From 9 November 2023, the unfair terms regime will change so that significant penalties may apply for breaches of the UCT regime. As a result, businesses need to look again at their standard terms for unfair terms risks.
On 28 June 2023, the State Bank of Vietnam issued Circular No. 06/2023/TT-NHNN amending several provisions of Circular No. 39/2016/TT-NHNN of the SBV dated 30 December 2016 on lending activities of onshore credit institutions and foreign bank branches (local banks) to customers. The new Circular will come into effect on 1 September 2023.
On 9 June 2023, the Government released Decree No. 32/2023/ND-CP to replace Annex II of Decree No. 53/2018/ND-CP regarding encryption products subject to Import Permit, which also takes effect on 9 June 2023.
Vietnam continues to develop regulatory structures incentivizing a shift to a green economy. The proposed classification framework for green credit and green bonds is introduced via the Draft Decision of the Prime Minister on environmental criteria and certification for projects eligible for green credit and green bonds released in December 2022.
Phase 2 of the Healthcare Services Act 2020 (HCSA) has been implemented with effect from 26 June 2023. Under Phase 2, medical or dental healthcare providers who deliver services outside the premises of clinics and via teleconsultation will be required to hold a HCSA license, along with service providers offering outpatient medical and dental services, nuclear medicine, and outpatient renal dialysis, among others.
In June 2023, the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) participated in a one-week INTERPOL-led, internet-based operation involving 16 member countries targeting the sale of illegal health products. The HSA announced that it had removed over 2,000 listings of illegal health products from local e-commerce platforms and detected over 300 parcels shipped into Singapore from overseas containing illegal sexual enhancement products during a week of intensified surveillance from 1 June to 7 June 2023.
Australia’s new Register of Foreign Ownership of Australian Assets will take effect on 1 July 2023. Expanding on the previous registers for water interests and agricultural or residential land, the new Register records foreign interests in a broader range of Australian land, entities, businesses and assets, with significant potential penalties for non-compliance.
The Brazilian Secretariat of Foreign Trade opened, on 22 June 2023, a new investigation to assess whether the Chinese government granted actionable subsidies to its national producers who exported fiber-optic cables to Brazil. The investigation may result in the imposition of countervailing measures and the consequent increase in the cost of Brazilian imports of fiber-optic cables for a period of five years. In parallel, there is another ongoing investigation into the alleged practice of dumping by Chinese manufacturers/exporters of the same product, which may result in the imposition of antidumping duties, further raising the cost of Brazilian importers.
Personal Information Controllers and Personal Information Processors that are covered by the registration requirement under NPC Circular No. 2022-04 have until 10 July 2023 to register their respective Data Protection Officers (DPOs) and Data Processing Systems (DPS) with the National Privacy Commission through its online registration portal.
The recent high-profile sexual harassment cases in Taiwan have raised concerns and triggered discussions about the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace. In fact, among the various types of employee misconduct, sexual harassment has been mostly addressed in Taiwanese law. Taiwan’s Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Act of Gender Equality in Employment both require employers to provide a friendly and safe working environment, and provide detailed regulations for the process of investigations of sexual harassment complaints.