In the midst of the planetary emergency of climate change, Covid-19 is testing modern civilisation's preparedness for shocks, across the spheres of finance, economics and technology; global, national and regional governance; global and population health; social cohesion and food security. This is according to Baker McKenzie's new report, Unprecedented: Converging Crises...
Wildu du Plessis 6 Jan 2021
A recent decision by the UK Supreme Court on Frand licences may initially appear to favour owners of standards essential patents and stimulate global Frand licensing, but could in the longer term have the opposite effect...
Tim Ball 23 Sep 2020
Smaller countries have been competing for tourists for years. New remote work visas suggest they are now competing for citizens...
Dave Cook 7 Sep 2020
The Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was brokered by the African Union (AU) and adopted by 44 of its 55 member states on 21 March 2018. By February 2019, all AU countries, save for Eritrea, had become signatories to the AfCFTA, which came into force on 30 May 2019...
Robyn Berger, Theunis Claassen and Catherine Robson 30 Jun 2020
Global law firm Baker McKenzie has partnered with organisations including the Centre for International Rights to create the Youth Rights Resource Compass, a website that directs young people, as well as those who advocate for them, to the entities, organisations, governmental and other agencies that are open and available to them during Covid-19...
Digital traders would likely have heard of the recent changes to the Income Tax and VAT Acts introduced by the Finance Act, 2019 (the Act)...
John Syekei, Nikhil Hira, Denis Magonga and Angela Mukora 26 Feb 2020
The recent ruling by the United Nations that governments cannot return people to countries where their lives might be threatened by climate change is a potential game-changer...
Yvonne Su 29 Jan 2020
Member States of the African Union (AU) have a combined population of over 1.2 billion people and gross domestic product of more than $3.4 trillion - yet the continent accounts for less than 3% of world trade...
Andrew Skipper 21 Jan 2020
President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed into law the Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Act which constitutes the nation's unprecedented statutory recognition of the Khoi-San communities, leaders and structures...
The Ecommerce Forum South Africa has launched its Safe.Shop Trustmark. The EFSA provides the Trustmark badge to e-commerce platforms that have been confirmed as being compliant...
Support for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement formed part of discussions at the 42nd General Assembly of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), currently underway in Cape Town...
While fintech and mobile solutions for money transfers have taken off in Africa, there has been a mixed reaction thus far from governments to the use and regulation of blockchain and cryptocurrency...
African leaders often behave in a contradictory way towards international laws, and courts. While speaking out against them, they also voluntarily submit to their scrutiny...
Marco Bocchese 16 Jul 2019
Many central banks are rethinking their approach to the environmental and social impact of their operations...
Danny Bradlow 15 Jul 2019
The African Cannabis Report (March 2019) by Prohibition Partners has estimated that in 2023 the total market value of South African cannabis industry will be around $1.8 billion (assuming there is wholesale legislation and regulation of the cannabis industry)...
Romeo Tsusi 26 Jun 2019
On 11 June 2019, the Botswana High Court ruled in favour of the case of LM vs the Attorney General of Botswana that challenged the constitutionality of the Botswana Penal Code, which criminalised same-sex sexual conduct between consenting adults...
As much as people love social media, there is a dark side to it too - one involving counterfeit goods and billions of Rands of lost revenue for companies and governments the world over...
People are never just a means to your journalistic end, especially when it comes to children. Their stories are our work, and when you work to add their authentic voices, it automatically changes the angle of the story for the better. But what about images of children in news articles? Media Monitoring Africa and the UCT Children's Institute media workshop on 22 May at the Doubletree Hilton...
Leigh Andrews 3 Jun 2019
Climate change needs urgent action by all countries, and by all means...
Harald Winkler and Andrew Marquard 31 May 2019
South Africa's hard-won constitutional rights to freedom of expression and of legitimate political protest are under mounting pressure from both the state and private companies...
John Yeld 29 May 2019
Minister of Energy, Jeff Radebe, has granted a welcome deviation from South Africa's existing power generation licensing regulations that allows additional power to be fed into the local grid...
Baker McKenzie lawyers based in Africa, alongside the firm's global Africa specialists, as well as lawyers from our African Relationship Firms from across the continent, share their knowledge about what investors should consider when transacting in Africa...
Morne van der Merwe and Wildu du Plessis 23 May 2019
Nike's Dream Crazy campaign has won favour across the globe, having just scooped up top honours at the One Show Awards in New York. Caster Semenya, who features in the campaign, has also further proved her place on the winner podium...
Leigh Andrews 13 May 2019
African countries barely existed when the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Paris, France in 1948, three years after the end of the Second World War...
Franck Kuwonu 9 Apr 2019
Botswana's High Court is considering a challenge to the provisions of the penal code criminalising consensual same-sex relations in the country...
Andrew Novak 19 Mar 2019
The liquor industry has signed the Guidelines for Good Business Practice for South African Companies Operating on the African Continent...
The global biometrics market is growing rapidly. In fact, research indicates that the global market is growing a compounded growth rate of 22.9%...
Pine Pienaar 15 Jan 2019
A new study has found that outdated, colonial-era water permit systems across Africa are unintentionally criminalising millions of small farmers who can't obtain permits...
Barbara van Koppen 14 Nov 2018
It's becoming harder than ever to 'kill the story' in these technologically advanced times...
Leigh Andrews 12 Nov 2018
For many people there is something irresistible about chocolate. But in the hungry rush to make it part of our bodies there is a missed opportunity to meditate on different gestural experiences...
Tom Lee and Stefan Lie 2 Nov 2018
