For several years now, a leniency model exists in Macedonia and it is shaped in line with the EU leniency model. Nevertheless, theMacedonian Competition Commission("Commission") decided to refine the existing rules (contained in the Law on Protection of Competition and the accompanying Leniency Regulation) by recently adopting the Leniency Guidelines ("Guidelines") ...
Can computers learn and reason? If so, what are the limitations of the tasks that they can be given? These questions have been the subject of countless debate as far back as 1937, when Alan Turing published his work on computable numbers1. Many researchers have devoted themselves to developing methods that would allow computers to interact more easily with human beings and integrate processes used to learn from the situations encountered ...
A team led by Dr. Guido Hoffmann, LL.M., has been involved in structuring the transaction, corporate, labor and commercial law in a takeover offer for the German wheel manufacturer Uniwheheels Questions and due diligence. The takeover offer is valid for 100 percent of the outstanding Uniwheheels shares and takes place with the consent of the owner of 61 percent of the shares. The takeover is conditional on Superior acquiring at least 75 percent of the shares in Uniwheels AG ...
In addition to registering their trade marks with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (“CIPC”), brand owners should ensure that their trade marks are protected online. One way of doing this is by registering a domain name. What is a Domain Name?A domain name allows a party to establish its identity on the internet. It assists internet users to easily identify brand owners on the internet and to access their sites on the web ...
On March 1, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) adopted final rules that will require registrants to include a hyperlink to each exhibit identified in nearly all of the registration statements and reports subject to Item 601 of Regulation S-K or under Form F-10 or Form 20-F (the “Final Rule”) ...
Most people probably associate cyber-crime with issues of national security—what with Russia dominating so much space in the headlines, lately. However, cybersecurity breaches can have a palpable and damaging effect on everyday individuals, due to how often they’re tied to corporate security breaches involving highly sensitive personal information like credit card numbers, social security numbers, and contact information ...
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 ...
A federal court in the District of Columbia has ordered the U.S. EPA to complete its review of air toxics emission standards for 13 source categories by June 30, 2020. Under the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, EPA must set maximum achievable control technology ("MACT") standards for stationary sources of hazardous air pollutants. The agency must review and, if necessary, revise those standards every eight years. 42 U.S.C. §§ 7412(d)(6), 7412(f)(2) ...
The UAE has embarked on an ambitious undertaking by introducing new business friendly mutual funds regulations to stimulate the UAE funds industry and provide the foundation for a more developed regional funds regime in the Gulf Cooperation Council (the “GCC”) ...
The Idea of Using Whistleblowers to Uncover and Combat Anticompetitive Arrangements is Spreading Ever Wider. Recently the European Commission Announced Introduction of Such a Tool. In a press release issued on 16 March 2017, the European Commission announced that it has launched a new tool of antitrust policy. It is an anonymous channel through which individuals can notify the Commission of cartels and other anticompetitive practices ...
At the end of 2015, the Belgian Minister of Justice gave an overview of planned reforms of Belgian company law. These major reforms are scheduled to be passed by the Belgian parliament in the second half of 2017. Even though the relevant legislative texts are not yet available, details of the envisaged reforms are becoming clearer. In this news flash, we will describe some of the planned changes ...
On 8 March 2017, the European Commission adopted a Commission Delegated Regulation, including Annexes (PRIIPs RTS), supplementing the Regulation on key information documents (KIDs) for packaged retail and insurance-based investment products (PRIIPs Regulation). The PRIIPs RTS provide for regulatory technical standards regarding the presentation, content, review and revision of KIDs and the conditions for fulfilling the requirement to provide KIDs ...
As of March 14, 2017, the recently enacted Consumer Review Fairness Act (the “Act”)1 will prohibit “gag clauses” – contract provisions that prohibit or restrict a consumer's ability to write negative reviews of products and services. While enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and state attorneys general is set to begin on December 14, 2017, businesses should act now to ensure compliance ...
On January 1, 2017, AB 1661 went into effect, requiring local agency officials, including board members, to receive sexual harassment prevention training and education. This training requirement is similar to the sexual harassment and prevention training already required for supervisory employees every two (2) years under AB 1825. Local agencies should expand their sexual harassment prevention training programs to include agency officials who are covered under the new law ...
After having prepared the first draft of the new data protection law back in 2014 (which was ignored by the Government in the meantime, and even dismissed by the Ministry of Justice's introduction of a separate draft law in 2015), the Serbian Data Protection Commissioner ("Commissionaire")1 published the second draft of the new law on March 6th, 2017 ("Draft") ...
The March issue of the International Financial Law Review (IFLR) includes an international briefing article by SyCipLaw Partner Jose Florante M. Pamfilo entitled “Philippines: Foreign equity ownership decision”. The article discusses the Philippine Supreme Court decision on the case of Roy v. Herbosa (GR no. 207246) to invalidate the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Memorandum Circular no ...
The H-1B visa filing frenzy is upon us once again! Because of the chronic shortage of nonimmigrant visas for foreign workers in the specialty occupation category (H-1B visas), employers seeking to hire new H-1B workers must file their petitions on April 1, 2014 for work beginning October 1, 2014 ...
The Treasury Department has announced further extensions for medium-sized and large-sized employers for compliance with the “employer mandate” of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”). The employer mandate requires employers with a threshold level of employees to provide affordable health insurance to 95% of their full-time employees. Under the ACA, a full-time employee is defined as any employee who works on average 30 or more hours per week ...
In the latest development relating to West Virginia’s new aboveground storage tank (“AST”) legislation, yesterday afternoon the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (“WVDEP”) filed with the West Virginia Secretary of State its finalized Interpretive Rule outlining mechanisms for compliance with the imminent deadlines under the Aboveground Storage Tank Act (the “AST Act”), W. Va. Code §§ 22-30-1 et seq ...
In the latest development relating to West Virginia’s new aboveground storage tank (“AST”) legislation, on December 22, 2014, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (“WVDEP”) filed with the West Virginia Secretary of State its proposed legislative rule implementing the Aboveground Storage Tank Act (the “AST Act”), 47 C.S.R. 63 ...
The U.S. General Services Administration recently added Green Globes as an additional third-party green building certification system for federal government construction projects. With this addition, many are now asking about the difference between Green Globes and LEED. Green Globes has emerged, in some parts of the U.S., as a rival building option to the more well-known Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (“LEED”) system ...
In our previous articles (part one, part two and part three), we discussed ways in which trademarks are maintained and protected through filings that are mandatory and which filings would result in abandonment or cancellation if not timely submitted. There are also optional filings a trademark owner can take advantage of to optimize and secure its rights under a U.S. trademark registration. An Affidavit of Incontestability Under Section 15 is one such method ...
Despite the highly publicized announcement that enforcement of the “Pay-or-Play” mandate (which requires businesses to provide health insurance to all full-time employees or face yearly penalties of up to $3,000 per employee) has been delayed until 2015, important considerations remain for businesses and consumers about how they will ultimately be affected by the Affordable Care Act ...
Good news! The murkiness surrounding declarant rights in North Carolina became a little clearer this summer. On July 7, 2014, Governor McCrory signed an amendment to the Planned Community Act addressing the transfer of declarant rights. This article only addresses lender’s rights or liability surrounding declarant rights if that lender were in acquiring ownership of that collateral in the context of foreclosure or “deed in lieu ...
It is undeniable that technology and globalization are changing the way lawyers practice law. Technology has not just made people, places, and things much more accessible to us – it has impacted the way we store information and documents, the way we communicate with and advise clients, how we conduct investigations, and how we participate in discovery ...
