On 3 October 2019, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) published its groundbreaking ruling in case C-18/18 establishing that the EU enables national courts to order information societies such as Facebook to remove defamatory information. This also encompasses equivalent versions of previously declared illegal information. In doing so, the ECJ effectively held that EU law does not preclude injunctions issued by national courts from producing worldwide effects ...
Companies found guilty of manslaughter under new law could have their finances and reputations ruined. The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 comes into force on 6 April 2008. After much controversy and delay the legislation is almost with us. In a nutshell: The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 (the “Act”) comes into force in the UK on 6 April 2008 ...
Under the current law, for an organisation to be liable for a fatality the 'identification' principle must apply. This first requires an individual to be personally guilty of the wrongdoing. This individual must then be identified as the "controlling mind" of the company. There are several problems with the current system. It is often impossible to identify the "controlling mind" behind the decision which results in the death ...
The de novo medical device process is a little-used but potentially valuable means of securing approval for your medical device. The pathway was established in 1997 subject to the Federal Food Drug & Cosmetic Act, Section 513 (f) (2). It was designed to employ a risk-based strategy for novel devices that have not yet been classified. Basically, it establishes a new device type including classification, regulation, appropriate controls and product code ...
That’s the question Shoosmiths and Cornwall Insight’s recent report sought to answer, investigating the role the Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) model could play as part of the UK’s electric vehicle charging network. In a new video, Jonathan Smart, partner and head of mobility at Shoosmiths, discusses the BaaS model, which enables electric vehicle owners and business fleets to swap out depleted batteries for fully charged ones at a service station via a subscription service ...
The Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) is intended to provide nearly $700 billion of economic relief to small businesses adversely affected by COVID-19 ...
Public comment closed August 1 on the rulemaking process for a final ban on TikTok and other social media applications (“apps”) from federal contractors’ devices. The new regulation will expand upon the interim Department of Defense, General Services Administration, and NASA (“the agencies”) ban, which went into effect on June 2, 2023. Over half of all states have banned TikTok on state government devices, with more likely to follow ...
Under the Companies Act a company is prohibited (subject to certain exceptions) from making loans to its directors. A recent case highlighted the dangers to a director who is aware that his company has made loans in breach of that prohibition. The case involved a father and son who were the directors of a company. Over time, the father had become less involved in the day-to-day management of the company in question ...
“We simply cannot go on with this utterly outmoded way of working…Endlessly re-keying in the same information; repeatedly printing and photocopying the same documents; moving files about, losing all or parts of them in the process… It is a heavy handed, duplicative, inefficient and costly way of doing our work and it is all about to go. Considerably past time, we will finally catch up with the world.” Sir Brian Leveson ...
Craig Thomas and Sarah Buxton take a look at the recent changes to corporation tax. Policy changes It is fair to say that the UK’s corporation tax rate has been on something of a policy rollercoaster of late. As far back as 2016, when the rate was 20%, George Osbourne announced that he would reduce corporation tax to 17% with effect from 2020 (and even expressed his fervent desire to get the rate as low as 15% thereafter) ...
March 25, 2024 By: Daniel C. Silva and Ross Garrett In March 2024, the Northern District of Alabama held that Congress exceeded its Constitutional authority by enacting the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”). The CTA requires variety corporate entities—everything from LLCs to trusts—to disclose beneficial ownership information to the U.S. Treasury Department ...
With the first UAE corporate tax registration deadline looming (31 May 2024), companies and other businesses need to ensure that they have checked their deadline to register as a taxable person.The registration process under the Federal Law No. (47) 2022 (CT Law) is still new to the UAE and 2024 marks the first mandatory year for companies to register with the Federal Tax Authority (FTA) as a taxable person ...
The European Commission has released the long-awaited proposal for a directive on corporate sustainability due diligence. As expected following the resolution approved by the European Parliament on 10 March 2021, the implications for companies are many and will have an impact on their organisation and the way they conduct themselves. The directive also affects the companies and other organisations they have commercial relations with ...
This is a briefing of the latest COVID-19 related issuances of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) as of 8 July 2020: A.1. Filing of General Information Sheet (“GIS”) and Audited Financial Statements (“AFS”) A.2. Extension of Deadline for Filing of AFS of Corporations within the Jurisdiction of SEC Cebu Extension Office B ...
The position of Corporate Secretary has evolved over the years. For some organizations, gone are the days when the Corporate Secretary was a mere corporate record custodian, certifier of corporate organizational facts and note-taker. Bylaws, board mandates, shareholder agreements and other governance documents, not to mention job descriptions, may or may not fully describe the expectations that now often go with the role. This article examines the role of the Corporate Secretary ...
Businesses in Thailand are facing a difficult road ahead. The latest wave of COVID-19 infections continues to hammer the economy, further delaying a recovery that many companies were counting on to relieve their financial woes. Those struggles have been considerable. According to the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC), Thailand’s gross domestic product shrank by 6.1% in 2020 – the steepest decline since the Tom Yum Kung financial crisis of 1997 ...
Corporate Responsibility: The Board of Directors’ Duty of Oversight: Part II – Practical Applications and Limiting Director Liability The information set forth below constitutes Part II of a two-part Alert regarding the board of directors’ duty of oversight. Part I of this Alert defined the duty of oversight and distinguished it from the board’s responsibilities in the decision making context. Part I is available on our website at [insert hyperlink to Part I] ...
The recent Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia and other corporate crises have led to widespread concern over the adequacy of corporate governance practices of many companies. The focus of much of this scrutiny has centered on the business practices, financial disclosure, audit committee and board independence requirements of public companies ...
Under South African corporate reorganisation rules, tax consequences are deferred and do not crystalise at the time of the transaction, but a carefully planned restructuring transaction may result in hardship due to subsequent events. A recently proposed amendment illustrates this risk.Tax relief under the existing corporate reorganisation rules may be neutralised if assets acquired in terms of these rules are disposed of within 18 months ...
On the 21st of April, Bill number 53 entitled the Arbiter for Financial Services (Amendment) Act (Chapter 555 of the Laws of Malta) was published among the Government Notices in the Supplement to the Government Gazette ...
On the 1st of September 2023, Legal Notice 208 of 2023 was published in the Supplement to the Government Gazette by the title of the Financial Collateral Arrangements (Amendment) Regulations (hereinafter referred to as the “Amendment Regulations”) ...
