Legal and Tax Updates

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (“TAT”) announced via the Royal Thai Government Gazette on 30 October 2021 that as of 1 November 2021, earlier COVID-19-related restrictions would be lifted in the case of four designated ‘Blue Zone’ provinces: Bangkok, Krabi, Phang-Nga, and Phuket. This brings an end to curfews, bans on ‘dining in’ at restaurants,...

The Ministry of Interior issued a new Prakas No. 2644 PK dated 19 October 2021 on the Establishment and Management of Mandatory and Voluntary Taskforces for Fire Prevention and Firefighting (“Prakas 2644”). The purpose of this Prakas is to set the rules relating to the establishment and management of these two teams (the mandatory and...

Pursuant to the Department of Labor and Employment (“DOLE”) Department Order Nos. 216 and 217, Series of 2020 (collectively, “Department Orders No. 216 and 217”), Private Employment Agencies (“PEAs”) are required to submit a hard copy of the monthly recruitment and placement reports to the appropriate Regional Office of the DOLE within seven (7) days...

On 12 October 2021, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (“BSP”) issued Memorandum No. M-2021-72, to provide guidelines on the submission of the reports on crimes and/or losses (“RCL”). The following are the submission procedures under the Memorandum: Banks and NBQBs shall follow the existing manner of reporting a crime and/or loss incident, i.e., one reference...

On 15 October 2021, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (“BSP”) issued Circular Letter No. CL-2021-078 which seeks to remind all BSP-Supervised Financial Institutions (“BSPI”) regarding the reports issued by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (“AMLC”), entitled “Analysis of Suspicious Transaction Reports (STR) with Possible Links to Tax Crimes” and “Real Estate Sector: A Money Laundering/Terrorism Financing/Proliferation...

On October 29, 2021, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (“BIR”) issued Revenue Memorandum Order No. 29-2021 (the “RMO”), directing all Revenue District Officers (“RDOs”) under all Revenue Regions (“RRs”) and the LT Divisions (”LTDs”)/LT Audit Divisions (“LTADs” Regular or Excise) under the Large Taxpayers Service (“LTS”) to monitor and verify the tax compliance of online...

Circular Letter No. CL-2021-080, issued on 18 October 2021 by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (“BSP”), disseminates to all BSP-Supervised Financial Institutions (“BSFI”) the Anti-Money Laundering Council’s (“AMLC”) Guidelines on Digitization of Customer Records (“DIGICUR”) adopted via the AMLC Regulatory Issuance (“ARI”) A, B, and C, No. 2, Series of 2018. According to the BSP,...

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (“BSP”) in Memorandum No. M-2021-053 dated 13 October 2021 clarified the definition of “digital banks”. A digital bank refers to a bank which offers financial products and services that are processed end-to-end through a digital platform and/or electronic channels with no physical branch/sub-branch or branch-lite unit offering the same. The...

On 28 October 2021, the Royal Government of Cambodia (“RGC”) implemented ‘Round 10’ of measures aimed at mitigating the impacts of COVID-19 on businesses and workers in Cambodia. In readiness for the economy re-opening Cambodia has been receiving vaccines through support and direct purchases from various manufacturers. At the same time, the RGC has been...

The use of drones in the world is increasing very rapidly and plays an important role in optimizing processes across a various range of industries: agriculture, delivery services, infrastructure, mapping, military and so on. These machines are very efficient, effective, and safe tools for quality, safety and savings. As we start seeing increased use of...