Member News

PRIIPs KID: ECON rejects the delegated regulation proposed by the Commission

ECON (the EU Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs) voted today to reject the delegated regulation (PRIIPs RTS) as proposed by the Commission on 30 June 2016. ECON claims that the proposed PRIIPs RTS contain inadequacies which could lead to a different interpretation throughout the Member States and that there is a risk that the retail investor would be misled by the information to be disclosed in the PRIIPs KID. Thus the primary goal of the PRIIPs Regulation...

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Member News

5 Insurance Issues To Consider In Tech Transactions

Technology services and software companies frequently face insurance issues when negotiating their intellectual property license or other services agreements, particularly in this era of data breaches and cloud computing. Numerous questions present themselves. Which party bears the risk in the event of a data breach? Does the company providing the indemnities have insurance to stand behind them? Whether your company is providing a service, engaging a vendor or negotiating a license agreement, keeping these five insurance issues top of...

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Chapter News, Trade & TTIP Related

For a US Trade Deal, UK Should Secure Its Spot in TTIP After Brexit

Even though President Barack Obama cautioned that the UK would be at the ‘back of the queue’ for a trade agreement with the US if the country chose to leave the EU, in the post-Brexit world a deal might be struck more swiftly. Various ideas for bringing the UK and US into a formal trade arrangement have been floated – ranging from a bilateral UK-US trade deal, or the UK joining NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement between...

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Chapter News

The EU in the world – A statistical portrait of the European Union compared with the 15 non-EU G-20 countries

Population, living conditions, health, education & training, labour market, economy & finance, trade, industry & services, research & communication, transport, agriculture, environment and energy: the 2016 edition of the Eurostat publication “The EU in the world” compares the European Union (EU) with the 15 non-EU G-20 countries across thirteen statistical fields using a range of European and international statistics. Full text available on EUROSTAT website Compliments of the European Commission

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Chapter News

Parliament to assess UK candidate for Security Union Commissioner

Parliament will evaluate Commissioner-designate Sir Julian King for the portfolio of the Security Union during its plenary session in Strasbourg. The Civil Liberties Committee will first hold a public hearing with the candidate on Monday 12 September in the evening. The full House will take a vote on Thursday. Julian King's candidacy was put forward by the UK Government following the resignation of Lord Jonathan Hill, who held the Financial Services portfolio. Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker announced last month that...

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Member News

Innocent third parties – how English freezing orders affect overseas trustees

English Courts have the power to grant worldwide freezing orders. This is a powerful tool to prevent a party (the "Respondent") from dissipating their assets. Whilst the effect of a freezing order on the Respondent is usually quite clear, a question often arises about its effect on innocent third parties – for example, trustees, banks or directors of companies which the Respondent owns. Breaching an English freezing order can have serious consequences, and not just for the Respondent. Third parties...

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Member News

Recent developments pertaining to property taxes

The EACCNY member Cost Containment Advisors is pleased to provide the following summaries of recent developments pertaining to property taxes levied in the power, energy, infrastructure and asset-intensive industry sectors. In the center of contemplation are the states Virginia, South Carolina, North Dakota, Colorado and Alaska. VIRGINIA – Supreme Court holds City of Richmond could not impose tax on natural gas consumed solely for purpose of generating electricity. Virginia Electric and Power Company operates a gas-fired electric generation station located...

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Chapter News

State aid: Ireland gave illegal tax benefits to Apple worth up to €13 billion

The European Commission has concluded that Ireland granted undue tax benefits of up to €13 billion to Apple. This is illegal under EU state aid rules, because it allowed Apple to pay substantially less tax than other businesses. Ireland must now recover the illegal aid. Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: "Member States cannot give tax benefits to selected companies – this is illegal under EU state aid rules. The Commission's investigation concluded that Ireland granted illegal...

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Chapter News

Europe after Brexit: A proposal for a continental partnership

After the British decision to leave the EU, Europe’s trajectory, even its destiny, has again become a matter of choice. In an increasingly volatile world, neither the EU nor the UK have an interest in a divorce that diminishes their influence as the balance of economic power shifts away from the North-Atlantic world. We propose a new form of collaboration, a continental partnership. The UK will want to have some control over labour mobility, as well as leaving behind the...

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Chapter News

Public opinion and EU policies: Exploring the expectations gap

The Eurobarometer survey of the European Parliament 'Europeans in 2016: Perceptions and expectations, fight against terrorism and radicalisation' aimed to identify, across a range of different policy fields, the level of awareness of citizens of EU action in that field, and to assess how content they were with EU involvement in each field. This compendium brings together a set of short briefings by the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) following up the survey. Taking each of those policy fields in...

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