On 22 December 2020, the Belgian legislator adopted a royal decree containing Brexit transitional measures for the United Kingdom insurance industry aimed at temporarily ensuring the continuity of existing insurance policies as from 1 January 2021.

On 24 December 2020, the UK Government reached an agreement with the EU on the highly anticipated Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). The TCA was ratified by the UK Parliament on 30 December 2020 and will be applied provisionally in the EU from 1 January 2021, pending ratification by the EU Parliament in early 2021.

The TCA contains minimal provisions to enable the UK and EU to cooperate on the regulation of products placed on both markets and therefore most businesses will need to address EU and UK product compliance separately. 

On 23 May 2020, the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine Purposed to Improve the Administration of Taxes, Eliminate Technical and Logical Inconsistencies in the Tax Legislation” (“Anti-BEPS Law”) became effective with certain provisions being phased out.

At the same time, certain provisions of the Anti-BEPS Law have called for the extension of their entry into force or elaboration thereof.

To this end, on 14 July 2020, the Parliament of Ukraine passed Law of Ukraine No. 786-IX “On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine with respect to Functioning of the Electronic Cabinet and Simplification of Work of Private Entrepreneurs”, which entered into force on 8 August 2020.

In addition, on 17 December 2020, the Parliament of Ukraine adopted the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine and Other Laws of Ukraine to Ensure the Collection of Data and Information Required for Reporting of Certain Income Subject to Taxation” (“Amending Law”).

On 1 January 2021, the Amending Law became effective.

On 7 January 2021, the City of Buenos Aires published Law No. 6,394 (“Law”) in the Official Gazette, through which it adhered to the Regime for the Promotion of the Knowledge Economy (“Regime”), created by national Law No. 27,506.

The Law establishes different reductions for the applicable Gross Receipt Tax (GRT) rates, depending on the commitments assumed by the beneficiaries of the Regime.

On 18 December 2020, the OECD published Guidance on the transfer pricing implications of the COVID-19 pandemic (“OECD Guidance”) providing guidance to taxpayers when applying the arm’s length principle and applying the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and Tax Administrations 2017 (“OECD TPG”) for periods impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This guidance emphasizes the use of the existing OECD TPG and the arm’s length principle to tackle difficulties caused or aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic. It focuses upon transfer pricing and operating transactions but notably does not deal with transfer pricing of financial transactions such as interest on intragroup debt, other important intracompany transactions, such as management fees, are also not dealt with in the OECD Guidance.

The OECD Guidance should not be viewed as an extension nor as a modification of the OECD TPG.

On 5 January 2021, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and the rest of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states, along with Egypt, signed the “Al-Ula Declaration” at the 41st GCC Summit held in the city of Al-Ula, paving the way for the re-establishment of political and economic ties with the State of Qatar. This marks the end of a three-year dispute which began on 5 June 2017, and reinforces the commitment of the GCC member states to the political and economic stability of the region.

This first newsletter of the year sets out an analysis of the existing or upcoming rules to encourage the creation of start-ups in 10 French-speaking African countries (Algeria, Togo, Benin, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Gabon, Cameroon, Tunisia, and Chad).

Royal Decree-Law 36/2020 of 30 December 2020, establishing urgent measures to modernize the public administration and implement the government’s recovery, transformation and resilience plan (“RDL of Modernization”) was published on the last day of 2020 and entered into force on 1 January 2021.

Off the Shelf, the Global Consumer Goods & Retail Industry Podcast, provides short practical legal insights into the key issues affecting consumer goods and retail (CG&R) businesses. Episode 16: New Brand on the Block(chain): Consortium Considerations In the final episode of our blockchain for brands series, Alyssa Auberger, Baker McKenzie’s Chief…

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