BOTSWANA: Amending protocol to treaty with France signedOn 27 July 2017, Botswana and France signed an amending protocol to the Botswana/France Income Tax Treaty, 1999 in Gaborone. CAMEROON: VAT refund procedure available onlineThe Cameroonian Minister of Finance issued a communiqué on 14 June 2017, announcing that the value-added tax (“VAT”) refund procedure has been simplified and is available online as from 3 July 2017 for enterprises registered with the Large Tax Unit ...
ANGOLA: Budget Law, 2017 details publishedOn 10 February 2017, the provisions of Budget Law, 2017, enacted on 31 December 2016, were published. In terms of the Budget Law, 2017 the 10% withholding tax on technical services and management fees paid to non-residents for the provision of foreign technical assistance or management services (Contribuição Especial sobre as Operações Cambiais de Invisíveis Correntes), which was introduced by Law No ...
ANGOLA: Introduction of transfer pricing unitA transfer pricing unit, set up as an administrative technical structure forming part of the Large Taxpayers Directorate of the General Tax Administration, was launched on 25 September 2017 and will be responsible for monitoring compliance with Angola’s transfer pricing regime introduced by Presidential Decree No.147/13 of 1 October 2013 ...
ANGOLA: Budget Law 2016 published Law No. 28/15 (“Budget Law 2016”), which had been adopted on 31 December 2015, was published on 30 January 2016 and applies with effect from 1 January 2016. The Budget Law 2016 provides for: · the introduction of a Special Contribution on Banking Operations, to be levied at the rate of 0.1% on all financial operations by banking and non-banking financial institutions governed by the Financial Institutions Framework Law (Law 12/15 of 27 June 2015) ...
BOTSWANA: Protocol to treaty between Botswana and Sweden enters into force The amending protocol to the Botswana/Sweden Income Tax Treaty (1992), which was signed on 20 February 2013, entered into force on 1 December 2015. The protocol generally applies from 1 December 2015 for the provisions on exchange of information and from 1 January 2016 for the remaining provisions ...
African Union: Import tax introduced At its 27th summit recently held in Rwanda, the African Union (“AU”) decided to implement an import tax of 0.2% to be charged on all imports of goods (excluding basic necessities) in each member state. It is expected that EUR1-billion will be collected through this tax, making the AU financially autonomous. Morocco, the only African country currently not a member of the AU, is in the process of being reintegrated into the AU ...
ANGOLA: Securities Code Regulations enacted The Securities Code Regulation (Regulation No. 6/16) (the "Regulation") was approved by the Council of Administration of the Capital Market Commission and gazetted on 7 June 2016. The Regulation contains the organisation rules and administrative requirements for open companies and other issuers of securities admitted to trading in regulated markets ...
ANGOLA: Budget Law 2016 adopted by National Assembly The Angolan National Assembly adopted the final version of Budget Law 2016 on 11 December 2015, following its approval of the Program of Economic Diversification on 7 December 2015. The Program includes the introduction of the Special Contribution on Banking Transactions (“SCBT”) and the Special Contribution levied on transfers for the payment of technical assistance or management fees. The SCBT is to be levied at a rate of 0 ...
The African Continental Free Trade Agreement (“AfCFTA”)entered into force on 30 May 2019 following the approval by the minimum required 22 countries. The AfCFTA will be the world’s largest free trade zone formed after the World Trade Organization, covering a market of 1.2-billion people ...
We have been in the UAE helping clients manage and survive crises for 45 years, and these are unprecedented times in our lives. We will have to work together to overcome the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, and we at Afridi & Angell are ready to do our part. Until the end of March, we will offer free advice on legal issues affecting companies and employers as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic ...
by M. Ann Bradley, as published in IOGA of West Virginia newsletter, October 2010 There appears to be an increasing trend among certain regulatory agencies to issue policies or guidance when a change in some regulated activity is needed or desired, rather than undertaking formal rule-making procedures to adopt such a change ...
I. Introduction According to a Bitkom study from September 2018, German industry has incurred a total loss of 43 billion euros as a result of cyberattacks over the past two years. Seven out of ten industrial companies have been victims of such attacks during this period. At EU level, there has recently been a growing discussion on how to face this mounting danger ...
Introduction On 30 June 2022, the Council of the European Union (EU) announced1 that the Council presidency and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on the proposed markets in crypto-assets regulation (MiCA). More details here. The aim behind the proposed regulatory framework is to bring legal and regulatory certainty for crypto-asset operators across the EU ...
The JIA or the Joint Investment Activity Agreement is a legal document on the basis of which thousands of tones of carbohydrates become privately owned in Ukraine everyday. Presently the JIA Agreement dominates the production of carbohydrates and this situation does not seem to be about to change in the near future. The article goes on to describe various JIA’s ...
Considering the Covid-19 pandemic, the Agriculture and Livestock Service (Servicio Agrícola y Ganadero, "SAG") issued the Exempt Resolution No. 3,439, dated May 19, 2020 to update the Program of Exports of Origin. (View update here.) This Resolution was published in the Official Gazette on June 10, 2020 ...
When one instructs a painter to draw a portrait (no matter how detailed the instructions may be) the painter will always have discretion in executing the final product. Likewise, in investment funds, the investment manager is instructed to invest according to various rules and timeframes which are detailed in the investment strategy as approved by the competent financial regulator, but there will still remain investment discretion on how the investment strategy is executed ...
In addition to the draft EU regulation on Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) titled ‘Proposal for a Regulation laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence’ (the “draft EU AI Act”), the EU Commission is also proposing a separate draft directive on non-contractual liability relating to AI titled ‘Proposal for a Directive on adapting non-contractual civil liability rules to artificial intelligence’ (the “draft AI Li
If the draft EU regulation on Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) titled ‘Proposal for a Regulation laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence’ (the “draft EU AI Act”) becomes law, investment funds could have an additional risk which would need consideration, namely, the AI risk ...
In the ‘Proposal for a Regulation laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence’ (the “draft EU AI Act”), transparency is regulated by Article 13 and Article 52 thereof. The former applies to systems of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) which are classified as high-risk and the latter applies to limited-risk AI systems ...
The purpose of disclosing conflicts of interest in the investment services industry is to ensure maximum transparency for the investor. A common conflict of interest is the situation when the fund’s investment manager owns voting shares in the fund and appoints a director who is already heavily involved in the investment manager’s structure. Consequently, the appointed director might be conflicted if one is required to take a decision against the investment manager ...
The Alan Turing Institute has published a new report: "AI in Financial Services", looking to the use of artificial intelligence in the FS sector. We will watch with interest how the report’s findings evolve into more specific regulatory rules or guidance ...
