Brexit News, Member News

Optimism In The Face Of Uncertainty UK SME Brexit Survey 2018

Each year, at OCO Global (a company specialized in International Trade and Investment) we deal with hundreds of UK SMEs and advise and support them on their international growth plans. To supplement what we are hearing and seeing in our daily work, we have commissioned a survey of 1,000 UK SMEs, looking at the impact, expectations and level of preparedness ahead of Brexit. Key findings include: Third of UK SMEs believe Brexit will be positive for their business (driven by existing exporters),...

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Member News

A Successful London IPO for a VC Backed US Tech Company, Learn More at Palo Alto & Seattle Events on November 5 & 6

Join Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati at their Palo Alto office for the event: A Successful London IPO for a VC Backed US Tech Company.   The IPO of San Francisco founded, VC backed fintech Boku Inc. shows London offers a complementary liquidity option to US public markets for US growth companies in the $50m - $500m equity value range. The significant secondary element in the IPO and recent secondary selldown for VCs including Khosla Ventures, Benchmark Capital and Andreesen Horowitz demonstrate how London’s...

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Brexit News, Member News, Trade & TTIP Related

Vulcan View: Week of October 22

BREXIT    Theresa May once again wards off Tory rebels on Brexit    Theresa May addressed her conservative party backbenchers at the weekly meeting of the 1922 Committee on Wednesday, where she made an impassioned speech that appears to have placated some of her critics, at least for now. Mrs May asked to speak at the meeting following rumours that backbench MPs would trigger a vote of no confidence, largely due to Mrs May’s announcement last week that she would consider extending the...

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Member News

Ireland: Trade Secrets – Make Sure Your Business Isn’t Left Behind

The Irish legislation, the European Union (Protection of Trade Secrets) Regulations 2018 (Regulations) came into effect in June 2018. The Regulations have provided a welcome attempt at harmonising the disjointed area of protection of confidential business know-how. These new laws mark the start of trade secrets being given more formal protection in line with other types of intellectual property rights.   What is a trade secret? A trade secret is a valuable piece of information for a business that is treated...

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Chapter News

Commission Work Programme for 2019 and draft budgetary plan of Italy

Commission presents its work programme for 2019 and requests Italy to submit a revised draft budgetary plan within three weeks Commission Work Programme 2019 The European Commission presented today its Work Programme for 2019, setting out three main priorities for the year ahead: reaching swift agreement on the legislative proposals already presented to deliver on its ten political priorities; adopting a limited number of new initiatives to address outstanding challenges; and presenting several initiatives with a future perspective for a Union...

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Member News

Don’t Let These 10 Legal Myths Stop Your Doing Business In The United States: Myth #1 – The costs of entry into the US are prohibitive

By Marc Friedman, Director of Professional Relations, Global Commerce Education  Last week I explained how many non-US companies, including Baltic businesses, are discouraged from exploiting a robust US marketplace by 10 legal myths than can easily be debunked. In this article I explain how Myth #1 - The costs of entry into the US, including the costs of business formation, are very great and, thus, prohibitive – is untrue. There are several ways for a European business to enter the US marketplace...

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Chapter News

Europe and Asia – Global Partners for Global Challenges

President Juncker at the Asia-Europe Meeting Summit and the European Union-Association of Southeast Asian Nations Leaders' Meeting The 12th Asia-Europe Meeting Summit took place on 18-19 October in Brussels, bringing together 51 countries, as well as EU and Asian institutions. Under the title "Global Partners for Global Challenges", leaders addressed some of the world's most pressing issues. Following the Asia-Europe Meeting Summit, a Leaders' Meeting between the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations took place. In the...

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Brexit News, Member News

The Weekly Vulcan View for the 15th to the 19th of October featuring analysis of the latest EU developments

VULCAN VIEW: KEY EVENTS THIS WEEK BREXIT   EU Summit – NO Deal but Prime Minister May is given ‘Space’   This week’s much-awaited European Council summit on Brexit ended, as predicted, in deadlock after no substantive progress was made on the issue of the Irish border.  British Prime Minister Theresa May addressed her fellow leaders on Wednesday, saying she remained confident that a breakthrough was within reach. However, at a private dinner the EU27 leaders expressed their frustration with the lack of progress...

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Brexit News, Chapter News

Brexit Timelines & Important Dates

Brexit Timeline Recap: What happened so far: Timeline: What happens once Article 50 has been triggered? European Council guidelines and conclusions 29 April 2017 - guidelines from the European Council (Article 50) on Brexit negotiations 20 October 2017 - European Council (Article 50) conclusions 15 December 2017 - guidelines from the European Council (Article 50) on Brexit negotiations 23 March 2018 - guidelines from the European Council (Article 50) on the framework for the future EU-UK relationship   29 June 2018 - European Council (Article 50) conclusions   July...

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Brexit News, Chapter News

Remarks by President Donald Tusk after the European Council meetings on 17 and 18 October 2018

Good afternoon, let me start with Brexit. Yesterday, after listening to Prime Minister May's assessment of the state of the negotiations, the EU27 confirmed that we want to continue the talks in a positive spirit. Leaders expressed their full trust in Michel Barnier, and asked our negotiator to continue efforts to achieve an agreement. I stand ready to convene a European Council on Brexit, if and when the EU negotiator reports that decisive progress has been made. And we...

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