We are continually updating this guide in response to the gradual publication of official information by public authorities. Latest update: 5 May 2020, 17:00 (Restrictions on movement of persons, Mandatory quarantine when crossing borders, Children&...

The Law Firm Eversheds Saladžius is sharing the updated Covid-19 (Coronavirus) Legal news, which you can find here 

Commercial Court – a return to action? On 4 May 2020, the Commercial Court Judge in Northern Ireland, the Honourable Mr Justice Horner, circulated an update to legal professionals stating clearly that the Commercial ‘Hub’ is open f...

Businesses across the world are suffering a variety of different losses as a result of the spread of, and public reaction to, coronavirus.  The answer to the question of whether these losses will be covered by your insurance policies is, as wit...

The global impact of Coronavirus is now undeniable, as one might expect from a highly contagious disease originating from the world’s second largest economy and most populous nation.  Insurance claims are bound to follow and whilst market...

The FCA has published information on its expectations of general insurance firms in relation to their treatment of consumers during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. The FCA has also published information for consumers on what they sho...

The FCA has published information on its expectations of general insurance firms in relation to their treatment of consumers during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. The FCA has also published information for consumers on what they sho...

On 1 May, the FCA issued two sets of draft guidance which will be important reading for all firms involved in insurance arrangements and particularly insurers, intermediaries and premium finance lenders. As it considers that the delay involved in co...

By Fan Lulu and Boy Luethje HONOLULU (July 31, 2019)—With more than 800 million Internet users, China has become the global leader in e-commerce—the buying and selling of products and services online. Taobao (roughly “treasure hunt” in English) is the leading Chinese online shopping and e-commerce website, founded by the Alibaba Group. As of 2018, more than 580 million active users visited Taobao and its sister website Tmall every month.

This is a summary only. Click the title for the full article, or visit www.EastWestCenter.org/Research-Wire for more.

By Abby G. Frazier and Laura Brewington HONOLULU (November 11, 2019)—Of all the earth’s environments, alpine regions are arguably the most vulnerable to climate change. This is especially true for alpine areas on islands. Island ecosystems are also particularly vulnerable to damage from human activity and the invasion of alien species due to their isolated and limited land areas.

This is a summary only. Click the title for the full article, or visit www.EastWestCenter.org/Research-Wire for more.

By James H. Spencer, Sumeet Saksena, and Jefferson Fox HONOLULU (1 April 2020)—The current COVID-19 pandemic, which started in Wuhan, China, underscores what the public health community has warned about for more than two decades—the risk of viral diseases capable of spreading from animal to human hosts. The first outbreaks of “bird flu” (highly pathogenic avian influenza―HPAI, subtype H5N1) raised similar concerns 20 years ago―concerns that have persisted with the outbreak of SARS in 2002–2004 and COVID-19 today. New outbreaks of avian influenza are also still occurring in poultry and humans, primarily in Asia but also in other parts of the world.

This is a summary only. Click the title for the full article, or visit www.EastWestCenter.org/Research-Wire for more.

By Rebecca Strating HONOLULU (24 April 2020)—Many argue that China’s increasingly aggressive posture in the South China Sea is an attempt to unilaterally alter the US-led regional order, which includes an emphasis on freedom of navigation. In response, the US has stressed the importance of support from “like-minded” states—including Japan and South Korea—in defending freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and elsewhere. This characterization, however, disguises important differences in attitudes and behavior that could hinder joint efforts to push back against China.

This is a summary only. Click the title for the full article, or visit www.EastWestCenter.org/Research-Wire for more.

Under Gazette number 43258 of 29 April 2020, the Department of Co-Operative Governance and Traditional Affairs has issued regulations (“Regulations”) that repeal Government Notice No. 318 of 18 March 2020, as amended by Government Notice...

With the delivery of the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement on 30 October 2019, updated and amended draft tax bills have been released highlighting the latest proposed amendments to the relevant tax acts.  The amended bills contain the le...

Italian Digital Service Tax        The Italian 2020 Budget Law (re-)introduced a unilateral Digital Services Tax (“DST”), effective as of January 1st, 2020, that is simi...

  What’s new? On 20 December 2019, HMRC published an updated version of its guidance on the taxation of cryptoassets for individuals. The guidance was updated to include a new section in respect of the location (situs) of exchange tokens ...

Given the development of the COVID-19 situation, it was anticipated that the UK government Budget would have a very different focus than originally expected. Trailed as the showcase fiscal policy event of the new Conservative government, it was alw...

  German Finance Ministry Offers Protective Shield and Other Special Tax MeasuresMarch 13, 2020 The German Finance Ministry announced an unlimited protective shield for all companies in Germany. Pro...

The UK HMRC Stamp Office has released details of how it will temporarily change its procedures to allow for the submission and payment of stamp duty in respect of transfers of shares in UK companies. The standard requirements of HMRC in order to st...

