Non-disclosure agreements, commonly known as NDAs, are a ubiquitous type of contract in many industries. NDAs can be useful in all sorts of situations, such as when companies look to work together on joint projects, when a party seeks investors, when an employee needs to use confidential information on the job, when a customer shares private data, or when parties agree to a legal settlement. It is important to craft these agreements carefully to protect your sensitive or confidential...

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On 18 May 2021, the European Commission issued a communication on “Business Taxation for the 21st Century”. The announcements made therein are expected to translate into actual legislative proposals in the next three years. If implemented, they would represent a systemic change to corporate taxation in the EU. Several short-term proposals would build upon the existing trends of increased transparency and substance requirements, and international negotiations on Pillar One and Pillar Two. The longer-term ambition is adopting a common set of rules to determine an EU consolidate corporate tax...

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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 a selection of brief reports from articles contained in IPTI Xtracts which can be found on its website (www.ipti.org). UNITED STATES Pandemic-Driven Devalued Retail Real Estate Owners Should Seek Property Tax Reductions Retail real estate has been one of the hardest hit markets by the COVID-19 pandemic....

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This was previously posted in the Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog | Though a bit provocative, this headline raises a liminal question on the various projects of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDBs): Which  governance will apply to them? Or as Juvenal, the poet in ancient Rome, famously asked, “Who will guard the guards themselves?” What Is a Central Bank Digital Currency? A CBDC is the digital form of a country’s fiat currency and, like traditional currency, represents a claim on that...

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On May 12, 2021, President Biden signed a landmark Executive Order to improve and modernize the federal government’s cybersecurity infrastructure. The Executive Order comes in the wake of numerous cyber incidents targeting the United States, including the so-called SolarWinds, Microsoft Exchange, and Colonial Pipeline incidents. The Executive Order will directly affect government contractors, including companies that sell software to the government or provide IT services. More broadly, but less directly, the Executive Order is likely to influence the informal, and eventually...

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Disruptionware is an emerging type of cyberattack calculated not only to disrupt the availability, integrity and confidentiality of victims’ data, systems and networks, but also to interrupt or shut down the essential business operations functions of its victims. More destructive than traditional malware and ransomware attacks which typically only target a victim’s systems and networks, disruptionware attacks target both the “information technology” (IT) and “operational technology” (OT) networks of its victims. In other words, disruptionware attacks target victims’ physical...

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Over the past year, employers have had to grapple with seismic social, cultural, and political developments impacting profoundly how they do business. From a worldwide pandemic severely affecting global communities, markets and workplaces, to the murder of George Floyd catapulting racial and social justice issues to international prominence, to a tumultuous presidential election and its resulting fallout, to the brutal attacks on the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, there has been a fundamental shift in how employers...

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The EIB spearheads market developments in the digitalisation of capital markets The EUR 100m 2-year bond, placed with key market investors, represents the market’s first multi‑dealer led, primary issuance of digitally native tokens using public blockchain technology Project selected by Banque de France as part of its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) sphere Similar to the EIB’s role in green bonds or risk free rates, the new digital bond issuance may pave the way for market players to...

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On May 12, the SEC Division of Investment Management staff (IM staff) issued a statement regarding registered funds’ investments in Bitcoin futures (Statement). The Statement acknowledges the development of the Bitcoin futures market since the IM staff began to consider issues surrounding potential cryptocurrency-related investments by registered funds in 2018. In the Statement, the IM staff referred to its January 2018  letter to the registered fund industry in which it identified several areas of concern about cryptocurrency-related investments, including valuation, liquidity, custody,...

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