The EACC, in partnership with the International Property Tax Institute (IPTI), wants to keep its members up to date with the latest developments in property taxes in the USA and Europe. IPTI has put together below a selection of articles from IPTI Xtracts; more articles can be found on its website (www.ipti.org). United States Working From Home Could Eventually Eliminate $522 Billion in US Office Value, Study Finds New York Could See Largest Drop Remote working is expected to wipe out about $522...

Read more

When I say that a person is a great communicator, what do you think of? As a communication coach for international startups and professionals there is no one size that fits all, especially for those who are non-native English speakers. Many things affect our communication style whether it be language background, culture, industry, personalities, and our families. Over my many years of coaching I’ve witnessed who gets heard and why. It has been proven in many studies that we listen to...

Read more

Loyens & Loeff is pleased to announce that Robin Moser has been appointed equity partner, effective January 1, 2023. Robin joined Loyens & Loeff in 2019 and heads the Litigation and Risk Management department in the Zurich office. He focuses on domestic and international dispute resolution and has broad experience in representing clients in court, before federal and cantonal authorities and arbitral tribunals. Robin also has substantial experience in handling commercial disputes, asset recovery and enforcement matters, M&A disputes and criminal cases...

Read more

On 6 December, the Council of the EU and European Parliament came to a provisional agreement on a proposal to minimise the risk of deforestation and forest degradation associated with goods that are either imported or exported to the EU. As such a large consumer and trader of commodities that play a very substantial role in global deforestation, this move by the EU has been warmly welcomed by many. According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), an area...

Read more

Getting an advanced handle on cybersecurity and the attendant fallout from breaches is important, and failure to do so can be very costly on many levels. Not only do breaches regularly result in an onslaught of litigation, bad press and loss of customers and revenue, but companies often are exposed to fines and penalties by state, federal, and international regulators. Even though cybersecurity is frequently cited as one of the top-of-mind issues in C-suites, it’s easy enough to push...

Read more

There were numerous and wide ranging developments in intellectual property law in 2022, This includes the evolution and commercialisation of the Metaverse and NFT’s attracting significant media attention as a breakthrough development. In this article, we focus on three key case law developments: The decision by the EUIPO Fifth Board of Appeal to permit the well-known vodka brand, Absolut, to successfully register its 3D vodka bottle shape as a trade mark The decision by the EUIPO to refuse to...

Read more

On December 2, 2022, the Department of Commerce (“DOC”) issued affirmative preliminary determinations in antidumping duty (“ADD”) and countervailing duty (“CVD”) circumvention inquiries on solar cells and modules imported from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam (“C/M/T/V”). These decisions cover cells and modules made in C/M/T/V incorporating Chinese-made wafers and other Chinese-made “major components” (“Circumventing Products”).  In the past several years, well over 50% of solar cell/module imports into the United States have consisted of Circumventing Products. This decision, however, does...

Read more

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recently published a discussion paper (here) summarizing its preliminary findings on the potential competition impact of Big Tech entry into retail financial services. The FCA is now inviting stakeholder comments on a range of questions focusing on the areas of payments, deposit taking, consumer credit, and insurance. The discussion paper is open to feedback—particularly from industry players such as banks, payments firms, and fintechs—until January 15, 2023. This development signals the increasing regulatory scrutiny that...

Read more

The UK Government is supporting the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill to significantly expand employers’ liability for harassment in the workplace. If it becomes law, the bill would mean employers could be liable for harassment of employees by third parties, such as customers and clients. Secondly, it would place a positive duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment of employees. Liability for harassment of employee by third parties If enacted as it is currently drafted, an employee who is...

Read more

Key takeaways APAC countries continue to rank highly as locations of production, particularly due to the abundant supply of low cost of labour: of the top 12 locations, half are in APAC. Many of the countries that have slipped in the rankings compared with 2021 have done so due to increased costs (particularly for labour and electricity) and increased risk (economic, political and natural disaster); a number of these countries are in Europe where the war in Ukraine has...

Read more