–Bi-Weekly News & Analysis of the International Law Office

AI: From Science Fiction to Reality: A New Chapter with the EU AI Act

There was a time when artificial intelligence was the stuff of science fiction, confined to the silver screen in movies like Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” painting vivid and often chilling pictures of a future where machines think, feel and sometimes rebel. HAL 9000, the film’s iconic AI, left viewers with a haunting question: What happens when machines become too intelligent? Fast forward to today, and the once far-off future has arrived, with AI becoming an integral part of our everyday lives. As we stand on the brink of this new era, where AI touches everything from healthcare to finance, one can’t help but hope that our journey with AI doesn’t end like it does in the movies where the machines inevitably turn against their creators.

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A Comparative Analysis of Iran and England Court Systems

Iranian and English legal systems are two separate legal systems that differ greatly from one another, especially in terms of court proceedings. This essay will analyze the court processes of these two legal systems, emphasizing on judicial function and the adjudication process as a whole.

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Rules of Statutory Interpretation under Iranian Legal system

It has been acknowledged in all the legal systems that the text of the law may sometimes do not provide a clear-cut notion to apply on the cases or in clash with the newly emerged phenomenon the codified legal text proves to be not as helpful as before. This is where the methods and rules of statutory interpretation appear on the scene to serve as a tool to adjudicate on the disputed matters.

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Child Labour

“Child Labour” is specified as work that deprives children of their childhood, their capability and their dignity which is detrimental to physical and mental progress. So, if a child is engaged in an activity that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children, and interferes with her/his education, Child Labour is occurring.

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Maternity Leave in Iran

Employed women are entitled to nine-months of paid leave in case of child birth. At least 3 months of this leave period should be after child birth, and the rest could be taken during pregnancy. Two-thirds of the salary is paid by the Social Security Organization during this period; however, employers also have certain commitments during this period. For instance, new year bonus, severance payment, family-costs bonus, etc. should be paid by the employer.

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Latest Regulations on Cryptocurrency Mining

In hot summer days, nothing is worse than experiencing power outage and having to resort to rather traditional ways of cooling yourself. Hand fan anyone?

Although, authorities mainly attributed the reason for such outages to slowdown of investment in the energy sector and the wear and tear of the distribution and production network, some experts were fast in jumping to conclusion that the high electricity consumption of crypto currency mining farms was the main reason for blackouts across the country.

Crypto currency mining was first regulated in 2019 but the recent By-Law re Extraction of the Crypto Currencies notified on 14 November 2022 (“By-law”) has substituted the former regulations while detailing the conditions for authorized mining of cryptocurrencies. In this article, we will have a look into some of the important provisions in this regard.

Article 2 of the By-law stipulates that any activity related to the extraction of cryptocurrency, including import, production, sale and repair of equipment, is allowed only by obtaining a license from the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade through legal commercial and customs procedures. It is further foreseen that in free trade-industrial and special economic zones, the Ministry can delegate the authority to issue the above-mentioned license to the organizations of the relevant zones as the case may be.

It is worth mentioning that the establishment of cryptocurrency mining centers with electricity consumption is not subject to the limitation for industrial zones to be distanced (120) kilometers from Tehran city, (50) kilometers from Isfahan city and (30) kilometers of centers in other provinces. However, for optimum use of energy, the geographical zoning is performed by the Ministry of Energy in cooperation with the Ministry of Oil to prioritize the location of cryptocurrency mining centers and take advantage of the energy price. Meanwhile, it is prohibited to use the electrical branch circuit or gas branch established for other purposes in order to extract crypto assets.

It is further stipulated that for the purpose of optimal management of extraction centers and with the aim of helping to reduce illegal extraction, the Ministry is obligated to issue the instructions related to the establishment and operation of large-scale extraction centers with the cooperation of the ministries of energy and petroleum within three months from the date of notification of the By-law

For the purpose of securing the electricity the cryptocurrency mining centers need, they are allowed to use a combination of the following methods:

1- The construction of renewable power plants or the purchase of electricity from newly built renewable power plants that will be put into operation according to the regulations approved by the Ministry of Energy.

2- Investing in energy consumption optimization projects or using a customized energy saving certificate within the framework of the energy and environment optimization market guidelines approved by the Ministry of Energy.

3- Investing in the construction and operation of a thermal power plant for electricity generation with fuel supply from the accompanying gas (flare) site.

4- To purchase electricity from the national grid by receiving electricity branching, except during the time of electricity and fuel network restrictions, the price of each kilowatt-hour of electricity consumed is equal to the average price of exported electricity based on the Nima price, minus the following discounts:

A- Reducing the voltage of the connection to the electricity network in order to expand the large-scale extraction centers based on the instructions of the Ministry of Energy and at the maximum amount of twenty percent (20%) of the average price of the export of electricity.

B – The discount related to the fulfillment of foreign exchange obligations based on this regulation is a maximum of ten percent (10%).

Note 1 – The above discounts are applied to the electricity bills issued after the announcement of the approval of the return of currency by the central bank to the Ministry of Energy.

Note 2 – The average price of exported electricity in Rials is announced by the Ministry of Energy on a quarterly basis in accordance with the Nima pricing system.

5- Construction of a thermal power plant outside the national network, whose fuel tariff is determined as follows:

Energy tariff = (gas tariff / fuel tariff)

We hope that with proper implementation of the said regulations and ensuring sanctions for the offenders, we would witness fewer power outages in the summers to come.

Coordinated by Dr. Mahnaz Mehrinfar and Sahar Sotoodehnia

The Overview of Judgments for Unifying Practice by the State High Court of Justice

According to Article 471 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Iran, the State High Court of Justice (herein after “SHCJ) through its General Committee is authorized to issue the so-called “Judgments for Setting Unified Practice” in cases when there are different judgments by the various branches of the SHCJ or the courts, are in place in relation to the same subject-matter due to different interpretations of the law.

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Piercing the Corporate Veil in Iran

It is often posited that limited liability companies were one of the most significant innovations of the modern era which made the capitalist revolution possible. Through them, investors could full-heartedly venture into new investments without the fear of losing everything; because, their liability would be limited to the amount of their share in the company.

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Protect IP on social media

The Berne Convention was adopted in the late nineteenth century and currently has 174 signing countries. For any author from any of the participating countries, this means that their work receives protection in 174 states. Protection also means that an author’s work would not be translated or adapted without the author’s authorization. Opting out of international treaties like the Berne Convention means that international authors’ works are exploited in the Persian market and somehow vice-versa.

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KEY POINTS WITH RESPECT TO LABOR LAW OF IRAN

Labor Code has been ratified in the year 1990 while other acts, circulars, amendments, etc., are in place which is strongly in favor of the workers. In this report, the following major points of this Code will be examined:

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A New Start

After more than thirty years of working as an international law office, our hope for a paradigm shift in the economic environment of Iran encourages and entices us to experience a new start by providing the public and our selected clients with bi-weekly, bi-monthly and yearly News & Analysis about the legal developments that are taking place in Iran. Our objective is to help our readers to keep themselves abreast of these developments and to remain aware of all the opportunities that are and will become available to them in the Iranian market.