Day: 13 July 2017

Rosemont International has drawn residents’ attention to Monaco’s Law n° 1.448, which was voted into force on June 28.

The scope of this law and its consequences on inbound investment in Monaco and for all Monaco residents are very wide. It is recommended to all Monaco residents that they review their estate planning taking into account these new rules, especially regarding the use of foreign trusts or the so called Monaco 214 trust, Rosemont said.

The law establishes that a single succession law should apply to the entire succession regardless of the nature of the assets and their situation.

The conflict of law rules specify that the succession is governed by the law of the state in which the deceased had their domicile at the time of death (art56). It is important to note that these same criteria were adopted in the European Succession Regulation, also known as Brussels IV, which harmonises certain conflict of law issues. So Monaco will apply the same rules as the EU member states, which have adopted Brussels IV.

The deceased may choose the law applicable to their succession. This choice is limited to the law of a state of which the deceased has the nationality at the time of the choice (art57).

This professio juris is a real innovation in Monaco. It will be necessary to consider case by case whether the professio juris will be recognised by other states that could be involved in the settlement of the succession; for example the state where the estate would be opened or the states where a property will be located.

In terms of succession, article 6.4 specifies that Monegasque courts are competent regardless of the domicile of the defendant when the succession is opened in the Principality or when the succession includes immovable property located in Monaco.

It is important to have an international approach of these issues taking into account new conflict of law rules and the ones existing in other jurisdictions that could be involved, Rosemont said.

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In its report on Monaco published on Thursday, July 13, the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body (GRECO) concludes that although the management of anti-corruption policies has continued to evolve in the right direction in recent years and anti-corruption mechanisms have gradually been strengthened, there is still progress to be made.

The report, having been authorised by Monaco for publication, states: “In the case of members of parliament, there is no code of conduct governing the acceptance of gifts and other benefits, occasional conflicts of interest or relations with lobbies. GRECO also calls for members of parliament to be required to make periodical declarations of interests and for effective supervisory machinery to be established.”

The published document also claims “the transparency of parliamentary work and consultations needs to be improved”.

GRECO said that “there is no record of criminal or disciplinary proceedings relating to the integrity of a parliamentarian, which may be as much due to the absence of intrinsic problems as to the absence of specific rules and mechanisms designed to preserve the integrity of national elected representatives.”

As regards judges and prosecutors, Monaco makes significant use of French officials, GRECO noted. This element of outside involvement moderates the possible consequences of close social relations, according to the GRECO report.

A team of evaluators had visited Monaco in November, 2016, to meet, among others, parliamentarians and magistrates.

Subsequently, a Monegasque delegation visited Strasbourg in order to be able to answer questions from the members of the GRECO Committee – meeting in plenary session – and to provide all relevant information.

Implementation of the 16 recommendations made to Monaco will be assessed by GRECO in the first half of 2019 under its specific monitoring procedures.

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France and Monaco have signed an accord on the sharing and protection of classified information.

On Thursday, July 13, the two sides signed a general agreement in the presence of Serge Telle, Minister of State of the Principality, and Louis Gautier, Secretary General of France’s Defence and National Security Organisation, for the exchange and reciprocal protection of classified information.

This accord has been facilitated by the new Monaco law on the preservation of national security of July 6, 2016, which establishes the rules for the creation and protection of classified data and its exchange with foreign partners.

The negotiators on each side established a text that mutually recognises classification levels and sets out the framework for trading classified information.

The Monaco government said that the arrangement, concluded between very close partners, will make it possible to reinforce cooperation in sensitive areas, particularly in the fight against terrorism and computer security. France is the first partner of the Principality to sign such a general security agreement.

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Gilles Tonelli, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, hosted a luncheon at the Hermitage Hotel on Thursday, July 13, for HE Datuk Ibrahim Abdullah, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Malaysia; HE Kristjan Andri Stefansson, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Iceland; HE Alvaro De Soto, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Peru; and HE Ismail Hakki Musa, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Turkey.

The group of four had presented their Letters of Credence to the Sovereign Prince in the morning.

