Budget and now the winning bidders have to put into effect their successful proposals. What will this mean in practice for those areas affected and what are the likely issues that Freeport authorities will face? We have pulled together some questions we are asked frequently on Freeports, together with the responses we have been providing to our clients ...
It is evident that the current lockdown is having an unprecedented slowdown in the movement of persons between EU Member States. This is not due to a restriction which was imposed by the EU itself but because of the restrictions which the Member States themselves imposed through their respective Public Health officials. It is noticeable that the legal restrictions on immigration were driven by the Member States' individual rules rather than by a general guideline from the EU ...
From Land’s End to John O’Groats, roving reporters, tabloid writers and broadsheet columnists, have been riding on the wave of the new freedom of information acts. As a result of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, and its UK counterpart, the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the public now has a statutory right to recorded information held by most public sector bodies. Although the new right only came into force on 1 January 2005, its effect is retrospective ...
In December last year, the House of Lords handed down its judgment in the case of R (on the application of Laporte) v Chief Constable of Gloucestershire. The case considered the proper balance to be struck between an individual's Article 10 and 11 rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly and association under the European Convention on Human Rights ('ECHR'), and the Police's powers to prevent breaches of the peace ...
The HHS Office for the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology issued an interim final rule on October 29, 2020, extending the compliance date for the information blocking rule under the 21st Century Cures Act to April 5, 2021 ...
One of the great innovations that will bring the new Data Protection Law is the establishment of a new legal basis, leaving behind the consent-law binomial. Notwithstanding the above, the new law will recognize the extreme relevance of the data subject's consent and regulate in depth the necessary requirements for a "valid consent" ...
Freddie Mac has taken a series of steps to assist its borrowers, sellers, and servicers during these unprecedented times, and should help Freddie Mac continue its goal to “keep mortgage money flowing, support the stability of the housing market, and promote housing affordability.” Freddie Mac announces avenues of assistance to borrowers affected by COVID-19, and that borrowers in forbearance will not be required to repay in a single lump sum ...
How has the use of digital technology, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, contributed to the rise in fraud? As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses experienced a rapid and significant increase in the use of digital technology. Bearing in mind health concerns, as well as business continuity, many businesses began to shift to widespread remote working environments ...
Benchmarking is a vital tool in the development and improvement of a franchise network, and will benefit franchisees and franchisors alike. A good benchmark, whether financial and/or operational requires the communication of accurate and relevant documents and information between the franchisee and the franchisor, which is best organised in a clear and detailed manner in the franchise agreement ...
INTRODUCTION The new Framework Law on the Climate (Law 98/2021 of 31 December) was published on 31 December 2021. This new Law repeals Law 93/2001 of 20 August and establishes the guiding principles of climate policy and governance. It also introduces targets and provides for mechanisms to combat climate change, to decarbonise the economy and to achieve sustainable development ...
On March 26th, 2024, the President of the Republic enacted the Framework Law on Cybersecurity and Critical Information Infrastructure (the "Law"), after having been generally approved by the Chamber of Deputies, and the preventive control of constitutionality carried out by the Constitutional Court was concluded ...
In a defendant-friendly opinion, a split panel held that conduct based on an “objectively reasonable” reading of an ambiguous statute, absent contrary circuit court precedent or agency guidance, cannot constitute “knowing” misconduct under the False Claims Act. In United States ex rel. Sheldon v ...
On May 7, the Fourth Circuit held that the Supreme Court’s decision in Janus Capital Group, Inc. v. First Derivative Traders, 131 S. Ct. 2296 (2011), did not apply in the context of a criminal prosecution for a violation of Rule 10b-5. See Prousalis v. Moore, No. 13-6814, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 8584 (May 7, 2014) ...
The February 14 decision in a closely watched Fourth Circuit False Claims Act (FCA) case did not, as initially anticipated, address the issue of the validity of statistical sampling to establish FCA liability. However, it did address another question that has split the circuits—whether the U.S. Department of Justice has the unreviewable right to veto FCA settlements in cases in which it has declined to intervene. See United States ex rel. Michaels v. Agape Senior Community, et al ...
The Fourth Circuit recently held that selling contaminated drugs in violation of FDA regulations does not give rise to False Claims Act liability where compliance with the regulations is not a condition of federal reimbursement. See United States ex rel. Barry Rostholder v. Omnicare, Inc., No. 12-2431 (4th Cir. Feb. 21, 2014) ...
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) becomes effective on January 1, 2020. As the CCPA deadline looms, businesses need to act now to be ready. In this article, we provide an overview of the CCPA, key changes to the final law, and steps businesses can take to be ready for the CCPA ...
Pierre Denis, Étienne Brassard, Benjamin David Gross and Sibylle Ferreira, whose practices focus on business law, financing and aeronautics, contributed to the development of a Q&A guide entitled Aviation finance in Canada: overview and published in the first edition of Practical Law’s Aviation Finance Global Guide ...
When startup founders get together to form a new company, one of the first steps after actually incorporating the entity is to issue the founders their initial equity in the company. This is commonly referred to as “founders stock.” Most initial cap tables target the issuance to founders of around 8 million shares, so that combined with a 2 million share option pool, the initial “fully diluted” capitalization is 10 million shares ...
Enforcement of competition law by means of private actions (particularly private damages actions) is a hot topic. The European Commission has a stated policy objective of encouraging private actions and, at the UK level, private actions are becoming more prevalent in both the courts and before the Competition Appeal Tribunal. In particular, the English High Court's decision in Provimi has led to England being seen as an attractive jurisdiction for damages claims ...
Here is an overview prepared by Lavery of the highlights of the consultation document (in French) released last Thursday by the Quebec government in connection with the forum on mining royalties to be held on March 15, 2013. Overview of the consultation document entitled "Le régime d’impôt minier du Québec" ...
Excerpt I. INTRODUCTION A. Preliminary Considerations When a U.S. client seeks help in "doing business abroad," the first task of counsel is to ask the right questions. It is important to learn enough about the extent of the client's experience and goals for doing business abroad so that the best course of action can be determined ...
Key Points Employers that claimed a tax credit for qualified COVID-related leave paid to employees in 2021 must report the amount of leave paid in Box 14 of the employee's 2021 Form W-2 or on a separate statement. The reporting requirement is new for 2021 for governmental employers, because those employers were not eligible for a tax credit for COVID-related leave paid in 2020 ...
The first quarter of 2024 was a busy time for regulatory action in the bank M&A space. Coming off a slow year for bank deal announcements in 2023, many bankers and bank advisors believed that 2024 would be a rebound year for bank combinations. Those expectations may be scaled back now that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) released proposed updates to their bank merger application rules and policies ...
