Cross-Border Transactions

The ongoing presidential election in the United States has underscored a move against free trade by both of the main political parties.  This article briefly summarizes some of the proven benefits of free trade and juxtaposes these with the stated positions of the Democratic and Republican parties in the pending presidential election.  The article also examines, and disposes of, several of the key criticisms of the legal framework underpinning further trade integration.  The article ends hopefully—historically, U.S. Presidents have abandoned anti-trade campaign rhetoric once in the Oval Office.
Continue Reading A Surge In Populism: Dangers To Transnational Trade In The Americas And Reasons For Hope

Your essential guide to the legal and regulatory challenges facing US organizations entering the Cuban market

Tourism. Aviation. Infrastructure. Hospitality. Agriculture. Food. Retail – Every industry will have its own set of Cuban regulatory hurdles that will need to be overcome in order for U.S. businesses to successfully stake a claim. Momentum’s U.S. – Cuba Corporate Counsel Summit will bring together GC’s from major US corporations charged with the task of navigating through the regulatory landscape. They will be joined by outside counsel from the US and Cuba who have the expertise they need. Drawing lessons from European and Asian companies already operating in Cuba, you will receive a detailed strategic roadmap and essential network which will enable their organizations to chart a path to success.Continue Reading U.S. – Cuba Corporate Counsel Summit

Today, the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) amended the Cuban Assets Control Regulations to implement changes in U.S. policy toward Cuba announced by President Obama on December 17, 2014.
Continue Reading OFAC Issues Cuban Asset Control Regulations focused on the U.S. Financial Sector

Cuba Map

Historic changes in relations between the United States and Cuba (that touch nerves in Hip-Hop and on Capitol Hill) and new U.S. sanctions against Venezuela may provide increased opportunities for U.S. business generally, and electronic communications technologies and infrastructure providers in particular.  This week’s Cuba and Venezuela headlines, combined with recent and historic shifts in telecommunications and broadcasting markets in Mexico, on which we reported here, herald historic changes in Latin American electronic communications and infrastructure markets.Continue Reading Turnin’ Havana to Atlanta: The White House Opens Doors for U.S. Telecommunications Investment in Cuba and Latin America

Sheppard Mullin client, Otay Tijuana Venture, announced this week that a cross-border pedestrian bridge linking San Diego with Tijuana’s A.L. Rodríguez International airport will be set to open next year. The project, which began in 2008 when Otay Tijuana Venture purchased the land in Otay Mesa, involved Presidential permits in both countries as well as  unique Public Private Partnerships with U.S. and Mexican customs and immigration authorities.  It is the first project to connect a U.S. facility with a foreign air terminal.
Continue Reading Groundbreaking Cross-border Airport Terminal Linking Tijuana to San Diego Breaks Ground

The Official Gazette of the Federation (the “Gazette”) published an amendment to the Mexican Commerce Code (Código de Comercio) by which foreign entities (and not only individuals) acting as pledgors who have not been previously recorded in the Public Registry of Commerce, may validly obtain a registration number from the Unique Registry of Mobile Asset Collateral (Registro Unico de Garantías Mobiliarias) (“RUG”), under which first priority liens on mobile assets located in Mexican territory and documented through Mexican security documents (i.e. Floating Lien Pledge Agreements) will be recorded in the RUG perfecting such first priority lien for purposes of third parties.Continue Reading Amendment to Mexican Commerce Code Facilitates Registration of Liens Against Mobile Assets Located In Mexico

The staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) recently released a study on the cross-border scope of the private right of action under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”), 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b), and SEC Rule 10b-5, 17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5, promulgated thereunder. The study, mandated by Congress following the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd., 130 S. Ct. 2869 (2010), outlines a number of legislative options for extending the scope of private actions for international securities fraud that may provide a roadmap for future Congressional action.Continue Reading SEC Staff Issues Report on the Cross-Border Scope of Private Rights of Action for Securities Fraud

By Bram Hanono

On January 16, 2012, Mexico enacted the Law on Public-Private Partnerships (Ley de Asociaciones Público Privadas) ("PPP Law"). The new PPP Law is intended to regulate the formation of partnerships between the public and private sectors in an effort to provide services and build infrastructure to improve social welfare and increase investment levels in Mexico.Continue Reading Mexico Continues to Entice Private Investment in Infrastructure With a New Public-Private Partnership Act

By Neil A.F. Popović and Rachel Tarko Hudson

In the latest U.S. chapter of the long and hard-fought battle over claims of pollution and adverse health effects from oil development in the Ecuadorian rain forest by Texaco (acquired by Chevron in 2001), a potentially important court victory has gone to the so-called Lago Agrio plaintiffs. On January 26, 2012, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in Chevron Corp. v. Naranjo, ___ F.3d ___, 2012 WL 232965 (2d Cir. Jan. 26, 2012), ordering vacation of a preliminary injunction that prohibited the Lago Agrio plaintiffs from enforcing or preparing to enforce a potential Ecuadorian judgment against Chevron anywhere in the world outside Ecuador.Continue Reading The Chevron Ecuador Saga Continues as Second Circuit Overturns Anti-Enforcement Injunction