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Japan

Asia-Pacific

At CMS, we have a strong track record of advising our Japanese clients who are top multinational companies on their global business and investment.

With more than 70 offices in over 40 countries and 4,800+ lawyers worldwide, CMS offers deep local market understanding with a global perspective.

Our specialist teams spread across more than 43 countries assist our Japanese clients in investment activities all over the globe in all the major jurisdictions such as the U.S., Asia-Pacific, Europe and beyond.

A deep understanding of the culture and customs as well as Japanese language capabilities, along with decades of experience in advising Japanese clients, means we can assist our Japanese clients to achieve their business objectives, whatever the situation. 

By focusing on the key sectors such as Lifesciences and Healthcare, Energy, TMC, Consumer Products, Financial Institutions, Infrastructure and Constructions as well as Real Estate, we tailor our advice to our clients’ industry-specific business needs.  Our lawyers and industry experts support our clients at every stage of their investment.

Whether our clients require support on Commercial Disputes, M&A, Corporate, Regulatory, Commercial Agreements, Tax, Employment, Environment, Intellectual Property or Advertising and Marketing, we assist our clients with comprehensive legal advice.

We always focus on building strong relationships with our Japanese clients and industry sectors. 

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16/04/2024
Cross-border Financial Services 2024 webinar series
We're delighted to announce the launch of our third season of international webinars focusing on financial regulation, starting on 13 March 2024. Whether you are an in-house lawyer, compliance officer, financial analyst, risk manager, or any other professional concerned with maintaining the integrity of your organisation's financial practices, this series offers succinct 20-30 minute overviews of key industry trends and regulatory concerns across mul­tiple jur­is­dic­tions. If you have any additional topics that you would like us to add or address at one of the webinars, please contact us. Upcoming Webinars: 13 March: Spotting and avoiding red flags  What are the warning signals from firms that regulators act on?  How can you spot and address them before the regulator pounces?16 April: Handling a regulatory in­vest­ig­a­tion  How a firm can understand the regulator’s concerns and manage the investigation process.8 May: Financial crime  Sanc­tions, money laundering, market abuse and fraud - what are the key issues in your jurisdiction and what are the regulators focusing on.5 June: Preparing for a regulatory visit  How the banking regulator assesses a firm’s systems and controls: what to prepare and what to look out for.3 July: Handling a challenging ap­plic­a­tion  Your application for a licence, product approval or change in control is meeting with regulatory resistance.  How can you surmount these challenges?31 July: Dawn Raids  Un­an­nounced regulator visits are on the increase.  We look at what triggers a dawn raid, your rights if one happens, and how best to manage the consequences.4 September: Navigating the global ESG land­scape Is the regulatory reporting jigsaw puzzle causing more harm than good? We will provide an overview of the main cross-border issues impacting global financial institutions as they seek to manage ever expanding ESG regulations and discuss whether these rules are helping or hindering the action we need for change. The language of the webinar will be English.
22/03/2024
EU Competition Law Briefings 2024
The EU Competition Law Briefings have been created to provide a platform for our clients and other competition law experts to stay up to date on the developments of EU Competition Law. Every month CMS competition experts will present a recent case by the EU Commission or Community Courts during a webinar.
21/03/2024
Green derivatives demystified: Legal insights into sustainable finance
Join us for an insightful webinar as we explore the future of finance, focusing on sustainable investment and carbon offsetting strategies to support your business decisions. This webinar will be of particular value for project investment bankers, private equity investors, and companies in the energy and large manufacturing sectors, looking to enhance their strategies with sustainable and financially savvy solutions. The webinar will cover the following topics and will conclude with a Q&A ses­sion:Sus­tain­ab­il­ity-linked derivatives (SLD)Financial power purchase agree­ments­Man­dat­ory carbon offset: EU emission al­low­ances­Vol­un­tary carbon offset
19/03/2024
2024 Insurance sector webinar programme
Notwithstanding the extraordinary times we’ve all been operating in, the insurance sector continues to deal with fast-paced changes. Insurance companies should keep up with changing regulations and market trends that will impact on their day-to-day operations and long-term business. It has become crucial for (re)insurers, brokers, their risk managers and general counsels to get the right insight and advice across a wide range of claims and coverage, and regulatory and corporate issues. To deliver the expert responses that the insurance market needs, the CMS Insurance Group has developed a comprehensive programme for 2024.
18/03/2024
Swedish law firm Wistrand successfully integrated into CMS
