The financial turmoil rocking Italy pushed Spain´s risk premium. Market behavior underscored the link between two economies that are perceived as too big and laboring under too much debt to be effectively bailed out by the euro zone´s financial safety net. If either country requested a rescue package, it would have to be much more ambitious than anything contemplated to date by European leaders.
Telefonica set off alarms in September when it said that it would create a digital unit in London for its most promising mobile and online businesses. While it is hardly a corporate exodus, the fear that the trickle will become a flood if the Spanish economy worsens is generating concern at a time when the government in Madrid is struggling tofind additional revenue to close a gaping budget deficit.
Highlighting concerns about Spain on Thursday, Standard & Poor’s downgraded the country’s long-term debt rating, to AA- from AA, because of its poor growth prospects and troubled banks.
Other companies are taking smaller steps, like using foreign subsidiaries to circumvent punitive borrowing costs at home. At the same time, some multinationals, like the two biggest Spanish banks, Santander and BBVA, are playing down their nationality to reassure international investors as they seek to expand their business outside the country.
The value of Spain as a corporate brand has become “a lot worse,” said Pablo Vázquez, an economist at the Fundación de Estudios de Economía Aplicada, a research institute in Madrid.
Will Spain the next Greece? It was not long before an impertinent reporter put this question to José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, prime minister, as Spain celebrated its assumption in January 2010 of the European Union´s six-month rotating presidency. Almost two years later, investors perceive Italy to be at greater risk than Spain. The spread between Italian and Spanish 10-year government bond yields stood at about 51 basis points.
The simplest explanation is that, in cleaning up the public finances and introducing reforms to boost long term economic growth, Mr Zapatero,s government has acted in a more consistent and determined way than the italian government. For sure, Spain left its effort late in the day. Not until May 2010, when international lenders launched the rescue of Greece, did Mr Zapatero´s deficit cutting and economic reform programmes start in earnest. Nevertheless, the repeated confusion in Italy about a plan for boosting productivity, competitiveness and economic growth threatens to be more costly. Italy has less room for manoeuvre because its public debt, at about 120 % of economic output, far exceeds Spain´s at 67%.
Last Wednesday, Spanish Justice Minister, Mr. Francisco Caamaño, has presented the new Sheriff´s sale web site. This tool shall show the development and the participation of the citizens through Internet, while the adjudication of mortgaged or seizes items takes place. This new system shall avoid abuses, shall increase the price of the bids, and shall avoid unnecessary displacement to the bidders.
The Constitutional Court has ruled that the central goverment has the right to impose limits on spending by the regions. The ruling was issued Wednesday just ahead of a key meeting of the central administration. The opposition, which now controls the majority of the 17 regions in Spain after elections in May,has called for a moratorium on the return of excess funding disbursed to the financially stretched regions, a proposal that was firmly rejected from Madrid. One of the main concerns of the financial markets is the ability of the central goverment to rein in spending by the regions.
The new president of Latin America´s poorest nation looks for help in Spain to overcome his country´smisery. Spain is the first European nation Martelly has visited following his inauguration on May 14. After the United States and Canada, Spain donated the most after the January 12, 2010 earthquake.
Regional government spending has become the new sticking point in Spain´s strained political climate, just two weeks after the ruling Socialist party took a beating in local and regional elections, reflecting widespread anger at its handling of the economic crisis and casting doubts over its ability to rule effectively until next year´s general elections. Regional spending is becoming increasingly relevant after a year in which the central administration did most of the cost-cutting. International observers will be keeping a close eye on how well regions do at reducing their deficits.
An innovative judgment of the National High Court (nº 45/2011) has recently changed the way to determinate the remuneration of workers, by converting the fixed remuneration into variable. Thus, the employee must achieve good results to obtain this part of the salary .
Justified reasons are required to adopt this substantial change in working conditions and the measure must also be reasonable and proportionate. The company argued that changing the compensation system was due to economic and organizational reasons, and the High Court stated that it was a way to make the employee assume “part of the risk of the business" and " it is justified because it is trying to avoid more drastic measures such as Employment Reductions and that it might contribute to improve the situation and prospects of the company
Spain successfully returned to the sovereign debt market on Tuesday, a day after euro-zone finance ministers approved a 78-billion euro bailout loan for Portugal. Market players said they were surprised by the strength of the bid-to-cover ratio, a factor that augurs well for 10- and 30-year bond tenders due to be held on Thursday. "Spain has done a decent job in decoupling from Greece, Portugal, Ireland," Reuters quoted 4Cast economist Jo Tomkins as saying. "That´s not to say Spain´s out of the woods, but we are seeing a little more of a separation between the two groups."
A Vitoria resident was sentenced to a year in jail and a fine of 1,080 euros for violating the Intellectual Property Law by facilitating downloads of films, music and computer programs and offering ways to bypass protection measures on software and videogames. It was the third jail term for such crimes in Spanish legal history.
