From August 30th of 2016, the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents, commonly known as the “Apostille Convention”, and which changes the legalization process of foreign public documents, will enter into force in Chile. This treaty was signed on October 5th, 1961, and on December 2015 Chile completed the procedures to ratify it. In order to enforce this convention in Chile, Law No ...
The Mexican government announced the second bid of Round 2 on August 23, 2016. This will be the seventh upstream bid round in Mexico since passage of the energy reform in mid-2014. The new bid round (named Round 2.2), comprises 12 onshore blocks for exploration in the Burgos and Southeastern Basins, covering collectively 5,006 km2 , with prospective resources of approximately 643.2 million barrels of crude equivalent and an original volume of approximately 93 ...
For far too long, Africa has been plagued by the demon of conflict minerals, which have played a key role in fuelling conflict and extensive human rights violations. The terrible scenes in Sierra Leone, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) remain vivid in the mind. In the history of conflict minerals, diamonds occupy the highest spot. They are valuable, portable and easily tradeable ...
The Act of 22 July 2016 Amending the Energy Law and Certain Other Acts was published on 2 August 2016. The act is intended to eliminate the black market in fuels, strengthen competition on the market, and improve Poland’s energy security. The amendments introduced by the act primarily concern the market for natural gas and liquid fuels ...
On July the 27th 2016, Law No. 20.936 that establishes New Power Transmission Systems and creates an Independent Coordinating Body for the National Power System (the “Transmission Law” or “New Law”) was published. Its stated objectives are to ensure that transmission does not become an obstacle to power generation, increase competition in the electrical market and boost the development of non-conventional renewable energies ...
While the initial rush of foreign investors to Myanmar slowed down in 2015, likely due to the November elections, 2016 is predicted to be a year of rapid growth. The almost complete transition of power to Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), formerly in opposition, represents an impressive step forward to stability for the nation, and to opening up to the world ...
The July 2016 issue of the International Financial Law Review (IFLR) included an international briefing article entitled “Renewable energy projects”. The article was contributed by SyCipLaw partner Rafael L. Encarnacion. The article discussed the challenges that the national legal regime poses to foreign investors seeking a higher equity stake for renewable energy projects, and the difficulty of procurement with either-end users or distribution utilities ...
According to latest news reports, Plinovodi – the company managing Slovenian gas pipelines, will be brought under majority state control, while the energy company, Petrol, is due to secure a majority stake in the gas wholesaler Geoplin under a contract signed this month. It should be noted that the Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SSH) and Petrol are currently the largest Geoplin shareholders. Geoplin, in turn, is the sole shareholder of Plinovodi ...
On June 25th, 2016, Law No. 20,930 that establishes the environmental conservation right was published in the Official Gazzette. The purpose of this law is to create a mechanism to simplify and promote the participation of private parties in the conservation of the environment, as a complement to the work done by the State in these matters. This right has its origin in Comparative Law ...
Recent news reports are informing us that an Anglo-Chinese consortium, consisting of British company Scarborough Group International and the Chinese owned China National Electric (CNEEC) company, has signed a contract to build a thermal power plant in Loznica, in the amount of EUR 230 million. The consortium received additional financial support from the China Development Bank, while the Chinese insurance company Sinosure also showed interest in participating in the project ...
Brexit – what does it involve and when could it happen? In a referendum, held in the United Kingdom on June 23, 2016, a majority of voters decided in favor of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) leaving the European Union (EU) (this exit from the EU by the UK is the so-called Brexit). The referendum is not binding ...
With more than 6-months of delay, the Government of the Republic of Serbia finally adopted the following package of decrees setting out the new incentive scheme for green energy:Decree on the Power Purchase Agreement, ("PPA Decree");Decree on incentive measures for the production of electric energy from renewable energy sources and from high-efficiency cogeneration of electric energy and thermal energy (" View More
The Environmental Evaluation Service (SEIA) has published the “Guide for Determination of the Ecological Flow for Hydropower Plants”.The objective of the Guide is to establish uniform criteria for determining the environmental flow regime in hydropower plant projects that are evaluated by the SEIA. The Guide incorporates the use of hydrological criteria, valuation of ecosystem services and anthropic uses, while also taking into account the particular project’s specific characteristics ...
