Mirror of Justice

Panama Bank Secrecy Laws

July 15th, 2009 at 08:53am Under Banking Law

Today Panama has become the Switzerland of Latin America. There are 150 banks in Panama many of which have their name on a 40 story modern skyscraper. Panama is often touted as having the best banking secrecy laws in the world. This author believes this to be true and we will address the bank secrecy laws of Panama in depth.
The first important point to look at is the existence of any tax treaties that Panama may be in with any other countries. This is an easy topic since Panama has no tax treaties with any other countries. Tax treaties can be privacy invasive for a banking client. Under some treaties the bank must collect a certain percentage of taxes from interest income paid to the clients and this money is turned over to the client’s home country. Other treaties call for an exchange of information so if a requesting country wanted to gather certain facts about a bank account or if a certain constituent of theirs had a bank account the bank would be obligated to provide the information. The European Union Withholding Tax Treaty is a very relevant treaty.
The next type of treaty one must look at is called the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, or MLAT. This treaty allows countries to request information from other countries in the treaty. The general way this type of treaty operates is through diplomatic channels. Panama is in such treaties. The requesting country must have a criminal case on file in the national courts of their country. They would then cite this case already in their criminal courts when the request for information is made. The requesting country would a need to show that the requested information about the Panama bank account is absolutely required to successfully prosecute the case and that the requesting country has no other way to obtain such evidence. Then the request is considered by Panama. Panama may ask for more information. Panama could deny the request on whatever grounds they wish to use. Panama could also decide to conduct their own investigation because they feel that some Panama laws may have been broken and delay the MLAT request until after they have concluded their investigation which may be some years. The statue of limitations could expire before Panama completed their investigation. This is not to say that Panama is in the habit of thwarting requests for information but Panama does have a right to investigate crimes that took place in their jurisdiction. As a result of these investigations they could confiscate assets and prosecute individuals under their own laws.
For the MLAT to take effect the violation in question must be a crime in both the requesting country and the country the information is requested from. Various MLAT treaties have all sorts of details and exceptions and should be read individually if you are seriously interested in a particular treaty. Panama not only has no tax treaties with any other nation but all income tax related offenses in Panama are civil offenses only, not criminal offenses. So tax matters are not a crime in Panama. Thus Panama does not participate in requests for information in tax offenses. Panama does cooperate in certain areas freely. If one acts fraudulently while in the capacity of a fiduciary in a financial relationship Panama will cooperate. Panama also cooperates in cases of narcotics trafficking, money laundering, terrorism and child pornography.
The Panama Bank Secrecy laws are contained in a number of different legal statues. We will go through some of the relevant ones:
The Panama National Banking Commission was formed by Cabinet Decree 238 of July 2, 1970.
Article 74 of Decree 238 deals with protecting the privacy of Panama bank clients. It states that the Commission is prevented from conducting or requesting investigations concerning the banking affairs of any bank clients. Any data obtained by the Commission in the course of its normal regulatory functions may not be revealed to any person or authority, except if subpoenaed in accordance with the legal provisions in force (Panama Court Order required). If a violation of this occurred Article 101 of this Cabinet Decree contains provisions for the dealing of such a violation.
Article 101 of Cabinet Decree 238 states that:
“Any person who furnishes information in violation of this Cabinet Decree, or who violates any of the prohibitions established in it, for which no specific punishment is provided for, shall be subject to a monetary fine as determined by the Banking Commission, without prejudice to applicable criminal and civil liabilities.” This is fairly strong language.
Article 65 of Cabinet Decree 238 deals with how the National Banking Commission may gain access to documents relating to the bank’s operation, not individual records of banking clients. The Banking Commission needs to regulate the banks financially and thus inspect their books but this is mandated to be done on a collective basis, thus the books for the bank as a whole are inspected not the records for an individual account holder at the bank. The Banking Commission may not examine or inspect any type of individual deposit accounts, nor the securities held in custody by the bank for clients, nor the safe deposit boxes belonging to clients and their contents, nor the documents associated with receiving credit from the bank, unless there is a Panama Court Order in place that specifically authorizes such inspection or examination according to Article 89 of the Panama Commercial Code.
Panama statues specify that bank secrecy may be lifted by a Panamanian court through Article 89 of the Commercial Code. This is not a commonly invoked procedure but is possible concerning serious criminal activities.
Articles 168 and 170 of the Panamanian Criminal Code contain two sections which enables criminal prosecution for violation the privacy of Panama banking clients:
Article 168. Any person that is in legitimate possession of correspondence, records or documents which are not intended for public knowledge and notwithstanding discloses said correspondence, records or document without proper authorization, even in the event that they were addressed to him, shall be subject to prosecution, whenever such disclosure might inflict damage.
Article 170. Any person that in the course of his occupation, employment, profession or activity obtains knowledge of confidential information that in the event of being made public could inflict damages, and such person discloses that information without the consent of the concerned party; or in the case that disclosure of such information were not necessary to safeguard a higher interest, shall be punishable by imprisonment of 10 months to 2 years or a comparable fine, and the inability to practice his occupation, employment, profession or activity for not more than 2 years. One can readily discern that this would cover Panama Stock Brokers, and Panama Banks including all the employees and officers. This could also be construed to cover Directors of Panama Anonymous Bearer Share Corporations and Council Members of Anonymous Panama Private Interest Foundations.
Panama has done away with numbered bank accounts as have the rest of the offshore tax haven jurisdictions. This is due to pressure from FATF, the Financial Action Task Force. FATF is a private entity that unofficially dictates anti-money laundering statues to the banks worldwide. Numbered accounts are no longer allowed.
Panama through the use of anonymous Bearer Share Corporations accomplishes practically the same privacy as the old numbered bank account. The banks around the world including those in Panama must know who their customers are. This usually means getting identity documents such as passports, driver’s licenses, national identity cards, and letters of reference from banks and businesses. The Panama Bearer Share Corporation is anonymous in that there is no reporting or recording of any stock ownership records in any registry or database thus it is impossible to determine who the natural persons are behind the corporate veil. This means when international wire transfers are sent only the name of the anonymous corporation appears in the wire, the true owner of the account is not revealed for the world to see same as it was when numbered bank accounts were allowed. With regards to writing checks the same applies assuming the signatory signs the check in a hard to read manner. To provide for more privacy Panama only allows an attorney to form a corporation or foundation. This cloaks the formation of the corporation with Panama attorney client privilege further protecting the owners of the corporation or foundation with an additional layer of privacy. In most tax haven jurisdictions the formation of a corporation handled by a corporate agent which does not provide privileged communication to protect the identity of the person owning the corporation.
One can readily see why Panama has become the new Switzerland of Latin America.
For more information, please visit:
http://www.panamalaw.org
email at: panamalegal@hush.com

