Publication date: March 03, 2023
Sukuk is a financial bond that complies with Islamic religious law commonly known as Sharia. The traditional Western interest-paying bond structure is prohibited in the Islamic law because the riba, or interest debt, goes against precepts of Islam. Therefore, the Islamic countries and investors need a structure to link the returns and cash flows of debt financing to a specific asset being purchased, effectively distributing the benefits of that asset. In order to do that, in Malaysia, the sukuk was created twenty three years ago and, since then, it has become extremely popular in Islamic finance.
Sukuk represents aggregate and undivided shares of ownership in a tangible asset as it relates to a specific project or a specific investment activity. An investor in sukuk, therefore, does not own a debt obligation owed by the bond issuer, but instead owns a piece of the asset that’s linked to the investment. This means that sukuk holders, unlike bond holders, receive a portion of the earnings generated by the associated asset. Hence, financing can only be raised for identifiable asset, this means an asset whose commercial value can be measured.
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Publication date: March 01, 2023
This week, on February 27th 2023, the European Commission and the Government of United Kingdom had reached an agreement. The Windsor Framework, as it is named, is a new way forward for the Protocol on Ireland and Norther Ireland and is aimed to protect the Good Friday Agreement of 10 April 1998, including its subsequent implementation agreements and arrangements, in all its dimensions and in all its strands.
This new way forward rests primarily on new data sharing agreements, arrangements on customs, agri-food, medicines, VAT and excise, State aid / subsidy control, as well as specific instruments designed to ensure that the voices of the people of Northern Ireland are better heard on specific issues particularly relevant to the communities there. This new way forward differentiates between goods that are at risk of moving to the EU Single Market, and goods that are destined for final consumption in Northern Ireland. Building upon this distinction, the new way forward sets up two ways for goods to move from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. From this perspective, goods at risk of entering the EU Single Market will remain subject to full EU customs and Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary (SPS) procedures.
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Publication date: March 01, 2023
As the popularity of NFT continues to grow, more and more people are buying and selling these unique digital assets on various platforms. However, as with any online transaction, there are important privacy considerations to keep in mind. It is important that NFT buyers and sellers understand how their personal information is collected, used and shared by the platforms they use.
The registration process on the platforms may vary and require additional verification by the registrant. The Foundation, for example, requires sellers to verify their account before they can sell NFTs, while OpenSea and Rarible do not have a verification process.
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Publication date: March 01, 2023
On 28th February 2023, the European Commission has sent a Statement of Objections to Apple about its concern on the contractual restrictions that Apple imposed on app developers on music streaming providers. Specifically, on the contractual restrictions which prevent them from informing iPhone and iPad users of alternative music subscription options at lower prices outside of the app and to effectively choose those. The Commission thinks that this performance violates EU’s law because Apple’s anti-steering obligations are unfair trading conditions in breach of Article 102 of the TFEU (Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union).
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Publication date: March 01, 2023
NFTs is not only related to intellectual property law. Of course, intellectual property law plays an important role in this aspect, but NFTs can refer to other areas of law, which are mainly national laws. Examples of such areas of law include: contract law, property law, tax law and in some cases also banking law and finally also the aforementioned intellectual property law.
At the beginning, there should be asked the question of what legally NFT is or what rights the possession of NFT provides. Everything in principle depends on the smart contract and other contractual frameworks related to NFT. From the technical side, NFT consists primarily of a number (tokenID) and an alphanumeric code (smart contract address code) that is somehow associated with a digital file or physical asset. The buyer of such a token first acquires the right to hold NFT in his wallet and to sell the token. In addition to the above-mentioned rights, the buyer may also acquire ownership rights to the underlying assets, an exclusive license or a limited license relating to the underlying assets. In view of the above, it can be concluded that the nature of NFT is non-uniform.
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