To facilitate better traceability and follow-up actions in the event of safety or quality issues, the Health Science Authority (HSA) is launching a voluntary notification initiative for health supplements and traditional medicines. From 1 August 2022, companies may submit documents regarding their products to the HSA. If the products meet the necessary safety and quality standards and labelling requirements, they will be published on the HSA’s database, which patients and consumers can refer to when considering suitable health supplements and traditional medicines.
The Singapore Food Agency has announced that the Food Regulations 2022 will make changes to the existing Food Regulations, to allow the use of Pathogen Reduction Treatments on meat. The amendments will come into operation on 31 July 2022.
The Health Sciences Authority’s (HSA) Medical Devices Cluster (MDC) has released draft Regulatory Guidelines for Laboratory Developed Tests.
The HSA’s MDC has invited stakeholders to provide feedback on the draft document, with the consultation period being from 12 July 2022 to 12 August 2022.
Amidst the surging interest in environmental, social and governance considerations, the Ministry of Industry has revised the obligations under its notification on certain factory operators in monitoring and reporting air pollution data. The aim of this notification is to bring up to date the current requirements, extend the coverage of applicability and help improve the availability of emission data to the public.
In Part 1 of our newsletter on sustainability and investment promotion, we discussed the current climate of a drive towards sustainability goals and the role of the Thailand Board of Investment in supporting businesses in this direction. In this second part, we will elaborate on measures adopted by the Thailand Board of Investment so far, including: measure to promote Thailand as the regional EV hub; measure to promote sustainability-related activities; special measures to improve production efficiency; and measure to promote a grassroots economy.
In 2021-2022, the digital assets industry in Thailand has been growing significantly as more big players in the traditional financial industry and start-up players enter into the digital assets market. It seems that the frenzy of price volatility and the regulatory complexities could not slow down the rise of crypto activities. To keep up with these dynamic and evolving regulatory developments in 2022, we have revised this publication to provide an update of the regulations pertaining to digital assets in Thailand, which cover the regulations regarding custodial wallet providers, digital asset payments and NFTs, including the SEC’s proposed rules on ready-to-use utility tokens, advertisements and IT standards.
In our brand new series “Instant Competition”, the Competition team at Baker McKenzie discusses the Thai Trade Competition Act and its impact on business operators across all industries.
In our first episode “Instant Competition Overview: Introduction to Thai Trade Competition Law”, our team discusses competition law and the role of regulator in the competition landscape in Thailand. This is followed by “Instant Competition EP. 2: Thai merger control regulations – what you should know” focusing on merger control regulations under the Thai Trade Competition Act.
This series is the latest installment in our YouTube video chats which feature interesting key legal developments across various areas. This video is in Thai.
In an attempt to protect its oil and gas industry, Texas has passed legislation that seeks to punish investment firms that divest from fossil fuel related investments. On 16 March 2022, the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Glenn Hegar, sent a letter to 19 major financial companies which was not limited to US or Texas-based companies and included Japanese companies requesting verification that they do not engage in investment policies that result in the boycott of fossil fuel-based energy. This request was made pursuant to Texas Government Code Chapter 809: recent legislation prohibiting the Texas Government from investing in financial companies that take any action intended to penalize, inflict economic harm, or limit commercial relations with a company based on the company’s involvement in fossil fuel-based energy.
Vietnam is becoming an increasingly important market for talent, and we have witnessed growing demand for the offering of share-based awards to employees in Vietnam in recent years. Due to currency control restrictions imposed by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), including the requirement that each plan be registered with the SBV, it has traditionally been challenging to implement a share plan in Vietnam. Since the adoption of Circular 10 in 2016, the SBV registration process has been clarified and a growing number of companies have successfully registered their plans with the SBV.
In one of the first cases in Hong Kong in which the court has granted freezing injunctions over bitcoins, the Court of First Instance has now handed down judgment in the trial of Nico Constantijn v Stive Jean-Paul Dan [2022] HKCFI 1254. The court held that the defendant acted as the plaintiff’s sales agent in respect of the plaintiff’s bitcoins. The court found the defendant had breached his fiduciary duties in failing to account to the plaintiff for the bitcoins and the relevant sales proceeds. Consequently, the court held that the defendant held on trust for the plaintiff the unsold bitcoins, the proceeds from the sale of the bitcoins and the fruits thereof.