By Maria Fernanda Gandarez (New York City), Matthew Kolodziej (New York City), Rajula Sati (New York City) | Ogletree Deakins The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has issued new guidance establishing a presumption of willful misrepresentation when a foreign national, within 90 days of entry into the United States, engages in conduct that violates the terms of his or her nonimmigrant status. The individual will be presumed to have misrepresented his or her intent to comply with the terms of his...

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By Vulcan Consulting GERMANY   Merkel secures fourth term but difficult coalition awaits Last Sunday’s federal elections in Germany provided expected results as Chancellor Angela Merkel retained her position as leader of the largest party for a fourth straight term. However, the outcome left Ms. Merkel with an challenging parliamentary scenario as she negotiates to secure a working government majority.   The country’s two major parties, the conservative Christian Democratic Union-Christian Social Union (CDU-CSU) bloc to which the chancellor...

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By Dr Mansur Pour Rafsendjani, Partner, Noerr Munich | Noerr LLP On 12 September 2017 the European Parliament passed a resolution on the functioning of franchising in retail (2016/2244(INI)). In the resolution, the European Parliament takes the view that franchising regulation should be harmonised across Europe. Content of the European Parliament resolution The Parliament states that many Member States have enacted legislation, but that this is inconsistent and its focus has often been only on certain aspects, such as imposing disclosure obligations...

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By Andrew C. Collins | Managing Partner | Drew.Collinsbbgfx.com |513.386.8541 | Bannockburn Global Forex It was an eventful weekend in the world of politics with both Germany and New Zealand holding elections, British Prime Minister Theresa May outlining her latest Brexit implementation plan, and Japanese PM Abe hinting at holding snap elections later this year.  Let's briefly cover each. Angela Merkel won a fourth term in the German election but her party performed more poorly than expected, winning a declining share of seats.  Both the...

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By Vulcan Consulting EUROPEAN UNION Collection of EU states back new plan to tax digital giants Finance ministers from ten EU countries have signed a letter, pledging to throw their weight behind a new initiative to begin taxing the digital revenues of the major internet players such as Google, Amazon and Facebook. Triggered initially by France, the tax plan has gathered support from a significant cohort of additional EU states such as Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal and several others. Such internet giants have...

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