Managing Greenwashing Risks: A Southeast Asian Lens

As governments, corporates and individuals double down on efforts on their sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) agenda, there are emerging concerns of "greenwashing" and whether products and services labelled as "green" or "sustainable" are indeed so. What exactly is "greenwashing" and are there legal and regulatory frameworks in place to deal with this?

In this Guide, we aim to provide you with the state of play in the greenwashing legal landscape from a Southeast Asian perspective. Each Country Chapter provides a summary of the existing laws and regulations in each of the nine Southeast Asia jurisdictions that are available for enforcing against greenwashing, as well as some of their key regulators' approaches and initiatives to set clear and enforceable standards on green claims, green credentials, green products or green investments.

High Court Rules that DGIR is under Duty to Give Reasons for Imposing a Substantial Increase in Tax Liability on a Taxpayer

Recently, the Kuala Lumpur High Court in Government of Malaysia v Inoapps Sdn Bhd [2022] MLJU 2280 held that while it was bound by sections 103 and 106 of the Income Tax Act 1967 ("ITA") to enter a summary judgment against a taxpayer on a civil suit commenced by the Government of Malaysia for outstanding tax assessments, a stay of execution of the summary judgment was warranted on account of the absence of any reason given by the Director General of Inland Revenue ("DGIR") on the substantial increase in the chargeable income raised against the tax payer vide the assessments. The stay was pending the outcome of an appeal before the Special Commissioner of Income Tax ("SCIT") on the correctness of the same assessments. 

The taxpayer was represented by Christopher & Lee Ong's Corporate and Commercial Disputes Partners, John Mathew and HK Niak.

This Update highlights the main arguments advanced by both parties and the impact of this decision.