$45 Billion in Business Deals with China Announced at Start of President Hu’s Visit
January 20, 2011 in International Trade Reporter
The Obama administration said more than $45 billion in new business deals with China have been approved, according to a Jan. 19 White House announcement.
A $19 billion contract for 200 airplanes from Boeing Co. topped the list of new export agreements with China, which the White House announcement said would help support an estimated 235,000 U.S. jobs. The agreement includes new orders for Boeing 777s and 737s. The deals were announced as…
White House Gets Chinese Pledge on Access, Patent Protection, But Less Yuan Cooperation
January 20, 2011 in WTO Reporter
President Obama said Jan. 19 that China agreed to eliminate market barriers and improve intellectual property protections to help strengthen economic ties with the United States, but he said China’s currency needs to appreciate further.
Chinese President Hu Jintao, however, minimally addressed the latter issue as his official state visit began. The visit started at the White House with an elaborate arrival ceremony, followed by private talks with Obama and Vice President Biden, and an economic-focused meeting with administration officials and U.S. and Chinese corporate leaders.
China’s policy on its currency, known alternately as the yuan or renminbi, has been a source of friction as the administration, Congress, and some U.S. business interests have complained of halting progress at best by…
ANALYSIS: New U.S. Visa Form Imposes Export Review Requirements on Employers
January 17, 2011 in International Trade Reporter
The U.S. government has stepped up enforcement of export rules by imposing a new requirement on nonimmigrant visa applications that requires a certification of compliance with export laws. This is apparently part of the new effort to increase coordination among government agencies in terms of export enforcement. The new certification requirement is sure to cause confusion and may require companies to establish new or enhanced compliance systems.
The new U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) I-129 petition form imposes new requirements with respect to applications for H-1B, H-1B1, L-1 and 0-1A visas for nonimmigrant foreign employees. H-1B covers an alien coming temporarily to perform services in…
Russian President Signs Order Banning Land Sales to Foreigners
January 17, 2011 in WTO Reporter
MOSCOW—Russia’s president has approved new regulations to ban sales of land to foreign individuals and businesses in the country’s border areas.
President Dmitry Medvedev signed Decree No. 26, dated Jan. 9, to approve a list of border areas where foreign citizens, stateless people, and foreign organizations are not allowed to own land, according to a presidential press service announcement.
The list includes 380 districts and municipalities in Russia where sales of land to foreign individuals and companies are banned. Notably, the list includes seven districts in Chukotka, the Russian region closest to the United States that is separated from Alaska only by the…
ANALYSIS: Practical Implications of Massachusetts’ New Comprehensive Data Security Regulations
January 17, 2011 in Privacy & Security Law Report
Overview—The Massachusetts Regulations May Affect Your Business
In response to the growing number of data and identity theft incidents involving residents of the Commonwealth in recent years, Massachusetts regulators took significant steps toward increasing regulatory control over data security. Effective March 1, 2010, the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation (OCABR) adopted 201 CMR 17.00 et seq. (the “Regulation”), which is intended to establish the “minimum standards to be met in connection with the safeguarding of…
U.S. State Trend Continues, As Eight More Consider Bills to Restrict Employer Use of Credit Reports
January 17, 2011 in Privacy & Security Law Report
A state law trend to restrict the use of individual consumer credit report information for employment purposes emerged last year and has continued in 2011, as bills were introduced to limit employer use of such data in eight states.
Credit reports are routinely checked by landlords, employers, and financial institutions before deciding whether to…
U.S. SEC Maintains Dodd-Frank Act Reverses Morrison Case Ruling on Extraterritorial Reach
January 17, 2011 in Securities Regulation and Law Report
The Securities and Exchange Commission believes that the financial reform legislation effectively overturned the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Morrison and restored the so-called “conduct and effects” test for commission enforcement actions, a senior official said Jan. 5.
Elizabeth Jacobs, deputy director of the SEC’s Office of International Affairs, cited a footnote in an SEC brief, filed Dec. 21 in SEC v. Tourre, in which the commission stated its position. The case is an ongoing…
ANALYSIS: Vietnam’s Recent Securities Regulation Changes Include Possibility of Listings by Foreign Companies
January 17, 2011 in World Securities Law Report
On August 2, 2010, the Vietnam Government issued Decree No. 84/2010/CP (Decree 84) amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 14/2007/ND-CP (Decree 14) (see WSLR, November 2010, page 24). Decree 14 was issued on January 17, 2007, to give detailed provisions on the implementation of the Law on Securities (see analysis at WSLR, September 2007, page 18).
Decree 84 amends and/or supplements provisions on public companies, credit institutions, fund management companies and…
ANALYSIS: The European Commission’s Proposed Major Revisions to the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive
January 17, 2011 in World Securities Law Report
By Robert Finney, of Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, London.
The European Commission has proposed a major revision of the 2004 Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (“MiFID”). MiFID is the European Union’s main legislation on market operators and the registration and regulation of broker-dealers and others dealing or offering services in securities and derivatives.
In publishing its proposals on December 8, 2010, the Commission launched a public consultation that closes on February 2, 2011, and it will likely publish its final proposals, including a legislative text, in…
Argentina on Track to Become World’s Third Largest Biodiesel Producer with New Cargill Plant
January 17, 2011 in International Environment Reporter
BUENOS AIRES—Argentina’s biodiesel output rose 51 percent in 2010 and is expected to grow another 24 percent this year to 3.1 million metric tons, pushing the country from fifth to third place in production behind Germany and France, Argentina’s Renewable Energies Chamber said in a report released Jan. 13.
But unlike other major producers, Argentina exports about half its output. This year’s output will be boosted mostly by a plant capable of producing 240,000 metric tons annually to be built by U.S. agrifood giant Cargill in the central province of Santa Fe, where 80 percent of…