By virtue of Republic Act No. 7916, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) was created to establish various economic zones and attract legitimate foreign investments into the country. The PEZA administers certain incentives to local enterprises that operate within these economic zones and helps facilitate their respective business operations. In line with these policies, the PEZA exercises the authority to issue work visas to their foreign personnel, particularly those who hold executive positions (i.e. Presidents, Vice-Presidents, Treasurers, General Managers, or their equivalents), or whose employment is supervisory, technical, or advisory in nature. On 11 November 2021, the PEZA and the Bureau of Immigration (BI) entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to provide efficient and harmonized rules on the issuance of work visas to qualified foreign nationals and their dependents. Previously, these foreign nationals were qualified to secure 47(a)(2)(PEZA) visas under the authority of the Department of Justice (DOJ). Under the new rules, however, these foreign nationals shall now secure PEZA Visas (PV) from the PEZA and BI. Among the notable changes introduced in the MOA is the longer validity of the PV. The PV is valid for a maximum period of two (2) years, and is coterminous with the period stated in the foreign national’s employment contract. The application shall also come with a notarized certification which confirms that the Company’s total number of foreign personnel does not exceed five percent (5%) of its total workforce. Marriage and birth certificates of the PV applicant’s dependents are now required to be authenticated/apostilled, if issued abroad. Notably, English-translated certificates were previously accepted by the PEZA even if they were unauthenticated....

“Environmental, Social, and Governance,” or “ESG” has increasingly become a topic of discussion. The driving force for the fast-paced development of ESG stems from the 2030 Agenda for Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, and the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement, which came into force in 2016, has been joined by 191 Parties and creates commitments from all countries, including developing nations such as Thailand, to reach their greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. Thailand launched a five-year National Economic and Social Development Plan to adhere to the 20-year National Strategy Framework (2017-2036), meet SDG targets, the Thailand 4.0 Policy, and other reforms. While the momentum for ESG started in the governmental sector, all stakeholders (including the private sector, financial institutions, and investors) are key players in driving and maintaining sustainable practices. Lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic are also an accelerator for companies to shift their focus to become more resilient to crises. By emphasizing responses to social and environmental factors rather than traditional corporate operational outlooks, visionary companies are developing a compass to be better equipped to respond to future crises and steer through volatility. What does ESG entail? ESG encompasses a broad range of issues, for example: Environmental: climate change, pollution, deforestation, energy efficiency, waste management, and natural resources utilization Social: human rights, labor standards, community relations, gender and diversity, data protection and privacy, health, and safety measures Governance: corporate governance, compliance, bribery and corruption measures, executive compensation, taxation approaches, lobbying, political contributions, and whistleblower schemes. In brief, environmental criteria are used to evaluate a company’s performance as a steward...

On April 23, the Standing Committee of National People’s Congress issued the Decision of Revision of Eight Laws, which includes the fourth revision of the PRC Trademark Law (the “TML”). The revision attracted wide attention from the international IP communities as it addressed the bad-faith trademark registration issue, one of the most significant challenges to trademark protection of international brands in China. In addition, On April 24, the Beijing High Court issued comprehensive and broad guidelines for Authorization and Confirmation of Trademark (the “Guidelines”). The following is a discussion and analysis related to bad faith application on the Guidelines. I. Regulation against Bad Faith Application and Registration New Articles of TML Provision for rejecting bad faith application and registration without intent-to-use (NITU) Article 4 Natural persons, legal persons or any other organizations that need to obtain exclusive rights to use trademark for their commodities or services in the course of their manufacturing and business activities shall apply to a trademark bureau for trademark registration. Any application for trademark registration that is malicious and is not filed for the purpose of use shall be rejected [1]. Bad faith application without intent to use shall be regarded as a legal ground for opposition and invalidation Article 33 A prior right holder or a stakeholder who holds that a preliminarily validated and gazetted trademark violates the provisions of the second and third paragraphs of Article 13, Article 15, the first paragraph of Article 16, Article 30, 31 or Article 32 of this Law, or any person who held that a preliminarily validated and gazetted trademark violates the provisions of Article 4, 10,...