Regulatory Matters

Highlights:  Businesses operating in Canada should be aware of a recent trend towards greater regulation and enforcement action surrounding pricing representations where additional costs are not clearly disclosed up front. The federal government’s planned regulation of airline advertising, the Competition Bureau’s recent aggressive enforcement initiatives regarding price representations as well recent class actions involving pricing … Continued

Highlights: Changes have been proposed to the Singapore Code on Take-overs and Mergers (“Code”). The main changes include updating the language of the Code to incorporate current practices on the takeover of real estate investment trusts and business trusts, setting out when collective shareholder action amounts to acting in concert, and dealing with joint offers … Continued

Highlights:  The Supreme Court of Canada issued a unanimous decision that the proposed federal Canadian Securities Act, as currently drafted, is unconstitutional as it is not a valid exercise of the Federal Government’s power to regulate trade and commerce. The Court expressly noted that there were specific aspects of the Act aimed at addressing matters … Continued

Executive Summary/Highlights: An amendment to the Austrian Foreign Trade Act (FTA), in force since 8 December 2011 subjects the acquisition of certain interests in enterprises in specific industries (including telecoms and energy) by non-EU, non-EEA and non-Swiss persons, to review and approval by the Austrian Ministry of Economic Affairs Approval must be sought before entering … Continued

Executive Summary/Highlights: On November 16, 2011, President Dmitry Medvedev signed into law amendments to the Federal Statute “On the Procedure of Foreign Investment in Businesses with Strategic Importance for the Defense of the Country and the Security of the State” (Strategic Companies Statute). The amendments are expected to ease the stringent restrictions that Russia puts … Continued

Executive Summary/Highlights: New laws  provide indigenous people consultation right with respect to investment in Peruvian natural resources, but not the veto investors feared; however, they could delay projects while regulations are worked out, New mining “windfall profit tax” expected by the Peruvian Government to raise the total tax and mandatory profit sharing costs in the … Continued