The Australian Government has tabled the Crimes Amendment (Combatting Corporate Crime) Bill 2019 (the 2019 Bill) in the Senate, and the Attorney-General's Department has released Draft Guidance on the steps a body corporate can take to prevent an associate from bribing foreign public officials for public consultation (the Draft Guidance). Like the 2017 version of the Bill that lapsed earlier this year (the 2017 Bill), if passed, the 2019 Bill will strengthen Australia's foreign bribery laws, including by introducing a new corporate offence of failure to prevent bribery by an associate, and will introduce a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) scheme for resolving serious corporate criminal matters. Partner Rachel Nicolson, Senior Associate Andrew Wilcock and Associate Lewis Winter report on the key differences between the 2017 and 2019 Bills, and the content of the Draft Guidance. ...

At a time when global powers continue to test international trade rules, a World Trade Organization decision involving Australian tariffs on Indonesian A4 copy paper highlights some of the key legal issues that caused tension between international trading partners in 2019. ...

The recently launched Hague Rules on Business and Human Rights Arbitration are an innovative framework for the resolution of business and human rights disputes through international arbitration. We look at how they operate and why companies might elect to arbitrate under the new regime. ...

Australia's modern slavery reporting regime was introduced one year ago, and 2020 will see the first set of modern slavery statements published by reporting entities. ...

In a rare appellate court decision dealing with anti-dumping law, the FFCA has clarified that the Anti-Dumping Commission's ability to calculate hypothetical amounts for the purposes of determining normal value is not at large, and must conform strictly with anti-dumping legislation ...

The high level of global financial crime is a drain on corporate resources and governments around the world are attempting to stay one step ahead of the criminals with new measures to tackle corruption In the Business Crime Quarterly Winter 2018 edition our global alliance partner Linklaters ...

ASIC has released its consultation paper on licensing relief for foreign financial services providers proposing a new licensing regime that will be broadly in line with that applied to other AFS licensees, but with relief from some provisions of the Australian Corporations Act and the imposition of ...

This Cross-Border Guide considers questions that commonly arise on joint venture deals and how they can be resolved in 26 jurisdictions While no two joint venture deals are the same we hope this is a useful guide to some of the main features of doing cross-border deals ...

The release of the Attorney-Generals consultation paper on modern slavery in supply chains and the recent interim inquiry report on establishing an Australian Modern Slavery Act reflect how international standards around corporate respect for human rights are becoming enshrined in law Australian ...

Big business should be aware of mandatory publishing requirements for whistleblower policies and a reverse onus of proof for compensation which is among a raft of whistleblower reforms contained in draft legislation released following a Senate inquiry report Partner Rachel Nicolson and Associate ...