KPPU, the Indonesian competition authority, issued 15 decisions this year, a decline from 23 decisions in 2021. Late merger filing cases still account for the majority of decisions, followed by small and micro enterprises partnership cases. The increasing number of SME partnership cases suggests closer scrutiny by KPPU of partnerships between big and medium corporations and SMEs, which is in line with KPPU’s priorities as the pandemic subsides.
US agencies such as the SEC, the CFTC and the FTC have extensive enforcement powers to seek significant financial penalties and limit or otherwise affect conduct through court injunctions or administrative orders. Companies and executives under investigation and threatened with enforcement actions by these agencies often choose to settle rather than litigate. Historically, from as cost-benefit analysis, settlement is preferable to the cost of litigation and the long term risks of extensive fights with agencies that would continue to be their regulators.
Equal pay for men and women has been enshrined in UK law since 1970. Since then, and particularly since the turn of the century, equal pay claims have tended to take the form of mass claims in the public and retail sectors. In recent years, however, there has been renewed focus on individual equal pay claims. We expect that the Financial Conduct Authority will step up its scrutiny of equal pay and remuneration policies.
On 11 November 2022, the Ministry of Ecological Transition answered the Confindustria’s question on whether the packaging of medicines for human use, medical devices and in-vitro diagnostic medical devices must comply with the environmental labelling requirements set forth in Article 219, Section 5, of Legislative Decree 152/2006, starting from 1 January 2023.
On 9 December 2022, the Italian Government preliminary approved the draft legislative decree implementing Directive EU 2019/1937 (so called “Whistleblowing Directive”), aimed at protecting whistleblowers against retaliation and other negative consequences.
Several Regions and Autonomous Provinces published the measures requiring medical device companies to pay, within 30 days, payback amounts aimed at covering the overrun of the expenditure ceiling for the purchase of medical devices for the years 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
On 9 December 2022, the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council met to discuss a possible amendment to Art. 120 of Regulation 745/2017, with the purposes of deferring the transitional periods provided therein.
The UK’s Department of Health and Social Care has announced that the voluntary scheme payment percentage for 2023 will be set at 26.5% of sales for 2023 (representing almost GBP 3.3 billion). This is a further major increase to last year’s VPAS significant rate rise to 15% (around GBP 1.8 billion, rising from GBP 0.6 billion in 2021).
On 15 December 2022, the House of Representatives passed the draft omnibus law on the financial sector which is referred to as the “Financial Sector Development and Reinforcement (Pengembangan dan Penguatan Sektor Keuangan) Law” (“P2SK Law”). The draft law is currently under an enactment process with its effective date to be further announced. The P2SK Law, among other things, stipulates the reconfiguration of supervisory powers among the different regulators over a number of sectors (including the financial technology and digital financial assets sectors) that had been overlapping and led to regulatory gaps.
On 7 October 2022, the Investigative Authority of the Federal Economic Competition Commission (COFECE) published the notice of initiation of an investigation for alleged horizontal monopolistic practices, also known as cartel practices, which include agreements to manipulate prices, restricting supply, or coordinating bids in the market for the production, distribution, and commercialization of flat glass and products manufactured from flat glass in the national market.