California Business Law Attorney’s Guide to Making Money in the Future – Patents

July 14th, 2009 at 08:53pm Under Business Law

In these difficult economic times, new businesses are much riskier to try, but there is no more lucrative an area even in the current conditions than for an inventor or designer who can create a new invention or process and who can afford to have it patented.

Whether you live in San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Santa Barbara, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, Temecula, Anaheim, Irvine, Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, Santa Ana, Encinitas or Palm Springs conditions are much the same throughout California. Business is slow and much of what little real estate is selling are the foreclosed homes.

As a Business Lawyer in Southern California, people are always asking me for the next great area of business in which they can make money and what legal restrictions there might be in the future. When asked these questions the one place I don’t turn to is those newsletters that tell you how much money you would have made if you had followed their advice and invested in certain stocks or gone into the cell phone business.

For the most part, however, you can almost certainly bet that their advice is wrong, so you can likely assume that the opposite of their advice would offer a better chance of success.

Many newsletters are still focused on getting into businesses that rely on the consumer having discretionary cash to purchase unnecessary items. That’s probably not just bad advice, it’s lousy advice. Television commercials telling you that you can make tens of thousands a month working from home are a way to take your money for seminars, books and other materials that most likely in the end will cost you more than you’ll ever make, once you add in your start up costs.

On the other hand, one or two of the ideas being touted may be the fad of the future, no matter how little money people have to spend. For instance, if people will buy expensive clothes for their dogs, does that mean that they’ll buy little prom dresses for their infants? Hard to say.

However, if the high heeled shoes cause injuries to those infants, you can see the lawsuits coming already.

What’s the next item we can’t do without or that we like just fine now, but would pay an extra $50 to have a designer version of that item? That depends as much on good marketing and a good business plan as the good idea. If you have that and the resources to start production, create a website, hire a search engine optimizer to help your website get noticed on search engines and then know how to create publicity for your product, you are halfway home. But all of that costs money, lots of money, or lots and lots of time. But if the design is unique, it may make much more sense to apply for a design patent and then to license or sell your patent outright to another manufacturer.

One item that makes business run is credit. But all you hear in the news is how hard it is now to get credit for a house, for a business, for anything. You can therefore almost certainly count on new businesses popping up that offer their services in finding you credit. While this area of business is already regulated, as more and more scammers get into this business, you can be certain that more regulation will follow.

The difficulty with this type of business is that you may find it difficult not to be brushed with the same paint brush as the unscrupulous businesses who will guarantee to find a person credit for a fee and then either take the money and run or simply offer excuses why it was impossible for them to find their customer the credit they promised.

An area where there appears to be an opportunity in these times is helping others and in doing so, you may help yourself. Consumers need real help to survive this economic mess. Web sites that actually provide a service such as locating cheap gas, coupons for groceries, clothing sales or other basic necessities may be the one area in which there could be demand by the consumer. This type of service will require a lot of free advice, however, time and people to gather this information and it still could be difficult to recoup your investment.