Today, following an onboarding period, the top-ten Swedish law firm Wistrand formally becomes CMS Wistrand. In November 2023, CMS first announced that it would be expanding into Sweden, strengthening its presence in the Nordic re­gion.“De­vel­op­ing a strong Nordic platform is important as our clients expect us to support them in major business hubs around the world,” says Pierre-Sé­bas­tien Thill, CMS Chairman. “We already have CMS Kluge offices in Bergen, Oslo and Stavanger. Now with CMS Wistrand, we can offer clients deep local expertise in Sweden, combined with our global reach.”Wis­trand, a full-service law firm, has 51 equity partners and around 210 employees, with offices in Sweden’s capital Stockholm and its second-largest city Gothenburg. The firm has a well-established presence in the Swedish business and legal com­munit­ies.“After more than 100 years as a Swedish law firm, we are pleased to announce that, following the successful integration with CMS, we have formally become CMS Wistrand and are now colleagues with over 5,800 lawyers in 47 countries worldwide,” says Maria Kosteska Fägerquist, Chair of the Board at Wistrand in Gothenburg. “In today's legal landscape, having effective and well-structured teams across borders is crucial. It creates value for clients by reducing friction in deliveries and expediting the process of acquiring legal services.”CMS and Wistrand not only share expertise areas, but both also recognise that being future-ready is busi­ness-crit­ic­al. “Being future-facing means anticipating challenges and driving innovation. We are positioning ourselves to deliver solutions that shape the industry and help our clients navigate the changing landscape confidently,” says Fredrik Råsberg, Chair of the Board at Wistrand in Stockholm. “However, our commitment doesn't end with innovation. Successfully steering the ESG agenda with a focus on climate change and social responsibility is of great importance for companies now and in the future, and as a law firm, we have a responsibility to help our clients successfully tackle these is­sues.”“Ex­pand­ing in the Nordic region is a key part of CMS becoming future-ready,” says Duncan Weston, Executive Partner at CMS. “As businesses increasingly face global challenges, whether supply chain issues, digitalisation and AI or climate change, we believe that a strong global legal organisation with deep local roots can offer the most effective solutions.”
15/03/2024
Next steps
Following the release of the pre-final text of the AI Act and its adoption by the European Parliament’s Internal Market and Civil Liberties Committees in February 2024, the torch was passed to the European Parliament plenary. Voting took place in the European Parliament on 13 March 2024 and approval was given by a large majority. The text is now being revised by the legal linguists of the European Parliament. The final text is then formally approved once again in the European Parliament. This is expected to take place on 10 / 11 April. This final text will then have to be approved by the Council of the European Union. A clear date for this has not yet been defined, but it can be assumed that this will happen soon after the final text has been approved by the European Parliament, most likely end of April/early May 2024. The AI Act will enter into force on the 20th day after publication in the EU Official Journal and will be applicable after 24 months. However, some specific provisions will have different application dates, such as prohibitions on AI, that will apply 6 months after entry into force; or General Purpose AI models already on the market, which are given a compliance deadline of 12 months. The AI Office was established on 21 February 2024 and the European Commission will oversee the issuance of at least 20 delegated acts. The AI Act’s implementation will be supported by an expert group formed to advise and assist the European Commission in avoiding overlaps with other EU regulations. Meanwhile, Member States must appoint at least one notifying authority and one market surveillance authority and communicate to the European Commission the identity of the competent authorities and the single point of contact. The next regulatory step appears to be focused on AI liability. On 14 December 2023, EU policymakers reached a political agreement on the amendment of the Product Liability Directive. This proposal aims to accommodate technological developments, notably covering digital products like software, including AI. The next proposal in line in the AI package is the Directive on the ad­apt­a­tion/har­mon­iz­a­tion of the rules on non-contractual civil liability to Artificial Intelligence (AI Liability Directive). Addressing issues of causality and fault related to AI systems, this directive proposal ensures that claimants can enforce appropriate remedies when suffering damages in fault-based scenarios. The draft was published on 28 September 2022 and is still pending to be considered by the European Parliament and Council of the European Union . Once adopted, EU Member States will be obliged to transpose its provisions into national law within a likely two-year timeframe. The enactment of the AI Act represents a pivotal step towards fostering a regulatory landscape, not only in the EU but worldwide, that balances innovation, trust, and accountability, ensuring that AI serves as driver of progress while safeguarding fundamental rights and societal values.
15/03/2024
Codes of conduct, confidentiality and penalties, delegation of power and...
