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On November 30 2018, partial amendments to the Ordinance for Enforcement of the Notary Act (Amended Ordinance) came into force. The Amended Ordinance aims to identify the beneficial owners of companies and improve transparency in order to prevent money laundering or terrorism financing activities. According to the Amended Ordinance, when making an application to a notary for the authentication of articles of association to incorporate new joint-stock companies (kabushiki-kaisha), general incorporated associations (ippan-shadan-houjin) or general incorporated foundations (ippan-zaidan-houjin), applicants must declare to the notary: (i) the beneficial owner of the company; and, (ii) that the beneficial owner is neither a member of criminal organisations nor an international terrorist, and where there is any reasonable doubt the notary will request the applicant to provide explanations.

Chinese investment into France grew in 2018 even as it dropped across the rest of Europe, and investor-friendly changes may give it a further boost. Raphaël Chantelot, Fanny Nguyen, Hubert Bazin and Nicolas Vanderchmitt of LPA – CGR Avocats take a look at the environment

In a referendum held on May 19 2019, the Federal Act on Tax Reform and AHV Financing (TRAF) was adopted by the Swiss people and the cantons. The reform includes several measures directed at corporate income taxation, such as the abolition of tax privileges for certain types of companies (status companies) and the implementation of internationally accepted replacement measures such as a patent box or the ability to super-deduct R&D costs (up to 150% of actual costs). The reform also contains tax measures at the shareholder level. The majority of the measures will be in force as of January 1 2020.

The transfer of agricultural land in Slovakia was long subject to special restrictions. The Act on Acquisition of Ownership of Agricultural Land of 2014 provided for a special procedure for the transfer of title to agricultural land.

Beijing-based Norton Rose Fulbright partner Barbara Li explains what China’s new foreign direct investment rules mean for foreign companies entering one of the world’s biggest marketplaces

Marcus Peter and Yi Wang of GSK Stockmann look at how Luxembourg has positioned itself as a platform for Chinese investments into the EU and the recent trend of Chinese investors building permanent foundations in the country

Public apostilled documents executed outside the Philippines no longer need to be authenticated by the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in order for those documents to be considered authentic in the Philippines. This is because on May 14 2019, the Philippines became a party to the 1961 Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, or the Apostille Convention.

Subject to a vote this month at the Macau Legislative Council (LegCo) is the Cybersecurity Bill. This Bill aims to bring Macau up to speed as regards the protection of the institutions and citizens of Macau against the malfunctioning of the computer systems of the public and private entities that operate critical infrastructures, in particular against unauthorised actions such as hacking.

The Republic of Panama recently enacted Law 76 of February 13 2019 (Law 76 or Tax Procedure Code), through which the new tax procedure code is approved. This new Tax Procedure Code, which will come into effect on January 1 2020, does not replace the Tax Code, but rather establishes the basic principles and the fundamental rules that constitute the legal regime of the Panamanian tax system and is applicable to all national taxes.

Ümit Hergüner, Senem Denktaş and Deniz Tuncel of Hergüner Bilgen Özeke examine the environment for Chinese investment into Turkey and the efforts the two countries have been making to develop cooperation, most recently in nuclear energy and dispute resolution