During 2020 many small, and even not-so small, businesses applied for and received Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans which, if spent on certain permitted expenditures, are forgivable and essentially become a form of government grant. Under the PPP law, loan forgiveness is not automatic.  A borrower who wants to have their loan forgiven must apply for forgiveness within 10 months of the end of their loan’s “covered period,” which is generally no more than 24 weeks after their loan was...

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In this week’s global freight updates, we’ve got harbor truck disputes, increasing congestion and delays, shipping container accidents, and more. As pandemic-driven import volumes continue to overwhelm ports worldwide, the resulting supply chain stressors are exposing the cracks underneath the surface and further escalating detention and demurrage charges in the trucking industry. Despite efforts on the FMC’s part to ensure that carriers aren’t taking advantage of the current situation, the organization’s inability to legally create new regulation has allowed most supply chain...

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Data Science is a practice that has been incorporated into the market and explored in different segments. Soon, we will all have a bit of a data scientist. Are you ready for this? To demystify the subject, we brought the Data Science steps applied in practice, and that can be incorporated into your company. Follow each phase with us. Scope definition At this stage, the objective is to detail the business challenge. The phase involves both the human side, as we...

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From the slow speed of vaccinations across the EU, to its accidental threat of enforcing a hard border on the island of Ireland as part of its new vaccine export transparency mechanism, the European Commission is defending itself from all sides. What started with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s universally celebrated announcement that the Commission had centrally procured more than 2.3 billion doses of coronavirus vaccines to have everyone in the Union vaccinated by the end of the...

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Lawrenceville, NJ – (January 19, 2021) | Datacolor®, a global leader in color management solutions, announced today the launch of the Spectro 1000/700 series, a family of close-tolerance benchtop spectrophotometers designed for high efficiency and confidence in color formulation and quality control in a wide range of industries. The new series features the high inter-instrument agreement Datacolor customers have come to rely on, to ensure uniform color assessments across various instruments and multiple locations throughout the supply chain. The systems are designed...

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The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic caused significant changes to the manner in which businesses must operate, including patent offices around the world and the businesses and law firms that file patent applications. As a result, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), like many other patent offices around the world, made certain concessions to allow patent examination to continue despite the challenges. Those concessions include some aimed specifically at prosecution of plant patent applications. At the beginning of the pandemic, the USPTO provided relief...

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With Democrats now in control of Congress, it is increasingly likely that President Biden will be able to get at least some of his tax proposals passed. However, as the details of these proposals are still fluid, it is important to be mindful of the potential changes and to keep up with any new information. Income/Payroll Tax President Biden’s proposals aim to increase tax rates and limit deductions for taxpayers with income above $400,000. It is uncertain whether the $400,000 amount...

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In this News Update, we discuss the amended Regulation on Sound Remuneration Policy Wft 2017, the consultation on the Act Implementing the Directive on Cross-Border Distribution of investment firms and UCITS, the ECB's new climate change centre, and the AFM's supervision agenda for 2021 and research agenda for 2020-2021. Finally, we highlight some other important financial regulatory publications. If you wish to stay informed, you can subscribe to the News Update Financial Regulatory. DNB – Amended regulation on Sound Remuneration Policy Wft...

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