Spanish authorities used the term "disproportionate" to describe the French-Italian proposal to reform EU legislation to prevent entry to thousands of displaced people from northern Africa following the wave of popular revolts there. The statements came on the same day that Denmark announced it would unilaterally reintroduce border controls despite being a Schengen member since 2001, claiming a rise in cross-border crime.
Terrón noted that the treaty contemplates the possibility of temporary returns to closed borders, and said "this can be done without the need for any reform of Schengen."
She also said there was "no migratory crisis in the Mediterranean, but a possible transition to democracy in some countries," in reference to the popular revolts in several Arab countries along the Mediterranean arc.
The key to solving the situation lies in helping Tunisia, she said. In the two months since the revolt there, around 25,000 "economic immigrants" have reached the Italian island of Lampedusa.
The government wants profitable companies which decide to reduce their payroll by offering early retirement to workers to also foot the bill for the cost of their unemployment benefits, according to Labor Ministry sources. Ministry officials are drafting a bill that will be presented to parliament that proposes to call on firms with high earnings to pay jobless benefits for their workers over 52 who are given early retirement. Although the idea isn´t new, the proposal will be worked in as an amendment to the Social Security Law. The measure also comes on the heels of Telefonica´s announcement that it will reduce 20 percent of its workforce after earning a record-breaking 10 billion euros last year.
Moody´s Investors Service on Tuesday followed the path of its rivals Fitch and Standard & Poor´s in cutting Portugal´s credit ratings, citing the likelihood of the country asking for external help to solve its debt crisis as its bond yields hit yet new euro-era highs.
The government of Ecuador announced on Tuesday it has declared the US ambassador to the country pernona non grata and demanded she leave because of the furor surrounding diplomatic cables -released by Wikileaks- about alleged police corruption. Ambassador Heather Hodges was told to leave Ecuador as soon as possible, said Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño, according to the Quito daily La Hora.
Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 21 October 2010 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Audiencia Provincial de Barcelona — Spain) — PADAWAN SL vs. Sociedad General de Autores y Editores (SGAE).
Referring court: Audiencia Provincial de Barcelona
Parties to the main proceedings:
Applicant: PADAWAN SL
Defendant: Sociedad General de Autores y Editores (SGAE).
In the presence of: Entidad de Gestión de Derechos de los Productores Audiovisuales (EGEDA), Asociación de Artistas Intérpretes o Ejecutantes — Sociedad de Gestión de España (AIE), Asociación de Gestión de Derechos Intelectuales (AGEDI), Centro Español de Derechos Reprográficos (CEDRO),
Re:
Reference for a preliminary ruling — Audiencia Provincial de Barcelona — Interpretation of Article 5(2)(b) of Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society (OJ 2009 L 167, p. 10) — Reproduction right — Exceptions and limitations — Fair compensation — Private copying levy system applied to digital equipment, devices and media.
Operative part of the judgment
1. The concept of "fair compensation", within the meaning of Article 5(2)(b) of Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society, is an autonomous concept of European Union law which must be interpreted uniformly in all the Member States that have introduced a private copying exception, irrespective of the power conferred on the Member States to determine, within the limits imposed by European Union law in particular by that directive, the form, detailed arrangements for financing and collection, and the level of that fair compensation.
2. Article 5(2)(b) of Directive 2001/29 must be interpreted as meaning that the "fair balance" between the persons concerned means that fair compensation must be calculated on the basis of the criterion of the harm caused to authors of protected works by the introduction of the private copying exception. It is consistent with the requirements of that "fair balance" to provide that persons who have digital reproduction equipment, devices and media and who on that basis, in law or in fact, make that equipment available to private users or provide them with copying services are the persons liable to finance the fair compensation, inasmuch as they are able to pass on to private users the actual burden of financing it.
3. Article 5(2)(b) of Directive 2001/29 must be interpreted as meaning that a link is necessary between the application of the levy intended to finance fair compensation with respect to digital reproduction equipment, devices and media and the deemed use of them for the purposes of private copying. Consequently, the indiscriminate application of the private copying levy, in particular with respect to digital reproduction equipment, devices and media not made available to private users and clearly reserved for uses other than private copying, is incompatible with Directive 2001/29.
http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2008/06/19/pdfs/A27842-27844.pdf
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2010:346:0005:02:EN:HTML
Mexico, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Alemania, Spain, Portugal and Norway haver confirmed to attend the 18th ILFA e-IURE Convention, which will take place in Minneapolis, from 25th to 29th May 2.011.
Chilean President Sebastián Piñera is to sign a nuclear accord with the United States during President Barack Obama´s visit this week, saying the country must keep reactors as a potential option for fueling the booming economy, despite anxiety following Japan´s disaster. So far, only Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico have plants, which represent just 2 percent of the region´s energy production.
Spain´s largest energy group Endesa says it is anticipating a "conservative" investment plan of € 10.3 billion for the next four years, but may adapt it, dependind on "changing market conditions."
