On December 12, 2019, the U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”) announced that 44 additional HTS provisions and product descriptions will be excluded from the Section 301 trade remedies imposed on Chinese-origin products. The newly announced exclusions all relate to items on China 301 List 3 (the $200 billion trade action) which, unless excluded, are subject to an additional tariff of 25% ad valorem. The list of newly-excluded items (which supplements the exclusions previously granted by the USTR) is provided below. The exclusions...

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Data is now one of the most valuable commodities in the world, with a market estimated at USD 92 billion globally by 2026.  Rapidly increasing values mean rapidly increasing responsibilities: this is why both the sellers’ and buyers’ approach to certain transactions has significantly changed over the past few months. It is hard to say at what particular stage of a transaction data and analytics are most impactful: certainly, “the sooner the better” saying seems to fit perfectly also in...

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The UK is set to leave the EU on 31 January 2020. With the Conservative Party now in a substantial majority in the House of Commons, it appears inevitable that the United Kingdom will leave the European Union at the end of January 2020 on the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement agreed on 19 October 2019. Here are the steps by which that departure is expected to happen. Step One: get the WAB into the UK statute book Mr Johnson has indicated...

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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE Docket No. USTR-2019-0003 Review of Action: Enforcement of U.S. WTO Rights in Large Civil Aircraft Dispute AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative. ACTION: Request for comments. SUMMARY: The U.S. Trade Representative is reviewing the action being taken in the Section 301 investigation involving the enforcement of U.S. WTO rights in the Large Civil Aircraft dispute. Annex I to this notice contains a list of products currently subject to additional duties. Annex II contains...

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In response to growing concerns over climate change, and as part of broader efforts to connect finance with the specific needs of the European and global economy for the benefit of the planet and our society, the European Union has been examining how to integrate sustainability considerations into its financial policy framework in order to mobilise finance for sustainable growth. The action plan In March 2018, the European Commission published an action plan on sustainable finance (the “Action Plan”) specifically aiming...

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On Dec. 6, 2019, the Second Circuit issued a decision in Yu v. Hasaki Restaurant, Inc. that will likely impact settlement of wage and hour actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). In a split decision, the court reversed a district court ruling and held that judicial approval is not required when settling an FLSA claim pursuant to a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 68(a) offer of judgment. In this case, the plaintiff filed a complaint alleging FLSA overtime violations. After...

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On September 12, 2019, the European Court of Justice ruled that very high financial penalties for infringements of formal obligations in the context of a secondment are incompatible with the freedom to provide services. An Austrian contractor had contracted with a Croatian subcontractor to provide a service on Austrian territory. During an audit, the Austrian Tax Investigation Service established that for most of the employees, no payroll documents or work permits could be submitted. Both the manager of the Austrian...

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