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Maria Papatsoris Under Law 6 of February 3 1997, the National Authority of Public Services (ASEP) in Panama is entitled to regulate the energy industry. Its purpose includes securing the availability of an efficient energy policy capable of supplying the country's energy demand, while meeting economic, social, and financial viability criteria. As a consequence of the energy crisis and the state's interest in promoting the use of renewable energy resources, mitigating adverse environmental impacts, and reducing dependence on traditional fossil fuels by means of Law 43 of August 9 2012, Law 6 was modified. It now allows the purchase of power and energy through special public tender processes, approved by ASEP and subject to the energy guidelines issued by the National Energy Secretariat, which have their own rules and are more expeditious.

Dina Al Wahabi There are two types of securities that are listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange (QE), namely, shares and bonds. Only governmental bonds issued by the Qatar Central Bank (QCB) on behalf of the Government of Qatar are listed on the QE. Although the procedures relating to pledging of securities prescribed by the Qatar Central Securities Depository (QCSD) Rules of Dealing do not differentiate between shares and bonds, there are legal and practical differences in pledging bonds under the Qatari Civil Code 22 of 2004. This article will set out a summary of the issues relating to the creation of a pledge over securities and discusses enforcement issues in Qatar. The QE is the securities market in the State of Qatar and is regulated by the Qatar Financial Markets Authority. Last year, the QE was upgraded from frontier to emerging market status by index provider MSCI, signaling investor confidence and improved governance. The QE has 43 listed companies and trades on securities, Government Bonds, Sukuks and Treasury Bills issued by the QCB.

Banji Adenusi To address liquidity challenges in the Nigerian electricity supply industry, and create an economically viable and sustainable sector, the Nigerian Central Bank recently issued terms and conditions to deposit money banks for participation in the Nigerian Electricity Market Sector Facility (CBN-NESMF). This follows the handover of the Nigerian utility company, PHCN, to successor companies. The N213 billion ($1 billion) facility, with a 10-year tenor and 12-month moratorium period on the principal amount, is designed to settle outstanding payment obligations to market participants, service providers and gas suppliers in the Nigerian electricity market (beneficiaries), and will be warehoused in an SPV set up by the apex bank and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, and under administration and management of an asset manager. As expected, the special purpose vehicle (SPV) will refinance the facility by repaying the lenders in proportion to their stated commitment as defined in the various transaction documents, with the Central Bank subscribing to debenture notes issued by the SPV in the total sum of the facility amount. Of crucial importance is the role played by the banks and their designation in relation to their functions. Yet, what is common to all is the responsibility of ensuring the reasonable protection of the best interests of the SPV.

Juan Luis Avendaño Nydia Guevara Banks' subordinated debt and its impact on regulatory capital are still regulated in Peru under the Basel II standards. Since their inception in 2009, Peruvian banks have issued tier 1 and tier 2 hybrid instruments in the form of subordinated bonds. The basic features of Peruvian banks' subordinated debt instruments for purposes of qualifying as regulatory capital are that they: i) are unsecured; ii) rank junior to all other obligations and senior only to equity; iii) have loss-absorption capabilities; and iv) have a minimum term to maturity of five years.

Daniel Futej Cyril Hric The Slovak banking sector has faced new challenges in recent months resulting from international and European measures against tax fraud and tax evasion. As complexity increases, the need for more intensive cooperation in tax matters among jurisdictions becomes necessary. Slovak tax authorities need to have control over the proper fulfilment of tax obligations, with effective exchange of information on a European and international level. This topic has been discussed extensively over the past years on an EU and OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) level. The reason for such discussions is mainly down to increasing: (i) mobility of taxpayers; (ii) cross-border transactions; and of (iii) internationalisation of financial instruments. Such development requires effective measures beyond the powers of control at a national level, as respective states cannot manage their internal taxation systems (especially for direct taxation) without receiving information from other states. The efforts of recent months has resulted in the adoption of: (i) the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on the implementation of the global standard for the automatic exchange of financial account information at the OECD's Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (MCA Agreement); and (ii) a political agreement on a revised version Directive 2011/16/EU on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation (DAC).

The market has outlined what it wants to see in the final rules of the country's mooted bankruptcy regime

Rashid Bahar The Federal Council opened on November 28 2014 a consultation on a major modernisation of Swiss corporate law. The draft bill aims, on the one hand, to implement on a statutory level the requirements of article 95 (3) of the federal constitution resulting from the so-called fat-cat initiative that was adopted. On the other, it aims to re-initiate a series of reforms that were launched in 2007, but that were put on hold shortly after to focus on the fat-cat initiative. As the consultation period closes, we consider the key proposals of the draft bill. Overall, the draft bill on the modernisation of Swiss corporate law is a vast one, covering a diverse range of issues; some pundits have called it a mammoth bill.

Anthony Dee Patricia Paz Republic Act No 9184, or the Government Procurement Reform Act (GPRA), took effect on January 26 2003. The GPRA covers all stages of procurement of infrastructure projects, goods, and consulting services by all branches and instrumentalities of government. The GPRA establishes a two-tier protest mechanism to challenge a public procurement tender before an award. In order to exhaust this internal protest procedure, a bidder must first file a request for reconsideration with the procuring entity's Bids and Awards Committee (BAC). The BAC's denial of the request may be protested in writing to the head of the procuring entity upon payment of a non-refundable fee. The decision of the head of the procuring entity is final, such that the bidder may only avail itself of judicial review upon completion of protests and only on the ground of grave abuse of discretion. Arguably, this legal framework does not provide an expedient system for independent complaints review. Meeting the timeframes provided under the law for protest resolution is a challenge for many procuring entities, and the absence of independent and expert review undermines, to a certain degree, the legitimacy and credibility of any protest resolution.

Thai law governing surety and mortgages is found in the Civil and Commercial Code (CCC) and has been relatively stable over the years. However, the amendments described in our November 2014 briefing are already out of date.

Anna Pinedo Regulators and lawmakers in the US continue to review and consider measures that may promote capital formation for smaller and emerging companies. Although the number of initial public offerings (IPOs) in the US in 2014 reached highs not seen since the early 2000s, there are a few important observations. Companies continue to rely heavily on private financings and only pursue IPOs once they have attained a significant size or maturity. Often, institutional investors participate in private placements that almost serve as surrogates for traditional IPOs as the size of pre-public, later stage private placements has grown significantly. The median size of IPOs remains high – there are relatively few IPOs in which the offering proceeds are less than $100 million. This dynamic has resulted in a need to ensure that there are more liquidity opportunities for the holders of securities in privately held companies.