Perhaps the best way that still exists to make a lot of money is if you can develop an idea for an invention. Utility patents are very expensive to obtain using a lawyer. Most charge from $7,500 on up depending upon the complexity. However, you can obtain a provisional patent or a design patent for substantially less and as soon as the application has been accepted (as opposed to when the patent is granted, which takes much longer) you can begin to market your invention to other companies and either license your patent pending invention to them or sell it outright.

So start thinking about what hasn’t yet been invented, or improved upon in an important way, and if you need assistance with obtaining a patent, trademark or copyright, call us or visit us at our website where you can access much more information about intellectual property.

Business Finance Consulting – Avoiding Bad Banks

July 14th, 2009 at 08:53pm Under Banking Law

For small business owners, one of the most perplexing situations is a realization that there are now essentially “good banks” and “bad banks”. To make matters worse, it is rarely easy to distinguish between the good and bad ones. For many commercial borrowers, business finance consulting has emerged as a helpful tool to determine which banks are still effective. But overall, the world of banking has changed dramatically for almost everyone, and many business borrowers are angry and confused by a new commercial banking landscape that does not seem to be working very well.

One of the more difficult aspects associated with the “good bank and bad bank” analogy is that there are so many competing explanations as to what constitutes a “good bank”. One popular analysis has focused on how much banks are really worth in view of the toxic assets that are so complicated to evaluate. In this perspective, “bad banks” are those whose assets are estimated to be worth less than their liabilities and as a result have been referred to as “zombie banks” and “dead banks walking”.

Not surprisingly we have not yet experienced a bank which has openly agreed that their liabilities exceed their assets and therefore they should be considered to be a zombie bank. This would be tantamount to describing themselves as a bankrupt bank. If a bank is truly deserving of the bankrupt status (and there are a number which certainly appear to be in this category), the current banking laws do not permit such a bank to go through the kind of bankruptcy process being considered by General Motors and Chrysler.

Instead the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is supposedly required by law to assume the operation of the bankrupt bank until a new management and ownership arrangement can be established. For a number of smaller banks, this has in fact occurred during the past few months. What has been missing so far from this legal bank takeover approach by the FDIC has been the inclusion of larger banks which appear to have problems that are much more serious than the smaller banks which have already been liquidated and transferred to new owners by the FDIC.

The reason that the FDIC has not liquidated larger problematic banks has not been made public. It is certainly possible that the FDIC and key public officials feel that the public failure of a major bank would create a crisis of confidence for all banks regardless of their financial health. An equally strong likelihood is that the FDIC simply does not currently have sufficient assets to cover the failure of a big bank. This viewpoint is supported by the recent announcement that the FDIC is in the process of raising fees paid by banks in order to replenish the FDIC insurance funds.

To realistically protect the future financial health of their own business, small business owners need their own evaluation standards to determine what constitutes either a “good bank” or “bad bank”. Business owners should include an assessment that focuses on results as to which banks can provide the needed help for their specific business circumstances involving working capital financing and commercial loan needs. The banks themselves are not likely to be helpful in providing the needed data to produce a candid evaluation of their financial status, even though such information would go a long way toward establishing a good bank-bad bank distinction.

As noted above, it might be possible that there are several bankrupt banks still functioning normally because they have not rushed to advise the public that they are in serious trouble. While most banks have been publicizing during the past few months that they are making SBA loans and small business loans in a normal fashion, in most cases these banks have actually reduced commercial lending dramatically. Some specialized business lending such as commercial construction financing has been frozen altogether in many areas.

In addition to the critical importance of identifying “good banks”, we have published a related report which describes the delicate issue confronting many business owners who might need to fire their banker. There are “good bankers” and “bad bankers” just as we have noted that there are “good banks” and “bad banks”.

Business finance consulting has emerged as an important tool to help small business owners work their way through a complicated commercial banking maze. One of the common questions asked in the Bernie Madoff fiasco concerns the repeated failure of investment advisors to analyze internal operations prior to placing investor funds with the Ponzi scheme constructed by Madoff over a period of many years.

Our candid final point is that the use of a commercial finance consultant should be at least considered by commercial borrowers in their search for new working capital loans and commercial mortgage financing. Businesses now need to act more aggressively than before in order to protect their own financial interests.

San Diego California Sports & Business Law Attorney Sebastian Gibson – the Business of Sports

July 14th, 2009 at 02:52am Under Business Law

Even if you don’t live in a town with a professional sports team like San Diego, California or Los Angeles, CA, it is likely you still have at least amateur sports teams in almost every city of Orange County, and even if your city just has high school teams in La Jolla, Del Mar, Encinitas, Carlsbad, Oceanside, San Marcos, Vista and Escondido or the cities of Huntington Beach, Westminster, Buena Park, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Costa Mesa, Irvine, Newport Beach, Corona del Mar, Laguna Beach, and Laguna Hills, Santa Barbara, Buena Park, Temecula, Indian Wells, La Quinta, or Palm Springs, you and the players on those teams are probably sports fanatics as we are, and may also have a legal issue in many of the sub-areas of sports law without even knowing it. 

