Compliance deadlines for the Security Rules implemented under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) are fast approaching. In fact, the rules require compliance no later than April 20, 2005, for all covered entities except small health plans.

In what some are calling the "condemnation case of the year," the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that Wayne County’s proposed land condemnation and transfer in support of economic redevelopment was unconstitutional.

Your company may be eligible for a partial refund of the 3 percent federal telecommunications excise taxes it has paid for the three years preceding the filing of a refund claim. A federal district court recently held that the Internal Revenue Service is not entitled to collect the telecommunications excise tax on certain telecommunications services because those particular services are not covered by the telecommunications excise tax statute.

President Rousseff appears to have changed her mind by permitting the investment limitation to increase to 49 percent.

On March 2, 2005, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) further extended the compliance dates for non-accelerated filers and foreign private issuers.

On June 21, after a long discussion and sometimes heated debate, the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies, approved a provisional measure that would, among other things, eliminate the current limitations on foreign ownership of Brazilian commercial airlines and air-taxi companies.