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Introduction
Even the smallest of companies must consider their compliance footprint. Legal compliance is not just something on the to-do list for giant multinationals, but rather a process by which a company, auditors, accountants and lawyers must adhere to the complex rules, policies, processes and laws that regulate their respective business practices in their particular jurisdiction.

Non – attention to applying compliance policies and measures, renders a company at risk of falling foul of regulators, resulting in the imposition of fines, reputational damage, censures, and revocation of practising licences. Adding to the complexity, every jurisdiction has different compliance requirements,…

On the 26 February 2021, a welcomed amendment to the Oaths Law, Cap. 18 was passed by the House of Representatives (amending law 14(I)/2021).

With this amendment, in addition to Judges and Court Registrars, practising lawyers are now empowered to induce oaths in attempt to serve citizens and decongest the courts.

As a matter of clarification and in accordance with section 2 (a) of the amending law, “lawyer” means a person who is registered in the Register of Practising Lawyers held with the Cyprus Bar Association. Additionally, section 3 of the amending law specifies that a lawyer must practice law…

Just how resilient is your intellectual property strategy? Given the growing commercial importance of intellectual property (IP) assets and the dynamic nature of the modern R&D landscape, it is a critical question that many businesses simply can’t ignore.

Simultaneous growth in the volume and value of IP assets and is adding to the pressure on companies to future-proof their IP strategies around expertise, processes, and data.

Sustainable innovation and risk mitigation requires a holistic approach to IP management based on sound expertise, effective processes, and accurate data. This is where our IP specialists come into the picture.

IP Protection  
…

Calling all small and medium enterprises!

The Fund
The European Union Intellectual Property Office (‘EUIPO’), in collaboration with the European Commission and the national Intellectual Property Offices of the European Union, has launched a €20 million grant scheme titled the ‘Ideas Powered for Business SME Fund’, with the aim of helping SMEs to protect their intellectual property (‘IP’) rights at national, regional or EU level as well as develop their IP strategies.

Objectives
If you are an SME, you can apply and get up to 50% discount on basic application fees for trademarks and designs, with…

Definition
Trademark means any sign capable of being represented graphically, and of distinguishing goods and services of one undertaken from those of another. A trademark may consist of words (including personal names), figurative elements, letters, numerals or the shape of goods or their packaging.

Trademarks can be categorised to be used for products or services. By way of example, Nike® is known for its athletic shoes and apparel; Google® is known for its services.

Rights Conferred by a Registered Trademark
Upon successful registration of a trademark, the proprietor acquires exclusive proprietary rights in the trademark, benefiting from specific…

Introduction
Trusts as we know them today have a long and storied history and the modern concept has its roots in English law, predominantly applied in the Cypriot legal system. This article sets out the basics for establishing a Cyprus International Trust (“CIT”) and the benefits offered by this instrument.

The ‘Trust’ concept
A trust is a fiduciary relationship in which one party, known as a settlor (or trustor or grantor in the U.S.), gives another party, the trustee, the right to hold title to property or assets (of whatever nature and wherever situated) for the benefit of…

Introduction
Companies, organisations, lawyers, auditors, accountants and service providers of all sizes and in all industries are facing increasing regulatory and self-regulatory requirements. The challenges inherent in meeting regulatory compliance obligations are exacerbated in today’s world, where corporate information continues to grow exponentially in volume, increase in variety and move with greater velocity.

While conventionally subject persons have focused their efforts on the identification and verification of the client and the underlying beneficial owner/s, less importance has been placed on understanding the Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (ML/FT) risk relating to the customer’s business activity, the source of…

Introduction
Purchasing property, in any place, can involve a number of pitfalls. It is extremely important to seek property legal advice prior to buying a property, especially when the potential property does not have its own separate title deed readily available. During the past years, many EU and non-EU high-net-worth individuals seek to acquire property in Cyprus through the Cyprus Investment Programme (citizenship). Outlined below are the top 5 pitfalls to avoid and a checklist when seeking to buy property, ensuring that the process moves forward smoothly and securely.

1. Not appointing a lawyer
Appointing a lawyer who…

The Central Epidemic Command Centre (CECC) announced on Wednesday, March 18th that all foreign visitors would be banned from entering the state from Thursday, March 19th. This measure has come as a response to rising cases of COVID-19 which has, at the time of writing, 108 confirmed cases within Taiwan.

During a press conference, the Health and Welfare Minister and head of the CECC Chen Shih-Chung alongside the foreign minister Joseph Wu, announced that all foreign nationals would be barred from entering unless they possessed Alien Resident Certificate (ARC), diplomatic officials, were to carry out commercial and contractual obligations, and…

As the Coronavirus continues to spread across the globe, the Taiwanese Government have laid out new measures adding to the steady release of preventative steps against the outbreak.

