Asian Legal Review

The time constraints businesses are under to disclose major personal data breaches under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been highlighted by the way an Irish retailer responded to being told some of its customers were impacted by such a breach, a data protection law expert has said.

The looming US-China trade war has boosted foreign investment in Vietnam, accelerating an already strong trend of foreign firms veering away from China and its rising costs and eyeing ventures in Southeast Asia.
Despite economists’ warnings that the escalating trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies could indirectly hurt growth in Southeast Asia, the region is still seen as a destination for foreign companies shifting production away from China, where rising wages…

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has taken great pride in firing nearly two dozen officials in an anti-corruption drive since he came to power two years ago. The catch: about a quarter have already been rehired.
Duterte has fired 21 officials and accepted the resignation of seven, delivering on a promise to dismiss anyone on “just a whiff” of corruption.
“If you go to the national government just to look for an opportunity for money, go look for another job. I will really…

The UK government should accept the jurisdiction of the EU’s highest court to rule on matters of data protection post-Brexit, a committee of MPs has urged.

Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak arrived at a Kuala Lumpur courthouse Wednesday to face charges stemming from a corruption investigation, two months after the scandal led to his shock election defeat.
Najib, wearing a suit and a red tie, appeared calm and smiled as he was escorted into the court complex packed with reporters.
He was arrested Tuesday by anti-graft officials over a suspicious transfer of 42 million ringgit (US$10.4 million) into his bank accounts from SRC International…

Thai authorities are now racing against the clock to rescue 12 boys and their football coach trapped in a cave, saying they may be forced to attempt to evacuate the group before a fresh round of monsoon rains expected this week.
The group had been missing since finishing football practice on 23 June and were found alive late on Monday after a nine-day search.
There is now a team of seven Thai Navy Seals with the group on the small mud shelf where they found refuge from rising waters, including…

Patents are valuable assets. It is sometimes necessary for owners to assert their patent rights in legal proceedings and, equally, for third parties restricted from selling rival goods by the existence of patents that are not valid to seek revocation of the rights those patents confer.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will head back to North Korea for new talks with Kim Jong-un about ending the stand-off over Pyongyang’s nuclear programme, the White House said on Monday.
“To continue the ongoing and important work of denuclearisation on the Korean peninsula, Secretary Pompeo will be leaving for North Korea on July 5 to meet with the leader and the team,” spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters.
US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said…

Twelve boys and their football coach trapped in a flooded Thai cave for nine days were found alive late Monday after a painstaking search by specialist divers who finally discovered the emaciated group on a mud embankment.
The incredible moment that the divers made contact with the boys was captured on a video released by the Thai Navy SEALs.
There had been no contact with the boys, aged between 11 and 16, since they went missing with their 25-year-old coach on June 23.
The massive…

The European Medicines Agency’s (EMA’s) assumption that the UK will be a ‘third country’ after its withdrawal from the EU, and no longer part of the Europe-wide drugs safety monitoring system, would put UK-based drug companies at a disadvantage, a life sciences expert has said.