The governments of Argentina and the United States signed on December 23rd, 2016, a new tax information exchange agreement (“TIEA”). Jack Lew, U.S. Treasury Secretary, stated that the TIEA will allow for important collaboration between the two countries’ tax enforcement efforts. The TIEA provides a legal framework for the reciprocal and automatic exchange of tax information, which will allow Argentina to (i) comply with the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, and (ii) obtain information about Argentinean taxpayers that hold undeclared assets in the United States.
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Argentina Lifts its Currency Exchange, Exports, and Imports Restrictions
Mr. Mauricio Macri was sworn-in as President of Argentina on December 10, 2015. Four business days after taking office, Mr. Alfonso Prat-Gay, the new Minister of Finance, announced the fulfilment of the campaign promise to end the severe restrictions regarding currency exchange, exports and imports that stagnated the country’s economy over the last four years and made a daunting, if not impossible, task for foreign companies to remit proceeds outside of Argentina, and for national companies to make transfers abroad.
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Film Tax Incentives in Latin America
Distribution of audiovisual content is blooming at a very fast pace, and while the consumer is still demanding for more new content, producers are struggling with this new competitive era. While appetite for content is at its highest peak, and consumer is getting original content from distributors such as Free-TV networks, basic and premium cable, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, and other new competitors, it is hard to breakeven in the television and motion picture industry (most productions are unable to recoup their investment).
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Apple is fighting back in Brazilian courts to get its iPhone trademark
In February 2013, the Instituto Nacional Da Propriedade Industrial (the “Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office”), ruled that Gradiente Electronica (“Gradiente”), not Apple, owned the “iPhone” mark in Brazil. The “iPhone” term was registered by Gradiente in 2000, 7 years prior to Apple’s release of its iPhone. The decision came 3 months after Gradiente launched a low-cost Android smartphone using the iPhone brand (see their model here).
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Argentina’s financial fate now depends on the U.S. Supreme Court
The Second Circuit has affirmed the injunctions against Argentina in NML Capital, Ltd. v. Republic of Argentina, a case that we have been following in this blog (see here and here), although the amended injunctions shall be stayed pending the resolution by the Supreme Court of a timely petition for a writ of certiorari.
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Film distributors will face new administrative hurdles in Argentina
Unexpectedly, the government of Argentina has decided to enforce law 23,316, enacted on May 23, 1986, regarding certain requirements for dubbing motion pictures and television programming (the “Dubbing Act”), which was only in the books and never implemented… until today. President Kirchner issued decree 933/2013, which after 27 years explains and expands the Dubbing Act (the “Decree”). Both regulations are full of confusing and contradictory clauses which will cause more than a headache to the film & TV industry and will be an invitation for litigation.
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Mexico’s Telecommunications’ reform ready to be signed by President Peña Nieto
On May 23, after the approval of 24 Mexican states (Aguascalientes, Baja California Sur, Campeche, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Colima, Durango, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Jalisco, México, Morelos, Nayarit, Puebla, Querétaro, Quintana Roo, San Luis, Potosí, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Yucatán and Zacatecas) the president of the Permanent Commission (Comisión Permanente) has declared constitutional the Telecommunications’ Reform and sent the bill to President Peña Nieto for his signature and publication in the Official Gazette.
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