On 2 November 2022, the Intellectual Property Tribunal of the Supreme People’s Court published its decision on the trade secret infringement case of Wuwei Bosheng Seed Industry Limited Company (Appellant) v. Hebei Huasui Seed Industry Limited Company. This case raised the untested question of whether parent material used in breeding can be protected as a trade secret in China.
On 16 December 2022, Japan announced its 2023 tax reform proposal, which contains a number of changes that may impact multinational companies doing business in Japan, including the introduction of Pillar Two legislation in Japanese domestic tax law.
In the spirit of Bank Indonesia’s Payment System 2025 Visions that were introduced in May 2019, and in conjunction with the G20 Roadmap for Enhancing Cross-Border Payments, Bank Indonesia has agreed on cooperating with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to enable consumers and merchants in both countries to make and accept instant cross-border QR payments. The memorandum of understanding for this cooperation was signed on 9 December 2022 in Tokyo.
On 10 October 2022, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed into law Republic Act No. 11934, otherwise known as the “Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Registration Act”. The primary purpose of the Act is to mandate all public telecommunications entities to require the registration of SIM cards prior to their sale and activation, in an effort to promote accountability and provide law enforcement with an identification tool in resolving crimes .
KPPU, the Indonesian competition authority, issued 15 decisions this year, a decline from 23 decisions in 2021. Late merger filing cases still account for the majority of decisions, followed by small and micro enterprises partnership cases. The increasing number of SME partnership cases suggests closer scrutiny by KPPU of partnerships between big and medium corporations and SMEs, which is in line with KPPU’s priorities as the pandemic subsides.
On 15 December 2022, the House of Representatives passed the draft omnibus law on the financial sector which is referred to as the “Financial Sector Development and Reinforcement (Pengembangan dan Penguatan Sektor Keuangan) Law” (“P2SK Law”). The draft law is currently under an enactment process with its effective date to be further announced. The P2SK Law, among other things, stipulates the reconfiguration of supervisory powers among the different regulators over a number of sectors (including the financial technology and digital financial assets sectors) that had been overlapping and led to regulatory gaps.
This client alert discusses the new Indonesian criminal code, which in a few years will replace the existing criminal code. This alert outlines the key features of the new criminal code, and is the first of a series of client alerts on the new Indonesian criminal code.
On 16 December 2022, the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore commenced proceedings in the State Courts against a retailer that sells alkaline water systems and its director. In particular, the CCCS applied for the court to make findings that the retailer engaged in unfair trading practices and to issue an injunction to restrain the retailer and its director from continuing such unfair trading practices.
Following the Energy Ministers’ meeting on 8 December 2022 and the National Cabinet meeting on 9 December 2022, the Australian Commonwealth government announced that a new Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) will be established, alongside other measures in the Energy Price Relief Plan.
The CIS is aimed at unlocking approximately AUD 10 billion in private and public sector investment in new clean dispatchable storage and generation to ensure reliability and security in Australia’s energy market, as well as affordable electricity supply and reduce Australia’s exposure to high coal and gas prices over the medium and long term.
The Malaysian Personal Data Protection Department has just published a questionnaire on Data Protection Officer (DPO) to gather market feedback on the role and qualification of a DPO in Malaysia . The deadline to respond to the Survey is 21 December 2022.