A REVIEW OF THE EVIDENCE (AMENDMENT) ACT 2023 INTRODUCTION The Evidence Act (Amendment) Act 2023 (the Amended Act) was signed into Law by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the 12th day of June 2023. The Amended Act was aimed at amending the provisions of the Evidence Act 2011 (the Principal Act) to be in conformity with global technological advancements in evidence taking and its applicability covers all judicial proceedings before Courts in Nigeria ...
A recent US Supreme Court decision highlights a defence that’s raised from time to time in intellectual property (IP) matters, but rarely succeeds. It’s the defence of delay, something that’s referred to by various names, including ‘acquiescence’, ‘estoppel’ and ‘laches’ ...
The Parliament of Rwanda recently passed two key laws to counter money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (“WMDs”), in an effort to strengthen and increase confidence in its financial system. Law No. 74/2019 of 29 January 2020 establishing the Financial Intelligence Centre (“Law No ...
The relationship between parody and IP rights comes up quite often. Just recently the Advocate General of Europe’s highest court, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), handed down his opinion in the case of Deckmyn, a case which involves the allegedly parodic use by a Belgian political party of a comic in which there is copyright ...
Section 189 of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (the "LRA") provides that an employer, after giving notice that it is contemplating dismissals on the grounds of its operational requirements, must enter into a consultation process with regard to the proposed dismissals ...
A recent Australian decision on keyword usage of a registered trade mark is in line with decisions in many other countries, including South Africa. The facts in the case of Veda Advantage Limited v Malouf Group Enterprises (Pty) Ltd (2016) FCA 255 were straightforward. Veda is a company that compiles credit reports and has trade mark registrations for the trade mark Veda in class 36 for financial services. Malouf is a company that helps people remove their negative credit ratings ...
AELEX POWER SECTOR GUIDE - % ǼLEX Legal .avada-select-parent .select-arrow{background-color:#ffffff}.select-arrow{background-color:#ffffff} With the country proceeding to fundamentally restructure the industry to secure the supply of reliable, affordable and, ultimately, sustainable energy, the Nigerian government has introduced some new policies to curb some of these fundamental limitations ...
Africa Importance of gas for African energy transformation highlighted at IP Week Government cooperation is important but the private sector is expected to lead the way in boosting access to energy - this was the message from an African panel session at IP Week, held in London ...
Traditionally investors have looked towards developed countries for investment opportunities and, more often than not, investment decisions have been based on the economic development and growth of such countries. However, recently investment strategies have shifted towards emerging markets rather than established markets and for this reason an ever increasing number of investors are turning their attention to the African market ...
ENSafrica recently released Africa Regulatory Insight: Coronavirus (COVID-19) Regulatory Measures. This comprehensive report outlines the COVID-19 regulatory measures for each country across Sub-Sahara Africa, providing the sector, measure, effective date/status and key points and impact for each region. The information provided herein is intended to provide a general overview, and is not an exhaustive list of all legislatice developments across Sub-Sahara ...
ETHIOPIA: Bills amending customs and VAT proclamations endorsed by Council of Ministers On 26 May 2019, the Council of Ministers endorsed a new bill amending Customs Proclamation No. 859/2014, expected to address practical problems and create a conducive business environment. The Council of Ministers also endorsed a bill amending a number of provisions of Value Added Tax Proclamation No. 285/2002 on 18 May 2019 ...
ANGOLA: Introduction of VAT postponed The introduction of value-added tax (“VAT”), scheduled for 1 July 2019, was postponed to October following discussions between the Angolan Government and the Business Technical Group (“GTE”), which advocated implementing VAT only in January 2020 ...
AFRICA: African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement enters into force The Parliament of Zimbabwe and the Ethiopian House of Representatives approved the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (“ACFTA”) on 14 March and 21 March 2019, respectively. The Moroccan Council of Government approved the ACFTA on 21 February 2019 ...
DJIBOUTI: International Free Trade Zone launchedThe first phase of the Djibouti International Free Trade Zone (“DIFTZ”), expected to be the largest free trade zone in Africa, was launched on 5 July 2018. The DIFTZ will house a variety of manufacturing plants and offer investors various incentives, including tax exemptions ...
COMOROS: Treaty with United Arab Emirates enters into forceThe income tax treaty between the Comoros Islands and the United Arab Emirates, recently entered into force. GHANA: VAT withholding agents appointed In an attempt to improve value-added tax (“VAT”) compliance, the Ghana Revenue Authority (“GRA”) announced the appointment of identified VAT withholding agents per industry on 17 May 2018 ...
Africa tax in brief DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Amendment of Mining Regulation published Decree No. 18/024, amending the Mining Regulation, was published in the Official Gazette on 12 June 2018 ...
AFRICA: African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement developments Botswana and Zambia signed the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (“ACFTA”) on 10 February 2019 at the 32nd summit of the African Union in Addis Ababa, whereas the Ethiopian Council of Ministers approved the ACFTA on 2 February 2019 and the Parliament of Senegal on 23 January 2019 ...
BOTSWANA: New tax management system introduced With effect from 1 April 2020, the Botswana Unified Revenue Service is introducing a new tax management system called Lekgetho Live. Under the new system, companies’ Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (“CIPA”) numbers will be used as their tax identification number (“TIN”), whereas citizens’ TINs will consist of the letter I and their Omang number ...
ANGOLA: Draft law on tax and foreign exchange compliance approvedParliament approved a draft law on the Extraordinary Regime on Tax and Foreign Exchange Compliance, regulating the repatriation of assets held abroad that have not been declared in Angola in December 2017 ...
BOTSWANA: Amending protocol to treaty with France signedOn 27 July 2017, Botswana and France signed an amending protocol to the Botswana/France Income Tax Treaty, 1999 in Gaborone. CAMEROON: VAT refund procedure available onlineThe Cameroonian Minister of Finance issued a communiqué on 14 June 2017, announcing that the value-added tax (“VAT”) refund procedure has been simplified and is available online as from 3 July 2017 for enterprises registered with the Large Tax Unit ...
ANGOLA: Introduction of transfer pricing unitA transfer pricing unit, set up as an administrative technical structure forming part of the Large Taxpayers Directorate of the General Tax Administration, was launched on 25 September 2017 and will be responsible for monitoring compliance with Angola’s transfer pricing regime introduced by Presidential Decree No.147/13 of 1 October 2013 ...
GHANA: Customs duty on spare parts abolished On 14 June 2017, pursuant to the measures proposed in the 2017 Budget, Parliament passed the Customs Amendment Bill, 2017, which amends the Customs Act, 2015 by abolishing customs duties on the importation of vehicular (including motorcycles and bicycles) spare parts. GHANA: VAT Flat Rate Scheme practice note issued The Ghana Revenue Authority published Practice Note No ...
BENIN: Public Procurement Holders to Benefit from a Tax Regime Derogating from Indirect Taxation The 2017 budget law introduced a derogatory tax regime from which certain public procurement holders may benefit by the Benin tax authorities, assuming indirect taxation. This includes customs duties, internal taxes on turnover (mainly value-added tax ("VAT")) on prices and values of goods and supplies acquired or incorporated into the realisation of the contract ...
