In commercial contracts there is often a ‘waterfall’ clause, which provides for a dispute escalation process prior to the commencement of formal legal proceedings, leaving litigation as the last resort. Such clauses were determined to be legally binding in Cable & Wireless Plc v IBM United Kingdom Ltd [2002] EWHC 2059 (Comm) ...
We have news on the M&A front coming from the south of our region, where there have been reports aboutViva Fresh, a Priština based Kosovan grocery retailer, looking to sell a minority stake to the View More
British businesses have long relied on temporary labour from the European Union to service short or medium-term projects. From an immigration perspective, prior to Brexit this relationship used to be frictionless. There was no red tape and no need to worry about what was or was not permitted under the UK’s immigration rules and policies. People arrived, people worked, people left and businesses were happy ...
Since the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, municipalities in Michigan have met virtually under the authority of a series of executive orders issued by Governor Whitmer permitting public bodies, except the state legislature, to meet by virtual means. These executive orders, including most recently Executive Order No ...
As the coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic continues, many public companies are examining how best to accommodate their upcoming annual shareholder meetings in light of complying with government orders and recommendations limiting public gatherings and non-essential travel. Accordingly, many corporate executives are now considering moving their annual shareholder meetings to a virtual or “hybrid” format in light of current public health and safety concerns ...
In October 2022, the Virginia Supreme Court decided the case of Hawkins v. Town of South Hill (view the opinion here), which fundamentally alters 40 years of precedent in the Commonwealth concerning what is considered confidential and not subject to production in response to a Virginia Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request. Earlier this month, the Circuit Court issued its decision on remand in light of the Virginia Supreme Court’s decision in Hawkins ...
On March 2, 2021, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam signed the Consumer Data Protection Act (CDPA or law) into law. This makes Virginia the second state, behind California, to adopt a comprehensive consumer data privacy law. Like the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) and EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the CDPA creates a number of privacy obligations for businesses and gives Virginia consumers more control over their personal data. The CDPA takes effect on Jan ...
The Vietnam Competition and Consumer Authority (“VCCA”) recently issued its Annual Report for 2021 (“Report”). In this Client Alert, we outline the information provided by the VCCA on its activities related to the Law on Competition (2018) (“Law”) in 2021. While not addressed in this Client Alert, the Report also outlines other activities of the VCCA during this period including in respect of consumer protection ...
The Vietnam Competition and Consumer Authority recently published a report on Economic Concentration Control for the period July 2019- July 2021 which is available in Vietnamese and English on its website. Some highlights of the report are as follows: The total value of economic concentrations in Vietnam in 2019 was USD 7.2 billion which was approximately 94.7% of 2018’s total value; in contrast, the total value of economic concentrations in Vietnam in 2020 was only USD 3 ...
The government of Vietnam issued Decree No. 19/2023/ND-CP dated 28 April 2023 (“Decree 19”) to provide guidance for the Law on Anti-Money Laundering. Decree 19, effective as of its issuance date, includes the following: Details on Know Your Client (“KYC”) Decree 19 sets out the specific situations in which financial institutions must carry out KYC procedures ...
The Government of Vietnam recently released a draft decree (“Draft Decree”) amending Decree 153/2020/ND-CP that was issued on 31 December 2020 on the trading of privately placed corporate bonds on the domestic market and selling corporate bonds on the international market (“Current Decree”). The Draft Decree was designed to facilitate a more transparent and effective corporate bond market ...
The Vietnam Competition and Consumer Authority has released several documents related to the merger notification regime that was effectively implemented on 15 May 2020, the effective date of Decree 35. As the National Competition Committee has not yet been appointed, the documents clarify that, in accordance with its responsibility under Article 7 ...
On 18 June 2019, the Council for Arbitration Development at the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, authorized Vienna International Arbitral Centre (“VIAC”) to administer arbitration disputes with the seat (place of the arbitration) in Russia. According to Secretary General of VIAC, Dr. Alice Fremuth-Wolf, the arbitration institution receives approximately 60 – 70 claims per year, with 5 – 7 involving Russian parties ...
On 18 June 2019, the Council for Arbitration Development at the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, authorized Vienna International Arbitral Centre («VIAC») to administer arbitration disputes with the seat (place of the arbitration) in Russia. According to Secretary General of VIAC, Dr. Alice Fremuth-Wolf, the arbitration institution receives approximately 60 – 70 claims per year, with 5 – 7 involving Russian parties ...
On 18 June 2019, the Council for Arbitration Development at the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, authorized Vienna International Arbitral Centre («VIAC») to administer arbitration disputes with the seat (place of the arbitration) in Russia. According to Secretary General of VIAC, Dr. Alice Fremuth-Wolf, the arbitration institution receives approximately 60 – 70 claims per year, with 5 – 7 involving Russian parties ...
The Norwegian Data Protection Authority has notified Stortinget of an infringement fine of two million kroner and imposed an infringement fine of four million kroner on Østre Toten municipality. In both cases, the Authority emphasizes that it is a clear management responsibility to secure the business against such attacks, and that two-factor authentication, awareness-raising and an appropriate risk and vulnerability analysis are key measures ...
As we take stock on 2022, and look forward to 2023, let’s briefly reflect on some of the topics that are current with our Living sector teams and clients ...
As anyone who’s interested in trade mark law knows, it is possible to protect product shapes through trade mark registrations, but it isn’t easy. In some countries, it’s particularly difficult, as two recent cases show. Vespa Let's start with the positive news. Piaggio recently secured an important victory in its home country, with an Italian court ruling that a three-dimensional trade mark registration for the shape of the famous Vespa scooter is valid ...
Carmen Verdonck and Stefanie Vyncke wrote the chapter onBelgian Law in the 2009 edition of 'Getting The Deal Through: VerticalAgreements'. This updated edition examines the regulation of distribution practices in jurisdictions worldwide.Antitrust law1 ...
This inBrief highlights the different aspects of venture capital, animportant source of raising money for start-up companies which donot have access to capital markets. We discuss the different types ofventure financing through which start-ups can raise money andwhich are taken into account when assessing valuations ...
With the well-known challenges of the last ten months or so, market conditions deteriorated substantially over 2022 and the venture capital (VC) market became a far more challenging one in which to agree a valuation and raise money. While those challenges are not over, from speaking to VC clients and others, there's a cautious optimism that as 2023 progresses the market will slowly improve ...
