By Andrew Morrison King & Wood Mallesons
As we wrote in April, the European Commission (the Commission) has been conducting an in-depth review of the European e-commerce sector with a particular focus on the impact of geo-blocking practices. The Commission initiative aims to ensure non-discrimination against customers in the single market on the basis of their geographical location. In particular, the Commission is seeking to remove the ability for companies to discriminate against customers where there is no objective reason for a different treatment between foreign and domestic customers.
The EU Services Directive allows providers of goods and services to implement geo-blocking where it is objectively justifiable (Article 20(2)). However, the Services Directive raises a number of issues and has been criticised as giving rise to significant legal uncertainty for businesses and enforcers. The Commission has therefore sought to remedy this in its draft geo-blocking regulation (the Proposed Regulation).
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作者：Scott Farrell、Claire Warren、Roslyn Hinchliffe和Johanan Ottensooser 金杜律师事务所
“智能合同”是一个含义包罗万象的流行语，可以用来解释一切，从实现区块链（另一个流行语）的价值到律师职业的终结（这不可能正确）。最近，目前世界上最大的智能合同（有个不吉祥的名称，叫做“去中心化自治组织”，简称“DAO”）遭到了“攻击”。对许多人来说，这意味着用计算机代码代替律师的梦想被击碎。这是否是对这一新生技术发出的如同电影《终结者》中“天网”式的警告，预示着过度依赖机器会充满危险？答案既是肯定的，也是否定的。但是，在金融合同领域，我们有办法将人的最佳判断和计算机的高效率结合起来。
在本文中，我们将撇开热闹，对这些流行语进行解码。我们将告诉您“智能合同”究竟是什么东西，为什么人们会关心它。我们还会以通俗的语言解释对DAO的攻击是怎么回事，以及攻击带来的对智能合同的担忧。我们会提出一个解决方案，即人与机器相结合的智能合同数字模拟框架（简称“DnA”框架）。通过相关链接，读者可以研究、检验和完善我们的解决方案，所有资源均开放共享。
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By Cheng Lim, Stephen Minns and Millie Zhong. King & Wood Mallesons
T
h
ere are more data breaches every year
Every day, we read a new story about a new data breach. It’s not just because it makes a good story for the media to report; it’s because there are more data breaches occurring. Telstra’s Cyber Security Report 2016 reports that 23.7% of Australian organisations surveyed detected a business interrupting security breach during an average month. The Asia Pacific region experienced an even higher level of security incidents with 45.5% of surveyed organisations impacted by a security incident in an average month.
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By Jerome Tse, Fiona Beattie, Stephen Pevsner and Bill Ye. King & Wood Mallesons
It has never been more important for multi-national enterprises (MNEs) to consider their global transfer pricing positions.
Governments around the world have stepped up their“tough on multi-national tax” rhetoric fuelled by intense political pressure.
They have strengthened transfer pricing laws and regulations following the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development’s (OECD) Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project, and initiated numerous global audits on transfer pricing arrangements. Transfer pricing is also more than just an international tax issue, as evidenced by recent State aid investigations in the EU.
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作者：Fiona Beattie，Stephen Pevsner，Bill Ye以及Jerome Tse
对于跨国企业（MNE）来说，考虑自身在全球转让定价中的地位从未如此重要过。
受密集的政治压力所迫，各国政府进一步发表“对跨国税收采取强硬态度”的措辞以回应强大的政治压力。继经合组织（OECD）的税基侵蚀和利润转移（BEPS）项目之后，各国政府强化了转让定价法律法规，启动了对多项转让定价协议的全球审计。近期欧盟范围（EU）内的政府补贴调查显示，转让定价不仅仅只是一个国际税务问题。
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By Scott Farrell, Kate Jackson-Maynes, Max Allan and Johanan Ottensooser. King & Wood Mallesons
10
key points on blockchain and the way it can change the fabric of finance
1. It is more than bitcoin.
Blockchain is the technology behind bitcoin but its use far exceeds digital currencies. The importance of blockchain to finance and financial markets is its potential beyond bitcoin.
2. A blockchain is a transaction record…
The “chain” is a record of transactions, each one following the one before. Ownership comes from the chain of previous transactions. A pre-digital analogy is early land title and the package of deeds showing all of the transactions which led from the original grant to the current ownership.
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By Huang Jianwen King & Wood Mallesons’ Commercial & Regulatory Group
O
n 6 June 2016, 7 months after the China Food and Drug Administration (“CFDA”) published the Pilot Plan for the Drug Marketing Authorization Holder Mechanism (Draft for Public Opinions) (“Draft for Public Opinions”), the General Office of the State Council officially released the Pilot Plan for the Drug Marketing Authorization Holder Mechanism (Guo Ban Fa [2016] No. 41) (“Pilot Plan”), which attracted public attention.
According to the Pilot Plan, ten provinces and municipalities, including Beijing Municipality, Tianjin Municipality, Hebei Province, Shanghai Municipality, Jiangsu Province, Zhejiang Province, Fujian Province, Shandong Province, Guangdong Province, and Sichuan Province will implement the pilot drug marketing authorization holder mechanism (“Drug MAH Mechanism”). This means that drug research and development (“R&D”) institutions and research personnel within the pilot regions are now eligible to apply and obtain drug marketing authorizations and drug approval numbers. The Pilot Plan will be in effect until 4 November 2018. It demonstrates China’s strong momentum to reform the drug registration mechanism in China, to stimulate drug R&D, and push for the specialization of drug R&D and manufacturing.
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作者：黄建雯 金杜律师事务所商务合规部
2016年6月6日，在国家食品药品监督管理总局（“食药监总局”）发布《药品上市许可持有人制度试点方案（征求意见稿）》7个月之后，国务院办公厅正式公布了多方瞩目的《药品上市许可持有人制度试点方案》（国办发[2016]41号）（“试点方案”）。
根据试点方案，北京、天津、河北、上海、江苏、浙江、福建、山东、广东、四川等十个省、直辖市将开展药品上市许可持有人制度试点，允许药品研发机构和科研人员申请取得药品上市许可及药品批准文号。试点方案将实施至2018年11月4日。其进一步推动了我国药品注册制度的深化改革，有助于药品研发与创新，并促进药品研发、生产的专业化分工。
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By Scott Farrell, Claire Warren, Roslyn Hinchliffe and Johanan Ottensooser. King & Wood Mallesons’ Sydney Office
“Smart contract” is a buzzword phrase which could mean anything and be used to justify everything, from the realisation of the value of blockchain (another buzzword) to the end of lawyers (that can’t be right). To many, the recent “attack” on the most visible large smart contract in the world (the ominously named Decentralised Autonomous Organisation or DAO) has been a reality check for the dreams of replacing laws with computer code. Was this the warning of the “Skynet” moment for this nascent technology, a prescient alert to the dangers in delegating too much to the machines? Well, yes and no: but there is a way of combining the best of both human judgment and computer efficiency in the world of financial market contracts.
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