HE Datuk Ibrahim Abdullah was appointed Deputy Director of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) in 1996. From 1998, he was successively Councillor and then Head of Mission, Embassy of Malaysia in Turkey, Sudan and Japan. He became High Commissioner to the Malaysian High Commission in Nigeria in 2003 and then Director of the OIC in 2005. He was promoted to Ambassador in 2008, representing his country in Syria and Germany before assuming the post of Deputy Secretary-General of the ministry of foreign affairs.

A lawyer, HE Kristjan Andri Stefansson was Legal Adviser to the Prime Minister of Iceland from 1994 to 2004, before becoming Minister-Counsellor in the Economic Affairs and Foreign Trade Directorate of the Foreign Ministry. He was promoted Ambassador in 2005 and from 2014 he was Director-General of Legal and Executive Affairs and then Assistant Secretary-General of the Foreign Ministry.

Mr Stefansson is the first Icelandic Ambassador accredited to Monaco.

A career diplomat since 1966, HE Alvaro De Soto held senior executive positions at the United Nations during the tenure of Javier Pérez de Cuéliar, Boutros-Boutros-Ghali and Kofi Annan. In 1982, he was appointed Special Advisor to the Secretary General of the United Nations, becoming a Personal Representative for the peace process in Central America. In 1995, he assumed the post of Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs of the United Nations. He has acted as a mediator in Cyprus and as Special Coordinator in the Middle East peace process.

HE Ismail Hakki Musa was appointed Consul of Turkey to Lyon in 1994. After working at the Sub-Directorate of Bilateral Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1997, he joined the Permanent Delegation of Turkey to the European Communities as Counselor. In 2005, he was Head of the Department for Administrative and Financial Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He became Minister Plenipotentiary in the same Department. He has also held the posts of Consul General in Lyon, Ambassador in Belgium and Under-Secretary of State Deputy to the Prime Minister.

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Last week, the Monaco Junior Chamber of Commerce (JCEM) hosted its first English-speaking training as part of its Leadership and Management training program. It was a huge success.

Almost twenty people attended to hear trainer Alicia Sedgwick, who teaches Public Speaking to Undergraduates, and Communication in Business at the International University of Monaco. Ms Sedwick, one third of the local singing trio Lib Day Darlings, made her entrance to Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic, a song that “gives her confidence.”

“We’ve been doing training for about four years now” JCEM member Zorana Ioffrida told Monaco Life, “but it’s the first one in English. Anyone can attend, we just want people to be confident in themselves.”

This is an attitude Alicia Sedgwick followed carefully throughout the training. “Everyone in this room joins team Alicia for life. In this team, you leave all of your fears, your inhibitions and your anxieties outside the door.”

Confidence. One by one participants introduced themselves with a bit of professional background: banking, marketing, cosmetics, shipping, IT … but their common goal? The desire to be a confident public speaker.

“And I have the perfect cure for that,” underlined Ms Sedgwick. “First of all, remind yourself that when you give a presentation, it’s not about you, it’s about the audience. You have to understand them. What does the audience need? Does it want to be informed or convinced?” Reading your audience is key.

“Never lose eye contact. Try to look right, left, up, down to keep everyone involved.”

Little by little, the JCEM trainees gained confidence. Vocal exercises, posture rebalancing… In the 2-hour session, Alicia Sedgwick managed to broach many different subjects to unleash the natural leaders within, with the magic formula of public speaking, the four Ps: PITCH, PACE, PAUSE, POWER.

“Nobody knows what you’re going to say so they don’t know you didn’t say what you wanted to, unless you show them you’re wrong by panicking,” she explained.

We have two ears and two eyes but only one mouth “so we’re meant to observe”, she insisted. It’s perfectly normal to be uncomfortable at first, but you dare to overcome your fears while the audience doesn’t. Be proud.”

The next JCEM training will be in September as part of the Enterprise Creation cycle. “We’ll learn how to create a business in Monaco, with all the specific laws. And, most important, we’ll share our stories,” Ms Ioffrida said.

Training is open to members and non-members. For more, see their website.

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