Chapter News

EU Parliament gives its final green light to the EU Digital COVID Certificate

EU Digital COVID Certificate will make travel in the EU easier from 1 July 2021. All EU member states will accept the certificates proving vaccination, negative test result or recovery from a COVID infection. It should facilitate free movement and contribute to restrictions being lifted gradually in a coordinated manner. It should apply from 1 July 2021 and be in place for 12 months. Affordable and accessible testing is encouraged: €100 million in EU funds to purchase tests. MEPs completed...

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Member News

CLA | SOC 2 or HITRUST — Assessing Your Organization’s Data Security Risk

Key insights Keeping your sensitive data and systems secure is critical to your organization’s success. SOC 2 and HITRUST are two ways to have your organization’s security practices evaluated, and while they have many similarities, there are essential differences to consider. Better understand your risk and bring confidence to those you serve, whether your goal is to obtain a SOC 2 report or HITRUST certification. Data has become the most important asset for many organizations, so sharing that data in...

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Member News

Noerr | European Commission’s draft regulation tackles foreign subsidies – more scrutiny of non-EU investors in sight

Times are getting harder for foreign investors in the EU! Member States are tightening their foreign direct investment control regimes (see our alert here), and national competition authorities are calling for more rigorous merger control enforcement (see our alert here). The European Commission (“Commission”) encourages Member States to refer to it non-notifiable transactions, and the proposed Digital Markets Act (DMA) shows the direction of the Commission’s intention to regulate (primarily US-based) gatekeepers in the digital markets (see our alert...

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Chapter News

EU budget 2022: Speeding up Europe’s recovery and progressing towards a green, digital and resilient future

The Commission has today proposed an annual EU budget of €167.8 billion for 2022, to be complemented by an estimated €143.5 billion in grants under NextGenerationEU. Their combined firepower will mobilise significant investments to boost the economic recovery, safeguard sustainability, and create jobs. It will prioritise green and digital spending in order to make Europe more resilient and fit for the future. Commissioner Johannes Hahn, responsible for the EU Budget, said: “Today, we are putting forward unprecedented levels of financial support to...

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Chapter News

G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Communiqué

HM Treasury | 5 June 2021, London, United Kingdom We, the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the G7, met virtually on 28 May 2021, and Finance Ministers met in London on 4-5 June 2021, joined by the Heads of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank Group, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Eurogroup, and (on 28 May) Financial Stability Board (FSB). We agreed concrete actions to address today’s historic challenges and as part of our renewed...

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Chapter News

G7 Finance Ministers Agree Historic Global Tax Agreement

The G7 on the 5 June 2021 agreed to back an historic international agreement on global tax reform which delivers on the Chancellor’s promise for big international companies to start paying their fair share. G7 Finance Ministers during their meeting in London came together to tackle the tax challenges that arise from the global digital economy. Following years of discussions, finance ministers agreed to reforms which will see multinationals pay their fair share of tax in the countries they do...

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Chapter News

OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann on the outcome of the G7 Finance Ministers’ Meeting

05/06/2021 - OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann welcomed today’s ground-breaking agreement by G7 Finance Ministers on key elements of international tax reform designed to address the tax challenges of the digitalisation and the globalisation of the economy. "Governments around the world need to be able to raise the necessary revenue to fund the essential public services and support that their populations require and expect, in a way that is efficient, least distorting and also fair and equitable", said Mr. Cormann. "The combined effect...

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Member News

Vulcan Insight | EU negotiators agree on new transparency rules

Five years after the European Commission first proposed its framework on public country-by-country reporting (pCBCR) to oblige large multinational companies to publicly disclose where they make their profits and where they pay their taxes, the EU’s co-legislators reached a final agreement on Tuesday evening (1 June). The transparency requirement is set to enter into force in early 2023.  After having been blocked by several countries in the Council since 2016, the current Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU,...

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Chapter News

ECB Speech | Learning the right lessons from the past

Speech by Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, on the occasion of the awarding of the Prix Turgot 2021, Paris | It is a great pleasure to be here once again in Bercy, which brings back so many memories. I am very grateful to Jean-Claude Trichet and the Cercle Turgot for bestowing this prize on me. It is an honour to join such an illustrious group of recipients. Anne-Robert, Jacques Turgot himself said that “the whole mass of humanity … marches...

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Chapter News, Trade & TTIP Related

EU proposes a strong multilateral trade response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Today, the EU has submitted its proposal seeking the commitment of World Trade Organization (WTO) members for a multilateral trade action plan to expand the production of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, and ensure universal and fair access. With this proposal to the WTO, divided in two communications, the EU underlines the WTO's central role in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and urges fellow WTO members to agree on a set of commitments, including on intellectual property rights. President von der...

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