Long before the creation of limited liability companies, the best practice for companies or individuals that operated multiple distinct businesses or held multiple significant assets, such as real estate, was to segregate each distinct business or asset into a separate entity so that the liabilities of one of the businesses or assets would not affect the other businesses or assets ...
The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill was introduced to Parliament on 20 July 2006. Westminster and the Scottish Executive have agreed corporate liability for death is a health and safety matter reserved to Westminster and therefore a UK wide Act is required. The Bill makes provision for a new offence to be called corporate manslaughter in England and Wales and corporate homicide in Scotland ...
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 ...
The article was first published in Invest Romania, November 2006 issue.The Bill for amending Company Law no. 31/1990 as subsequently modified,supplemented and republished (the “Company Law Bill”) was approved by the Senate on 30August 2006 and is currently at the Chamber of Deputies commissions undergoing a fast-trackapproval process ...
After nearly eight years in the offing, the Companies Bill looks likely to become law in November of this year, although it is likely that most of its provisions will not take effect until autumn 2007.Despite being a massive piece of legislation, for the most parts its provisions have not been controversial and have generally been welcomed ...
In short, yes! The Companies Bill is due to come into force in 2007 and contains the most drastic changes that company law has seen in the last ten years. Once implemented it is intended to simplify and improve the existing regulations. The Bill is designed to try and reduce the regulatory burden on businesses and in particular small enterprises ...
On 8 September 2006, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (‘the CAT’) gave judgment in favour of London Metal Exchange (‘LME’) to recover costs in respect of its appeal against an interim measures direction (‘IMD’) issued (and then withdrawn) by the Office of Fair Trading (‘the OFT’). The OFT’s first IMD arose from a complaint against, inter alia, LME’s plan to extend its opening hours for its non-ferrous base metals trading platform, LME Select, to capture the Asian markets ...
The European Regional Development Fund (“ERDF”) appears to be one of theappropriate means allowing Romania to reach, within the following years, the level of economicand social cohesion requested within the European Union (ERDF representing along with theEuropean Social Fund the new generation of Structural Funds)1 ...
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven Emirates that was formed by Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Sharjah and Umm Al Quwain following the end of the British protectorate over the ‘Trucial States’ in 1971. The Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah joined the federation the following year ...
On 8 September 2006, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (‘the CAT’) gave judgment in favour of London Metal Exchange (‘LME’) to recover costs in respect of its appeal against an interim measures direction (‘IMD’) issued (and then withdrawn) by the Office of Fair Trading (‘the OFT’). The OFT’s first IMD(FN1) arose from a complaint against, inter alia, LME’s plan to extend its opening hours for its non-ferrous base metals trading platform, LME Select, to capture the Asian markets ...
The Jebel Ali Free Zone (the "Free Zone") has authorized for the first time the incorporation of a commercial entity in the Free Zone owned by multiple parties. Dubai Implementing Regulation No. 1/99 (the "Implementing Regulation"), permits the incorporation in the Free Zone of "free zone companies" (a "FZCO") to be regulated by a new FZCO Department, which will have the responsibility for the formation, registration and regulation of FZCOs ...
The Emirates’ first stock exchange, the Dubai Financial Market, has been trading since mid 2000. A stock exchange was subsequently established in Abu Dhabi. Although the two markets are not presently linked, they are both subject to regulation under the UAE Securities & Commodities Exchange Law (the “Law”), which is a Federal legislation ...
Comprehensive regulation of antitrust and unfair competition activities was established in Taiwan when the Fair Trade Act came into effect in 1992 (as amended, the ¡§Fair Trade Act¡¨). The regulatory framework is similar to civil law systems such as those used in Germany and Japan. Over the past 12 years, the Fair Trade Act has been amended three times, the most recent amendments being made after Taiwan¡¦s accession to the World Trade Organization in 2002 and taking effect in 2003 ...
Legislation and jurisdiction1. What is the relevant legislation and who enforces it?Competition is regulated under Competition Law no. 21/1996, as subsequently amended andsupplemented (the Competition Law), and under Competition Council regulations andguidelines. The Romanian competition legislation generally follows the provisions of EuropeanCommunity legislation ...
When the company was purchased, you will have entered into a Share Purchase Agreement. If you think that there might be potential for a warranty claim, you need to revisit the agreement to establish the basis of your claim and the manner in which it requires to be processed. The warranties in your agreement amount to assurances from the seller with regards to the condition of the business and outstanding liabilities at the time the deal was completed ...
Film Services OfficeThe Film Guarantee Fund (FGF) : First established in April 2003, the FGF’s main objective is to assist local film production companies to obtain loans from financial lending institutions for the purpose of producing films and to help develop a film finance infrastructure in Hong Kong ...
In recent years, we have seen a surge in co-productions in Asia, whether in the form of co-productions between parties from different parts of Asia (which would normally involve both financial and production contribution from all parties), or co-productions between Western and Chinese parties ...
On 14 July 2006, the Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese Governments signed a ground-breaking agreement entitled “An Arrangement on Reciprocal Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters by the Courts of the Mainland and of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region pursuant to Choice of Court Agreements between Parties Concerned” (the “Arrangement”), under which they agreed to recognise and enforce judgments made in each others courts ...
In an effort to “rejuvenate the excitement of going to the movies”, The Drive-In became Hong Kong’s first drive-in cinema when its first of 4 screens opened to the public on December 6 2006. The second is tentatively to open by Christmas and the last two, by Chinese New Year 2007 . Situated in the West Kowloon Cultural District, the venture is owned by Sowell Resources Limited who also holds the lease to the site of The Drive-in ...
Another victim of the economic boom in Hong Kong is the Cine-Art Cinema which was officially closed in November 2006. The cinema was the only venue on Hong Kong Island that programmed independent, arthouse films. The only other arthouse cinema is Broadway Cinemateque in Kowloon. Due to rising property prices and a declining audience for several years, Cine-Art had no choice but to close ...
On 17 November 2006, the Beijing First Intermediate Court rejected the copyright infringement claim made by seven music companies, namely Sony BMG, Warner, EMI, Universal, Gold Label, Go East and Cinepoly, against NASDAQ-listed Baidu.com. The music companies which owned the copyright, alleged that the MP3 search service of Baidu.com allowed users to freely download 137 songs and sought an injunction as well as damages in the amount of RMB1,690,000 ...
The war between new DVD technologies, Blu-ray and HD DVD are reminiscent of the battle between the VHS and Betamax videocassette formats. Who will be the winner in this war is yet to be seen as these formats are now becoming available in retail outlets. Supported by Sony, Blu-ray is the next generation optical disc which was developed to store large amounts of data and to enable recording, rewriting and playback of high definition (HD) video ...
The CAT has confirmed, with the Court of Appeal's blessing, that it will not only srcutinise a regulator's decision but that it will also, in certain cases, substitute the regulator's decision with that of its own without remitting the case back to the regulator for a second bite at the cherry.The CAT's approach offers possibilities for both a complainant and for those companies subject to regulatory investigation ...
During the last 10 years there has been a significant market debate about the position Chile should take in connection with open digital television. This debate is all teh more significant because this service may predominate in the future because of its ability to allowing users to better administer the content they wish to watch. Since the beginning of the debate, different countries have tried to introduce their respective technologies in Chile ...
Following a year and half long market investigation, the OFT published on 7 December 2006 its report on the commercial use of public sector information (PSI). The report makes a number of recommendations aimed at increasing "fair" access to PSI, particularly where the public sector body holding the information is itself active in providing value added products to end users ...
