Our latest Doing Business in South Africa Guide outlines some of the principal matters affecting an overseas entity that wishes to establish and operate a business in the country. The Guide offers a range of practical advice and useful guidance for entities seeking to do business in the country.
Welcome to the 2023 edition of Baker McKenzie’s Doing Business in Canada, a practical guide to the business and investment legal framework and developments in Canada. We hope that you find this guide a useful and practical resource.
The transition to net zero means that companies are understandably keen to highlight such credentials, and existing and upcoming legislation in various jurisdictions, including the UK, requires certain companies to make public sustainability and environmental disclosures in annual reports and elsewhere. However, companies now face a delicate balancing act between advertising such credentials and making such disclosures, and the increased litigation risk from NGOs and other actors as well as regulatory enforcement and sanctions. The ASA’s recent decisions build upon industry-specific investigations into green claims conducted by the Competition and Markets Authority earlier this year.
With the rapid rise of environmental consciousness in Australia and abroad, consumer-facing businesses are increasingly making claims about the environmental qualities of their products, services and business operations. While the ACCC has had guidance on the practice of “greenwashing” for some time, policing of environmental and sustainability claims has been a core area of focus for the ACCC in the last 12 months.
In 2019, the government consulted on various measures to support families. It has now responded to chapter one of that consultation – Parental leave and pay: Supporting parents and achieving equality – and announced changes to the statutory paternity leave regime to give fathers and partners more choice and flexibility around how and when they take their entitlement.
On 6 July 2023, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) announced the launch of a Common Supervisory Action (CSA) with EU National Competent Authorities on sustainability-related disclosures and the integration of sustainability risks in the investment fund sector. Asset managers with EU touchpoints should have regard to the CSA and its output when considering emerging enforcement risk in this area.
On 3 July 2023, the Brazilian president sanctioned Law n. 14,611/2023, which aims to ensure equal payment for women and men who perform the same activities. The new regulation also creates greater sanctions for employers.
Almost half of the population of Africa does not have access to electricity. It is, therefore, critical for the continent to increase its access to a clean, decarbonized, decentralized energy supply.
To enable this energy transition, countries across the continent are implementing policies that take into account the energy crisis. Alongside other jurisdictions, they are also launching initiatives and providing funding, investments and grants for African renewable energy projects.
In 2022, a group of African countries launched the African Carbon Markets Initiative with the aim of eventually producing 300 million carbon credits annually. To allow countries to voluntarily cooperate with each other to achieve emission reduction targets as set out in their Nationally Determined Contributions, Article 6 was introduced in 2021. Under Article 6, countries will be able to transfer carbon credits earned from the reduction of their greenhouse gas emissions to other countries to meet their climate targets.
Vietnam continues to develop regulatory structures incentivizing a shift to a green economy. The proposed classification framework for green credit and green bonds is introduced via the Draft Decision of the Prime Minister on environmental criteria and certification for projects eligible for green credit and green bonds released in December 2022.