JD Supra Venezuela

Law Firm

Latest documents

• Venezuela Update: January 16, 2020

  Holland & Knight's Venezuela Focus Team invites you to read our Venezuela Update, in which we discuss the latest news, trends and developments in Venezuela that impact the interests of businesses across all industry sectors. Our team is highly qualified to help clients navigate the complex political and business environment in Venezuela.
 
 Holland & Knight's Venezuela Update, produced in conjunction with Venezuela-based firms Tinoco Travieso Planchart & Nuñez and CNI Asesores Financieros, provides our clients with pertinent Venezuela information in a timely manner.
 
 Please see full Publication below for more information.

• Actualización de Venezuela: 16 de enero de 2020

  El Equipo de Enfoque de Venezuela de Holland & Knight lo invita a leer nuestra Actualización de Venezuela, en la que discutimos las últimas noticias, tendencias y desarrollos en Venezuela que afectan los intereses de las empresas en todos los sectores de la industria. Nuestro equipo está altamente calificado para ayudar a los clientes a navegar el complejo entorno político y comercial en Venezuela.
 
 La Actualización de Venezuela de Holland & Knight, producida en conjunto con las empresas con sede en Venezuela Tinoco Travieso Planchart & Nuñez y CNI Asesores Financieros, brinda a nuestros clientes la información pertinente de Venezuela de manera oportuna.
 
 Please see full Publication below for more information.

• Venezuela Update: November 19, 2019

  The U.S. Department of the Treasury on Oct. 21, 2019, renewed for three months a license granted to several U.S. oil companies so that they may continue operating in the country until Jan. 22, 2020. Chevron is the only company that still carries out relevant operations in Venezuela.

• OFAC issues general licenses authorizing certain transactions involving the government of Venezuela

  On 5 November 2019 the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued two new general licenses authorizing certain transactions involving the government of Venezuela (GOV) and certain individuals affiliated with the GOV, which is blocked pursuant to Executive Order 13884 (EO 13884).
 
 Please see full Publication below for more information.

• OFAC Implements Broad Sanctions Against Venezuela

  In a major announcement and escalation of the sanctions regime targeting President Maduro and Venezuela, on August 5, 2019, the Trump Administration issued a new Executive Order 13884 to block all property of the Venezuela Government. 

• Difference Increases Between the Official and Parallel "Black Market" Dollar

  After several months of stability of the difference between 1) the "black" market price to buy dollars and 2) the official rate of the Venezuelan government, the biggest fall of the year occurred in July 2019 with
 respect to the unofficial market, also known as the "black" or "parallel" market.
 
 Please see full publication below for more information.

• Guidelines for the Renegotiation of the External Public Debt Inherited from the Chavez/Maduro Period

  The Venezuela National Assembly recently indicated that the country's debt is currently around $160 billion. In view of the foregoing, it is relevant to stress that in July, the Special Prosecutor's Office of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela submitted a memorandum describing the policies that will guide the interim government and the National Assembly of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in light of the "renegotiation of private claims denominated in foreign currency against the Republic and the Venezuelan public sector." Likewise, the memorandum has become relevant because of the sanctions
 recently imposed on Venezuela by the United States.
 
 Please see full Publication below for more information.

• U.S. moves towards (but stops short of) complete embargo on Venezuela

  On 5 August 2019 the Trump administration issued Executive Order 13884 (the executive order) imposing sweeping sanctions against the government of Venezuela, including its agencies and instrumentalities as well as any entities owned or controlled by the Venezuelan government (collectively, the GOV).
 
 Please see full Publication below for more information.

• US Expands Venezuela Sanctions: Three Key Questions Answered

  New restrictions prohibit dealings between US persons and the Government of Venezuela.
 
 On August 5, 2019, President Trump issued Executive Order (E.O.) 13884, entitled “Blocking the Property of the Government of Venezuela.” The E.O. blocks all property and interests in property of the Government of Venezuela that come into the possession or control of United States persons and prohibits US persons from dealing in any such property. While previous sanctions targeted certain elements of the Government of Venezuela, including President Maduro, the Central Bank of Venezuela, and the state owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA), the new sanctions extend prohibitions to the entire government and all state-owned or controlled entities.
 
 Please see full Alert below for more information.