Introduction of the “Epidemic Prevention Treatment Team”

Last week, Minister Cai of the Ministry of Justice created the “Epidemic Prevention Treatment Team Circular” in response to the newly enacted “Special Regulation for the Prevention and Rehabilitation of Severe Special Infectious Pneumonia”, (the Special Regulations).

The chief prosecutor is acting as the convener of the team and is joined by several other prosecutors, investigative police officers, health administrators and members from agencies such…

Hot Topic: the Taiwanese Government has passed the “Special Act of COVID-19 Prevention, Relief and Restoration” legislation.

Background

As of the 26th of February, the COVID-19 viral infection continues to spread across the globe with more than 81,000 cases confirmed and the death toll surpassing 2,700.

The new Act from the Taiwanese Government is an attempt to consolidate some of the rules that have been in operation in order to ensure that the viral outbreak is maintained and halted. The Act specifically complements the Communicable Disease Prevention Act and relates to articles within that Act. This legislation also follows a…

With the rise of the coronavirus, newly given the designation Covid-19, misinformation has become rampant, with governments around the world facing difficulties in stopping the spread of false rumours and speculation, often affixed with large amounts of bias and racism.

Examples of these stories range widely including such conspiracies as; garlic or bleach as a cure to the virus; that the outbreak was a bioweapon; that the virus was predisposed to be more easily spread through nationality or race; and widely shared videos relating to the virus such as a woman eating bat-soup, a video that had actually taken place…

Background

The Taiwanese Government has issued strong warnings over the increasing threat of the spread of the infectious virus, named as the Coronavirus (2019-nCoV). The infection has, as of today, been named as a global health emergency by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The Virus causes severe respiratory problems and has swept across China after emerging from the city of Wuhan in the district of Hubei. Cases have increased to roughly 10,000 individuals across China with 18 other countries, including Taiwan, reporting cases. The infection has forced businesses - including tech giants, carmakers and retailers - across China to temporarily…

Hot Topic: This week has seen protests over the Foodpanda delivery service which has reduced the pay per-delivery for its couriers.

Small, yet nation-wide, protests have been staged in the past few days against the food delivery service ‘Foodpanda’ as a result of a large reduction in pay. For example, around 60 couriers gathered next to Taichung City Hall demanding that the delivery service platform reconsider its position on pay. This comes after a policy decision by Foodpanda which has seen a decrease of pay from NT$70 per delivery to roughly NT$57 per delivery - a reduction of around 20%,…

Hot Topic: Taiwanese Desire for smart cities given a boost with a new industrial park

Thursday saw the Baohao ‘beam-raising ceremony’ to introduce the official unveiling of the development of an industrial park in Xindian District, New Taipei City. The Deputy Mayor of the area, Wu Ming JI, has stated that over 70 Taiwanese companies have expressed interest in investing in the park. The total investment has reached NT$4.1 billion (US$ 137 million) yet is expected to reach NT$ 11 billion in output value and provide 9600 jobs.

The development has also planned to additionally add a second phase to…

Hot Topic: Last week, the National Communications Commission (NCC) started the auctions for 5G spectrums with bids reaching NT$ 26,774 million on the first day.

5G, the next step of the evolution of telecommunications has had a major push forward in Taiwan as the National Communications Commission (NCC) began auctions for 5G spectrums, offering a total bandwidth of 2790 MHz. This kick off the 10 rounds of auctioning that is to take place over the next few weeks.

What is 5G?

5G, ‘fifth generation cellular wireless’, is a general term to describe the next generation of communication technologies which make…

Hot Topic: Last weekend domestic firms, international companies, regional banks, heads of financial bodies, and even President Tsai joined Taipei FinTech Expo 2019 to support the growing sector of FinTech.

Laws and regulations often change slowly to reflect technological and commercial development – it has happened with the gig economy, big data, and FinTech. Last weekend, Taipei held a conference inviting large institutional banks, global financial companies, fresh startups and even the general public to join in the conversation surrounding Taiwan’s developing FinTech sector. However, there was a large question on whether Taiwan was ready to achieve its aim of…

A nation often praised for its high promotion of human rights has come under fresh scrutiny over concerns about employment.

