Member News

Houthoff | Financial Regulatory News Update: Crowdfunding, climate risks and more

In this News Update, we discuss new European regulations on crowdfunding and regulatory publications on climate risks. We further highlight some other financial regulatory publications issued last month. EUROPEAN REGULATIONS ON CROWDFUNDING SERVICE PROVIDERS FOR BUSINESS On 10 November 2021, Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 on European Crowdfunding Service Providers ("ECSP") for business started applying across the EU. The ECSP lays down uniform rules for the provision of investment-based and lending-based crowdfunding services related to business financing. Compared to the existing regulations in the Financial...

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Member News

Cushman Wakefield | COP26 Glasgow Climate Summit: Implications for Real Estate

World leaders representing governments and industry came together in Glasgow, Scotland for COP26 to address how to achieve targets set as part of the Paris Climate Agreement 20151.  The Paris targets—using pre-industrial temperature levels as a baseline—aim to limit the rise in global temperature this century below 2deg Celsius, and to pursue efforts to limit the rise even further to 1.5deg Celsius. Three years after the Paris Agreement, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report on 1.5C...

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Member News

Panitch Law | How to Avoid Being Sued for Patent Infringement

Patent infringement litigation is expensive. It is typical to see legal fees in the seven-figure range to defend a patent litigation all the way to a jury trial. Facing the prospect of an injunction and damages can cripple a company’s cash flow or market power.  It also can take you away from focusing on running your business resulting in collateral damage to your business. The best and most inexpensive way to defend against a complaint for patent infringement is to...

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Chapter News

New rules on VAT rates offer Member States more flexibility while supporting the EU’s green, digital and public health priorities

The Commission welcomes the agreement reached by EU finance ministers today to update the current rules governing value-added tax (VAT) rates for goods and services. These new rules will provide governments with more flexibility in the rates they can apply and ensure equal treatment between EU Member States. At the same time, the updated legislation will bring VAT rules into line with common EU priorities such as fighting climate change, supporting digitalisation and protecting public health. The European Parliament...

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Chapter News

IMF | The G20 Common Framework for Debt Treatments Must Be Stepped Up

With the debt service suspension initiative expiring and interest rates poised to rise, low-income countries will find it increasingly difficult to service their debts. Despite significant relief measures brought on by the COVID-19 crisis, about 60 percent of low-income countries are at high risk or already in debt distress. In 2015 that number was below 30 percent. 'With policy space tightening for highly indebted countries, the framework can and must deliver more quickly.' For many of these countries, the challenges are mounting....

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Chapter News, Trade & TTIP Related

EU and WTO members strike major deal to simplify trade in services

A group of 67 World Trade Organization (WTO) members, including the EU, have today concluded negotiations on a landmark agreement to cut red tape in services trade. The so-called Joint Initiative on Services Domestic Regulation will simplify unnecessarily complicated regulations and ease procedural hurdles faced by SMEs in particular. This agreement will help reduce the costs of global services trade by more than USD 150 billion every year. This is the first WTO deliverable in the area of trade in...

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Brexit News, Member News

Jaguar Freight | Weather Disruptions, Labor Talks, and Supply Chain Data Searches

In this week’s Roar, we have the latest on the Port of Vancouver’s building ship queue, prolonged LA-LB congestion, 2022 labor talks, the FTC’s search for supply chain data, and Brexit’s impact on Ireland-Europe services.  You know things are bad for a port when it’s mentioned ahead of LA/ Long Beach in a story about congestion. The backup is relative, of course, but the Pacific Northwest ports have had their fair share of nature-caused challenges this year. Following a recent...

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Member News

Faegre Drinker | The EU’s Collective Redress Directive — What Is Included and What Is Excluded as Potential Bases for Collective Redress Lawsuits?

In this fifth alert in our series regarding the European Parliament’s formal endorsement of a new collective actions legislation titled the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on Representative Actions for the Protection of the Collective Interests of Consumers, we analyze what laws, and their alleged infringement, may give rise to collective redress suits in the EU once enforcement of the Directive begins in 2023. We also consider what companies may do between now and then to prepare. What Laws...

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Member News

Loyens & Loeff | EDPB publishes guidelines on interplay territorial scope GDPR and international transfers

On 18 November 2021, the European Data Protection Board (the “EDPB”) published guidelines on the interplay between article 3 GDPR, on the territorial scope of the GDPR, and Chapter V of the GDPR, on international transfers. The guidelines clarify the concept of international transfers and provide clarification on the necessity of a transfer mechanism through several practical examples. The extra-territorial applicability of the GDPR and ambiguity relating to international transfers The GDPR does not only apply to data controllers and processors...

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Chapter News

IMF | Addressing Inflation Pressures Amid an Enduring Pandemic

With inflationary pressures intensifying and Omicron generating new uncertainties, monetary policymakers are facing new and challenging tradeoffs. The resurgence of the pandemic and the latest variant, Omicron, have sharply increased uncertainty around global economic prospects. This comes as several countries grapple with inflation well above their monetary policy targets. It is however evident that the strength of the economic recovery and magnitude of underlying inflationary pressures vary significantly across countries. Accordingly, policy responses to rising prices must be calibrated to...

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