Few firms in the U.S. today practice in the field of Sports Business Law. It requires a knowledge of entertainment law, intellectual property, sports brand development, professional regulations, broadcast and media law, sports sponsorship, corporate finance, labor law contract law, merchandising, anti-trust law and litigation.In addition to having knowledge in those fields, it helps to have a strong background in international law, if not English law as well.

Clients at a sports law, law firm are sports team owners, cities, athletes, stadium management companies, and sponsors. You will be dealing with product manufacturers, the media, banks, the USPTO, sports organizations, arbitrators and the courts.

If you are a true sports aficionado, you will wish the business of sport had less to do with the law, but with each passing year it seems to have more rather than less.The rules referees must now live by often makes it useful if they are lawyers in their spare time.

As society becomes more and more concerned with fairness, we see greater use of replays, and less discretion given to the officials to call the game or to correct a mistaken call on their own.Sports teams and their lawyers must constantly be vigilant to protect their trademarks and branding and spend as much time promoting their team and their sport as running the day to day operation.Fortunately, in the end, the time and cost of sports business law attorneys are worth it, with the value of most sport teams rising year after year.

The opportunities to get into sports business law are limited. Many more law students take courses in sports law than will ever have the chance to practice the little they learn in law school.

If you are an athlete, or a business in the sports world and need the assistance of a sports lawyer, call us or visit our website at http://www.californiaattorneyslawyers.com to learn more about how we can assist you. Or call us to speak directly to Sebastian Gibson about your sports law, entertainment law, intellectual property, trademarks, sports brand development, professional regulations, broadcast and media law, sports sponsorships, corporate finance, labor law contract law, merchandising, anti-trust law and litigation.

Foreign Business Law in Thailand

July 13th, 2009 at 02:53pm Under Business Law

With highly sophisticated infrastructure and free enterprise economy, Thailand – officially the Kingdom of Thailand – attracts many foreigners to set up and conduct innovative businesses. However, in order to invest or conduct a business in Thailand, a foreign investor is required to comply with certain laws and regulations. Al though they are sometimes complicated, these regulations are straightforward and not problematic.
The laws regarding foreign business laws in Thailand are governed by the Foreign Business Act, B.E. 2542. In other words, the Foreign Business Act 1999 (FBA) is the most significant law that oversees major foreign-owned businesses in the country. Published on December 4, 1999 in the Royal Government and came into existence with effect from March 3, 2000, this Act actually replaced the Alien Business Law, otherwise known as the National Executive Council No. 281, which was enacted in 1972.
The Foreign Business Act 1999 has been developed to provide the country with a modern as well as effective legal framework that enables foreign investors to invest in large scale. According to the Foreign Business Act, a company is regarded foreign, if it complies with following regulations such as:
- The entity not being registered in the country
- A registered or a limited partnership entity with non Thai managing partner
- Al though the entity is incorporated in the country, foreign shareholding is half or more than half of the overall shares of the company
- Over half of the firm’s capital fund is derived from a person who is not of a Thai nationality
As per the Foreign Business Act, the businesses have been categorized into three categories, such as Category A, Category B, and Category C. Under the Category C, foreign individuals are completely restricted from starting certain business for some special reasons, and some of them are newspaper publication as well as television or radio business firms, livestock business, wood processing business, business in connection with the Thai herbs, trading of antique or any items of historical significance, manufacturing of the images of Lord Buddha, and land business.
As in the case of the Category A, the Category B also prohibits foreigners from investing in certain types of businesses. Among these businesses are businesses that may affect the safety as well as security of the national, such as, manufacture and sales of items like gun powder and explosive items; businesses that may affect the art and culture of the country like manufacture of wood items, manufacturing of earthenware items, silkworm rearing, orchard farming, and laundry services; and businesses that may affect natural resources of the country, such as, manufacture of sugar from sugarcane, mining of rock salt, and processing wood to build furniture as well as utensils. However, such businesses may be conducted if the entity can gain the approval of the Board of Investment.
When comes to the Category C, it allows foreign firms to invest in certain types of businesses, provided they get approval from the Committee. Included in this category are farming of rice as well as production of flour, business in connection with fishery and forestry matters, mining, manufacture of glass containers and crockery, lime production, accounting and legal service businesses, and architecture and engineering related businesses.
A foreigner interested in investing as well as conducting any of the business specified in the Category C is required to submit an application with the Department of Commercial Registration in order to receive a license, namely, Alien Business License, before starting any business activity in the country. This license would be valid for a stipulated time period, and would be further subject to certain conditions.
However, for a foreigner or an alien company to apply for Alien Business License, the Ministerial Regulations, as per the Section 8 of the Law, has put forward certain conditions, of which some of them are the overall debt in connection with the financing of the business should not exceed seven times the capital possessed by the proprietors, partners, and shareholders of the business; money brought from abroad should not be less than the amount that has been declared as capital investment for the business in Thailand; and the number of Thai as well as alien directors must be in accordance with the capital held.
A plethora of law firms and other related service providers are in the scenario to help foreigners in dealing with complicated laws in connection with the foreign business registrations.

