There are news on two fronts that we would like to share with you:
One relates to exchange activities between Argentina and Uruguay.
As part of a bilateral decision, the two countries ratified their mutual acknowledgment of Mercosur digital signature certificates. This agreement, valid as of last August 12th, benefits transactions among individuals and organizations.
According to the Public Innovation Office of Argentina, implementing digital signature “is a key aspect for speeding up the process of all requests, without the need for printing out on paper, while also preserving authenticity, the condition of the original document, and, most of all, guaranteeing the authorship and integrity of digitally signed documents. This enables de signature of electronic documents with a signature that, from a legal perspective, is equally valid as a handwritten signature, and that is under control of the signing party at all times.”
Read more on the ratified agreement here.
The other news, as many of you might already know, deal with the changes made in the BVI to the Trust Law applicable to that jurisdiction. The changes, introduced last July, turned that Law into one of the most modern and advantageous regulations of its kind worldwide when it comes to implementing a trust.
The main modifications made are: extension of “firewall” protections ensuring -even more clearly now- that no third parties will be able to attack this sort of trusts based on foreign laws (something quite useful when the settlor aims at results banned in his country of residence due to the application of a mandatory portion system). In addition, regulations relative to “reserved powers” have been strengthened to allow both the settlor and the protector to keep to themselves certain powers, without putting at risk the trust’s validity or existence, from the standpoint of BVI legislation.
Other changes introduced by this Law refer to the powers of local Courts to modify some terms of the trust for protecting the settlor’s will in relation to possible changes in circumstances, the “codification” of the Hasting-Bass Rule (relative to the trustee’s responsibility), and the trustee’s obligation to preserve the trust’s documents for a period of at least five (5) years.”
To learn more about these measures read this article in Step.