Asia Pacific Regional Forum – August 2021 – Co-Chair's note

Greetings from the Co-Chairs of the IBA Asia Pacific Regional Forum (APF),

While we are all looking forward to being able to gather and meet again soon, we are all still having a very challenging time with the global pandemic in our region. We sincerely wish that everyone remains safe and healthy in this difficult time.

Notwithstanding this, we thank all our members for their contributions to our newsletters. We are very happy to be bringing you a newsletter with legal updates from around our region. In this edition, we have articles entitled:

• The importance of neutrals’ understanding of cultural diversity;
• Update on class actions in Australia;
• Contractor’s beware: strict compliance with notice requirements following Maeda v Bauer
• Indonesian investment realm; and
• Indian Competition Law: a comprehensive analysis of MSMEs and bid rigging.

In addition, Officers of the IBA Asia Pacific Regional Forum are still keen to be connected with IBA members and friends through virtual gatherings or online communication across the region, and we have been very busy preparing for a variety of events. One of the highlights later this year will be our Forum’s session which will be held in the IBA Global Showcase week in October. Our Forum will be having the session titled ‘Business post usual? Transformation of doing business in the Asia Pacific region’ which will discuss how digital acceleration, heightened ESG commitments, remote working and other trends are transforming the way we do business. We hope everyone enjoys this unique session, especially under the very challenging time which requires rapid transformation of business across the region.

In addition to the above showcase session, we are pleased to note that there continues to be a number of webinars in progress, and we would like to particularly draw to your attention to:

• ‘Practical and cultural differences of litigating in Asia’ 9 September 1000-1100 SGT: a webinar presented by the IBA Asia Pacific Regional Forum and supported by the IBA Litigation Committee;
• ‘China and Europe: current challenges and further changes of investments’ 15 September 0900-1030 BST: a webinar presented by the China Working Group of the IBA Asia Pacific Regional Forum; and
• ‘Navigating international transactions in the new tax world: investments, tax havens, digital tax and the G20 tax deal’ 17 September 1230-1345 BST: a webinar presented by the India Working Group of the IBA Asia Pacific Regional Forum and supported by the IBA Taxes Committee.

Also, as you are aware, the APF has formed an India Working Group (IWG) to act in an advisory capacity to the APF officers, senior IBA officers and the Asia Office regarding various aspects of the IBA’s activities in India, specific to Indian members of the IBA and also to prospective members. The IWG will work towards organising conferences, workshops, webinars, seminars and special projects within India and abroad. These will relate to the Indian justice system, Indian and Commonwealth law, legal developments and proposed legislation. We are happy to announce that the IWG will also have a section in the APF newsletter, where India-related articles will be showcased for all our members! For further details and to contribute to the IWG section, please reach out to Satyajit Gupta, Co-Chair, IWG at satyajit.gupta@gmail.com.

We encourage all members to send in Committee articles and content to Sun Hee Kim, Newsletter Officer of Asia Pacific Regional Forum, at kimsh@yulchon.com.

Kind regards,

Clare Corke
Co-Chair, IBA Asia Pacific Regional Forum
clare.corke@corrs.com.au

Hideaki Roy Umetsu
Co-Chair, IBA Asia Pacific Regional Forum
hideaki.umetsu@mhm-global.com