Business Law Knowledge That Is Integral To The Running Of A Company

July 13th, 2009 at 02:52am Under Business Law

It is essential to know about business law before starting a business, as it will help you operate your business without the hindrances of ignorance. It is better to seek the expert guidance of an accountant and an attorney to learn about the latest business laws that will affect your business. Below is a list of the most important business laws.

Business structure laws: There are different laws for different business entities. Be certain you learn about the business laws that govern the kind of business entity that you choose to start. The major types of businesses are C, S and closed corporations, limited liability companies, and sole proprietorships.

Zoning Laws: It is essential to know about zoning laws, as certain zones are restricted in certain areas. It deals with the kind or type of business allowed in certain areas, how the land surrounding a business is used, signboards, advertisements, and parking.

Licensing Laws: In order to operate a business certain licenses are required and there are some important business laws you need to know. If a business operates without these licenses, it is illegal and the business may be dissolved or forced to close.

Trademark and Patent Laws: These are laws that deal with ownership; intellectual property rights, and inventions. They are necessary to protect the business.

Employment Laws: These are laws regarding the hiring and firing of employees, their rights, compensation, safety, work place discrimination, child labor laws, overtime pay structure, disability laws and unemployment laws.

Tax Laws: This section deals with filing of tax returns and depends on the kind of business entity and the state the business operates in, sales tax. These include franchise tax, income tax and other state and federal tax requirements of a business. These are very important business laws you need to know before starting a business.

Environmental Laws: The government enforces the environmental laws for the discharge of hazardous waste and the recycling laws pertaining to the business.

Health Department Permits: This is necessary if your business deals with food products. You must get health department permits to operate your business.

Fire Department Permits and Air and Water Pollution Control Permits: There are laws that certain kinds of business entities must get permits from these departments to operate.

Beware Of Laws
The list above contains basic business laws you need to know before starting a company. It is necessary to take precautions that you are not violating any law by operating your business. You must obtain all the necessary permits and licenses from the appropriate authority.

Additional Help
There are firms that offer their services and products to help make the process of starting and running a business very simple and easy. There is also software to make sure your company remains legitimate.

Immigration Law For The Kingdom Of Thailand

July 12th, 2009 at 10:39pm Under Immigration Law

There are certain laws imposed by governments of various countries to the people who are immigrating. These laws are in common named as the Immigration Laws. The Immigration Law for the Kingdom of Thailand is a set of laws concerning the immigration of people across the globe in to the kingdom. It is to be understood by any person intending to travel to Thailand even if as a tourist. The Immigration Law for the Kingdom of Thailand is to be followed by each and every person and are liable to be legally questioned if found guilty of breaking any of the set of laws. Immigration applications are handled by Immigration Bureau of the Royal Thai Police Department, Ministry of Interior, according to the immigration act of 1979.
Most people who are planning for a vacation need not worry about the problems of having a visa and other such legal licenses. Except a few countries, all people from all over the world are allowed to be guests in the kingdom of Thailand. The Immigration law of Thailand allows a person to stay in Thailand without a visa for a period of about 30 days. This law is very much helpful for tourists as most tours do not exceed a time limit of 30 days. This avoids the strain of running for visas when we are planning for a vacation. An extended period of 15 days may also be approved by the government on applying for it in the immigration office. Thus tourists are saved from these complicated steps to be undergone for getting visas and all, by the government itself.
But if a person wants to stay in Thailand for a long period of time as a settler then he or she will have to clear out all the norms put forth by the government. The Immigration law for the Kingdom of Thailand imposes rigorous punishments upon immigrants leading up to extend of giving death sentences. Immigrants may be of many types such as tourists, visitor transit, non- quota immigrant, non immigrant, and immigrants. People must apply for a visa in order to stay at any country for a longer time. Visas are of many types such as Non immigrant visa, tourist visa, etc. Non immigrant visas are taken by people who have other motives for being in Thailand rather than being a tourist. Other relevant documents may also be needed for non immigrants.
As per the immigration law for the Kingdom of Thailand, any ‘application’ is considered just as a request for staying in Thailand on a temporary basis. An official staff advised by the Commissioner General of the Thailand police headquarters only has the right to provide permit to people for a temporary stay. As per the immigration law of Thailand, any person having a valid passport may apply for the visa and if the application is rejected, then he or she may ask for the reason and the official concerned will have to give satisfactory explanations. Then he or she can resubmit the application again. The Thai Government can provide extension for staying at Thailand but it must not exceed 30 days and within this period the person concerned must get a license to stay at Thailand.
For people who plan to migrate to Thailand for the purpose of business, jobs, etc, permission may be granted which will not exceed a time period of one year. In most of the cases such as enrollment in a government institution, office, family member of a resident family, etc, the period will never extend one year at a time.
There are many procedures to be followed while submitting the application and it need not be accepted even though almost all details given in the application are most perfect. Sometimes the officials may find out some problem in granting the permission. The rules laid by the immigration law of the Kingdom of Thailand are rather complicated and might seem to be confusing for outsiders. Most Thai officials try not to cause problems and so immigration to the kingdom of Thailand is considered much strain less. The Immigration Law of the Kingdom of Thailand provides one of the vast studies upon the rules imposed on immigration. It is to be studied by all people planning to immigrate to the kingdom.

