March 28, 2023 By: Meghna Parikh The Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative continues to raise the stakes for government contractors. This initiative uses the False Claims Act (“FCA”) to hold government contractors accountable for knowingly (1) failing to monitor and report cyber data breaches, (2) implementing inadequate cybersecurity measures or (3) misrepresenting their cybersecurity practices ...
Carey Olsen’s Singapore team has considered the first reported British Virgin Islands (BVI) case on the court’s jurisdiction to determine a just and equitable winding-up application when faced with an arbitration agreement between parties. The authors also examine the trend in the Cayman Islands and in Hong Kong on this issue ...
Starting from February 2022, the President of Russia has adopted several decrees restricting conclusion and performance of transactions involving foreign entities and individuals. In most cases such transactions now require approval from a special governmental commission. Today the Russian Ministry of Finance published draft law No ...
ALRUD experts have prepared this material for HR directors, compliance officers and heads of legal departments, detailing the obligatory and recommended actions that should be taken in the event of an occupational accident. The purpose of this step plan is to provide high-level guidance on how to protect the interests of affected employees, investigate occupational accidents and thus mitigate risks of administrative and criminal liability for the employer and its officers ...
We previously provided an update regarding the enactment of a capital gains tax (the “Tax”) in the State of Washington (read about it here). In that article, we noted the Tax was subject to at least one lawsuit in Washington. That lawsuit resulted in the trial court striking down the Tax, which caused an appeal to the Washington State Supreme Court (the “Court”) ...
On March 17, 2023, the General Services Administration (GSA) announced it will be holding a Tribal Consultation on April 3, 2023, in Las Vegas, Nevada, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:50 p.m., Pacific Time. The Tribal Consultation will be held at the Reservation Economic Summit 2023 (RES 2023), in Caesars Palace ...
Cyber criminals have developed new ransomware techniques to improve the efficiency and profitability of their attacks. These include targeting large and high-value entities such as governments and the health care sector (also known as “big game hunting”), and the selling of user-friendly ransomware software kits (also known as ransomware as a service) ...
Law and regulation in this area are developing at pace and it’s no longer just those businesses looking for ESG linked products which need to be analysing their Environmental, Social & Governance (‘ESG’) behaviours. This article considers what businesses may wish to be doing voluntarily, either as good practice or in preparation for a financing, in terms of developing their ESG practices ...
This article looks at what ESG means, what we really mean when we talk about ‘ESG lending’, and the types of ESG lending available. When people talk about ‘ESG Lending’ they’re often talking about sustainable lending - encompassing social loans, green loans and sustainability linked loans. Potentially available to all businesses, now is a great time to get familiar with these types of products, as well as the corresponding jargon ...
The purpose of section 197 of South Africa’s Labour Relations Act, 1995 (“LRA”) is to protect and maintain employment in circumstances where a transfer of business takes place. In terms of section 197 and section 197B(1)(b), a “transfer” means the transfer of a business by one employer (the old employer) to another employer (the new employer) as a going concern ...
The South African Government's new Preferential Procurement Regulations, 2022 (“2022 Regulations”) have created uncertainty about how organs of state will identify "specific goals" in their procurement processes. While the regulations do not specifically require the consideration of B-BBEE, organs of state can still use it as a factor in preference point scoring, along with or instead of other goals like employment equity, green procurement, and local content and production ...
The Regulation’s overall goal is to encourage Member States to carry out Strategic Mineral Projects involving minerals such as e.g. Copper, Titanium, Nickel – battery grade, Lithium – battery grade, and Rare Earth Elements for magnets. The aim for the EU’s extraction capacity is set to be at least 10 % of the Union’s consumption of strategic raw materials ...
Originally published in West Virginia Banker With plaintiff attorneys seeing potential large dollar settlements and verdicts, along with increased regulatory scrutiny, banks need to review their overdraft practices. As noted by the American Bankers Association, banks resolve most customer inquiries and disputes informally, with a phone call or through digital channels. Banks are incentivized in today’s hyper-competitive marketplace to do so to maintain customer satisfaction ...
