Effective 10 March 2021, the state of Texas has lifted mask requirements and business occupancy limits, implemented at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On 1 March 2021, the Philippine National Privacy Commission (NPC) announced its new online registration and renewal platform called “eRehistro,” which can be used by Personal Information Controllers (PICs) and Personal Information Processors (PIPs) to register, amend or renew their Data Protection Officer (DPO) and Data Processing Systems (DPS) registrations.1
In addition, the NPC extended the validity of existing DPO registrations, from 7 March 2021 to 30 June 2021, in order to give way to the launch of the eRehistro platform. According to the NPC, this extension is also meant to give PICs and PIPs ample time to prepare for the creation of their eRehistro accounts as it will now include both Phase 1: DPO and Phase 2: DPS of the registration process.
In the waning months of the Trump administration, the then-president signed a raft of executive orders and new legislation that potentially limit access by Chinese companies to US capital markets. Chief among these actions, the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (“Act”) (signed into law on 18 December 2020) bans public trading in the United States in “covered issuers” audited by firms with offices in non-US jurisdictions where the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) is unable to inspect. The Act stems from a longstanding issue relating to the ability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections of audit firms in certain countries.
On 15 December 2020, the European Commission published the first draft of the Digital Services Act (DSA). In this episode of TMT Talk, Carolina Pardo discusses this impactful legal development with Ben Allgrove, Rebecca Bland, and Julia Dickenson. Our TMT industry experts highlight the key points of the DSA, give their perspectives on the new obligations included in it, who they apply to and provide updates on the progress of this new law.
The Canadian government plans to introduce legislation this year to regulate social media companies, with a focus on online hate and harassment. After nine months of study and deliberations, the Canadian Commission on Democratic Expression has settled on a series of principles and recommendations that are aimed at influencing legislation.
The Ministry of Health issued Circular 26/2020/TT-BYT (“Circular 26”) dated 28 December 2020 to amend and supplement Circular 22/2013/TT-BYT dated 9 August 2013 (“Circular 22”) regarding continuous medical education (CME) for medical officials.
Circular 26 came into effect on 1 March 2021.
On 26 February 2021, the Singapore Ministry of Health (MOH) announced that it is introducing a new voluntary listing of direct telemedicine service providers, to assist patients with making informed choices when selecting telemedicine service providers. According to the MOH, this scheme will be an interim measure to promote patient safety and welfare in the provision of telemedicine services, pending the upcoming regulation of telemedicine services under the new soon-to-be-implemented Healthcare Services Act.
Hong Kong continues to have an active and growing money-lending market. Since 2016, the Hong Kong Government has adopted a four-pronged approach to enhancing the compliance standards of non-bank money lenders. The Hong Kong Companies Registry (CR), which currently performs the role of Registrar of Money Lenders (“Registrar”) pursuant to the Money Lenders Ordinance (MLO),1 recently released a new Guideline on Fit and Proper Criteria for Licensing of Money Lenders2 (“Fit and Proper Guideline”) and a Guideline on Submission of Business Plan by Applicant of a Money Lenders Licence3 (“Business Plan Guideline”). The new guidelines (“Guidelines”) will be effective from 1 April 2021. In this publication, we provide an overview of the money lenders regime in Hong Kong and the implications of the new Guidelines on new and existing market participants.
In his recent 2021-22 Budget Speech,1 the Financial Secretary (“Financial Secretary”) of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (“Hong Kong Government”) confirmed the intended timing for submission of a legislative proposal to allow foreign investment funds to re-domicile to Hong Kong for registration as an Open-ended Fund Company (OFC). The Financial Secretary also announced subsidies for the costs of setting up a new OFC or re-domiciling of foreign investment funds registering as an OFC in Hong Kong. The latest measures represent further important steps in ongoing enhancements and incentives to promote use of the OFC regime. We discuss the recent developments in more depth below.
Baker McKenzie is pleased to invite you to our virtual annual conference Supply Chain Risks & Rewards in Emerging Markets, which will now be offered virtually. In addition to providing the latest updates on regional and industry‑specific supply chain compliance developments, this webinar series will focus on cutting‑edge issues in supply…