On 2 March, 25 of the 27 EU members committed to the new "Fiscal Compact" concept, signed the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union. The Treaty, which is technically an intergovernmental treaty and not an EU instrument (due to the UK and the Czech Republic not wishing to sign up to it), was introduced in December 2011 by Germany and France ...
The latest additions to the Greek debt saga and the Eurozone crisis are the Credit Default Swap holders and the ISDA. But who are they and what is their role? What is a Credit Default Swap (CDS)? A CDS is most simply described as a type of insurance against the risk of a default on a debt issued by a third party (the reference obligor) ...
On 24 February 2012, Greece opened the Private Sector Involvement debt swap deal (PSI) to bondholders. Essentially the deal involved a swap that meant bondholders would have to accept a 53.5% cut on the face value of their bonds which, in real terms, meant a loss of approximately 75% on their investment. The deal will be the largest financial restructuring in history, dwarfing the Argentinean restructuring in 2005 valued at EUR 33 ...
Decree-Law no. 50/2012, of 2 March is the most recent legislative measure on maritime insurance in Portugal. This legislation, that transposes into the Portuguese legal system from the Directive 2009/20/EC dated 23 April 2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council, regarding the insurance of ship owners for maritime claims (the «Directive»), has entered into force on last 3 March ...
Law no.11/2012 of 8 March establishes new rules for prescription and dispensing of medicines. Prescriptions for medicines must now include the International Nonproprietary Name (INN) of the active substance,its pharmaceutical form, the dosage, the presentation and the posology. The prescription may also include a trade name by brand or indication of the name of the holder of the marketing authorisation ...
On 29 March,the Ministerial Order No. 84/2012 that declared the Tribunal for Competition,Regulation and Supervision (“TCRS” or “Tribunal”) operational was finally published in the Official Journal. Said Ministerial Order constitutes the final phase of the legislative procedure initiated with Law No. 46/2011, of 24.6.2011, and further developed by Decree-Law No. 67/2012, of 20.3.2012 ...
In the history of the Eurozone crisis, Spain has been a special case. It was always the "teachers pet" when it came to sovereign debt, that is, until recently. On 9 June 2012, Spain received an offer of up to EUR 100 bn in financial support from the EU for its ailing banking sector. What does that mean for Spain and the rest of the Eurozone and how did Europe’s fourth-largest economy find itself in this state? BACKGROUND Spain has been unlucky in many respects ...
Third Amendment to the Employment CodeLaw 23/2012, which was published on 25 June, introduces the third amendment to the Employment Code. The new legislative text results, to a great extent, from the commitments made by the Portuguese State in the Memorandum of Understanding of 17 May 2012, and its aim is to improve employment legislation by updating, organising and speeding up processes ...
Company Recovery Fund aimed at Small and Medium CompaniesIn partnership with the five main Portuguese banks1, the State has created the Company Recovery Fund which targets the recovery of small and medium companies (SMCs)2. The name of the fund in Portuguese is FUNDO RECUPERAÇÃO, FCR ...
GOVERNMENT PUBLISHED PROPOSAL TO CHANGE THE INSOLVENCY REGIME Insolvency proceedings are currently governed by the Insolvency and Corporate Recovery Code approved by Decree-Law 53/04 of 18 March (referred to here by its Portuguese initials ‘CIRE’). From its entry into force to date, this legislation has been subject to five legislative amendments ...
The highly anticipated law setting out the foreign exchange rules applicable to the petroleum sector was enacted through Law No. 2/12 of 13 January 2012 (PFEL). The new framework came into force on 12 May 2012 and will prove to be a game changer in Angolan petroleum and banking sectors. Thus far the foreign exchange rules vis-à-vis petroleum concessions were mainly set forth in foreign exchange annexes D and C to Concession Decrees ...
The real estate sector is among the most important in Mozambique and enjoys incentives from the State. Access to land is crucial to investment in this sector.As land in Mozambique is the property of the State and, for this reason, cannot be sold, mortgaged or charged, besides occupation, the only vehicles the law provides for access to land are the right to use and benefit from land - Direito de Uso and Aproveitamento da Terra “DUAT”) or Special Licences ...
Between 22 May 2012 and 4 June 2012, staff teams from the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund (“IMF”) visited Lisbon to conduct the fourth review (the “Review”) of Portugal’s economic programme (the “Programme”). A copy of the initial statement can be downloaded here:http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/articles/financial_operations/2012-06-04-portugal_en.htm And a copy of the full report can be downloaded here: http://ec.europa ...
Overview of the Mining Activity in Portugal: In 2010, there were 56 mines in operation across the country. In the same year, a total volume of 4,664,978 tons of mineral resources was produced and the export volume was of € 735 million[1]. These are impressive data from the Government evidencing a growing sector of activity ...
The CorporateGovernance Code of the Portuguese Corporate Governance Institute (Instituto Português de Corporate Governance – “IPCG”) waspublished on 30 January 2013. For the first time, commercial companies haveaccess to a corporate governance best practice code prepared by civil societywhich is an alternative to the existing corporate governance code of the SecuritiesMarket Commission (CMVM) ...
On 28 January 2013 the «Diário da República» (official gazette) published a set of measures1 - that came into force the following day - to improve and streamline the special scheme2 for granting a Portuguese ‘investment residence permit’ (“IRP”) to foreign nationals to enable them to make certain investments in the country ...
Increase in the Registration of Patents, Trademarks and Property Protected by Copyright - The various plans and the range of measures included in them that have been described have produced practical results, particularly an increase in the applications for registration of patents, trademarks and protection by copyright, specifically for property such as software. In terms of applications for patents registered in 2011, China came in first place above the USA and Japan ...
It is known that the effects of better infrastructures on a country’s economy are enormous and this fact has been widely recognised in the ambitious Strategic Development Plan laid down by the Government of East Timor, which highlights that the “policy framework to 2020 will ensure that Timor has quality national infrastructures in place by the end of this decade ...
The Commission has adopted, on 11 June 2013, a proposal for a Directive on damages actions for the infringement of EU and national competition laws. If adopted by the EU legislator, the Directive would require the EU Member States to enact implementing legislation within a two year period. Although the groundbreaking features of the proposal make its final adoption uncertain, such adoption would have enormous implications for private competition damages actions within the EU ...
Law 55-A/2012 of 29 October – published last year as part of the package of measures to combat the financial crisis – made ownership, use or surface rights of residential urban properties with an official taxable value (valor patrimonial tributário) equal to or greater than EUR 1 million subject to Stamp Duty, calculated at the rate of 1% ...
It is known that the effects of better infrastructures on a country’s economy are enormous and this fact has been widely recognised in the ambitious Strategic Development Plan laid down by the Government of East Timor, which highlights that the “policy framework to 2020 will ensure that Timor has quality national infrastructures in place by the end of this decade ...
The various plans and the range of measures included in them that have been described have produced practical results, particularly an increase in the applications for registration of patents, trademarks and protection by copyright, specifically for property such as software. In terms of applications for patents registered in 2011, China came in first place above the USA and Japan ...
