With US voters beginning to cast ballots, many are seeking to gauge how the results of the 2020 US elections will shape the US legislative and regulatory environment on a range of issues affecting workers, companies and the economy; as well as environmental issues, global trade and supply chains. Election day outcomes will determine US government approaches to a host of pressing public policy challenges and provide the path forward on many significant issues for years to come. This publication...

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Executives depend on the quality of their people to achieve their corporate and personal career goals. It is an old adage – and a true one – that the best jockey cannot win races if he only rides slow horses. A better understanding of the skills and abilities of executive recruiters will enable any manager to greatly increase the quality of his hiring decisions, and thereby enhance his own career! Some managers are aware and take full advantage of the...

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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). USA New York: NYC’s Revenue Loss Less Than Feared as Property Taxes Gain New York City’s tax revenue from March through August fell by $1.2 billion, or 3.5%,...

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Earlier this year, we published a news update that discussed the Minister of Economic Affairs' plans to implement a new ex-ante screening mechanism for investments in companies involved in vital processes or working with sensitive technologies in the Netherlands. On 8 September 2020, the bill setting up this ex-ante screening mechanism, the Economy and National Security Bill (the "ENSB"), was published for consultation. In this update, we provide an overview of the new rules, which are expected to enter into force in early 2021. The timing...

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On Wednesday, the G20 Finance Ministers agreed to prolonged talks within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to develop an international digital tax on large digital companies until the summer of 2021 – dashing hopes of an agreement by the end of the year. The lack of progress from the 140 OECD countries, including European states, the U.S. and China was met with frustration by some. France’s Digital Minister Cedric O, who has long since publicly supported unilateral...

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Competition Commissioner Vestager presented a sneak peak of her plans for the future of EU merger control on the 30th anniversary of the EU Merger Regulation. The proposed plans include a simplification of the notification procedure and a new approach towards the system of referral to ensure that significant transactions, particularly in the digital and pharmaceutical industries, no longer escape Commission scrutiny. The Commission calls upon national competition authorities to refer transactions to it that remain below notification thresholds, but potentially have...

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This article is part of Portolano’s quarterly “INFORM@ Corporate” Newsletter. Click here to subscribe. | 1. The Schrems II judgment in a nutshell On July 16, 2020 the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU” or the “Court”) upheld a cornerstone judgment in the Data Protection Commissioner v. Facebook Ireland Limited, Maximilian Schrems case (Case C-311/18—or the “Schrems II judgment”), concerning data transfers under EU Regulation 679/2016 (“GDPR”) and in particular transfers from Europe to the United States. In the judgment, the Court struck...

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Partners Emily Jones and Steve Wilson provide a joint letter on Osborne Clarke's 20th anniversary in the US market | OCUS | 20 years’ young October 2000 seems a very long time ago…honestly, January 2020 seems a lifetime ago, but that’s a different story! Back in the late 90s, the "relics" at Osborne Clarke had been considering how best to support our US client base from afar without disrupting the relationships we had with so many amazing law firms in the...

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