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The new Bill on Strategic Companies, which was approved on November 5 2009 by the Slovak Parliament, sparked vigorous political discussions. The opposition, together with representatives of employers' associations and business associations, warns that the bill may have a harmful effect on the business environment and discourage investment.

The Payment Services Directive has been transposed in Romania, through Government Emergency Ordinance 113/2009 on payment services. The Ordinance entered into force on November 1 2009, together with Regulation 21/2009 on payment institutions, issued by the National Bank of Romania (NBR), which aims at governing the establishment of the payment institutions (PI), their activities and prudential supervision.

In the absence of a general anti-tax avoidance rule, numerous cross-border transactions in Indonesia are structured to minimise Indonesian tax. There are various specific anti-tax avoidance rules such as CFC and thin capitalisation, but the tax authorities are apparently worried that treaty abusive practices still occur. Back in 2005, the Indonesian tax authority commenced its efforts to combat those practices by issuing circular letters on beneficial ownership and a unilateral increase of withholding tax on interests paid to Dutch tax residents from 0% to 10%. As part of the reform process, the 2008 income tax law also explicitly defines a beneficial owner. A large number of those measures are considered less than successful, as there were many international tax disputes that were verified in court and decided in favour of the taxpayer.

Effective September 1 2009, the Czech Republic's Act on Protection of Economic Competition has been amended. The amendment introduces the possibility of a simplified merger clearance procedure.

The Law on Amendments to the Value Added Tax Law (National Gazette 87/09) becomes effective as of January 1 2010. The provisions are designed to harmonise the Croatian tax system with Directive 2006/112/EZ and to facilitate the accession process.

The OECD has developed new guidelines with respect to transparency and improvement of administrative co-operation, aiming to abolish harmful tax practices by exchange of information between the competent authorities of the contracting states. Those new standards were incorporated into Article 26 of the Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital of July 17 2008.

Hong Kong could finally have a rescue regime next year. But employee issues must be dealt with first

EU regulation designed to streamline European investor protection documentation could encroach on the wholesale market and limit access to certain investor groups

A Cambodian company has successfully closed the country's largest-ever M&A deal. The deal was financed onshore by a group of international banks, showing the potential for foreign interest in south-east Asian deals that have the right structure

Javier Fontcuberta Bart Capeci Cuatrecasas Gonçalves Pereira has hired Javier Fontcuberta to its corporate department in Barcelona. Fotcuberta moves from Landwell, also in Barcelona, where he was co-head of the firm's corporate department.