Often recognized as a hub of international employment and foreign labour, Taiwan has been criticized in recent years for failing to protect lower income foreign workers despite the rapid expansion of migration. Around 700,000 foreign migrants working in blue collar employment have started to fill the gaps of a low birth rate nation, primarily being hired as caregivers, fisherman, and factory manufacturers. This influx has been highlighted as necessary for the development of the Taiwanese economy, freeing up locals to…

I. Legal News

Implementing Regulations on the Foreign Investment Law of the People's Republic of China (Draft for Comment)

In order to ensure the effective implementation of the Foreign Investment Law (FIL), the Ministry of Justice, together with the Ministry of Commerce and the National Development and Reform Commission have publicized the Implementing Regulations on the Foreign Investment Law of the People's Republic of China (Draft for Comment)[1] on November 1st, 2019. The deadline for the public to contribute their comments on the Draft for Comment would be December 1st, and the Draft for Comment is expected to be passed…

‘The irreversible trend of ageing may be a new area of cooperation between the already close nations; made feasible through changing technology.’

An ageing population, low birth rate, and a small domestic consumer market are challenges that are not unique to Taiwan, but also to one of its closest trading partners, Japan. However, rather than this being an obstacle for the two states, these similarities have allowed for greater collaboration. 

Over the past few years, exchanges and cooperation between Taiwan and Japan have increased dramatically with Japan being Taiwan’s third largest trading partner and Taiwan is Japan’s fourth largest. Historically…

If you think being disqualified to act a director in Indian companies for non-compliances absolves you for good, think again!

As part of the cleansing operation of the corporate sector, the central government had de-registered lakhs of companies from the Registrar of Companies (ROC) and disqualified a very high number of directors for non-compliance with the laws and regulations.

However, with the intent to provide the disqualified directors with an opportunity to rectify the default in compliance with the laws and regulations and not letting them get away – the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has instructed the disqualified directors…

You’d be getting a lot of calls by people representing themselves to be from a bank and offering you a loan, credit card and the like. You are never too sure whether they are genuine or fake. There have been instances of such callers milking the details obtained from gullible customers for cyber frauds and so on.

It is very tough for a common person to figure out a genuine agent of the bank from a fake one.

All said and done, under the existing regime, Direct Selling Agents (‘DSAs’) are the primary sources for the banks to channelize major…

Recently, the Indian government has been facing a lot of flak over the sorry state of affairs ruining the startup ecosystem in India.

To rejuvenate the sector and provide a new moment, the central government has decided to confer various incentives to the start-up fraternity – this is intended to be an exercise to enthuse the budding entrepreneurs and strengthen the economic/development prospects of the startup ecosystem from a larger perspective.

Following is the gist of the newly proposed set of incentives for start-up fraternity:

•    Startups will be permitted to issue 50% of paid up share capital in…

Executive Summary

Earlier this year, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (hereafter “Hong Kong”) and the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China announced the pending introduction of the “groundbreaking" "Arrangement on the Mutual Assistance and Protection of the Arbitration Procedures by the Mainland and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Courts" (“Arrangement”). Concisely, it allows parties to Hong Kong arbitrations to apply directly to an Intermediate People's Court in the Mainland for the preservation of property, assets or conduct and also preservation orders. Furthermore, it enables parties to Mainland arbitrations to apply directly to the Hong Kong High…

22nd Britain -Taiwan Trade Talks Held in London on the 1st October

Taiwan and the UK held their 22nd trade talks in London on the 1st of October. According to the British Office Taipei, agriculture, energy, science, technology and pharmaceutical industries were key topics of discussion. The talks were presided over by UK Trade Policy Minister Conor Burns and Taiwan's Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-Hua. The talks were said to be “extremely constructive”.

Mr Burns highlighted the fact that for Britain, Taiwan is one the fastest growing export markets. In 2018, the export growth rate was 40%. This…

Background

Several driving incidents involving delivery riders have spurred questions about the labour standards of food delivery services. Taipei City police department has report 30 traffic incidents involving food couriers from October 1-13, killing one and injuring 20. Among seven platforms operating in Taiwan, Uber EATS, Lala move and Food panda claim they do not have “employment relations" with their delivery people.

Alternatively, they suggest that their riders are "independent contractors", who, among other employment rights, are not covered by labour insurance. The remaining four platforms classify their drivers as employees. In response, the Ministry of Labor (MOL) held a…

On 1 January 2020 new Federal Law No. 259-FZ “On fundraising through the investment platforms and amendments to the other legal acts of the Russian Federation” will enter into force (Law on Crowdfunding)[1]

Subject matter of the Law on Crowdfunding – legal relations between the operator of the platform, the investor and the fundraiser within the investment platform in connection with issue and turnover of:

• The digital utility rights (the “tokens”); and
• The securities certifying tokens.

