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There was renewed buzz around contingent convertible capital instruments (CoCos) last year, off the back of impressive issuances by UBS and Barclays. The permanent write-down – rather than conversion to equity – adopted in both deals led to speculation of a new breed of CoCo. But these deals represent just one of many twists to the classic CoCo concept that will appear this year.

Freddy Karyadi Oene Marseille Bapepam-LK has recently issued a revision of the procedure for the implementation of quasi-reorganisation through Regulation No IX.L.1 attachment Decision of Head of Bapepam and LK No KEP-718/BL/2012 (which has replaced Decision of the Head of Bapepam No KEP-16/PM/2004). The background to the issuance of the new regulation is the convergence of the Financial Accounting Standard Statement (Pernyataan Standar Akutansi Keuangan, or PSAK) to IFRS under which it was considered that PSAK 51, regarding accounting for quasi-reorganisation, was not compatible with the concept under IFRS. In relation to this point, the Board of Financial Accounting Standards – Indonesian Institute of Accountants (Dewan Standar Akuntansi Keuangan – Ikatan Akuntan Indonesia/DSAK-IAI) published its Statement of Revocation of Financial Accounting Standard (Pernyataan Pencabutan Standar Akuntansi Keuangan/PPSAK) No 10, revoking PSAK 51, effective on January 1 2013.

Bertha Xiomara Ortega Since 2008, Nicaragua has been modernising the administration of labour justice. The Ministry of Labor started the modernisation with the implementation of an oral process for the fulfilment of certain formalities required before it, such as termination of employment contracts for justified cause, collective suspensions and business closures. The implementation of this oral process has been successful because it reduces and simplifies the processes. In the judicial field, the National Labor Court of Appeals was established in 2011 and has national jurisdiction to hear as the second and final instance all the individual and collective disputes of legal matters which arise from the employment relationship between employers and workers. The National Labor Court of Appeals was established to provide legal certainty to employers and workers; it is a specialised labour court that will unify the jurisprudence on this matter. Before its creation, labour jurisprudence was divided into different courts of the country; the authorities in charge of labour decisions were the civil courts of appeals of various jurisdictions.

Starting from January 1 2013, sellers of goods and suppliers of services in Italy finally have more stringent terms under which to obtain the payment of their invoices by the relevant debtors.

The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) recently promulgated the Revised Guidelines on the Exercise of Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) and Related Processes (NCIP Administrative Order No 3, series of 2012), which repealed The Free and Prior Informed Consent Guidelines of 2006.

Poland started its adventure with public private partnerships (PPPs) in 2005. The then enacted Public-Private Partnership Act introduced the concept of PPPs into the Polish legal system. It was, however, overregulated and missed the required secondary legislation.

Chinonyelum Uwazie The OECD estimates in its Infrastructure to 2030 Report (2007) that the annual infrastructure investment requirements for electricity, road and rail transport, telecommunications and water are likely to average around 3.5% of world GDP through to 2030. The report estimates that a large share of these investments will be taken in the developing world where countries such as China, India and Brazil will be spending billions of dollars on infrastructure to underpin their booming economies and satisfy the growing aspirations of their population. Nigeria is part of the developing world and is said to have one of the fastest growing economies in the African continent with over 140 million people and an average economic growth rate of 3.5% per year in the last few years. With such a thriving economy and an equally growing population comes the need for investments in areas such as electricity, road and rail transport as well as telecommunication. Recent projects at the federal and state level including the light rail mass transit project and the cable car transit project in Lagos State, Nigeria, are a testament to the efforts of the government to meet the growing needs of the population.

Nicholas Chang Linette Zhang Xiao Lin The Singapore central bank has proposed changes to the regulations of the Securities and Futures Act and Financial Advisers Act as part of its efforts to enhance and refine the country's regulatory framework. One of the key changes made by the central bank is the extension of the statutory obligations to ensure effective control and segregation of duties to mitigate conflicts of interest that may arise from the operations of a capital markets services (CMS) licence holder or a licensed financial adviser to the CMS licence holder or financial adviser, respectively. Under the present law, these statutory obligations are imposed on a director and chief executive officer of a CMS licence holder or a financial adviser only. The central bank found that the control failures are often not solely attributable to chief executive officers and directors. The proposed amendments therefore seek to extend these statutory obligations to CMS licence holders, together with their directors and senior management to ensure proper institutions and implementation of risk management and compliance systems.

If the pessimists are to be believed, modern science has failed us. Yes, it has delivered smartphones and supercomputers, but according to a growing band of US academics and economists, that's not quite good enough. Seemingly, until our generation produces something as useful, and transformative, as modern sanitation or transportation, we have an innovation problem. And the implications of that are massive.

Daniel Futej Zuzana Steklacova The Slovak National Council passed the draft amendment to the Labour Code on October 25 2012, strengthening the position of employees and trade unions while slightly disadvantaging employers. The amendment came into force on January 1 2013. Starting this year, if trade unions want to represent all employees they no longer have to prove to employers that at least 30% of the employees are unionised. The employer's duty to consult on termination of employment with the trade unions has been reinstated, and failure to do so will render a termination of employment invalid.