Policy change log
What changed, when it took effect, and the day we checked it
Changes we found in an official source and then corrected on this site. Each entry links the authority’s own page — check it there.
This log records changes to government rules, rates and authorities — never changes to this website.
- Treaty In force · We checked
Saudi Arabia: accession to the Madrid Protocol takes effect on 8 October 2026
A date that has not yet arrived is exactly where guides go wrong in both directions — "has joined" is wrong today, "will join" becomes wrong on the day. Stated in the tense-neutral form, with effect from 8 October 2026, so it reads correctly on either side of it.
Official source: Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property (SAIP) saip.gov.sa
On this site: /saudi-arabia/trademark-ip/
- Rule No effective date published · We checked
Canada: a Nuans report is no longer required to incorporate federally online under a word name
Corporations Canada states that the corporate name search is now part of the online incorporation process. Most third-party guides still tell founders to buy a Nuans report first, which is a real cost and a real delay for something the registry now does itself.
Official source: Corporations Canada — Services, fees and processing times ised-isde.canada.ca
On this site: /canada/company-registration/
- Authority No effective date published · We checked
Egypt: the Ministry of Manpower now publishes as the Ministry of Labour
Found because the old domain redirects: manpower.gov.eg answers with a 302 to labour.gov.eg. A rename leaves that trace in DNS long before most guides notice it. Our Chinese and Japanese text had carried the new name for some time while the English, Spanish and French text still used the old one.
Official source: Ministry of Labour (Egypt) labour.gov.eg (replaces manpower.gov.eg)
On this site: /egypt/employment/
- Route No effective date published · We checked
Australia: subclass 482 is published as the Skills in Demand visa — but its URL path did not change
Home Affairs renamed the visa and kept the old path, temporary-skill-shortage-482. Constructing a URL from the new name produces a soft 404: a page that answers 200 and renders "page not found". Renaming without moving the path is the norm, not the exception, and it is why a link must be fetched rather than guessed.
Official source: Department of Home Affairs (Australia) immi.homeaffairs.gov.au
On this site: /australia/visa/work/
- Rule In force · We checked
Saudi Arabia: the law on non-Saudi real-estate ownership came into force on 22 January 2026
Before the law existed, "reform is under way, please confirm for yourself" was the correct hedge. After it came into force the same sentence hides the fact a reader most needs. Fee percentages are deliberately not stated here: the sources disagree with each other.
Official source: Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia (MISA) misa.gov.sa
On this site: /saudi-arabia/investment/
- Rate In force · We checked
Russia: the 10% reduced VAT rate was retained (Law No. 425-FZ)
Recorded because the absence of a change is also a finding: the reduced rate was widely expected to move and did not. A verification pass that only publishes what changed leaves a reader unable to tell "still true" from "not checked".
Official source: Federal Tax Service of Russia nalog.gov.ru
On this site: /database/vat/
- Rate In force · We checked
Romania: standard VAT rose from 19% to 21%, and the 9% and 5% reduced rates merged into a single 11%
Both halves came from the same reform. A source that reports only the headline rate leaves the reduced rates wrong, which is the half that decides the tax on food, books, medicines and hotel stays — worth checking against any guide that mentions only the 21%.
Official source: ANAF — Agenția Națională de Administrare Fiscală anaf.ro
On this site: /database/vat/
- Authority In force · We checked
United Arab Emirates: the Ministry of Economy became the Ministry of Economy and Tourism
The ministry that runs trademark and IP registration was renamed, and its domain moved with it. The old name survived across our trademark pages until a full review; a rename is the failure mode that hides best, because every sentence around it still reads correctly.
Official source: Ministry of Economy and Tourism (UAE) moet.gov.ae
On this site: /uae/trademark-ip/
- Threshold In force · We checked
Denmark: the minimum capital for an ApS is DKK 20,000, down from DKK 40,000
Recorded with a caution attached to ourselves as much as to the reader: this figure was doubted in review because it did not match a reviewer’s memory of 40,000, and the check confirmed the data. The rule that follows — look it up rather than correct a number back to the one you remember — is why this row exists at all.
Official source: Danish Business Authority (Erhvervsstyrelsen) danishbusinessauthority.dk
On this site: /denmark/company-registration/
- Treaty In force · We checked
Qatar: the Madrid Protocol has been in force since 3 August 2024
Deposited 3 May 2024, in force 3 August 2024, as the 115th member. This matters commercially: guides still describing Qatar as a non-member send a business to file country by country when one international application now covers it.
Official source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry (Qatar) moci.gov.qa
On this site: /qatar/trademark-ip/