The crucial new features are, amongst others, the following:

1. The settlor and the beneficiaries or any of them of a Cyprus International Trust  may become resident in Cyprus.
2. The settlor of a CIT may retain or vest in the protector or enforcer of a CIT very wide powers including powers in respect of revocation or amendment of the CIT, distribution, sale, transfer disposal or charge of the trust property and substitution of the trustees.
3. These powers under point (2) alongside other powers under the Law allow the settlor (or the protector of a CIT) to exercise a greater degree of control over the administration of the CIT.
4. Real Estate situated in Cyprus may be the subject matter of the CIT.
5. Cyprus law will govern the operation of CITs and Cyprus shall be the forum for the resolution of disputes in relation to CITs, affording legal certainty and a reliable dispute resolution forum.

Non-Cyprus tax resident beneficiaries to a CIT are subject to taxation in Cyprus only on Cyprus income and profits generated by the CIT. This enables non-Cypriot tax residents to harness the full advantages of the highly attractive Cyprus tax regime.

The new state of affairs as regards Cyprus International Trusts is also expected to increase the interest in Cyprus Private Funds (International Collective Investment Schemes) which can also take the form of an International Trust.

An exploration licence awarded pursuant to the above described procurement, is granted for an initial period of three years and may be renewed for up to two 2-year terms. The licensee relinquishes at least 25% of the original contract area upon the expiry of the initial phase of the exploration period; at least 25% of the original contract area upon the expiry of the first renewal phase and the remaining contract area upon the expiry of the exploration period.

Under the terms of the invitation, an applicant company is required to purchase a minimum total amount of 2,000 line-km of the MC2D-CYP2006 and/or MC2D-CYP2008 seismic surveys. The minimum cost, which will be paid by the applicant, ranges from US$700,000 to US$800,000. For the sake of clarity, such purchase allows a selection regarding the amount and the year of the 2D seismic lines (MC2D-CYP2006 and/or MC2D-CYP2008), as long as the cumulative amount of the 2D seismic lines purchased is at least 2,000 line-km.

Relevant links

Ministry of Commerce, Tourism and Industry of Cyprus
Cyprus Oil and Gas Lawyers
Cyprus Energy Regulatory Authority

The families of the victims accused the AG of bungling the case and failing to publish the findings of an in-depth enquiry into the crash by former judge Panayiotis Kallis. Clerides subsequently announced his decision to appeal the court’s decision, which if successful would lead to a re-trial from scratch, not a conviction. Under pressure from relatives, he also made public the Kallis report.

Speaking to the state broadcaster yesterday, Clerides accused his detractors of taking the Kallis report as “the absolute truth” that could be presented in court to guarantee a conviction. “This is a completely wrong impression. The report is nothing more than a preliminary investigation with some conclusions,” he said, adding that his office took all investigations into the crash into consideration when filing charges against the five defendants.

While the Kallis report found the two pilots of the Helios plane directly responsible for the crash, and the four defendants cleared of all charges earlier this week liable for manslaughter, it also found seven members of the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) criminally liable for dereliction of duty.

In examining the deal, although legal particulars remain scarce as at the time of writing, we do know the following as having been agreed among the Member Sates (bar the United Kingdom):

The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) also agreed amongst the Member States will be regulated by treaty, expected to enter into force by July 2012. Under the ESM, urgent financial assistance will be subject to an 85% majority agreeing to provide such assistance upon representations made by the Commission and the ECB.

Yet, in light of the UK’s refusal to join in the above, details of how the other Member States plan to use EU institutions without the permission of all 27 remains to be seen and is plagued by doubt. The Commission has already said that EU institutions can be used under the new treaty.

A treaty between these States in international law could attain fully legal validity and any compromise over these States’ sovereignty – which may not be an entirely bad thing as it entails the prospect of fiscal stability across the eurozone – can be agreed between them, as the EU was also established in the past. However, if things are as the various officials have indicated to be – which should be clarified in the coming weeks – how are the Contracting States to this new treaty planning to use the EU’s institutions given the UK’s refusal to consent to any such use, through being party to the fiscal union treaty?

Fundamental legal issues need to be answered in the coming weeks.

Relevant links

Relevant links

The revised Mifid rules are likely to separate swap-based and physically-based ETFs as part of a division of Ucits. It is unclear, however, whether this will definitely include swap-based ETFs. The proposals also include increased trading transparency measures, as was widely expected. It can be inferred that the aim of Mifid II as proposed will be to widen the scope of transparency obligations from pure equities to other equity like instruments, including EFTs.

This may be a development that the ETF would like to see, since a large number of ETF trades are currently unreported OTC transactions, translating in a lack of liquidity in the market.

European Parliament discussion is the next stop for the MiFID II proposal.

Relevant Links

Cyprus’s US partner, Texas-based Noble Energy, began drilling an offshore prospect a month ago bordering two significant gas discoveries made by Israel. Licensing will also be seen as a key source of revenue for Cyprus, particularly if the exploratory drilling comes up with encouraging results. Cyprus launched its first licensing round in 2007, granting an exploration license to Noble a year later for a single block. It has 13 blocks in total, all running along the southern rim of the island. It was unclear from the report how many blocks would be put up for licensing.

Authorities believe the area now being drilled for gas, known as Block A or 12, may contain an estimated 10 trillion cubic feet of gas. Israel’s Leviathan, which lies nearby, contains an estimated 16 tcf, a size described as the world’s biggest gas find of the last decade.

Relevant Links

Ministry of Commerce and Industry
Energy Institute
Cyprus Energy Lawyers

ANASTASIOS ANTONIOU LLC has been awarded the ACQ GLOBAL AWARD 2011 as Competition Law Firm of the Year and Corporate INTL’s Global Award 2011 for Competition Advisory Excellence.

Acting for the Claimants in a case largely based on Internet libel and defamation, the Firm’s lawyers succeeded in obtaining an interim order for the shutting down of the concerned website on an ex parte basis and as a matter of urgency. The Defendants are well-known Internet services providers in the USA and Germany.