Parliament recently approved Bill 7637, which modified the Law of 5 April 1993 on the financial sector and the Law of 6 April 2013 on dematerialised securities. The bill introduces important modifications with respect to the direct issuance of dematerialised securities using distributed ledger technology (DLT) and strengthens Luxembourg's position as one of the most DLT-friendly and important financial hubs in the European Union.
IVASS (the Italian insurance regulator) has approved changes to its Regulation 14 of 18 February 2008 concerning portfolio transfers. The order affects domestic (ie, Italian) insurers and Italian branches of third-country insurers involved in a portfolio transfer transaction and those entitled to insurance benefits deriving from polices issued by the ceding undertaking. The changes aim to allow greater flexibility in the management of insurance business.
What is the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce?
In the Budget 2021, presented to Parliament on 3 March, the Chancellor announced that HMRC will establish a taskforce to investigate those who have fraudulently made use of government schemes set up to protect individuals and businesses against the economic impact of COVID-19 – such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) (widely referred to as the Furlough scheme) and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). In addition, we were told that the government will raise awareness of enforcement action in order to deter fraud, and will significantly strengthen law enforcement for Bounce Back Loans.
Backed by £100m of government money, the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce will deploy a team of more than 1,250 HM Revenue and Customs officials to investigate individuals and companies who have fraudulently claimed funding under these schemes, potentially leading to prosecution in some cases.
Trademark and company name holders must make actual use of a sign to keep exclusive rights to it. In a recent judgment, the Patent and Market Court of Appeal examined the actual use undertaken by both a parent company, which used the sign in its company name, and a subsidiary company, which used a different company name. This judgment is a welcome addition to the scarce case law relating to the actual use of company names.
Introduction
In the past three years, significant changes have been made to the legislation that governs the medicinal use of products, substances and preparations based on the cannabis plant.
The main changes were introduced by Law 33/2018 of 18 July 2018 and Decree-Law 8/2019 of 15 January 2019. Provision was also made for the subsequent publication of a ministerial order to define the rules on:
the security measures to be adopted;
the application process and procedures to grant authorisations relating to the cultivation, manufacture, wholesale trade, transit, import and export of medicines, substances and preparations based on the cannabis plant for medical, medical-veterinary or scientific purposes; and