Recent News

The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), a single regulator in the field of financial services in Malta, has published a consultation document which assumes official start of the process for the regulation of collective investment schemes in virtual currencies. The launch of the consultation document provides for the adoption of the regulatory approach by the MFSA in relation to this sector of the digital economy and, simultaneously, provides market participants with a possibility to design a platform for certain categories of investors willing to invest in virtual currencies. As for the draft rulebook, which is a part of the consultation document, such schemes should be initially developed in accordance with the laws of Malta or as SICAV (open-ended investment company with variable share capital) or INVCO (closed-ended investment company with fixed share capital). Although the former structure, as a rule, serves as a legal means of choice for promoters desirous of creating a fund structure within the jurisdiction. Another significant nuance emerging from the consultation document is the MFSA’s position, initially directed to allow collective investment schemes,...

The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) is constantly monitoring the tendencies in the field of Blockchain and cryptocurrencies, including their application in various industries related to innovative technologies. Remaining at the forefront of innovations and keeping up with new developments within the gaming industry, the Authority is considering the possibility of allowing its licensees to use cryptocurrency and distributed ledger technology. The MGA is fully aware of the existing risks and the need to eliminate them for: consumer protection; prevention of crime and money laundering or funding of terrorism (in accordance with the 4th Anti Money Laundering Directive); maintenance of the reputation of the Maltese jurisdiction. At this point, the Regulator is in the process of creating the “sandboxed environment” (test and learn) for the use of digital currency in the remote gambling. At the same time, the development of guiding principles for the use of distributed ledger technology and methods of its implementation in various industries is being carried out. Taking into account the fact that a significant degree of expertise within the industry lies within the innovative...

On December 6, Elena Tkachuk, the CMO of Finance Business Service, performed at the V International Forum on Promotion of Legal Services PLS with a master class on the topic “Law Firm on the Internet: Where and How to Catch a Client.” The event, which organizer, according to the tradition, was the newspaper of Ukrainian lawyers, “Legal Practice”, took place in the conference hall of the Premier Palace Hotel (Kyiv, Shevchenko Blvd./ Pushkinskaya Str., 5-7/29). The presentation of Elena Tkachuk was intended for everyone who wants to know what promotion tools on the Internet would help to raise brand awareness, create an image of a company of professionals of international level, attract new customers and increase the number of sales. Judging by the fullness of the hall, there were enough such people among the Forum participants. What kind of promotion to use - paid traffic or SEO optimization, where to invest more resources and what to start with, what is the marketing role of social networks and messengers, what the chatbots can do in a law firm - these and other issues were discussed in detail during the master class. The speaker made a special emphasis on the importance...

The European Commission has announced new measures to improve the protection of the EU’s Value Added Tax system against fraud. The EU plans to close all the loopholes in the existing legislation for large-scale frauds. According to the EU Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs Pierre Moscovici, VAT fraud may be a source of funding of criminal activities, including terrorism. “Combating this phenomenon requires much more effective information exchange between competent state bodies, and the mechanisms proposed by us will help this,” the official said at the presentation of introductions. “For example, the experts from the Eurofisk anti-fraud office will be given the access to information on registration of cars from Member States, that will help eliminate one of the main sources of VAT fraud associated with the sale of new and used cars.” Although the tax services of the EU states are still exchanging data on cross-border sales today, manual processing of information plays a significant role in this process. In addition, the data from national union law enforcement authorities regarding criminal groups in ​​VAT frauds are not received...

Over the past two decades, online commerce has become one of the main ways of doing business. Virtual payments are made simply and quickly by filling out simple forms and making a few mouse clicks. Funds are almost immediately transferred from bank cards and are received on the accounts of companies, then the goods and services are delivered to the customers by mail or in person. However, along with all the apparent perfection of such transactions, they are still under control of banking institutions, which implies a number of limitations. Fortunately, progress does not stand still and traditional currencies have been replaced by a cryptocurrency - a virtual form of currency that uses blockchain technology and has decentralized nature. In other words, digital coins are a confidential financial system that allows making remittances without information leakage. Thus, an alternative to the use of credit cards and bank accounts to pay for goods and services today is the use of cryptocurrency, and Bitcoin is the most famous version of it. Accepting payments in Bitcoin has a wide range of advantages for both online stores and offline sales. Certainly, the decentralized nature of...

On October 12, 2017, the Draft Law on Personal Data Processing was announced at the meeting of state secretaries of Latvia, developed by the Ministry of Justice. The purpose of the bill is to establish legal prerequisites for the application of the EU Regulation on General Data Protection with new requirements for the personal data protection. The Regulation will come into effect on May 25, 2018 and will ensure the harmonization of the existing principles for the personal data protection in the Member States of the EU, creating uniform rules that will operate throughout the EU. At the moment, this sphere is regulated by the Law “On Personal Data Protection”, which will lapse from the moment of the application of the Regulation. The Regulation provides for a number of key innovations designed to improve the work of the single market: unified conditions for the personal data protection at the level of the European Union, which relate to the processing, storage, transfer to other enterprises and archiving; application of the principle of agency of one stop to entrepreneurs: companies will have to cooperate only with one supervising agency for the data protection in order to...