The general contours of the business and investment climate are being shaped by three forces.  First, Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions boost price pressures and slow growth.  It was a supply shock.  Even before the war, countries had begun stepping back from the powerful monetary and fiscal support provided during the pandemic.  Second, China's response to its Covid outbreak is slowing the world's second-largest economy.  It threatens supply chains but also a demand shock.  The knock-on effect...

Read more

This article is part of Portolano Cavallo’s “INFORM@Digital & IP” Newsletter. Click here to subscribe | The latest ruling of the Court of Milan stated that the commercial success of a fashion item does not automatically entail copyright protection, which requires proof of creativity and artistic value. The protection of fashion designs is a hotly debated issue, and one that Italian and EU courts have often discussed and decided upon. One of the pivotal points of concern is whether, and to what extent,...

Read more

Here’s an assignment: Think of a buzzy tech-industry concept (such as “Big Data”, “Internet of Things”, “Digital Twin”, or “Artificial Intelligence”). Now, imagine an industry most in need of the transformation that buzzword represents. Chances are that marine ports didn’t spring to mind. Shipping bottlenecks remain a major hurdle to returning to business as usual, disrupting the economy. Port activity -- including labor shortages, a surge in demand for imports, container scarcity, and capacity constraints -- disproportionately kink global supply...

Read more

On Wednesday, European Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas, together with EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson, presented new proposals for ambitious legal migration. They include legislative, operational and policy initiatives, while also addressing specific measures to facilitate the labour market integration of people fleeing the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. The point in time – in the middle of the Ukraine crisis with over 5 million having fled the neighbouring EU Member States – certainly shows political courage. However, the Commission’s Migration Pact also...

Read more

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) recently issued an advisory urging financial institutions (including certain cryptocurrency businesses) to implement controls to help detect proceeds of foreign public corruption. The Advisory describes the types of corrupt payments and arrangements that financial institutions should be looking for and identifies red flags to help those institutions detect and report suspicious transactions that may involve kleptocracy and foreign public corruption. Targeting Corruption. FinCEN reemphasizes that fighting corruption is a priority for the Biden Administration...

Read more

In response to significant concerns around the misuse of the Internet by terrorists, in April 2021 the EU adopted controversial Regulation (EU) 2021/784 which lays down uniform rules to address the misuse of hosting services for the dissemination of terrorist content (Regulation). Amongst other things, service providers can now be required to remove flagged terrorist content from their platforms across the entire EU within one hour. Under this landmark legislation, which has direct effect across the EU from 7...

Read more

Key insights The impacts of inflation are not the same for every organization, and successful decisions from past inflationary periods don’t necessarily translate in future inflationary times. Develop a financial model and run various “what-if” scenarios to stress test your tolerance to inflation — and quantify the financial impact of decisions before you commit to them. Consider three key areas: supply chain, labor, and pricing. As signs of continued significant inflation surface weekly, business leaders and business owners are making...

Read more

What will the impact of the metaverse be on how people work? The metaverse originated from the gaming industry but is spreading into an array of industries including real estate, commerce, retail and the arts. Although we are still at the very beginning of this technology, it has a number of implications for the concept of work and working life that were explored as part of Osborne Clarke's "Metaverse week" of webinars. As well as creating specific jobs, the metaverse...

Read more

The EU is close to finalizing the adoption of the Digital Services Act (DSA), which will impose new obligations on digital platforms regarding content moderation, due diligence for illegal content, and advertising transparency. It will entail significant changes to existing EU law in these areas and will impose substantial new compliance burdens on companies in regard to online content. Following long negotiations, the EU institutions reached a political agreement on the final text of the DSA on April 23, 2022....

Read more

On 22 April 2022, the Luxembourg financial regulator (the "CSSF") released Circular 22/806 on outsourcing arrangements (the "Circular"). By means of the Circular, the CSSF adopts and integrates the revised EBA Guidelines on outsourcing arrangements (EBA/GL/2019) (the "EBA Guidelines") and, as far as fund management is concerned, the ESMA Guidelines on outsourcing to cloud service providers (the "ESMA Guidelines"). In addition to incorporating the EBA and ESMA Guidelines into the Luxembourg regulatory framework, the CSSF complements the EBA Guidelines...

Read more