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Pedro Cortés Marta Mourão Teixeira The Legislative Assembly of Macau is debating the proposal of a law on the prevention and repression of corruption in the context of external trade. The UN Convention Against Corruption, adopted on October 31 2003 in New York and ratified by the People's Republic of China (PRC) on January 13 2006 establishes, in its 16th article, that each State Party should adopt legislative and other measures to discipline acts of corruption by foreign public officials and officials of public international organisations, whether undertaken actively or passively.

Firms are facing hurdles in the race to tap the retail investor market. Debevoise & Plimpton’s Erica Berthou, Jordan Murray and Evan Neu analyse the challenges

Nobuaki Ito The Anti-monopoly Act of Japan was promulgated on December 13 2013 and is expected to come into force within 18 months (the specific date to be determined by way of cabinet order). The Act will abolish administrative appeal procedures by the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) for certain JFTC orders. In addition, a supplementary provision of the amended act provides that the government will, within one year of the promulgation date, consider changes to investigation procedures to preserve the rights of potential interested parties and maintain consistency with other administrative procedures, and will take appropriate measures as necessary in accordance with the discussions. In response to this, an advisory panel was set up and one of the main points for consideration is whether attorney-client privilege should be introduced for anti-monopoly procedures in Japan. In Japan, there is no attorney-client privilege in criminal or administrative investigation procedures. However, some assert that this should be granted in respect of anti-monopoly investigation procedures because: (i) companies providing information which involve communications with their attorneys in response to report orders from the JFTC may possibly be waiving attorney-client privilege that, with respect to these communications, would otherwise be recognised in foreign jurisdictions; and, (ii) granting attorney-client privilege to an extent similar to common law jurisdictions will not unduly hinder JFTC investigations and the JFTC can seek and collect relevant non-protected materials.

On May 23 2014, the Kenyan Parliament ratified the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) signed with Mauritius in 2012 so as to make it effective as of January 1 2015. Mauritius will bring the DTAA into effect on publication of a Gazette notice – this is expected to take place before January 1 2015.

Linklaters' Michael Bott and Ryan Ayrton analyse the new clauses that are helping bank syndicates navigate sanctions' impact complex financial instruments

Ecommerce in India is growing exponentially in several areas, including online travel services, retail, and other services such as taxis, education, hospitality, food and drink and even secretarial support. According to industry surveys, ecommerce could represent up to four percent of India's economy by 2020, compared to less than one percent now.

Karla María León Navarro Several laws have been enacted in Panama to regulate contracts and relationships between employers and employees. These involve specific principles to use in a labour dispute involving a disavantageous position for the workforce. Before a dispute, the judge must take into account one particular legal principle, which has been created to promote an equal relationship. The principle is mainly to protect the worker, who is presented as the legally weaker party compared with the more powerful employer. The principle in dubio pro operario was set out in the Labour Law for several reasons. First, the worker is subject to the employer's disciplinary power, direction and orders. This is a form of economic dependence for the employee, who receives benefits such as a salary, paid holiday, health insurance, sick pay, and retirement contributions.

Ignacio Buil Aldana José Luis Lucena Rebollo Under the Spanish Insolvency Act, clawback is a mechanism enabling an insolvent company's trustee (or the creditors, indirectly) to challenge transactions it entered into within two years of an insolvency declaration, if these transactions are prejudicial to the estate. Even if the parties acted in good faith, proof of prejudice to the estate is sufficient to avoid the transaction and restore the company to the position it would have been in had it not carried out the transaction. In practice, clawback risk contributes to an atmosphere of legal uncertainty for creditors involved in transactions with distressed companies. These transactions typically include refinancing agreements, the granting of fresh money, amendments to the security interest, and even assignments of debt positions.

Krung Thai Bank’s Tier 2 offering has become the first internationally-sold Basel III-compliant offering from Thailand. Here's how

A disjointed regulatory framework has hampered efforts to oversee private investment funds. Here are the lessons that must inform the next round of rulemaking