Member News

The Right to Privacy in the Workplace

By Philip Nolan |Partner | +353 1 614 5078 | Mason Hayes & Curran In September 2017, the European Court of Human Rights (the ECtHR) overturned a January 2016 decision of its lower court regarding employee privacy in the workplace. The case, Barbulescu, concerned the monitoring of employee communications in the workplace and whether the monitoring was excessive in light of the employee’s expectation of privacy. The impact of this reversal could prove significant in the context of employers’ obligations to safeguard their employees’...

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Chapter News

The Elusive European Consumer: An Open Letter to an American Cousin

By Maurice Marchand-Tonel | Chairman | EACC Paris If you already do business in Europe and successfully so, do skip this vignette. If you are in a B to B space, just skim through this. If, however, you are in a B to C business with a goal of conquering Europe with your unique products that your US consumers love so much, let’s just throw in a couple basic remarks. IF you are in a B to C business with a...

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Member News

Luxembourg legislative proposal implementing and complementing the GDPR

By Vincent Wellens | Barbara Giroud | Anne-Sophie Morvan |Carmen Schellekens | NautaDutilh On 12 September 2017, a highly awaited bill implementing and complementing the EU General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR (Regulation No 2016/679) was submitted to the Luxembourg Parliament. Since the GDPR is a European regulation, its provisions will be directly applicable in Luxembourg as from 25 May 2018. However, the Member States have a number of options when it comes to implementing the GDPR. Luxembourg has made use...

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Chapter News

Understanding and Overcoming Low Inflation

Remarks by Vítor Constâncio, Vice-President of the ECB: Ladies and gentleman, As this successful conference draws to an end, I wish to extend a warm thank you to all participants, for collaborating with this ECB research initiative, which has been very fruitful. In my concluding remarks, I will discuss a few issues raised during the conference. Understanding inflation dynamics is especially important today due to the surprisingly low inflation levels prevailing in many countries. Moreover, there is evidence suggesting that in some...

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Chapter News

Taxation: Commission sets out path towards fair taxation of the Digital Economy

  The European Commission is today launching a new EU agenda to ensure that the digital economy is taxed in a fair and growth-friendly way. The Communication adopted by the Commission sets out the challenges Member States currently face when it comes to acting on this pressing issue and outlines possible solutions to be explored. The aim is to ensure a coherent EU approach to taxing the digital economy that supports the Commission's key priorities of completing the Digital Single Market and ensuring...

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Member News

Tax Alert – Netherlands Budget Day 2017

By Michael Molenaars | Jeroen Smits | Maarten de Bruin | Emile Bongers | Reinout de Boer | Robert Jean Kloprogge | Stibbe On 19 September it was budget day (Prinsjesdag) in the Netherlands on which the Dutch government announced several bills containing tax law proposals. In this Tax Alert we will provide you with a summary of the main proposals relevant for international businesses. Most attention will be given to the proposal regarding changes to the Dutch dividend withholding tax...

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Member News

USCIS Resumes Premium Processing for Some Categories of Applicants Seeking H-1B Visas

By Caroline Tang  | Austin | caroline.tanogletree.com The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced, on September 18, 2017, that it has resumed premium processing for all H-1B visa petitions subject to the fiscal year (FY) 2018 cap. USCIS had originally announced on March 3, 2017 that it would be suspending the premium processing program for all H-1B petitions received on April 3, 2017 or later, including all of the “cap-subject” H-1B petitions for FY 2018. This resumption of premium processing...

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Chapter News

Creating a stronger and more integrated European financial supervision for the Capital Markets Union

European consumers, investors and businesses will benefit from stronger and more integrated financial markets, thanks to plans by the Commission to reform the EU's supervisory architecture. The European Commission is today proposing reforms to pave the way for further financial integration and a full Capital Markets Union, to promote jobs, growth and investments in Europe and to strengthen the Economic and Monetary Union. President Juncker underlined the importance of the Capital Markets Union, one of the Commission's flagship projects, in his State...

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Member News

The Next HR Data Protection Challenge: What U.S. Multinational Employers Must Do To Prepare for the European Union’s Impending General Data Protection Regulation

 By Philip L. Gordon | Shareholder | pgordonlittler.com  With summer holidays over and only eight months remaining in the two-year enforcement grace period, U.S. multinational employers and their European Union (EU) subsidiaries have little time to spare before starting to address compliance with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR or the “Regulation”), the EU’s new data protection framework.  By May 25, 2018, the corporate group will need to implement new poliies, procedures, and practices to address the GDPR’s many...

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Member News

FTC Updates Rule on Registered Identification Numbers

BY GRUNFELD | DESIDERIO | LEBOWITZ |SILVERMAN & KLESTADT LLP The FTC has updated the process by which firms can obtain a Registered Identification Number (commonly referred to as an “RN Number”) for use in connection with the sale and/or distribution of textile, fur and wool products. At the same time, the Commission has sought to remind the Trade that Registered Identification Numbers are subject to cancellation if a person or firm to whom a Registered Identification Number has been assigned fails...

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