Codes of conduct (Currently Title IX, Art. 69)In order to foster ethical and reliable AI systems and to increase AI literacy among those involved in the development, operation and use of AI, the new AI Act mandates the AI Office and Member States to promote the development of codes of conduct for non-high-risk AI systems. These codes of conduct, which should take into account available technical solutions and industry best practices, would promote voluntary compliance with some or all of the mandatory requirements that apply to high-risk AI systems. Such voluntary guidelines should be consistent with the EU values and fundamental rights and address issues such as transparency, accountability, fairness, privacy and data governance, and human oversight. Furthermore, to be effective, such codes of conduct should be based on clear objectives and key performance indicators to measure the achievement of these objectives. Codes of conduct may be developed by individual AI system providers, deployers, or organizations representing them and should be developed in an inclusive manner, involving relevant stakeholders such as business and civil society organisations, academia, etc. The  European Commission will assess the impact and effectiveness of the codes of conduct within two years of the AI Act entering into application, and every three years thereafter. The aim is to encourage the application of requirements for high-risk AI systems to non-high-risk AI systems, and possibly other additional requirements for such AI systems (including in relation to environmental sustainability).
15/03/2024
CMS Expert Guide on Real Estate Data Centre Consenting
Welcome to CMS’ online guide tool for data centre legal consenting considerations. Please use the tool to compare legal consenting considerations for data centre development and investment across key...
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15/03/2024
CMS Expert Guide to real estate finance law
A clear understanding of the security available is fundamental for lenders and borrowers. To assist, CMS has launched an interactive International Guide to Real Estate Finance. This provides a clear and...
14/03/2024
Governance and post-market monitoring, information sharing, market surveillance
Governance (Currently Title VI, Art. 55b-59)The AI Act establishes a governance framework under Title VI, with the scope of coordinating and supporting its application on a national level, as well as build capabilities at Union level and integrate stakeholders in the field of artificial intelligence. The measures related to governance will apply from 12 months following the entry into force of the AI Act. To develop Union expertise and capabilities, an AI Office is established within the Commission, having a strong link with the scientific community to support its work which includes the issuance of guidance; its establishment should not affect the powers and competences of national competent authorities, and bodies, offices and agencies of the Union in the supervision of AI systems. The newly proposed AI governance structure also includes the establishment of the European AI Board (AI Board), composed of one representative per Member State, designated for a period of 3 years. Its list of tasks has been extended and includes the collection and sharing of technical and regulatory expertise and best practices in the Member States, contributing to their harmonisation, and the assistance to the AI Office for the establishment and development of regulatory sandboxes with national authorities. Upon request of the Commission, the AI Board will issue recommendations and written opinions on any matter related to the implementation of the AI Act. The Board shall establish two standing sub-groups to provide a platform for cooperation and exchange among market surveillance authorities and notifying authorities on issues related to market surveillance and notified bodies. The final text of the AI Act also introduces two new advisory bodies. An advisory forum (Art. 58a) will be established to provide stakeholder input to the European Commission and the AI Board preparing opinions, recommendations and written contributions.A scientific panel of independent experts (Art. 58b) selected by the European Commission will provide technical advice and input to the AI Office and market surveillance authorities. The scientific panel will also be able to alert the AI Office of possible systemic risks at Union level. Member States may call upon experts of the scientific panel to support their enforcement activities under the AI Act and may be required to pay fees for the advice and support by the experts. Each Member State shall establish or designate at least one notifying authority and at least one market surveillance authority as national competent authorities for the purpose of the AI Act. Member States shall ensure that the national competent authority is provided with adequate technical, financial and human resources and infrastructure to fulfil their tasks effectively under this regulation, and satisfies an adequate level of cybersecurity measures. One market surveillance authority shall also be appointed by Member States to act as a single point of contact.
14/03/2024
EU Parliament positions itself in favor of a strong Green Claims Directive
March 2024
13/03/2024
Court of Appeal rules that defence of illegality in civil claim is not...
In Lewis-Ranwell v G4S Health Services (UK) Ltd and others [2024] EWCA Civ 138, the Court of Appeal recently held, by a majority of 2 to 1, that where a person has committed a crime, but has been found...