We have previously commented on the impact environmental concerns are having on those working in the traditional energy sectors. In particular, the focus on renewable energy has left many oil and gas workers nervous about their job security and ability to find alternative work if they are made redundant. Thankfully, it appears those concerns might be unfounded ...
As we indicated a few months ago, the partial reform of the intellectual property law continues its journey towards the Lower House of the Spanish Parliament. On Friday, February 14, the Cabinet approved the text of the preliminary bill, which must now get the green light from the consultative bodies and be debated in Parliament as a bill before its definitive approval. The main lines of the approved text are those we advanced in our previous post: 1 ...
On February 10, 2022, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (“MIIT”) issued a second draft of the Measures for Administration of Data Security in the Field of Industry and Informatization (for Trial Implementation) (Draft for Comment) (the “Measures”), which makes revisions to the first draft in response to public comments received following its issuance on September 30, 2021. This second draft opened for public comments until February 21, 2022 ...
In the first article of this three-part series we looked at the future of personal transport. In this second piece, we turn to consider mass public transport and how it could play a significant part in the future of commuting. Birmingham is beginning to make substantial changes to its transport infrastructure, but are the changes big enough? The Metro Opened on 30 May 1999, the West Midlands Metro provided a link between Wolverhampton and Birmingham ...
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 ...
he designation of critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) can result in significant and costly consequences for landowners, industry, government, and other entities—often with little if any evidence of a commensurate benefit to the species involved. In Critical Habitat and the Challenge of Regulating Small Harms, Professor Dave Owen provides a valuable contribution to assessing the role of critical habitat during consultation on federal agency actions under ESA section 7 ...
On January 1, 2017, most public works projects in California will be subject to new procedural requirements applicable to claims from contractors ...
In 2021, warehouse distribution centers were at the forefront of California law, regulations, and environmental initiatives. These efforts seek to regulate labor practices of warehouse operators and the environmental impacts caused by the expansion and concentration of distribution centers over the last decade. This article summarizes AB 701 and other initiatives in California targeting warehouse distribution operations ...
The cornerstone of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is access to information. CEQA generally requires local and state government agencies ("lead agencies") overseeing proposed projects to prepare project-related documents assessing potential environmental impacts. These documents inform decision-makers and the public of the project's potential environmental impacts ...
The American Bar Association (ABA) has issued its second formal opinion concerning Model Rule 4.2 in as many months. The so-called “no-contact rule” prohibits a lawyer from having contact with a represented party about the subject of the representation. The Rule does not, however, account for the “reply all” function in email communications ...
In a recent Federal Court decision, Justice Fothergill dismissed AbbVie?s applications for judicial review of the following decisions of the Minister of Health (the ?Minister?): that JAMP was not a ?second person? for the purposes of s 5(1) of the PM(NOC) Regulations; and to issue NOCs to JAMP for its SIMLANDI Presentations. Background AbbVie's drug HUMIRA first received approval in Canada in 2004 as a 50 mg/mL concentration of adalimumab ...
Following a period of consultation, the Government has confirmed that legislative changes will be made to ensure that “protected persons” will not be affected by the statutory amendment power being introduced as part of the abolition of defined benefit contracting-out ...
In response to the extraordinary economic and social impact of the ongoing Covid-19 public health crisis, the Government of Hong Kong has sought to provide support to the beleaguered commercial property sector. In the 2020 Policy Address, the Chief Executive announced the abolition of the Double Ad Valorem Stamp Duty (DSD) on non-residential property (NRP) transactions pursuant to the Public Revenue Protection (Stamp Duty) Order 2020 taking effect from 26 November 2020 ...
The Sappier Decision: Supreme Court of Canada Recognizes Aboriginal Right to Timber for Domestic Purposes and Clarifies Requirements for Establishing an Aboriginal RightOn December 7, 2006, the Supreme Court of Canada handed down its decision in the cases of Gray v. R and R. v. Sappier and Polchies ...
Late yesterday afternoon, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) published on its website what it characterizes as a “rough draft” of its forthcoming emergency[1] rule (the “Draft Rule”), which is 79 pages in length. This Draft Rule comes nine days after the agency’s release of an Interpretive Rule implementing, in part, the new Aboveground Storage Tank Act (the “AST Act”), a summary of which is available here ...
On February 3, 2015, House Bill 2574 (“HB 2574”) was introduced in the West Virginia Legislature. HB 2574 proposes to remedy the unintended consequences to businesses created by the passage of the Aboveground Storage Tank Act (the “AST Act”) during the 2014 regular session of the Legislature immediately following the contamination of the Elk River from Freedom Industries, Inc ...
By the time you are reading this, the October 1 deadline to register all aboveground storage tanks (“ASTs”) in West Virginia has passed, and the world is still turning. If you have not yet registered your ASTs, it is still a good idea to register any tanks that qualify as ASTs as soon as you can. However, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (“WVDEP”) is proceeding with implementation of the Aboveground Storage Tank Act, W. Va ...
A number of states have issued executive orders or other emergency declarations to provide relief from certain debt collection practices in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. Such measures include ceasing new wage attachments and vehicle repossessions, etc. None have been as comprehensive as the regulation issued by Massachusetts Attorney General, Maura Healey, on March 26, 2020 ...
Most patent applicants can now accelerate the examination of a select number of patent applications in exchange for abandoning an equal number of unexamined, pending applications, according to an announcement issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) on June 24, 2010 ...
In the world of information legislation in Scotland, the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 ("FOISA") reigns supreme. But is this Act the most appropriate tool to use in all circumstances? The answer is most definitely no. Lurking behind this headline Act are two pieces of other information-related legislation that, in many circumstances, are more powerful tools to access and use certain information ...
