The Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand (SEC) has amended and issued regulations (17 in total) to provide clarity regarding the nature of businesses that may be considered investment companies. The amended regulations also impose disclosure obligations, where an investment company is also a listed company, and prohibit any investment companies from offering securities, except in limited circumstances. These regulations became effective on 1 January 2024.
The Australian Government’s interim response to the “Safe and responsible AI in Australia” discussion paper flags a risk-based approach to AI governance in Australia including a mix of voluntary AI safety standards, voluntary labelling and watermarking for generative AI and the development of mandatory guardrails with a particular focus on high-risk and frontier AI applications.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue recently issued Revenue Regulations No. 16-2023, which sets out the guidelines on the imposition of withholding tax on gross remittances by electronic marketplace operators and digital financial services providers to online sellers/merchants, in connection with goods and services sold or paid through the former’s platform.
The Regulations took effect on 12 January 2024.
Under Vietnam’s current regulations on electronic games, foreign service providers of online electronic games must establish local enterprises to provide their services in Vietnam. The Schedule of Specific Commitments in Services of the Working Party on the WTO Accession of Vietnam (“Vietnam’s WTO Commitments”) only allows foreign investors to own up to 49% of the charter capital of such game companies. The commitments under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) further allow foreign investors from member countries of the CPTPP to own up to 51% of the charter capital in game companies from 2019. However, from 14 January 2024, foreign investors from CPTPP member countries may own up to 100% of the charter capital in game companies in Vietnam.
Thailand is taking the next step towards strengthening the legal framework on air quality control as the Cabinet approved in principle the Draft Management for Clean Air Act (“Clean Air Bill”), which was proposed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MONRE) on 28 November 2023. Thailand’s current legal framework to manage air quality can be seen in many existing laws that regulate the monitoring and treatment of air pollution, and specify air quality standards. There are many governmental agencies acting as regulators for the purpose of air quality control, including the MONRE, the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of Public Health.
On 19 June 2023, the Korean Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) issued a notice according to which domestic employees can be sanctioned for violating the Foreign Exchange Transaction Act if they sell foreign-listed shares through an overseas broker or deposit funds resulting from the sale of foreign-listed shares with an overseas financial institution. To avoid sanctions, domestic employees are required to open an account with a Korean domestic broker, transfer the foreign-listed shares to such account, sell the shares through the domestic broker, and deposit the proceeds into an account with the domestic broker.
Consent is not the only available lawful basis for processing personal information. Personal information controllers and other parties engaged in the processing of personal information may also use legitimate interest as a lawful basis for processing. However, these parties must be aware of the conditions and limitations for processing personal information based on legitimate interest. For this reason, the National Privacy Commission (“NPC”) recently issued NPC Circular No. 2023-07, which provides guidelines on the processing of personal information based on legitimate interest. The Circular takes effect on 14 January 2024.
In November 2023, the National Assembly of Vietnam addressed the draft law on credit institutions (“Draft Law”) in its sixth session. The Draft Law proposes significant changes to the current Law on Credit Institutions and will have a major impact on the development of Vietnam’s financial market. The Draft Law will be submitted and is expected to be approved at the National Assembly’s next session.
The Ministry of Health has commenced an investigation into a company allegedly offering doctors healthcare awards in exchange for signing up for a promotional package.
The MOH has raised that this is a potential breach of the Healthcare Services (Advertisement) Regulations.
The Singapore government has once again recognized the importance of AI in the healthcare industry, outlining a three-pronged approach on how to harness the potential of AI in the industry.
In the long-run, the increasing use of AI would serve to deliver better diagnosis and treatment; early detection, prevention and prediction of diseases; faster drug development; and better understand the risks around intervention and how to stratify it. In the shorter term, the use of AI may help to enhance clinical decision support; increase productivity of healthcare teams; and support individuals.