Christmas is a time for contemplation, and the proposals of the long-awaited Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act may give gatekeepers and other online intermediaries even more reason to be pensive this year. The proposals introduce more rules for them to abide by, while also providing greater safeguards to fair competition and online users. Even though it will likely be another year before the Acts become effective, online intermediaries may already wish to begin considering their internal processes and business policies...

Read more

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). USA California: Prop. 13 Still the Third Rail? Not Exactly Proposition 13 is still the third rail of California politics,” crowed Jon Coupal in the headline of an...

Read more

On 1 December 2020, the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (''ICC'') officially launched its revised Rules of Arbitration, which will enter into force in January 2021. This News Update provides a brief overview of the key changes made in these new rules. Strengthening the integrity of ICC arbitrations The 2021 ICC Rules aim to improve the integrity of the proceedings. Article 11(7), for example, introduces a requirement for the parties to disclose the existence and identity of...

Read more

New York, United States (December 16, 2020) | Tradewind Finance has provided a USD 1 million domestic factoring facility to a seafood importer and wholesaler based in the United States that sells a variety of fish, including snapper, tuna, swordfish, mahi-mahi, and grouper, to retailers and distributors in the USA. The company is a new subsidiary of a large seafood farmer and processor based in Costa Rica and is using the funding to expedite cash flow back to the parent...

Read more

The loan will finance Wacker Chemie`s research and development efforts, with a focus on the company’s innovation and sustainability strategy The project will be part of the company`s shift to become a climate neutral chemicals organisation Financing by EU bank is backed by a guarantee from the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the main pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe The European Investment Bank (EIB) will provide €290 million to the German company Wacker Chemie AG. Wacker is...

Read more

Headlines across Europe and the UK are centered around coronavirus news and Brexit negotiations, both of which have an impact on the commercial real estate (CRE) industry. Although the UK left the EU in January of this year, negotiations continued throughout the pandemic, and only have until December 31st to be finalized. If there is a no-deal Brexit, the BBC highlights there will be border checks and taxes introduced for goods traveling between the UK and the EU which will have a...

Read more

Legal Considerations for Responding to the Massive Cybersecurity Incident In a security advisory this past weekend, SolarWinds disclosed that its systems experienced a highly sophisticated supply chain attack on versions of its Orion network monitoring products released between March and June 2020. The New York Times has reported that it is highly likely that the Russian intelligence unit known as Cozy Bear, or A.P.T. 29, carried out the attack, which involved inserting malicious code into automatic product updates to allow the attackers to gain a foothold...

Read more

Nation-state actors often leverage the effects of cyber operations to achieve their strategic objectives on the world’s stage. The latest example of this type of advanced persistent threat (APT) cyber attack involves U.S. federal agencies and highprofile companies that were breached via a compromised and weaponized version of a software update from a connected third party. Publicly reported information indicates that a vendor was infiltrated by a sophisticated nation-state cyber attack, which allowed for malware to be embedded and hidden...

Read more