Token is a digital right to request:

• Transfer of property;
• Transfer of exclusive rights to intellectual property or use rights;
• Performance…

I. Legal News

NPC Standing Committee Seeks Opinions on Third Draft Sections on Personality Rights of the Civil Code

A new draft of the Personality Rights Section of the Civil Code (the “Third Draft for Review”), deliberated at the 12th Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress (“NPC”), has recently been released for public consultation by September 26, 2019.

As introduced in our legal update the last week[1], the Draft Civil Code includes six parts, namely property rights, contracts, personality rights, marriage and family, inheritance and tort liability. Regarding the personality rights section, compared to the…

It's a privilege to be part of ALB's Who's WHO IN ASIA 2019. Truly humbled on being recognized as a leading and recommended practitioner. Thankful to my clients and peers for their continued support, patronage and well wishes. The issue can be seen at https://tinyurl.com/albwhoswho2019

I. Hot Topic

Latest update on Corporate Social Credit System in China

Much discussion about China’s Social Credit System (“SCS”) has focused mainly on the potential impact for individuals, while far less has been said about how it will affect business in China. According to Jörg Wuttke, the president of European Union Chamber of Commerce in China (“EUCCC”), “it is no exaggeration to say that the Corporate SCS will be the most comprehensive system created by any government to impose a self-regulating marketplace, nor is it inconceivable that the Corporate SCS would mean life or death for individual companies.”[1]

Currently,…

I. Legal News

1. NPC Standing Committee Seeks Opinions on Third Draft Sections on Torts of the Civil Code

Draft Sections on Tort Liability (Third Draft for Review), deliberated at the 12th Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress ("NPC"), have recently been released for public consultation by September 26, 2019.

As introduced in our previous articles, the Civil Code is a great legislative plan proposed in 2014 and is planned to be effective by 2020. The General Provisions of Civil Code, serving as the first move, already comes out in 2017,

Subsequently with the sub-provision…

Amidst signs of Indian economy losing pace, job losses and other worrisome indicators, the Indian government has announced multiple measures to boost the foreign direct investment flow (FDI) in the country yesterday.

One of the most significant sectors impacted by these announcements is the retail trading sector. The government has indicated the easing of local sourcing norms for single-brand retail companies.

The extant FDI policy mandated a single-brand retail company with more than 51% FDI to source 30% of its goods from within India. The new decision allows this 30% to be calculated over the first five years of operations…

Deposit schemes are one of the easiest modes to generate money for the fraudsters. Usually, the middle / poor strata of Indian society is an easy target for the fraudsters organizing deposit schemes.

As a common phenomenon, fraudsters initiate a deposit scheme with ridiculous incentives to grab the attention of people. Uninformed people seeking quick and more than decent returns get inclined towards such deposit schemes.

Following the accumulation of the targeted money from the people, these fraudsters abscond with the hard earned money of middle/poor people. These kinds of schemes are being reported in the media on a constant…

Big Bang Banking Reforms: Consolidation of Indian Public Sector Banks

With an aim to strive towards a USD 5 trillion economy and cleaning up the banking sector notoriously saddled with NPAs, the Government of India has prescribed the consolidation pill yet again.

Yesterday, the Finance Minister announced another significant round of consolidation of Indian Public Sector Banks (PSBs) with 10 of them being merged into 4. With a total of 12 PSBs remaining now, compared to 27 in 2017, there could be a sense of increasing global competitiveness, economies of size and scale for Indian PSBs.

Canara Bank and Syndicate…

INTRODUCTION

• CBEC vide Circular No. 33 dated 22.07.2016 decided to merge two facilitation schemes (1) Accredited Clients Programmer (ACP); (2) Authorized Economic Operator (AEO)
• Now it is a combined three-tier AEO programmer
• To benefit and facilitate trade i.e., import and export
• Faster customs clearance and simplified procedures
• To bestow a secure status to the entity involved (internationally recognized)
• Simplified compliance regime
• In view of the midterm review of Foreign Trade Policy in 2018, additional benefits Extended to AEO’s
• CBIC vide Circular No. 3 / 2018 – Customs dated January 17, 2018, has made requisite modifications in Circular No. 33…

I. Legal News

 1. China Adopts Resource Tax Law to Protect Environment

On Monday this week (August 26, 2019), China’s first Resource Tax Law was adopted at the five-day bimonthly session of the 13th National People’s Congress Standing Committee (the “Law”), which will enter into force on September 1, 2020. The Law will formally replace the Interim Regulations on Resource Tax effective as of November 1, 2011, aiming at formally legalizing taxation on resource exploitation to better protect environment nationwide.

