On 11 December 2020, in a Conversant/ValueClick case, the French Supreme Administrative Court, which sat for the occasion in tax “plenary” formation (when the French Supreme Court considers that it has to rule on questions of principle, both complex and technical, the four chambers specialized in tax matters all sit…
On 29 November 2020, Swiss voters opted for the introduction of EU-style ESG reporting and due diligence requirements and against the so-called Responsible Business Initiative. While the initiative would have added teeth to the civil liability regime for the violation of international human rights and environmental standards across the supply chain, the substantive requirements regarding ESG reporting and due diligence across the extended enterprise are not any lighter under the chosen approach. We expect that affected companies will have to apply the new requirements in financial year 2023.
As COVID-19 rapidly spreads to every corner of the globe and is officially declared a pandemic, governments across the world are adopting emergency measures to fight against this extraordinary situation. Ultimately, all these measures are aimed at protecting the health and wellbeing of citizens. However, on the healthcare and life sciences front in particular, such measures range from intervention powers to guarantee adequate supplies of treatment and medical equipment, to the relaxation of deadlines and regulatory requirements to simplify administrative procedures wherever possible, so that competent authorities, manufacturers and other actors can focus on urgent priorities related to the COVID-19 crisis.
Baker McKenzie’s newest report, Russia: Corporate Anti-Corruption Enforcement Trends, aims to provide both international companies operating in Russia and Russian businesses with an international footprint with practical and informative guidance on evaluating their corporate compliance programs. Focusing on the risks of prosecution under Russian law, this report will be particularly valuable…
New amendments to the Russian Tax Code1 (“Law”) will allow individuals to reduce the Russian individual income tax on profit distributions from foreign companies and unincorporated vehicles (e.g., trusts) sourced from dividends originally paid by Russian companies that are subject to Russian withholding tax (“indirect tax credit”).
The Law eliminates the existing double taxation and economically equates ownership of Russian assets via Russian and foreign companies (trusts). At the same time, the Law eliminates the 0% tax rate previously available for Russian companies on dividends received through intermediary foreign companies that are not beneficial owners of income. This will allow, for example, the application of the 15% Russian withholding tax rate on dividends paid to Cypriot and Luxembourg intermediary companies under the recently amended tax treaties. Some historic holding structures will get a deferral; for them the new rules will apply as of 2024.
Earlier last week, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), issued a decree introducing a number of fundamental changes to the UAE Commercial Companies Law (CCL Amendment) and to the UAE’s approach towards foreign direct investment (FDI) in general. The CCL Amendment adopted a new general rule of, in principle, allowing foreign investors to fully own certain types of companies in the mainland of the UAE.
The current UAE Commercial Companies Law No. 2 of 2015 (as amended) (CCL) was issued in 2015 and was a long awaited development. The CCL, however, maintained many of the foreign investment restrictions of its predecessor.
In 2018, the Decree Law No. 19 of 2018 regulating Foreign Direct Investment (FDI Law) was issued with an aim to relax the investment restrictions and facilitate the establishment of companies with up to 100% foreign capital in certain strategic sectors. This was a welcome change and a milestone in the development of the UAE foreign investment rules.
The Czech parliament is adopting a new regulation with respect to the registration of ultimate beneficial owners (i.e. persons with ultimate decisive influence on or with ultimate economic benefit from the company) (“UBO”). Although the obligation of companies to register their UBOs has already existed for some time under the Czech regulatory regime, it has shown to be insufficient in practice as the absence of any penalties or sanctions has led to the vast majority of business corporations still neglecting this obligation to register their UBOs.
The new regulation will maintain the obligation to evidence the UBO in the register, but it will also impose a variety of sanctions on companies not compliant with the new UBO regime. We expect such changes to be adopted in the next few months.
A series of briefings that take a “bite-size” look at international trends in different jurisdictions, drawing on Baker McKenzie’s expert financial services practitioners.
In addition to the comprehensive economic support and stimulus program launched by the UAE Central Bank to curb the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UAE has introduced radical amendments to the UAE Bankruptcy Law, offering distressed debtors with some level of leniency during these times of economic uncertainty and market disruption caused by circumstances outside of their control.
Key changes include: adding new provisions to the law related to “emergencies” such as pandemics and natural and environmental disasters; new debtor’s rights to delay filing for bankruptcy and to resort to out-of-court settlement agreement with creditors; and mechanisms to obtain new financing under certain rules and conditions.
In brief On September 24, 2020, the Franchise Tax Board of California (the FTB) released a proposed regulation — new section 17951-8 of Title 18 of the California Code of Regulations — which treats the compensation of a California nonresident, non-employee director of a corporation as California-source income subject to California personal income…