Tax-News.com: A seminar has been held in Zhongshan to give Hong Kong-based small and medium enterprises and Mainland firms in Guangdong more awareness of intellectual property rights protection.

Senator Chuck Grassley, ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, has criticized the version of the economic recovery legislation released by the House Ways and Means Committee last week for leaving out provisions that would curtail the reach of the alternative minimum tax for another year.

A new tax information exchange agreement between the governments of the United Kingdom and Guernsey was signed in London on January 20, 2009 by Lord Bach, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Justice, and Lyndon Trott (pictured), Chief Minister of Guernsey.

During a recent press conference, President of the Genevan Private Bankers’ Association Grégoire Bordier announced that Switzerland is prepared to renegotiate terms of existing agreements with the European Union, in an endeavour to close existing loopholes and combat tax evasion, whilst warning against attacks from negotiating partners.

The European Commission has denounced the US’s decision to suspend the so called ‘carousel’ trade sanctions legislation on hormone-treated beef, stating that the new measure, which will allow the US to revise the sanctions every six months, will be more punitive than its predecessor.