• A New Tax for an Economy in Crisis

  The National Constituent Assembly (ANC) on July 2, 2019, issued the constitutional law that created the Wealth Tax (Impuestos a los Grandes Patrimonios). The creation of this tax reopens the debate on the constitutionality of the acts enforced by the ANC, considering: 1) the call to elect the ANC was issued by the president of the Republic without the participation and the consultation of the Venezuelan citizens, and 2) the membership selection process to join the ANC violated constitutional rights of citizen participation. On the other hand, the ANC, elected by citizens through a popular vote, is the only unicameral branch entitled and empowered to issue tax laws.
 
 Many have reflected on the unconstitutionality of this regulatory instrument, and this article examines the essential aspects established in the draft law approved by the ANC, which is pending publication in the Official Gazette. This report does not constitute an in-depth examination of this tax law but is for informational purposes. The aforementioned considerations could change if the official text published in the Official Gazette differs from the draft law circulated unofficially.
 
 Please see full Update below for more information.

Featured documents

• May 2016: International Arbitration Update

  García’s Green Light to Dual Nationals in Investor-State Arbitration. The decision in Serafín García Armas v. República Bolivariana de Venezuela, PCA Case No. 2013-3, Decision on Jurisdiction (Dec. 14, 2014) touches on a very interesting question that will surely see greater discussion and debate...

• Venezuela Mines for a Reversal in Federal Appeals Court

  Venezuela is taking its fight over a $1.4 billion arbitral award to the District of Columbia’s federal court of appeals.
 
 The award capped a bitter dispute between Venezuela and Crystallex International Corporation, a Canadian mining company. The fight began in 2002, when Crystallex...

• Venezuela Debt Update: Recent Developments in Arbitrations that Could Impact Restructuring Efforts

  It’s hard to find something positive these days to write about Venezuela. Some basic facts tell the story of the misery there.
 
 Consumer prices this year might rise one million percent. The minimum wage was increased by 3,000 percent so that seven million workers will now receive $20 a...

• Venezuela Economic Outlook

  Here is our biweekly summary of recent economic developments in Venezuela:
 
 • The Venezuelan local press reported that two Chilean companies, Alimentos y Frutos S.A., and Empresas Carozzi S.A., requested before Venezuelan courts the bankruptcy and judicial occupation of the assets of the...

• Venezuela’s Exit from ICSID

  On 24 January 2012, President Hugo Chávez followed through on his repeated threats to withdraw Venezuela’s membership from the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes ("ICSID"), the most widely used facility for the settlement of global investment disputes. (See our ...

• INTERPOL can expect more politically motivated requests from Venezuela – this time with sights on Kimberly-Clark representatives

  Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro, has threatened to at least attempt to continue Venezuela’s abuse of INTERPOL’s Red Notice system. The paper product supplier Kimberly-Clark stopped production in Venezuela several weeks ago, in the midst of Venezuela’s worsening economic crisis.  Venezuelans...

• Ahead of Maduro Power Play, Trump Administration Sanctions Venezuelan Officials

  Ahead of a Constituent Assembly that could re-write the Venezuelan Constitution and dissolve state institutions, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has designated 13 current and former Venezuelan government officials. According to the Treasury announcement, the...

• Bank Owner Sentenced in Venezuelan Corruption Case

  A conspiracy to bribe high ranking Venezuelan officials in exchange for the right to conduct currency transactions is at the center of a number of FCPA related cases. For example, earlier this month Raul Gorrin Belisario, a Venezuelan citizen with a residence in Miami, Florida who had been indicted ...

• Two Former Venezuelan Officials and Energy Executives Indicted as DOJ Continues to Use Money Laundering Charges to Combat Foreign Corruption

  Last week, a grand jury in the Southern District of Florida indicted two former Venezuelan officials, charging them with seven counts of money laundering and one count of money-laundering conspiracy. The charges relate to bribes and kickbacks provided to the officials who headed the country’s...

• Outsourcing Under the New Venezuelan Labor Law

  The recent amendments to Venezuela's Organic Labor Law impact local and multinational employers in many aspects, especially with regard to the practice of outsourcing. The new Organic Law of Labor and Workers (known as the "LOTTT," its Spanish acronym) became effective on May 7, 2012, and ...