On 26 January 2024, China issued significantly higher merger filing turnover-based thresholds, with immediate effect. Notably, China has removed a hybrid threshold proposed in the June 2022 draft, which was based on both revenue and market value of target companies and purported to target high-value “killer” acquisitions.
This alert focuses on AI hallucinations and their implications for the responsible use of AI in your business. It aims to provide an overview of the legal ramifications of AI hallucinations, as well as recent regulatory developments in this area.
The Doing Business in the Philippines handbook aims to equip both local and foreign entrepreneurs with a practical guide to navigating the ever-evolving business landscape in the Philippines. It provides information on the requirements needed when setting up and operating a business in the Philippines, including incentives under special registrations, taxation, employment, IP, dispute resolution, and industry-specific regulations.
On 29 December 2023, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China promulgated the amended Company Law of the People’s Republic of China (“2023 Company Law”), after its deliberation of four versions of draft amendments in the past three years. The 2023 Company Law will come into force on 1 July 2024.
The amendments cover a wide range of topics, including capital contribution and reduction, equity/share transfer and repurchase, corporate governance matters (such as organizational structure and responsibilities and duties of controlling shareholders, actual controllers, directors, supervisors and senior management, etc.), shareholder rights protection, company establishment and dissolution/liquidation, etc.
8 December 2023 was a historic moment for AI regulation in Europe. Following three days of extensive debates, the EU Parliament, Council and Commission finally announced a provisional agreement on the EU AI Act, the bloc’s landmark legislation regulating the development and use of AI in Europe. It is one of the world’s first comprehensive attempts to regulate the use of AI.
On 28 December 2023, the Treasury and the IRS issued a notice of proposed rulemaking regarding whether a debt instrument is worthless for US federal income tax purposes under Code section 166 (the “Proposed Regulations”). The Proposed Regulations would update the standards under Treas. Reg. § 1.166-2 used to determine when debt instruments held by regulated financial companies or members of a regulated financial group are conclusively presumed worthless.
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.
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.
In June 2019, the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA) was amended to require private CBCA corporations to prepare and maintain a register of “individuals with significant control” (the “ISC Register“).
There have been two key changes since this requirement was first introduced: