The Planning etc (Scotland) Act 2006 has placed the National Planning Framework (NPF) – Scotland's national planning strategy - on a statutory footing, to be reviewed every four years. The NPF was published in 2004 to largely widespread approval from industry, political and community figures. The purpose of the NPF was to introduce the Scottish Executive's strategy for the "spatial development of Scotland until 2025" ...
Review of Nigerian Gas Master Plan
Province of British Columbia Bars Exploration and Development of Uranium ResourcesOn April 24, 2008, the Province of British Columbia announced that it will not support the exploration and development of uranium in British Columbia and is establishing a "no registration reserve" under the Mineral Tenure Act for uranium and thorium. The "no registration reserve" will ensure any future claims do not include the rights to uranium ...
Yukon Supreme Court Considers the Duty to Consult on Settled Treaty LandsCanadian case law continues to refine the principles of the duty to consult and accommodate Aboriginal peoples, and the May 2007 decision of the Yukon Supreme Court in Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation v. The Government of Yukon (Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources), 2007 YKSC 28 considers the extent of its application on recently settled treaty lands in the Yukon ...
On May 28, 2008, the Quebec Minister of Natural Resources and Wildlife, Claude Béchard, presented the first Government strategy for the lumber use in construction. Entitled “Agir aujourd’hui pour demain” (Acting today for tomorrow). This initiative has the goal of a threefold increase by 2014 in the use of wood products in the non-residential sector and in construction of multi-family dwellings, thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 600,000 tonnes ...
On April 24, 2008, the Union des Municipalités du Québec announced the launching of the Sustainable Mobility and Transport Policy. This purpose of this initiative is to develop a new culture regarding mobility and transport, reduce dependency on motor vehicles, facilitate access to affordable public transport, decrease energy consumption and reduce environmental impacts, including those related to greenhouse gas emissions ...
On March 14, 2008, Luc Bertrand, the Chairman of the Board of the Montreal Climate Exchange, announced that the Exchange filed an application with the Autorité des marchés financiers requesting approval of the trading of environmental products on its electronic trading platform ...
On November 18, 2004, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decisions in Haida Nation v. British Columbia (Minister of Forests) and Weyerhaeuser, 2004 S.C.C. 73 (“Haida”) and Taku River Tlingit First Nation v. British Columbia (Project Assessment Director), 2004 S.C.C. 74 (“Taku”) ...
As Petroleum Commissioner for Namibia, Dr Leon Moller had first-hand experience of negotiating with international oil companies in Africa. Now a solicitor in Aberdeen, with leading UK law firm Shepherd and Wedderburn, he outlines the challenges and potential pitfalls facing firms hoping to exploit the continent's vast resources ...
The UK Green Building Council has announced a new industry wide consultation to explore what kind of Code for Sustainable Buildings the industry needs to help it achieve the zero carbon target of 2019 and other sustainability challenges ...
A new Swedish Competition Act will enter into force on 1 November 2008. The Act was passed by parliament on 11 June 2008. The new legislation means further harmonisation with EC competition rules and it also introduces a number of new features in order to enhance cartel enforcement. One of the new features is the introduction of trading prohibitions. The rules regarding fines will become both clearer and stricter in an aim to enhance legal certainty ...
In its decision of 10 September 2008, the Market Court held that eight retailers of Volvo and Renault cars in southern Sweden were guilty of fixing sales prices and discounts on new cars, dividing the market for new car sales and fixing acquisition and sales prices on used cars. This behaviour was deemed to constitute such a limitation of competition as is prohibited under Section 6 of the Competition Act and Article 81 of the EC Treaty ...
Debate is raging at the moment as to the economic and political wisdom of imposing a so-called windfall tax on the profits of the UK's energy companies. Politicians, business people and consumer groups have all offered their views on what has been described as a "legalised raid" on the energy companies. But are the proposals "legal" at all? In that context it is important to consider where the profits in question are likely to have arisen ...
As national governments have taken increasingly drastic steps to shore up their banking systems so the Commission has been working overtime dealing with the State aid fallout. Many of the measures taken by Member States could distort competition - a serious worry in the current volatile climate. Against this backdrop, the Commission has been keen to stress that it wants to work with Member States to ensure financial stability ...
To protect consumers of oil and gas products, on 13 June 2008, the Minister for Energy and Mineral Resources issued Regulation No. 19 of 2008 regarding Guidelines and Procedures for the Protection of Consumers for Downstream Oil and Gas Business Activities (the "Regulation") ...
On 16 September 2008, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) gave a preliminary ruling in joined cases C-468/06 - C-478/06 specifying that a refusal by a pharmaceutical undertaking that holds a dominant position on a relevant pharmaceutical market to supply wholesalers with a view to impeding parallel export of such wholesalers from one Member State to other Member States constitutes an abuse of a dominant market position under Article 82 of the EC Treaty ...
Following consultation with national competition authorities and the public, the European Commission has published enforcement priorities guidelines, which it will follow when applying Article 82 to exclusionary conduct by dominant companies. Throughout the guidelines, the Commission reiterates that Article 82 should protect competition and consumers – rather than individual competitors (an approach previously advocated by Commissioner Kroes) ...
Today when financial experts are busy in measuring the depth of present financial turmoil, layman is cursing Governments and experts are blaming sub-prime mortgage payment defaulters but no-body in the economic fraternity could appreciate that it was a policy failure. Moreover, no one in the financial world could imagine the enormous size of the trouble that lending on sub-prime would bring the world’s biggest financial catastrophe of the century ...
Family Intervention Tenancies (FITs) are a new type of tenancy to be introduced by Sections 297-298 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008. They will be another tool for registered providers (the new term for both Registered Social Landlords and local authorities to tackle anti-social behaviour ...
Leif Ramberg in team advising the West Sweden Chamber of Commerce on comments on proposal from the Environmental Procedure Committee Summary The Environmental Procedure Committee has been instructed, by supplementary directive, to review the legal rules which apply to the expansion of wind power ...
Commission adopts temporary State aid 'credit crunch' framework The European Commission has adopted a temporary state aid framework, designed to help tackle the spiralling negative effects of the 'credit crunch' on the real economy. Under the framework, Member States can - after notifying the Commission - put into effect a range of aid schemes aimed at helping otherwise sound companies that are finding it difficult to access funding ...
Indonesia has been described as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. In 2008, the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index stated that Indonesia ranked 130th least transparent out of 180 countries. However, the continued existence of the Corruption Court in Indonesia which has tried many corruption cases and is trying to improve Indonesia’s anti corruption activities, is now under threat ...
The New Mining Law After almost four years of discussions, the Bill on Minerals and Coal Mining was finally passed by the House of Representatives on 16 December 2008 and signed by the President on 12 January 2009 as Law No. 4 of 2009. The enactment of the New Mining Law brings mining under a new licensing regime whereas for the last 40 years, foreign investors have had to sign a Contract of Work to engage in mining ...