Corona tax deferrals in the light of the applicable law Since the publication of the guideline from the German Federal Ministry of Finance ("Bundesfinanzministerium", BMF) published 19 March 2020 (cf. our ...

  On 26 March 2020, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak proposed a package of tax measures relevant to UK businesses, large and small to help ease the pressures we face from the impact of COVID-19.  One of the measures in force, is the deferral of ...

The main support measures proposed by the government that affect the payment of taxes, fines and penalties On March 31, 2020, the State Duma and the Federation Council of the Russian Federation approved the Draft of Federal Law No. 862653-7, which i...

In order to help in the fight against COVID-19, the European Commission has adopted a Decision, addressed to the Member States, which allows for tax authorities across Europe to offer import tax reliefs to importers of personal protective equipment ...

In the midst of the current COVID-19 pandemic, businesses have been faced with a series of international tax questions on residence, permanent establishments and taxing rights of employee income. The general ambiguity of some of these tests does not...

No support in the Corona crisis... The measures already initiated by the German Federal Government and the EU Commission to support and secure liquidity in the Corona crisis are focused on the industries directly affected by Corona/ COVID 19. They ...

Tax relief for volunteers and donations in the Corona crisis The Corona crisis poses enormous challenges for the whole society. In order to mitigate the spread of the pandemic, a wave of helpfulness and solidarity has been raised to assist the fello...

Where do I lay my hat? Tax residence and permanent establishments in the time of Covid-19 Read the article here > This article was first published in Taxation on 9 April 2020....

German-Luxembourg cross-border commuters Luxembourg and Germany have concluded a mutual agreement (Verständigungsvereinbarung) for Covid 19 related home office activities (für Corona bedingte Home Office Tätigkeiten) on 3 April 2020,...

In line with the Federal Ministry of Finance's press release dated 3 April 2020, Germany and Austria have concluded a mutual agreement for Covid 19-related home office activities on 15 April 2020, which relates to the application of the Double Tax ...

Relief through extension of filing deadlines for employers in the Corona crisis In a letter dated 23 April 2020, the Federal Ministry of Finance has provided tax relief by extending the filing deadlines for preliminary wage tax returns (Lohnsteuer-A...

Retroactive reduction of advance tax payments for 2019 ... Due to the coronavirus crisis, many taxpayers can expect their income to collapse considerably in 2020, leading to losses that can be offset against tax payments. Such losses can be off...

Authorities across the globe are rapidly employing short-term protective measures against the economic impacts of COVID-19. The efforts include measures support businesses and their employees. Our team of tax lawyers is actively monitoring global r...

Summary The UK Government has recently announced the zero-rating for supplies of PPE equipment and E-Publications from 1 May 2020.  E-Publications means electronically supplied books, brochures, pamphlets, newspapers, magazines, journals a...

Due to COVID-19 pandemic, Russia and the EAEU1 have adopted a number of customs regulation measures aimed at stimulating the importation of necessary goods to Russia and the EAEU, mainly through tariff regulation measures as well as restricting the ...

With the continued economic impact of the Covid-19, amendments and updates were published on 1 May 2020 to address various tax relief measures that are available to qualifying taxpayers. The initial measures contained in the draft Disaster Managemen...

Since the 2007 decision of the Reading Employment Tribunal in the case of Hunt v (1) Storm Communications Ltd (2) Wild Card Public Relations Ltd and (3) Brown Brothers Wines (Europe) Limited it has been understood that the provision of professional ...

Over the past decade various attempts have been made to ensure civil litigation and "access to justice" are affordable to all. Indeed when the Woolf reforms were introduced over ten years ago one fundamental tenet of these reforms was to make the co...

Currently CPR 55.10 provides that where a mortgagee seeks possession of land which consists of or includes residential property the claimant must send a notice to the property addressed to 'the occupiers' within 5 days of receiving notification of t...

On 28 May 2009 the Solicitors Regulation Authority announced to the legal profession that 11,000 law firms throughout England and Wales would receive warning cards alerting them to potential fraudulent activity. 130,000 of these warning cards have n...

The FCA has today published a statement for financial services firms with guidance setting out its expectations for effectively responding to the Covid-19 outbreak. Consistent with existing regulatory requirements, the FCA expects all firms to have ...

As the world tries to navigate the challenges of novel coronavirus (COVID-19), we have seen a significant increase in demand for the use of electronic signatures. As businesses and public bodies implement home-working protocols (in response to gov...

...

Attempts at digital transformation, which have sometimes been slow in Tunisia, are now forced and obliged to succeed in order to guarantee continuity of work, economy and even life during the country's lockdown. The digital transformation is a stron...

As the shipping community is truly internationally based, issues can often arise when a formal claim is issued in the English High Court that then has to be served outside the UK jurisdiction.  For example, if a dispute arises between a ship ow...

The biggest threat to Brazil's ability to successfully combat the spread of the coronavirus and tackle the unfolding public health crisis is the country's president, Jair Bolsonaro, according to the British medical journal The Lancet.