On February 16, the governments of Australia and New Zealand signed an Investment Protocol to the Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement. According to a new report by Kelly Buchanan of the Library of Congress, and as reflected in press releases by the Australian and New Zealand governments, the Protocol “increases the screening thresholds above which […]

Over the last ten days, there have been two significant developments in Iceland with regard to Icesave deposits, the high-yield savings accounts offered by the online bank Icesave in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. On February 16, the Icelandic Parliament, the Althingi, passed a bill that — according to a report by Wendy Zeldin […]

In December 2010, the Law Library of Congress published online a report by Kelly Buchanan, a Foreign Law Specialist with the Library of Congress, on Māori culture and intellectual property law. The report “discusses some of the issues and challenges in protecting cultural expressions and traditional knowledge in the law, and examines two examples of […]

On February 4, the White House issued the “Strategy for American Innovation.” The Strategy, which updates the “Innovation Strategy” issued in 2009, includes a patent reform agenda that the White House declared “essential to reducing the enormous backlog of patent applications at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO). By stalling the delivery of innovative […]

On February 1, the South African Competition Commission announced the establishment of a “fast-track settlement” process for construction firms “who have been party to collusive practices in bidding for projects in the public and private sectors.” The Commission has been conducting an investigation in the construction industry that “has uncovered widespread anticompetitive conduct through various […]

On January 13, according to a New York Times article, Renault filed a criminal compaint with the Office of the Public Prosecutor in Paris, alleging that a foreign company tried to obtain secrets relating to Renault’s electric-car program. Renault previously had suspended three of its executives, whom it suspected of seeking to pass on data […]

On January 11, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) requested comment on a proposal to amend FINRA Rule 5122. Rule 5122, according to the FINRA regulatory notice, “requires, subject to certain exemptions, disclosure in the offering document of the intended use of offering proceeds, expenses, and the amount of selling compensation to be paid to […]

On January 12, immediately after the January 11 issuance of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Oil Drilling’s final report, United Kingdom Energy Minister Charles Hendry issued a statement that offered favorable comments on the report. The statement also announced that the United Kingdom Government intended to review the United […]

On January 11, the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Sill and Offshore Drilling issued its final report to the President. The report reached seven principal conclsions: 1. “The explosive loss of the Macondo well could have been prevented.” 2. “The immediate causes of the Macondo well blowout can be traced to a […]

On January 27, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) issued its final report on the 2007-2008 financial crisis. The FCIC, created in 2009 pursuant to the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act, Public Law 111-21, reached six general conclusions in the majority report: (1) the crisis was avoidable; (2) “widespread failures in financial regulation and supervisionproved […]

On February 16, on the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) blog, Chairman Paul Verkuil announced that ACUS had implemented Google Apps for Government. Chairman Verkuil stated that ACUS had “recently launched a collaborative workspace for Members and staff using Google Apps for Government to share documents, calendars and websites.” This post was originally […]

On February 2, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission published in the Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking on agricultural swaps. According to the notice, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) “provides that swaps in an agricultural commodity (as defined by the Commission) are prohibited unless entered into pursuant to a […]

On January 20, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued two sets of final rules to implement various provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank). The first rule, which implements section 943 of Dodd-Frank, involves “new rules related to representations and warranties in asset-backed securities offerings. The final rules […]

On February 8, the Financial Times published an article on growing concerns among some in the commodities industry that so-called “algorithmic” trading — futures trading with high-speed computers — is causing price distortions. As the article put it, “Ten years ago it took the sugar market six months to move 2 cents. In the past […]

On January 20, in Tesler v. Government of the United States of America, a panel of the High Court of Justice in London dismissed an appeal by Jeffrey Tesler, who had been indicted in the United States on charges of conspiring to violate, and aiding and abetting violations of, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). […]