Business Laws: What You Need to Know

July 12th, 2009 at 08:52pm Under Business Law

There are a myriad of things you must think about when opening any type of business whether it is a small business or a large corporation and one of those is how business law may affect you. Failure to pay attention to business and corporate law can land you in a world of trouble-both legal and financial. The good news is that you do not necessarily need to be a graduate of a fancy business law college or have a business law major to brush up on the basic ideas of small business law and corporate business law.

If you’ve paid attention to the headlines lately, you probably know that employment law for business is one of the number one areas where you can get into trouble if you aren’t up on all the employment laws and regulations. There are numerous laws that govern the employment of both regular employees and contract employees. Just for a broad overview, take a look at all the employment business laws you must meet:

• Civil Rights Act of 1966.

• The Equal Pay Act of 1963

• Americans with Disabilities Act

• The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986

• The Age Discrimination in Employment Act

• The Equal Employment Opportunity Act

• The Bankruptcy Act

• The Occupational Safety and Health Act

• FMLA, the Family Medical Leave Act

• Employee Polygraph Protection Act Labor Law

• FLSA, the Fair Labor Standards Act

And that’s not even counting the various state employment business laws that might apply to your business! If you aren’t sure of whether you are meeting all the regulations, it’s a good idea to get a checkup for your HR department.

Do you happen to work in the international arena? If you have anything at all to do with international business, then you should be aware of the many ways in which international business law can affect you, your business and your bottom line. At a minimum, you need to make sure that you meet general international business laws, specialized export laws, import laws and any laws of the foreign country in which your business operates.

And what about the business law scene at home? Were you aware that in addition to Federal business law and international business law, you are probably required to meet State business law regulations? Do you know whether you need a business permit or license? Failure to obtain one can result in the shutdown of your business and hefty fines and penalties. This is just one of the ways that state business law, such as California business law, can affect the health of your business if you aren’t careful to stay on top of things.

Finally, what about Internet and online business laws? Were you even aware that there was such a thing? The Internet has exploded so much in the last decade that the government has found it necessary to institute Internet compliance laws. If you operate a website of any kind and do not meet the compliance regulations, that site could be shut down and you could face criminal prosecution and hefty fines.

Of course, no one should ever attempt to navigate the complexities of any type of business law alone and the best course of action is to always seek the qualified professional advice of a business law firm, but hopefully these tips will help you to understand a little bit more about business law requirements.

Summary: When operating a business, regardless of whether it is a small business or a large corporation, you need to be on top of business law compliance. Even if you hire a business law firm, it’s still a good idea to understand what regulations you must meet.

San Diego California Sports & Business Law Attorney Sebastian Gibson – the Business of Sports

July 12th, 2009 at 04:19pm Under Entertainment Law

Even if you don’t live in a town with a professional sports team like San Diego, California or Los Angeles, CA, it is likely you still have at least amateur sports teams in almost every city of Orange County, and even if your city just has high school teams in La Jolla, Del Mar, Encinitas, Carlsbad, Oceanside, San Marcos, Vista and Escondido or the cities of Huntington Beach, Westminster, Buena Park, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Costa Mesa, Irvine, Newport Beach, Corona del Mar, Laguna Beach, and Laguna Hills, Santa Barbara, Buena Park, Temecula, Indian Wells, La Quinta, or Palm Springs, you and the players on those teams are probably sports fanatics as we are, and may also have a legal issue in many of the sub-areas of sports law without even knowing it. 

Few firms in the U.S. today practice in the field of Sports Business Law. It requires a knowledge of entertainment law, intellectual property, sports brand development, professional regulations, broadcast and media law, sports sponsorship, corporate finance, labor law contract law, merchandising, anti-trust law and litigation.In addition to having knowledge in those fields, it helps to have a strong background in international law, if not English law as well.

Clients at a sports law, law firm are sports team owners, cities, athletes, stadium management companies, and sponsors. You will be dealing with product manufacturers, the media, banks, the USPTO, sports organizations, arbitrators and the courts.

If you are a true sports aficionado, you will wish the business of sport had less to do with the law, but with each passing year it seems to have more rather than less.The rules referees must now live by often makes it useful if they are lawyers in their spare time.

As society becomes more and more concerned with fairness, we see greater use of replays, and less discretion given to the officials to call the game or to correct a mistaken call on their own.Sports teams and their lawyers must constantly be vigilant to protect their trademarks and branding and spend as much time promoting their team and their sport as running the day to day operation.Fortunately, in the end, the time and cost of sports business law attorneys are worth it, with the value of most sport teams rising year after year.

