On 19 August 2021, the Federal Communications Commission published a notice of proposed rulemaking discussing potential changes it is considering making to its equipment authorization and competitive bidding programs to restrict the use of telecommunications and video surveillance equipment and services produced or provided by five Chinese companies.
On 24 September 2021, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry published a “Notice of Request for Public Comments on Risks in the Semiconductor Supply Chain.” The Notice seeks responses from various parties in the semiconductor supply chain about current shortages and related issues. Comments in response to the Notice are due by 8 November 2021.
The emergence and subsequent spread of the Delta variant has led several countries, most notably the United States, into adopting more stringent health and safety protocols. On 29 July 2021, President Biden declared that the US government would be imposing vaccination requirements in certain cases and offering additional incentives for its citizens to be vaccinated. Following this announcement, TMT Talk revisits the important legal aspects of vaccinations, as they apply to the TMT sector.
The Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources has finally approved PLN’s 2021-2030 Electricity Supply Business Plan (RUPTL). This long-anticipated RUPTL marks a pivotal milestone for PLN. For the first time, the majority of power generation projects to be developed are renewable energy projects, accounting for 51.6% of 40,575 MW of power generation projects. The RUPTL also allocates a bigger share to Independent Power Producers in developing power generation projects.
On 8 October 2021, 136 member jurisdictions of the OECD’s Inclusive Framework signed up to a revised Statement on a Two-Pillar Solution to Address the Tax Challenges Arising from the Digitalisation of the Economy. The Statement confirms a number of issues left outstanding from the previous statement on 1 July. Notably, it confirms the amount of residual profits to be redistributed under Pillar One, the rates of tax under the new Global Minimum Tax regime and subject to tax rule, the calculation of the substance based carve out, and the timing of the implementation of the plan. The Inclusive Framework has been able to reach near unanimous political agreement on the broad architecture of the Two-Pillar solution and will now turn to the technical challenges of agreeing the finer details ahead of publication of implementation instruments.
Following the National Assembly’s adoption of the Law on Tax Administration, the Vietnam Ministry of Finance just issued Circular No. 80/2021/TT-BTC to provide implementing guidelines on the Law on Tax Administration and Government Decree No. 126/2020/ND-CP. One of the important provisions under Circular 80 is tax administration with respect to e-commerce business, digital-based business and other services of overseas suppliers without having a permanent establishment in Vietnam.
We are pleased to invite you to our annual virtual Global Year-End Review of Import/Export/Trade Compliance Developments. Our international trade compliance lawyers from around the world will review the major global legislative, judicial and administrative activities and trends in export controls, trade sanctions, customs compliance, and import requirements which will be 16-18 November 2021.
On 6 September 2021, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (“OFSI“) published its 2021 frozen asset reporting notice. The notice is a reminder that all persons that hold or control funds or economic resources belonging to, owned, held, or controlled by a designated person must provide a report to OFSI with the details of these assets by 15 October 2021. This is part of HM Treasury’s annual review of frozen assets to update its records and to capture any changes during the reporting period.
On October 8, the US Department of Labor published a notice requesting information and comments on the following three reports on child labor and forced labor practices in foreign countries that are published by the US Bureau of International Labor Affairs. The comments will be used in preparing the 2022 edition of the TDA Report and TVPRA List, as well as any updates to the E.O. List. The three reports are the US government’s key public statements on the issue of forced labor and child labor around the world.
The ecosystem of the electric vehicle (EV) market is huge and requires significant investment. While the market forecast is bright, many existing players are still waiting for the right time to invest, not to mention new players considering entering into this emerging market. One of the key drivers to activate the consumers’ buying motivation, the primary factor for advancement of the EV market to the next stage, involves financial incentives.