On 19 July, the Ministry of Health published for public comment a draft Supreme Decree that aims to modify the technical parameters for sugar, sodium and saturated fats content in processed foods that are contained in the “Regulation of the Law on the Promotion of Healthy Eating for children and adolescents” and in the “Advertising Warnings Manual”.
This article, by Francis Mayebe, Candidate Attorney in the Tax Practice in Johannesburg and Virusha Subban, Head of the Johannesburg Tax Practice, looks at the criteria and guidelines for voluntary tax disclosure in South Africa. The article outlines a recent case, and analyses the meaning of “voluntary” within the context of the voluntary disclosure program in South Africa.
At present, certain promotional activities (e.g., sweepstakes, raffle games or random premiums) are subject to the Gambling Act, B.E. 2478 (1935), which require the business operator to get permission from the Department of Provincial Administration. The Gambling Act regulates all sweepstakes activities with a strict and complicated permission system. The Office of the Council of State has now updated the requirements under the Gambling Act by passing the Bill on Sweepstakes Activities in the Course of Business or Occupation to reduce the strict procedures and difficulties for business operators in arranging these promotional activities.
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.
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.
On 8 July 2022, the Department of Justice announced a settlement of cybersecurity fraud charges against Aerojet Rocketdyne Inc. (Aerojet) following an action under the False Claims Act. Aerojet agreed to pay USD 9 million to the US government to settle allegations that it misrepresented its compliance with cybersecurity requirements when entering into federal government contracts with NASA and the Department of Defense.
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.
In 2020, the European Commission began a review of the EU’s rules on blood, tissues and cells used for medical treatments and therapies. Now the Commission has published a draft legislative proposal to amend the rules. The proposal does not recommend a complete overhaul: the EU will not change its definitions of blood, tissue and cell products. Yet it does promise a significant update to the two Directives published in the early 2000s that continue to govern the use of BTC components in the EU. Most importantly, the proposed legislation would be packaged as a Regulation rather than a Directive, meaning it would have a direct effect in the Member States.