The opportunities to get into sports business law are limited. Many more law students take courses in sports law than will ever have the chance to practice the little they learn in law school.

If you are an athlete, or a business in the sports world and need the assistance of a sports lawyer, call us or visit our website at http://www.californiaattorneyslawyers.com to learn more about how we can assist you. Or call us to speak directly to Sebastian Gibson about your sports law, entertainment law, intellectual property, trademarks, sports brand development, professional regulations, broadcast and media law, sports sponsorships, corporate finance, labor law contract law, merchandising, anti-trust law and litigation.

The Future of Offshore Banking, Corporations and Foundations

July 12th, 2009 at 02:52am Under Banking Law

First it needs to be stated that no one has a crystal ball which predicts the future. These thoughts are just opinions and should be taken as such not as legal or tax advice. We will try to show the political positions of the countries that are not in favor of the tax haven offshore jurisdictions and the position of the tax haven countries. The countries most outspoken against offshore banking and offshore corporations are Australia, UK and USA.
Today there is a great outcry from these and other countries about the tax saving benefits afforded to citizens of certain countries by going offshore. These countries claim that their constituents are cheating them out of billions of dollars of taxes by going offshore. The offshore jurisdictions that are considered the tax havens say that is a nice allegation but we are not your collection agency and do not ask us to change our bank and corporate privacy laws because your constituents do not want to pay taxes, this is your problem not ours. The actual amount of taxes that are avoided unlawfully is a figure that one can only take a guess at. Many people set up offshore structures to do business outside of their home country and are not in violation of any laws the way they conduct their business affairs. Many people live in other countries and need to own offshore bank accounts, offshore corporations, offshore real estate, etc. Many people use offshore privacy to protect themselves from identity theft, kidnapping, blackmail, and possible extortion.
Let me use an analogy to make a point. In Latin America there is an organization of five states called Mercosur. Mercosur consists of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Venezuela, and Uruguay. Mercosur also has associate members which are as follows: Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Columbia and Ecuador. The Mercosur countries engage in free trade and easy border controls with no passports, just national identity cards for border crossings. Mercosur recently issued a statement that they would in the future strive to resist any further attempts to get them to spend more resources on narcotics enforcement that stems from the UN. The UN says its member countries must enact certain kinds of laws to control narcotics and states these laws and insists on enforcement policies. The Mercosur spokesperson stated that this was an irrational policy since it has not worked for over a quarter of a century and it was severely draining the resources of their countries. Essentially they said they were sick and tired of the United States which is the nation driving these policies through the UN, making their problems, the problems of other countries and they were going to collectively attempt to legalize narcotics in their own nations to free themselves from this heavy burden of narcotics enforcement. This has already begun to happen in Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina and Venezuela with the abundant legal availability of cocoa leaf. The cocoa leaf has cocaine alkaloids (real cocaine) and is commonly used as a chew like chewing tobacco leaf or made into tea leaves. Street cocaine is perhaps 30 times as potent and is diluted with harmful substances like turpentine, ether, etc. Cocoa leaf is a natural plant product used for centuries as a stimulant by people living in the high altitudes of Bolivia, farm workers etc. One can now see coca tea being sold freely on the internet but I would strongly advice you not to order any because you may get charged with narcotics importation, seriously because it can be lab tested to contain cocaine. So my point is a lot of countries have said ok enough is enough when it comes to narcotics. It is not working leave us alone, take care of your own problem. So Mercosur countries are now worrying about their own problems more and less about the narcotics issues in the USA and other nations. I think you will see more of the same type of thinking when it comes to offshore banking, offshore corporations, offshore foundations, offshore stock brokerage accounts etc.
Offshore jurisdictions have to go through all sorts of compliance that is not needed in say the USA or the UK. One offshore formation agent went to the USA and was able to open eight USA bank accounts in one day. In Panama a bank account can take five days after you collect and submit the reference letters and documents. In the USA and UK no bank reference letters are required to open a bank account, neither are any professional references required. In the USA and UK they do enforce money laundering protective measures strictly. One can buy USA corporations or UK corporations without any of the due diligence requirements that are required from offshore jurisdictions. So the playing field is not exactly level yet these countries are screaming for more controls not on themselves but on other countries. It seems that the offshore jurisdictions will scream enough is enough if any further controls are imposed on them and resist them. Of course one wonders what further controls they could come up with that they haven’t already imposed.
