In the latest update of the Indonesian Competition Commission (Komisi Pengawas Persaingan Usaha, “KPPU”) online filing portal, a dual (double) nexus assessment Q&A is now required to be filled in by companies that submit a merger control notification. Although the KPPU has not issued any update to their merger filing guideline, this new questionnaire confirms how the KPPU assesses the dual nexus requirement for offshore transactions.
Proposed licensing of social media and internet messaging services providers and a new draft bill on digital safety – these are some of the recent updates in the online content space for Malaysia.
The new Cyber Security Bill 2024 (“Bill”) was tabled for first reading at the Malaysian Parliament on 25 March 2024. The Bill aims to provide a regulatory framework for the safeguarding of Malaysia’s cyber security landscape by requiring national critical information infrastructure entities to comply with certain measures, standards and processes in the management of the cyber security threats and cyber security incidents. To achieve such objectives, the Bill provides for, among others, the establishment of the National Cyber Security Committee, the duties and powers of the Chief Executive, the appointment of national critical information infrastructure sector leads, the designation of national critical information infrastructure entities and the licensing of cyber security service providers.
On 7 March 2024, the Financial Institutions (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill (“FIMA Bill”) was read for the second time in the Singapore Parliament. Broadly, the FIMA Bill seeks to reinforce the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) mandate over Singapore’s financial sector.
Excerpt: This update focuses particularly on the expansion of scope to domestic money transfer services, cross-border money transfer services and digital payment token services, and examines who are the persons affected by such expansion, as well as what needs to be done by such affected persons in order to benefit from transitional arrangements and continue operations.
Excerpt: The Energy Commission of Malaysia has on 1 April 2024 announced that it will undertake the 5th round of competitive bidding process under the Large Scale Solar Program (LSS) or LSS-Peralihan Tenaga SuRiA (“LSS PETRA”). A total solar quota of 2,000MWac will be allocated and four packages, ranging from 1MWac to 500MWac will be offered to the qualified developers (companies or consortiums). This initiative is part of the government’s ongoing efforts to expand renewable energy sources and to ensure a continuous energy supply in the country.
Excerpt: Vietnam has acknowledged the importance of hydrogen and recently made initial steps in the regulatory formulation for the development of hydrogen. Together with the recently approved national power development master plan (PDP8) and its implementation plan as well as the national overall master plan for energy, on 7 February 2024, the Prime Minister of Vietnam issued Decision No. 165/QD-TTg approving the national strategy for the development of hydrogen to 2030, with a vision to 2045 (“Hydrogen Strategy”). The Hydrogen Strategy lays the preliminary foundation for the development of hydrogen in the upcoming period by officially setting out the viewpoints, goals, directions, and the relevant implementation tasks and measures. Accordingly, this marks a significant step in Vietnam’s transition to green energy, focusing on new and clean energy sources (including hydrogen).
Excerpt: On 5 December 2023, the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Code of the Philippines (“PPP Code”) was enacted into law. The PPP Code was enacted to further the State’s policy to provide an enabling environment for the private sector to mobilize its resources to finance, design, construct, operate, and maintain infrastructure or development projects and services. The PPP Code provides for, among others, (i) a unified framework for both national and local PPP projects, (ii) stricter timelines for the evaluation and approval of PPP projects, and (iii) updated thresholds and requirements for approval of national and local PPP projects.
Excerpt: On 12 March 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam released for public comment a draft new circular, which if adopted would take effect from 1 July 2024 and would replace Circular No. 45/2018/TT-BCT dated 15 November 2018 regulating the operation of the Vietnam Wholesale Electricity Market.
Further to our January 2024 client alert, the anticipated amendments to the Enforcement Decree of the Financial Services and Capital Markets Act (“FSCMA Enforcement Decree”) have been adopted by the Korean government cabinet on 27 February 2024 and promulgated on 5 March 2024. The amendments to the FSCMA Enforcement Decree are therefore effective as of 5 March 2024.
As of 5 March 2024, domestic employees of multinational companies who have acquired shares under a stock-based compensation program may sell such shares without the involvement of a Korean broker and may deposit proceeds from the sale of shares into an account with an overseas financial institution. For any shares sold/funds deposited prior to this date, the previous restrictions applied and these transactions could therefore remain problematic if they did not comply with the restrictions.