Resolution No. 570/2022 , issued by the National Communications Authority, was published in the Official Gazette on 31 March 2022. The Resolution establishes that news signals that are mandatory for the subscription of television services must include additional visual communication media that uses sign language and closed captioning.
On 30 March 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved proposed rules relating to special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) and released an accompanying fact sheet. Work on the final rules will begin following the public comment period, which ends on the later of 31 May 2022 and 30 days following the publication of the proposing release in the Federal Register.
The Trade Competition Commission of Thailand has published a new guideline on offenses relating to unfair trade practices under section 57 of the Trade Competition Act 2017. The New Guideline underwent a public hearing in 2021 and has become effective on 19 February 2022. It replaces the first guideline on unfair trade practices which was issued back in 2018.
The Trade Competition Commission of Thailand published a draft amendment of the Notification of the Trade Competition Commission re: Guideline on Fair Trade Practices relating to Credit Terms with SMEs Offering Goods or Services (or commonly referred to as the SME Credit Term Guideline). This is the first amendment after the guideline became effective in December 2021 and is now open for public hearing.
The termination of the National State of Disaster in South Africa means that regulations and directions that were made to mitigate the impact of the pandemic in terms of the Disaster Management Act are effectively repealed. Part of the interventions made by the government were Competition Law block exemptions issued by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition in South Africa to aid government programs designed to fight COVID-19. As such, any agreements or concerted practices between parties in the affected industries, which may contravene the Competition Act, will no longer be exempted from the Act’s provisions.
President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law Republic Act No. 11659 or “An Act Amending Commonwealth Act No. 146,” otherwise known as the Public Service Act, as amended on 21 March 2022. The amendment aims to liberalize previously restricted service industries to encourage private enterprise and foreign investment. While the law provides an exclusive list of sectors that are to be classified as ‘public utilities’ that remain subject to foreign ownership restrictions, the amendment also removes the 40% foreign ownership investment cap on certain public service sectors, including telecommunications.
In March 2022, Australian Securities & Investments Commission published a response to submissions received to its consultation on review of the ePayments Code. In its response, ASIC proposed various revisions to the current voluntary code, including that scam payments will no longer be regarded as “mistaken internet payments” and reporting requirements for unauthorized transactions will change.
The Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency launched a consultation in early 2022 as part of its post-Brexit efforts to develop a world-class and flexible regulatory environment for clinical trials. The consultation closed in March 2022, but continues to offer insights into what the future holds for the UK regime for clinical trials.
On 31 March 2022, the Investigating Authority of the Federal Economic Competition Commission published notice of the initiation of an investigation, into the retail electronic commerce market in Mexico. The investigation is to identify, and where appropriate, determine the possible existence of barriers to free market access, barriers to the competition, and/or essential inputs, that could create anti-competitive effects in the Market Under Investigation.
Changes to the Franchising Code commencing 1 April 2022 will introduce an online public Register of franchises in Australia from later this year. Anticipated for some time, the Register and will add to the annual compliance requirements for most franchisors. However, the information required to be filed is significantly reduced from that suggested in the Government’s 2021 Exposure Draft legislation.