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After pressure from Parliament, the Swiss Federal Council has against its own intentions opened the consultation process on new legislation to screen foreign investments in future also in Switzerland and has published a draft investment control law (“Draft ICL”). By implementing foreign investment control mechanisms, Switzerland would follow the global trend towards stricter regulation of foreign investments. According to the Draft ICL, the new law would apply to acquisitions of domestic companies by foreign investors. The main objective is the aversion of possible threats to public order and national security resulting from acquisitions of domestic companies by foreign investors. The final aim is to create investment controls in a new and stand-alone federal law.

The ACCC has announced two internet sweeps to identify misleading environmental and sustainability marketing claims and fake or misleading online business reviews and a separate sweep to target fake or misleading online reviews and testimonials. The sweeps are being conducted as part of the ACCC’s compliance and enforcement priorities for 2022-23 announced earlier this year, with the broad aim of identifying deceptive advertising and marketing practices related to the environment and sustainability.

The pandemic acted as a catalyst for acceleration of the metaverse, as increased remote working, studying and the need for remote healthcare provision have increased consumer acceptance of online interactions and created demand for those interactions to be more “life-like.” At the same time, rapidly developing technology and infrastructure is creating the opportunity to perform more activities virtually. The exploration of this new realm may not necessarily be smooth sailing. New challenges may arise in relation to data protection and cybersecurity. Familiar considerations like compliance with regulatory regimes or IP protection may give rise to complexities that are otherwise not apparent at first glance. Parallel trade also continues to generate disputes between IP owners and parallel importers, and our report highlights some recent developments. Baker McKenzie’s trends report provides a summary of some of the key issues to consider from a trademark perspective.

The Minister for Education announced on 21 September 2022 that the government has directed the ACCC to commence an inquiry into the costs of childcare, and in particular why childcare costs have increased significantly in recent years (the announcement states the increase has been 41% in the past eight years). The announcement follows the government’s stated commitment to a comprehensive plan for cheaper childcare and addressing rising costs of living as announced during the Federal Election.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations Economic Ministers agreed to strengthen competition policy and enforcement cooperation at the 54th ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting held in Siem Reap, Cambodia from 13 to 15 September 2022.
Businesses that operate in the Southeast Asia region are encouraged to undertake a timely review of their operations to ensure that they do not fall foul of competition laws.

In 2020, MyCC imposed a total financial penalty of RM173 million against the General Insurance Association of Malaysia (PIAM) and its 23 members for alleged price-fixing of trade discounts on automotive parts prices and hourly labour rates for motor vehicle repairs by workshops under the PIAM Approved Repairers Scheme in breach of the Competition Act 2010. PIAM and the general insurers appealed to the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT). In September 2022, the CAT found that there was no liability on the part of the general insurers and PIAM under the Malaysian Competition Act and unanimously overturned MyCC’s decision.

In our third episode “Franchise Regulations – What to know about franchising business in Thailand”, our team discusses what it means to operate a franchise and limitations operators may face under competition law.

This series is the latest installment in our YouTube video chats which feature interesting key legal developments across various areas. This video is in Thai.

In two recent cases, the Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) issued infringement decisions against two dominant companies. In the first case, the ECA established that a company operating in the yeast industry has abused its dominance in a number of ways, including restricting passive sales between distributors and also engaging in retail price maintenance. In another case, the ECA was against a food delivery online e-platform for abusing its dominance by engaging in Most Favored Nation clauses with the restaurants in violation of Article 8 of the Egyptian Competition Law No. 3 for 2005.