As part of its post-Brexit trade policy, the UK has established its own independent trade remedies regime. Through its newly-formed Trade Remedies Authority, the UK can now investigate claims of unfair import practices from UK businesses and determine whether the UK Government should introduce trade remedy measures – including anti-dumping duties, countervailing duties and safeguard measures – onto imports into the UK.
The Internal Revenue Service has issued final regulations limiting the IRS’s ability to hire private attorneys as contractors. The final regulations, published on 7 September 2021, finalize proposed regulations published on 7 August 2020.
The ASEAN Model Contractual Clauses are contractual terms and conditions that may be voluntarily adopted by companies as a legal basis for the cross-border transfer of data. The ASEAN MCCs are primarily designed for transfers of personal data between ASEAN nations, but can also be adapted with appropriate modifications for data transfers between businesses within Singapore or transfers to countries outside the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
With effect from 1 September 2019, organizations are generally not allowed to collect, use or disclose National Registration Identity Card numbers and copies of NRIC and other national identification numbers, except in certain specified circumstances. Notwithstanding clear guidance documents issued by the Personal Data Protection Commission, it appears that some organizations continue to collect, use or disclose such national identification numbers in breach of the Personal Data Protection Act.
This data privacy update addresses the amendments to the Personal Data Protection Act, the changes to the Spam Control Act, the publication of the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore’s report on the Singapore Cyber Landscape in 2020, and the proposed new licensing framework for cybersecurity service providers.
On 20 September 2021, the Ministry of Public Security released the Draft Decree on Cybersecurity Administrative Sanctions. The MPS is collecting public opinions on this Draft Decree until 18 November 2021. The Draft Decree consists of four chapters and 51 articles, with the main substance regarding administrative violations, penalties, and remedial measures covered under Chapter II.
Draft guidelines to the COMESA Competition Regulations, 2004 were published for public comment in October 2021. The guidelines are intended to provide clarity, transparency and certainty on the policies and procedures of the COMESA Competition Commission. Based on international best practice, they address the determination of fines and administrative penalties, as well as settlement and hearing procedures.
On October 15, 2021, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control published sanctions compliance guidance for the virtual currency industry (the “Guidance”), given that “the growing prevalence of virtual currency … brings greater exposure to sanctions risk.” This Guidance follows (1) the recent and first-ever designation of a virtual currency exchange by the OFAC (see our recent post on this here), and (2) the launch of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team to tackle criminal misuses of cryptocurrency (see a description of this new team on our Blockchain blog, available here).
Please join us for upcoming webinars on important developments in the Consumer Goods & Retail industry. Please note that the webinar series will be held in German only
The National Institute of Pharmacy and Nutrition (“OGYÉI”) issued a Guidance on 20 September which contains useful information on the OGYÉI’s interpretation of the recent legislative amendments of Act XCVIII of 2006 concerning medicine promotion, events and contracts with HCPs.