We hereby draw your attention to the following:

(1) Tax rates for 164 categories of natural resources

The Law…

The Repatriation of Overseas Taiwanese Businesses

On the 3rd of July, the Legislative Yuan finalized readings of a bill on the repatriation, use and taxation of overseas funds. The bill incentivizes and rewards Taiwanese companies and investors to return and invest in Taiwan.

The Ministry of Finance[1] outlines the key provisions as follows:

Scope

1. Individuals can repatriate funds from abroad (including from the People’s Republic of China)
2. The investment income from profit-making enterprises that have been transferred and remitted from overseas (including the People’s Republic of China) with its control ability or significant influence.

Applicable Principles

…

I have held off writing about the dreaded "B" – Brexit word until now, but as currently there are less than 50 days until we leave, and in England it takes that long to buy a house, I therefore felt I had to send you something. Although this written by me under the gunnercooke banner there are one or two personal views. Almost all of it involves legal and business issues and I have deliberately and completely kept away from any political comment. That said , I think
everyone would accept that the Brexit exit process has been and…

Introduction

I am a lawyer who among other things, tries to give advice to people setting up their own businesses. I am also a founder director of a group which supports and lobbies for small and bigger companies which have been destroyed by actions of some major UK banks over the years.  I hope these notes are useful.

I am the long-time lawyer for Fashion Capital ( www.fashioncapital.co.uk ). These notes come out of discussions I have from time to time with people involved in start-ups or fairly new companies both in the fashion sector and more generally.…

We would like to start by examining the provisions of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (hereinafter referred to as "the act"). Per the maxim "generaliaspecialibus non derogant" the provisions of this act will supersede the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. However, the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as "the IPC"), being a penal statute, concurrent charges may be framed under both acts.

The Directors stand in a fiduciary position with the company and are expected to manage the affairs of the company in a manner beneficial to the interest of the company and its stakeholder.…

I would like to discuss a couple of points which have come out of several real situations where I have advised various companies on these issues. They are related points and as I hope you will see, should lead you to the same conclusion, that it’s partly about paper trails and written agreements. But it’s also about knowing your client / your customer and their businesses as well as you can.

I have written before about “paper trails” – suggesting you make sure you keep notes of important conversations and/or decisions and why I believe this is useful from a…

Indian banking system is deeply saddled up with the burden of default loan cases and non-performing assets (NPA) at a staggering worth billion of Rupees. Adding insult to the injury, numerous instances of banking frauds have come to light crippling the Indian banking and finance system.

In this backdrop, the Finance Ministry has recognized the impending need to take timely remedial measures to recoup the Indian banking system from the ongoing NPA crisis. It has dispensed a stern directive to the public sector banks (PSB) to verify all NPA accounts exceeding INR 50 crore for fraud.

The arrest of a…

In today’s world, each corporate entity has to enter into service contracts day in and day out in order to keep themselves up and running. Everything in a company from software to basic facilities such as canteen runs on services contracts. Hence, it is essential for companies to draft service contracts immaculately.

Often, when a company is the supplier of services outside (inbound contracts), it focusses more on proper drafting of service contracts in order to keep its ends covered as opposed to when it is availing services from outside (outbound contracts).

Outbound contracts typically make the company the consumer…

Ever since the evolution of digital technology, a new trend has been developed i.e digital storage of data and digital payment transactions.

With the innovation of the digital technology, more and more persons and companies are placing emphasis on the digital storage of data rather than manually preserving huge chunk of hard copies of data.

There is also upsurge in the digital payment transactions in recent years, as it has emerged as an alternative mode of payment to the traditional cash payment procedure and it is very likely to upstage every other mode very soon.

However, this is only one…

Every nation will have its own laws, rules and regulations in relation to legal, compliance, social, economic, political and environmental prospects of such nation with the intent to establish legal procedures to be complied with by the governments, companies and citizens for prevalence of peace and prosperity in the civilized world.

India is no exception to this proposition it has enacted thousands of central and State laws. However, the government officials, companies and citizens are confronting hardships in procuring truly authenticated copies of these laws due to the dearth of unique database of laws.

With the intent to at least…

The Central Government is constantly making efforts to reinforce the ‘Ease of Doing Business in India’ sentiment and to sustain the reputation of India accomplished at international front as one of the favorable nations for foreign investors.

The latest endeavor in this direction is central government’s move to ponder over an arbitration Ordinance to facilitate rapid disposal of the commercial disputes of national and international nature and to make arbitrators more accountable/responsible for the arbitration proceedings.

The underlying intent in processing the said Ordinance is to heighten the prospects of India moving up in the index of ease of doing…