In a landmark ruling, the European Court of Justice today struck down the 2016 EU-US Privacy Shield, a method of transferring data across the Atlantic, over concerns regarding the safety of European citizens’ data in the United States. The ruling cannot be appealed. The ECJ’s decision risks legal uncertainty for thousands of businesses in, or dependent on, the transatlantic data economy and could potentially lead to punitive tariffs from the Trump administration. Today’s ruling goes back to 2013, when Austrian privacy activist Max...

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On 14 July 2020, the European Commission recommended that EU member states do not grant financial support to companies with links to countries that are on the EU's list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions. Restrictions should also apply where it has been established that a company or its owners have been convicted of serious financial crimes, including, among others, financial fraud, corruption, non-payment of tax and social security obligations. It is up for the member states to implement this non-binding...

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On 14 July 2020, the Belgian DPA fined Google 600.000 EUR, by far the highest fine handed out to date in Belgium. The decision is interesting not just for Google (and Google users) but also for other organisations, due to the lessons it holds regarding international jurisdiction, special categories of personal data and the conditions for the right to erasure or "right to be forgotten". The facts are fairly simple: 12 results of a Google search for X, the CEO...

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In a landmark ruling the General Court of the European Union has annulled the European Commission’s 2016 decision to order the Irish Government to recoup €13.1 billion in back taxes from Apple. In an unprecedented move at the time the European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, ordered the Irish Government to recoup the money from the US tech giant, over what it alleged were two special rulings made for Apple. The rulings allowed Apple to pay “substantially and artificially” lower...

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On Thursday, May 28th, Tradewind Finance, EACC-NY, Pepper Hamilton (now Troutman Pepper), and CLA Connect jointly conducted a webinar titled “How to Navigate the After Effects of the U.S. Stimulus Packages". The webinar included discussions on the Paycheck Protection Program and how it differs with offerings by the EU, as well as other available programs for funding to combat the economic effects and supply chain disruptions that have resulted from Covid-19. During the webinar, Tradewind’s William Avedon narrowed in on...

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Without a nationwide resolution to the COVID-19 pandemic in immediate sight, remote interviews are likely to become an increasing part of government investigations in the near term.  Previously, remote testimony likely meant only that the investigators and interviewee were in separate locations; counsel had the opportunity to be together with the client for the testimony.  But under the current circumstances, remote testimony requires all parties—including a lawyer and her client—to participate from separate locations. Defense counsel will need to adapt her practice...

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This is an update to our “Summary of CARES Act and FFCRA Tax Credit and Payroll Tax Relief” chart published on May 21, 2020, that summarizes the payroll and tax credit programs under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) and the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). Subsequent to the publication, the President signed into law the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020, and government agencies have continued issuing guidance on program eligibility and...

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The Platform to Business Regulation (2019/1150) (‘P2B Regulation’) addresses the perceived imbalance between online platform providers and traders, as well as between online search engines and corporate websites by promoting fairness and transparency for business users. This new regulation came into effect on 12 July 2020. Platform providers and search engines must now comply with the new P2B Regulation obligations, and traders should check out how the Regulation will benefit them in their dealings with platforms and search engines. Which...

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