Debtors hoping to discharge their obligations in bankruptcy may find a new hurdle based on the US Supreme Court’s Feb. 22 ruling. Relying on the plain language of the Bankruptcy Code, and Congress’s use of passive voice, the Supreme Court held that funds obtained through fraud, regardless of who committed such fraud, are not dischargeable through bankruptcy ...
People hoping Washington would closely follow Oregon into the regulated use of psilocybin overseen by licensed practitioners faced a delay when a committee of the Washington legislature converted Senate Bill 5263 from legalizing psilocybin services to calling for more research. On March 7, 2023, the state senate passed the substitute version of SB 5263 with 41 votes for passage and 7 opposed ...
With an aim of improving the efficiency and competitiveness of Kenya's productive resources, the Privatisation Bill, 2023 aims to replace the current Privatisation Act, 2005. President William Ruto has to privatise six to 10 state corporations to ease the burden on the exchequer and to raise financing for government projects through the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) instead of seeking financing from external markets ...
Apple Inc. v. Vidal, Appeal No. 2022-1249 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 13, 2023) In our Case of the Week, the Federal Circuit allowed Apple’s challenge to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (“PTAB”) Fintiv rules to proceed, at least on limited grounds regarding whether in promulgating the guidelines the USPTO failed to follow notice-and-comment rulemaking requirements under the Administrative Procedures Act ...
In a busy Legislative Session, one bill passed that may go unnoticed, but will be of help to Boards of Education. Through House Bill 3146, the Legislature adopted the Uniform Public Meetings During Emergencies Act (“the Act”). The Act was proposed by the Uniform Law Commission (“ULC”), which provides states with non-partisan legislation that attempts to bring clarity and stability to state statutory law ...
Amongst the pensions, childcare and other headline financial announcements in this week's Spring Budget, Jeremy Hunt signalled the Government's continued focus on Artificial intelligence (AI) as a targeted growth sector for the UK economy. The Chancellor pledged a £900m investment to support the development of supercomputing capabilities that can underpin the growth of the AI sector in the UK ...
On March 3, 2023, the Court of Appeal of Santiago granted a constitutional petition for protection (“recurso de protección”) filed by a bookstore chain against the Municipality of Santiago for not adopting adequate and effective measures to prevent the installation of street vending in Ahumada Street ...
The government has published its response to a further section of the building safety regime consultation, focusing on occupied higher-risk buildings (HRBs). The questions considered in this part of the consultation related to registration requirements for HRBs. More information about what the registration will actually entail is now available, as well as confirmation of the fee for registration, which will be £251 ...
Introduction Off-plan properties are those which are sold in advance of completion and can offer attractive payment plans and potentially high returns on investment. Therefore, the acquisition of off-plan property has always been a favored form of investment for those seeking to profit from the booming Dubai Real Estate market. However, it is vital for buyers to understand the risks involved ...
Many construction contracts used in the industry include clauses mandating that any disputes be decided by binding arbitration rather than a jury or bench trial. The standard AIA forms provide the parties with the option of court or arbitration. Trial courts, overwhelmed by a flood of cases and supported with strong caselaw and statutory precedent, regularly enforce arbitration clauses ...
On February 17, 2023, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) announced rules related to the registration-based stock issuance system, marking a full transition to the "registration-based" era, 33 years after the establishment of China's capital markets ...
?Clear skies overhead, patent marking protects well, innovation blooms.? ?Patent marking? is the practice of labelling a product to provide notification that it is protected by one or more patents. From a public perspective, it serves three related purposes: avoiding innocent infringement; encouraging patentees to give notice to the public and aiding the public to identify whether an article is indeed patented. (Nike, Inc. v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 138 F.3d 1437, 1998, p. 1443) ...
