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• IPEF Supply Chain Agreement Formally Signed by 14 Indo-Pacific Nations

  On November 16, the U.S. signed a major multilateral supply chain agreement with its 13 Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) partners – Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. As highlighted in the IPEF joint statement, the 14 countries announced the signature of the...

• Judge rules I Cook Foods closure was unfair

  A court in Australia has ruled that I Cook Foods was unfairly ordered to close and destroy products in relation to a Listeria incident in 2019. However, the judgment by the Supreme Court of Victoria dismissed the company’s application for damages. Local media quoted I Cook Foods founder Ian Cook saying the verdict was “bittersweet.”...

• Australia Implements Changes to Permanent Residency Program

  As of November 25, 2023, Australia’s Department of Home Affairs is moving forward with key updates to the country’s permanent residency pathway for temporary skilled workers. Under the changes, announced earlier this year, all subclass 482 visa holders are eligible to apply for permanent residency. Previously, subclass 482 visa holders in short-term occupations were unable...

• Increased regulation and a potential ban on engineered stone

  The status of silica regulation across Australia This article was co-authored by Hattie Wilson In recent years, Australia has seen a significant increase in the number of cases of silicosis and other crystalline silica (silica) related diseases in the workplace.  Silica is a naturally occurring mineral which is used in many products such as asphalt,...

• Managing the risks of concussions in contact sports: a Senate inquiry

  This article was co-authored by Hattie Wilson In recent years, evidence of the link between concussions and repeated head trauma sustained in contact sports, and the short and long-term impacts of such injuries on an individual’s health, has gained increasing awareness and concern, both in Australia and internationally. Consequently, on 1 December 2022, the Senate...

• Australian State’s Religious Vilification Act Takes Effect

  As reported by Law and Religion Australia, the New South Wales Religious Vilification Act 2023 (full text) which was enacted in August took effect on November 11. The law provides in part: It is unlawful for a person, by a public act, to incite hatred towards, serious contempt for or severe ridicule of— (a) a...

• New Regulation Tomorrow Plus podcast: EMEA regulatory insights series – Australia

  In our EMEA regulatory insights series colleagues from our EMEA offices provide an update on the key regulatory issues they are seeing in their local market. In this third episode James Morris from our Sydney office discuss what they are seeing in the Australian market touching on reforms to payment systems regulation, buy now pay...

• Medical: 4th edition “Health Law in Australia”.

  Thomson Reuters. Released on 17 November 2023 was a new edition of Health Law in Australia, edited by Ben White, Fiona McDonald, Lindy Willmott and Shih-Ning Then. The table of contents is as follows: Chapter 1 Health Law: Scope, Sources and Forces Chapter 2 Medical and health ethics Chapter 3 The Legal Framework of the Australian Health System...

• How will the Potential Ban of Employment Restraints Affect Australian Employers?

  By Michael Tamvakologos Seyfarth Synopsis: Many Australian businesses use contractual restraints of trade to protect confidential information and customer relationships. In this update we answer frequently asked questions about the future of restraints of trade in Australia, and consider options available to companies in the event that some types of restraints are no longer available. Are...

• Australian Privacy Regulator Sues in Data Breach Case

  Patrick Gunning from King & Wood Mallesons reports that, on November 2, 2023, the Australian Information Commissioner filed proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia against Australian Clinical Labs Limited seeking a civil penalty in connection with the company’s response to a data breach that occurred in February 2022.

Featured documents

• 6th World Congress on Brain Injury

  The 6th World Congress on Brain Injury will be held in Melbourne Australia in May. I will be involved with two programs at the confrenece including a workshop discussing the benefits and pitfalls of various automobile liability programs, and a medical-legal program discussing traumatic brain injury ...

• Brain Injury in Rugby Players

  The George Institute for International Health has just begun the second phase of a study on brain injuries in rugby players in Sydney....

• Alternative medicine study ($5 million) launched by Australian government

  Australia will invest $5 million to test alternative medicine, focusing particularly on herbal therapies. Currently, Australians spend about $1 billion each year on complementary medicines, “including vitamins, homeopathic medicines and traditional Asian and indigenous medicines. But current...

• More About Foreign Companies and U.S. Courts

  In a prior post (here), I took a look at securities claims in U.S. courts by foreign litigants against foreign companies. An alert reader commenting on my prior post pointed out that a case currently before the Second Circuit squarely presents the fundamental jurisdictional questions involved in...

• Barbeques Galore, With Three Metro Atlanta Stores, Files for Bankruptcy in California And Will Liquidate

  From Bloomberg.com  Barbeques Galore Inc., a closely held retailer of barbeque grills and accessories in the U.S. and Australia, filed for bankruptcy, citing a decline in home sales, a “trigger” for its grill sales.  The petition for Chapter 11 protection, filed Aug. 15 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in...

• Australian Unions Call for Regulation of Nanomaterials

  On April 14, 2009, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) issued a press release entitled “Nanotech Poses Possible Health and Safety Risk to Workers and Needs Regulation.” According to ACTU, “[t]he rapidly growing nanotechnology market in Australia requires urgent regulation to protect the...

• CAM news, legal issues

  More research on CAM makes headlines, including use of arnica for pain relief. Garlic may help with common colds: Australian researchers combed the literature and found only one study with good enough methodology to evaluate. The team, from the University of Western Australia, published its...

• The US Chamber of Commerce Does NOT Like Litigation Funding, and Pause to Reflect

  This prior post referred to a then-upcoming seminar and mentioned the question: what does the US Chamber of Commerce think about litigation funding. Thanks to an article today at Pointoflaw, we now know the unsurprising answer is: the Chamber does NOT like litigation funding. Go here for the...

• The “Vexing” Question of Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (Corrected Version)

  Editor’s Note: The corrected post is being republished to remedy an error in the prior email notification. The National Australia Bank case now awaiting decision before the United States Supreme Court raises what the Second Circuit in that same case called “the vexing question of the...

• Guest Post: Vivendi Plaintiffs’ Argument on the Impact of Morrison v. National Australia Bank

  In a series of recent posts (most recently here), I have been taking a look at the practical impact that the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 24, 2010 decision in Morrison v. National Australia Bank will have on securities litigation in the United States involving non-U.S. companies. Among the cases...