Asian Legal Review

Parallel importers risk trade mark infringement if they seek to sell packets of generic medicines imported from one EU country to another under brand names for reference products developed by the same manufacturer, a senior legal adviser to the EU’s highest court has said.

Climate change, consumer protection and innovation are core themes binding many of the regulatory changes we expect to see in UK financial services in 2022, but more fundamental reform is also on the agenda.

Thailand’s health minister said on Friday the country planned to develop the antiviral pill molnupiravir to combat Covid-19 infections amid rising infections driven by the Omicron variant.The molnupiravir Covid-19 treatment pill for adult patients at risk of developing severe illness was jointly developed by US-based Merck & Co Inc and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics.The Southeast Asian nation intends to join other countries in the region also planning to make versions of the drug including…

Hong Kong premium meat importer Food Square Hong Kong is facing a two-week delay in getting some of its well-loved Australian meat into town.The business, which also has to stock up its new grocery outlet at Hong Kong’s food and shopping mecca, Central Market, says while cargoes of meat are trickling in, delays are mounting due to a labour shortage in the logistics supply chain down under as Covid-19 outbreaks – mostly Omicron – send workers into isolation.The delays could worsen if supply…

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will launch two studies to investigate access to wholesale data amid concerns that limited competition in the markets for benchmarks and indices, credit ratings and trading data may increase costs for investors and affect investment choices.

An Indonesian woman was flogged 100 times Thursday in conservative Aceh province for adultery while her male partner, who denied the accusations, received just 15 lashes.Ivan Najjar Alavi, the head of General investigation division at East Aceh prosecutor’s office, said the court handed down a heftier sentence for the married woman after she confessed to investigators she had sex outside her marriage.Judges found it difficult to convict the man, who was then the head of East Aceh fishery agency…

Tokyo is embarking on a series of ambitious next-generation nuclear projects that could power Japanese industry for decades to come and go some way towards erasing the blot on its reputation caused by the Fukushima disaster.A key element in the development of future nuclear energy technology will involve collaboration with scientists and companies in the United States, with Koichi Hagiuda, Japan’s minister of industry, holding talks with US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on January 6 and…

Cryptocurrency-based crime hit a new all-time high in 2021, constituting around $14 billion-worth of transactions – up from $7.8bn in 2020, according to a report from data provider Chainalysis.

Cambodia’s year-long chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) has got off to a rocky start, after it indefinitely postponed an upcoming foreign ministers’ meeting amid signs of a deep divide in the bloc over the handling of Myanmar’s military rulers.The Cambodian foreign ministry said the January 19 retreat expected to be held in the resort town of Siem Reap had to be postponed as several ministers had difficulty attending the talks in person.A new date for the meeting…

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has set aside A$100 million (US$72m) to fund commercial scale batteries equipped with advanced inverter technology.