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FOREIGN DIRECT AND PORTFOLIO INVESTMENT, DIFFERENCES & SIMILARITIES

October 7, 2014

I. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
According to Jones and Wren in Foreign Direct Investment and the Regional Economy (2012):
The standard definition of foreign direct investment is given by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, 1996). A key aspect of this is that it represents the notion of one enterprise in a particular country having a degree of control over another enterprise in a different country, as opposed to just the provision of financial capital. It is classed as, “investment that adds to, deducts from or acquires a lasting interest in an enterprise operating in an economy” arising from outside the country in order to “have an effective voice in the management of the enterprise” (OECD, 1996, p. 7). In the event that a foreign investor does not have an effective voice in the management of the company, then the investment is classified as „portfolio investment‟ (emphasis added).

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ANUULING THE SANCTIONS BY COURTS, LEGAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS

September 29, 2014

Gist of the news
Presstv.ir reported on September 19, 2014 that:
A top European court has struck down restrictions imposed by the European Union against the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) on an alleged charge of circumventing US-led sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
In a judgment on Thursday, the Luxembourg-based EU‟s Court of Justice said it “annuls…the EU March 23, 2012 [ruling] concerning restrictive measures against Iran in so far as it listed Central Bank of Iran.”
“The reasons relied on are so vague and lacking in detail that the only possible response was in the form of a general denial,” the court ruled on Thursday, adding that “those reasons therefore do not comply with the requirements of the case-law.”
It said the charge leveled against the CBI is “insufficient in the sense that it does not enable either the applicant or the Court to understand the circumstances which led the [European] Council…to adopt the contested act.”
The Financial Times reported one day earlier that:

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Iran Joining the Berne Convention

September 22, 2014

Gist of the news
Tehrantimes.com reported more than two years ago on April 3, 2012 that:
A bill to join the Universal Copyright Convention has recently been completed by Iranian Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, an official of the ministry said on Tuesday. The bill has been submitted for discussion in the cabinet, the ministry’s Legal Department Director Ahmad-Ali Mohsenzadeh told the Persian service of the Iranian Students News Agency.
Almost two years later on April 15, 2014, the website of yjc.ir reported that according to Hasan Noushabadi, the Deputy Minister of Culture in Legal and Parliamentary Affairs:
“…Iran is preparing a bill to join the Bern convention as well as the Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations.”

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Legal Ramification of Article 968 of the Civil Code of Iran

September 7, 2014

Executive summary
The interpretations of article 968 of the Civil Code of Iran (CCI) can be subdivided into two groups. Under the first one that is supported by few lawyers, article 968 is a mandatory provision of the CCI. This means that all obligations arising out of contracts are subject to lex loci contractus, wherever they are concluded. The only exception to this rule is where both of the parties are foreign citizens who have explicitly or implicitly declared that their contract shall be subject to a law other than lex loci contractus. The second interpretation is a more liberal and more popular one. Under this interpretation, article 968 is a facultative provision of the CCI authorizing the Iranian as well as the foreign citizens to subject their contracts to any law that they deem appropriate.

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The US District Court Decision on .IR Domain Names

July 29, 2014

Gist of the News
According to the Tower Magazine on June 29, 2014:
On Tuesday the United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued an order for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to seize Iran‘s internet domain (.ir) and IP addresses in order to recover more than $1 billion in damages that the Islamic Republic owes for its sponsorship of global terror.

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Biotech Law of Iran, The Need for a Comprehensive Law

July 22, 2014

Introduction
Let us start this News & Analysis with the following paragraph taken from Céline Lafontaine‟s book titled „Le Corps-Marché‟ published by Édition du Seuil in April 2014 (at page 246):
“Un article du Monde intitule »Médicament: épidémie de pénuries«, paru en novembre 2013, tirait la sonnette d‟alarme sur le fait que la course aux profits qui gouverne l‟industrie biopharmaceutique a maintenant des répercussions directes sur l‟accès aux traitements pour certains patients au sein même des pays développés.”

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Interim Deal between 5+1 and Iran

July 7, 2014

Introduction
One of the most complicated fields of law is the law of sanctions. It would be almost impossible to handle the legal issues related to the sanctions imposed on Iran without understanding the existing and the invented interactions between the international law, the EU law, the US law, and the law of Iran. We have tried to look at few aspects of these interactions in this News & Analysis.

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Branches and Rep Offices in the Law of Iran

June 22, 2014

Executive summary
Since 1931 when Article 4 of the Corporate Registry Act of Iran recognized two distinct legal forms for activities of foreign companies in Iran, namely establishing a branch office or appointing a representative, all of the Iranian laws and regulations have remained loyal to this dichotomy as if no other option exists. Even the new Commercial Code of Iran (2014) could not succeed in creating a modern business law for regulating the activities of foreign companies in Iran.

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