Search results for

The launch of Saudi Arabia's first domestic sukuk programme shows that the country's investors and regulator are growing more comfortable with the instrument, according to counsel on the deal.

Chun-yih Cheng In the December 2011/January 2012 issue of IFLR, the author's reported that Taiwan's Fair Trade Act was amended to increase administrative fines on material abuse of monopoly powers and material illegal cartel up to 10% of the offender's annual turnover in the preceding fiscal year. The Fair Trade Act mandates the competition authority, the Fair Trade Commission, to promulgate the criteria of the calculation of annual turnover of the preceding fiscal year, the determination of materiality, and the computation of administrative fines. Based on this mandate, the Rules for the Calculation of Administrative Fines on the Material Breach of Article 10 and Article 14 of the Fair Trade Act were released in April 2012 by the Fair Trade Commission (the Rules).

Andreas Moll On March 20 2012, the United Kingdom and Switzerland signed a protocol of amendment that supplements the withholding tax agreement of October 6 2011. The aim of the agreement is the effective taxation of UK taxpayers' assets in Switzerland. The agreement provides for withholding tax on future investment income and gains on assets, as well as taxing UK taxpayers' previously untaxed assets in Switzerland.

Chinonyelum Uwazie Several jurisdictions have, since the adoption of the Uncitral Model Law on Electronic Commerce in 1996, implemented national legislation to remove barriers to electronic commerce, including the United States through the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act 1999, New Zealand by the Electronic Transactions Act 2002, Australia through the Electronic Transactions Act 1999 with recent amendments in the Electronic Transactions Amendment Act 2011, and Malaysia with the Electronic Commerce Act 2006. Nigeria, like many of these jurisdictions, now wishes to remove the barriers to electronic commerce through proposed legislation before the Nigerian legislature, the Electronic Commerce (Provision of Legal Recognition) Bill 2011.

O n December 15 2011, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) issued Circular No. 40/2011/TT-NHNN regulating the licensing, organisation and operation of commercial banks, foreign bank branches, and representative offices in Vietnam of foreign credit institutions and of other foreign organisations with a banking operation.

Single-counterparty credit limits is US banks’ top concern under Dodd-Frank at present, with a bankers’ counsel describing it as Volcker II.

The Canadian Competition Bureau will interpret the Competition Act to prohibit anticompetitive behaviour, even when such acts are not directed at a competitor, according to new abuse of dominance draft guidelines published on March 22.

The EC's decision to differ from Esma's technical advice on certain elements of final terms and summaries has been largely welcomed by European lawyers.

On April 1 2012, the Revised Code of Civil Procedure (the Revised Code) came into effect, which defines the scope of the jurisdiction of the Japanese court with respect to international matters. Before the enactment of the Revised Code, Japan did not have a law that clearly defined the jurisdiction of the Japanese courts with respect to cross-border disputes. As such, until the enactment of the Revised Code, the jurisdiction of the Japanese court has been determined by judicial reasoning and court precedent, which was widely criticised due its lack of consistency.

Samuel B Abad Yupanqui On April 4 2012, the regulation of Law 29785 became effective. It carries the right to prior consultation with indigenous peoples recognised by Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization (ILO), and is intended to ensure the right to consultation when an administrative or legislative measure, for example, a mining lease or the installation of gas pipelines, may directly affect collective rights.