Let’s look at history a little to see how things deteriorated in the past regarding offshore privacy and offshore banking. Most of the older offshore tax havens are also tourist destinations such as Cayman Islands, Nassau, Bermuda, Grenada, Belize etc. These countries usually have little if any natural resources and need to bring in everything they consume. While some of them avoid income taxes instead they impose taxes on goods imported. These countries got heavily involved in tourism as a way to keep their economies moving. A cruise ship docking at these ports usually carries 2500 people. Each person probably spends an average of $100 a day when in this ports buying t-shirts, duty free liquor, tobacco, jewelry etc. many spend a good deal more. That is $250,000 per cruise ship. These jurisdictions get from 3 ships per week, to 40 ships per week docking there. The money from the cruise ships exceeds what would be earned from their previous offshore banking and incorporation activities. Remember a bank that controls hundreds of millions of dollars of deposits can only have 50 or so employees. A thriving cruise ship port can have thousands of employees working in the shops, restaurants, as tour guides, taxi drivers etc. So more jobs are at stake in the tourism business. We also have to take into account the resorts these countries have which create even more jobs and generate revenue in the form of a hotel room tax built into the rates. These countries also charge a head tax on every person coming into their country. Bottom line is there is much more money in the tourism business than there is the offshore business for the government of these jurisdictions. The governments of these countries don’t make much off of a bank account for instance, actually nothing. They have no income or capital gains tax. The offshore corporations would pay a few hundred dollars a year in taxes but that was it. The banks would pay a few thousand dollars a year for their licenses. So these countries sold out on offshore privacy to protect their tourism. If they did not do so the countries allowing tax free importation from these countries of tourist bought items might go away. Tourists returning from these countries by ship or air might find themselves stuck in long lines while they are searched and interrogated by authorities of various affected countries which would quickly and seriously discourage tourism to these countries. Other countries like Switzerland, Lichtenstein, and Luxembourg sold out due to pressure from the EU. But now we are seeing a reversal in position regarding the EU, not much of a reversal but at least a sigh of OK enough is enough.
In recent months the USA was exposed by the New York Times Newspaper in a scandal whereby they were monitoring SWIFT wire transactions for some years. SWIFT is a private company that enables banks to communicate with each other securely including sending wire transfers. SWIFT machines require a separate terminal and line so as to make them most secure. The USA served a court order on the SWIFT people in New York to turn over all the data they requested and gag ordered them to not mention what was going on. It went on for two years. This got the EU nations most upset. While they have not actually prosecuted the SWIFT people for violating the banking laws of the various European nations affected, there was serious talk of it. Whether or not obeying a USA court order to violate the banking laws of other nations is a viable defense has never been tested in any court, yet anyway. The EU position on this was they must get the USA to understand their banking laws call for privacy. This of course is not exactly giving ground for more privacy invasive laws which is what we mean by a reversal.
Today the most privacy oriented jurisdiction in the world is Panama. Panama has 400,000 corporations registered there. Panama requires corporation formation agents to be lawyers and their know your client rules are strict and call for criminal penalties if not followed. Panama banks follow tight anti-money laundering laws as well as know your customer laws. Panama does still allow for anonymous bearer share corporations which do not require the entry into any registry of any ownership names or identities. The anonymous bearer share corporations combined with Panama bank secrecy laws make for the best privacy in the world today. Panama foundations are also anonymous with no owners, beneficiaries or protectors names appearing in any registry or database. Panama is also in no tax treaty with any other country and is fairly unique in this regards. Of course one can ask the question if Panama can sustain their practices under pressure from other nations.
First off Panama does follow the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) practices. Secondly Panama does not exactly have a lot of tourism, actually it has quite a small amount of tourism and most of their tourism comes from Latin America not the EU or USA. This means there is no meaningful tourism that can be taken away. Panama is a small country and 15% to 20% of the workforce is employed by the international banks. Panama has 400,000 corporation registered there who each pay $300 in annual corporate taxes. This comes to $120,000,000 dollars and this is for a country of 2.9 million people. Also consider these corporations are paying for resident agents, nominee directors etc. Then we get into Panama Foundations which also collect $300 in annual taxes each year plus nominee council member fees. Panama will and has resisted attempts to compromise banking secrecy and corporate secrecy.
Again let us look towards history to see what we can learn, this time focusing on anonymous bearer share corporations. The issue with anonymous bearer share corporations is that when the international wires are monitored it is impossible to tell who the natural persons are behind the bearer share corporations sending or receiving the wires. The British Virgin Islands used to offer anonymous bearer share corporations. A few years ago they gave in to pressure from the UK and stopped issuing new bearer share corporations but they did make allowances for the existing bearer share corporations to remain anonymous for 10 years. After that time they would need to dissolve or operate in a non-anonymous mode. If we want to look on the dark side we can consider Panama doing the same if international pressure ever built up sufficiently to force a change. So of course those owning an existing bearer share corporation would be unaffected for ten years and these corporations would probably go up significantly in value on the secondary market. We have absolutely no indications subtle or otherwise that anything is going to change in Panama.
It is also a possibility that some other nations may enter into the bank secrecy arena in the near future and some other nations may return to bank secrecy as well. Only time will tell. Nothing we see gives any inkling of an idea that Panama will reverse on its position of bank and corporate privacy and it appears that things may have already sunk to an all time low and offshore banking and corporate privacy may actually soon start to improve, first with the wire transfer system and later on in other areas.
For more information, please visit:
http://www.panamalaw.org
email at: panamalegal@hush.com