Analytics and brochures
Today's economic environment in Russia is highly unstable. However, rights to intellectual property assets are monopolistic in nature and, moreover, may be protected over an extended period of time. Bearing this in mind, there is continued relevance for various aspects of how intellectual property is enforced, used or protected, even during a time of economic crisis.
Transactional work varies from jurisdiction-to- jurisdiction with the ebb and flow of various economic cycles, but a prevailing theme across the EMEA region has been that more and more advisory firms are urging taxpayers to prepare for the impact of the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) action plan. Joe Stanley-Smith investigates how this is impacting key jurisdictions across the region.
One of the significant events on the legal market in 2014 came when Roman Bevzenko left his post as head of the Private Law Division at the Russian Supreme Commercial Court to join Pepeliaev Group as a partner. Moving from public office into private practice is far from unknown, but this transfer made waves in the legal community.
The ongoing crisis in the Russian economy has had a significant impact on the practice of applying bankruptcy law and on its development. This is amply demonstrated by the increase of around a 30% growth in bankruptcy cases in 2014. The amount of overdue corporate loans has reached RUB 767 billion — and this only refers to loans held by 30 major banks. The figure for consumer loans in arrears held by individuals has climbed to RUB 652.3 billion. Against this backdrop, a number of regulations have been adopted to enhance the guarantees for both creditors and debtors in connection with the latter going bankrupt.
Last night, international law firm Stephenson Harwood LLP hosted a roundtable event focusing on how Russia is introducing fundamental changes to its tax legislation by adopting new rules on controlled foreign companies (CFCs). The new rules are aimed at bringing capital back to Russia by imposing reporting requirements and tax liabilities on Russian residents who have established or who control or influence offshore companies, trusts and other holding vehicles.
On Dec. 29, 2014, Russian lawmakers finally approved changes to production and consumer waste legislation that had been under discussion since 2011.