On 30 June 2016, Vietnam’s National Assembly voted to delay implementation of Penal Code No. 100/2015/QH13 dated 27 November 2015 (the “Penal Code”), which was to take effect on 1 July 2016. It is not clear at this time when the Penal Code will be implemented and we understand it will undergo significant revisions prior to being approved for implementation by the National Assembly ...
Recently, public and political commotion has arisen in cases where the remuneration of managing directors increased, while the employees received no or a marginal increase in salary. This public debate was the reason for the government to propose an expansion of powers of the work's council on this subject ...
On June 8, discussion started in the Public Works Commission of the Senate over the law project which creates the state company, “Fondo de Infraestructura S.A.”. The Project shall be approved by a special quorum (quórum calificado) as indicated in article 19 No. 21 of the Political Constitution of the Republic of Chile ...
One of the liveliest parts of the recently held panel discussion organised by the Association for Sustainable Development and the Youth Forum of the European Movement, was revolving around Serbia's obligation to reach 27% of its total consumption of energy to be coming from renewable energy sources (RES) by year 2020 ...
The June 2016 edition of the Asian Legal Business (ALB) Asia Edition included a regional update article entitled “Philippines’ Economic Prospects Under a Duterte Presidency” by SyCipLaw partner Jose Florante M. Pamfilo. The article is found on page 11.Visit the ALB website to access an e-book copy of the publication ...
Background The UK referendum held on 23 June 2016 has resulted in a majority voting in favour of the UK leaving the EU. As of now the UK is still a part of the EU notwithstanding the vote on 23 June. It is now up to the UK parliament to decide if, and if so when, to formally start the process to leave the EU. The exit of a member state from the EU is dealt with in Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) which has only existed since 1 December 2009 ...
In the short term, the vote to leave the European Union doesn’t signal an immediate change. It’s business as usual for the UK and the EU. The EU Treaties and laws continue to apply without exception in the UK – as does the obligation to comply. The process of the UK exiting from the EU will, however, be the focus over the next few months ...
In a decision issued last May 20,1 the Québec Court of Appeal affirmed a judgment2 of the Superior Court of Québec rendered on October 28, 2013, which dismissed the action in damages for more than $7 million brought by a former representative in insurance of persons and in group savings plan brokerage, Mr. Alan Murphy, against the Autorité des marchés financiers (?AMF?).FactsMr ...
The Central Bank of Montenegro has recently published a report on foreign direct investments (FDI) that have been made in Montenegro during the first three months of this year. This FDI total has amounted to EUR 223 million, thus presenting proof of noticeable growth in this sense when compared to last year's EUR 100 million over the same period of time ...
The government recently announced that a bill will be submitted to Congress to modify the Chilean Data Privacy Law N° 19,628 (“DPL”). In connection with the future bill (yet to be presented before Congress), the Ministry of Finance sent to several members of Congress a set of informal minutes outlining the structure and core aspects of the bill.The following is a summary of the minutes, and an initial legal analysis prepared by Carey ...
At the recently held coordination meeting of IPA (Instrument for Pre Accession Assistance) multi-beneficiary programs in Herceg Novi, the main focus was put on announcing the importance of EU funds for the implementation of important internal reforms and the progress of the Western Balkan countries towards membership in the European Union ...
Guatemala is experiencing an unprecedented and well-deserved offensive against corruption. An Ex-President and Vice-President along with many ex-Cabinet members are currently being prosecuted for a growing array of crimes including passive graft, money laundering and tax fraud, among others. The indictments are being brought through the efforts of a UN-sponsored commission which, until recently, had limited success in dismantling “organized crime”, its principal mandate ...