The new Bankruptcy Act will favor the previous agreements of refunding in favor of the viability of the companies, since it tries to harmonize the satisfaction of the creditors with the recovery of the situation of managerial solvency, offering exits to the debtor to the margin of the bankruptcy process. For the first time, the creditors inject money to the companies into difficulties. The new norm establishes that 50 % of this new money will have the credit consideration against the mass (priority), which supposes the major guarantee for the financial institutions who grant new credits to refloat the company.
The Ruiz Mateos family, draw the judge´s decision to wean the family of Dhul Management.
Small amounts of radiation headed for California, but no health risk seen. Very low levels of radioactive isotopes from the damaged Japanese nuclear plant are expected to reach California as soon as Friday, but experts say the amount will be well within safe limits. A network of radiation monitors is keeping close watch.
Nueva Rumasa suppliers obtains support from ILP GLOBAL LAW FIRM.
Juzge Ana María Gallego noted that a "situation of general suspension of payments to creditors" was deduced from complaints filed by up 21 different business groups, including Ricoh, Europcar, Avis, and a subsequent petition for bankruptcy protection filed by Marsans. The judge handling the Viajes Marsans bankruptcy case, has also agreed to grab assets worth 417 million euros belonging to the former owners of the group, Gerardo Díaz Ferrán and Gonzalo Pascual, and from the new owners, in order to cover the company´s debt. In a ruling Judge Ana María Gallego has accepted the precautionary measures requested by the receivers and confirmed that there is sufficient "evidence" to prove the guilt of both the old and new owners of Viajes Marsans, which would force them to pay the shortfall to creditors with their own assets.
Ten companies within the "Nueva Rumasa" group entered bankruptcy protection, benefiting from the special procedure under the Bankruptcy Act which grants a term of up to four months to negotiate with creditors a payment plan and avoid entering bankruptcy. The last statements filed with the Mercantile Registry by its troubled affiliates reflect that their combined debt is more than triple their entire net worth. The firms , Dhul, Hibramer, Carcesa, Hotasa, Rayo Vallecano, Elgorriaga, Trapa, Quesería Menorquina and Garvey are 524 million euros in debt, with more than half of that money owed to financial lenders, filings show. The nine affiliates have a net worth of 159 million euros, according to Nueva Rumasa´s own figures. José María Ruiz Mateos announced that the companies would seek protection under a clause in bankruptcy law that would allow the conglomerate to begin talks with creditors and to try to avoid going into receivership. Since 2.009, five thousand investors pumped an estimated 140 million euros into the flounderin conglomerate through various issues of supposedly high-yield notes. The National Securities Commission (CNMV) had warned potential investors on many occasions about the dangers of investing in Nueva Rumasa.
82% of the IBEX´s corporations have subsidiaries incorporated in tax havens countries or jurisdictions. This number means an increase comparing the 71% (25 companies) reflected in the 2.010´s report, which analyzes the information about the Board of Director´s strategies and decisions from the largest corporations. According to the report, this presence on tax havens countries does not imply a tax evasion, but the author (/s) pointed out on his statement that the analyzed information was not transparent enough, since these referred Corporations did not contribute information from their operations in these countries.
The Spanish Judicial Council - El Consejo General del Poder Judicial (CGP) - approved to rise up a 500% the minimum quantity petition for a writ of certiorari (an appeal before the Supreme Court of the Kingdom of Spain). The CGPJ wants to reduce the high amount of appeals lodged in the Supreme Court increasing the minimum quantity from the 150.000 Euros currently required in the Civil Procedural Law to 800.000 Euros. "This elevation of the quantity seems to be excessive and it will do almost impossible to appeal in the Supreme Court" but "as result of this positive change the Courts will improve their capacities abolishing unnecessary procedures or substituting them for shorter ones" declared the CGPJ.
To this date, Mexico, Peru, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Norway have confirmed their presence at the 18th Convention Ilfa E-Iure that will be held in Minneapolis from 25 to 29 May 2011.
The 18th ILFA E-IURE Convention will take place in Minneapolis (Minnesota, USA) from 26th to 29th May 2011. It is expected to count with the attendance of Law Firms from Europe, South America, and also some local Firms from Minnesota. Mr. Jesús Castellano Gallego, partner of LR Abogados (Spain), will be hosting this event.
The OECD’s latest Economic Survey of Spain says that while GDP losses from the recession were similar to those seen in other major economies, government finances and employment were much harder hit than elsewhere. Spain’s government deficit is projected at 9.2% this year, 6.3% in 2011 and 4.4% in 2012, according to forecasts from the November OECD Economic Outlook.Unemployment, which is expected to hover near 20% this year, will drop slightly in 2011, to 19.1%, and then again to an expected 17.4% in 2012, according to the report. The OECD sees economic growth bouncing back from this year’s projected 0.2% contraction, with GDP forecast to jump by 0.9% in 2011 and 1.8% in 2012. The survey recognises that Spain has launched substantial fiscal consolidation plans and significant steps to address long-standing shortcomings in the labour market. The OECD calls for broadening and deepening of these measures, as well as further efforts to remove barriers to competition in products markets.
