On March 18, President Donald Trump issued an executive order finding that the “health and medical resources needed to respond to the spread of COVID-19, including personal protective equipment and ventilators” meet certain criteria set forth in the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (DPA). In the executive order, the president also delegated authority under the DPA to the Secretary of Health and Human Services “to determine, in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce and the heads of...

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On March 23, 2020, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced it will begin accepting exclusion requests from the Section 301 tariffs on goods manufactured in China for medical-care products needed to address the COVID-19 outbreak. The exclusion requests are to be submitted to regulations.gov. No specific forms or formats are required.  Though USTR asks that all requests be submitted as soon as possible, the process will be open until June 25, 2020.  Any product included in any of the previous...

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On March 24, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor released an initial set of questions and answers (Q&As) concerning the recently enacted Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). The Q&As focus on the law’s provisions relating to new emergency paid sick leave (EPSL) and emergency paid Family and Medical Leave Act benefits (FMLA+). As it continues to accept feedback regarding the FFCRA, the DOL may release additional Q&As on more issues, or clarify issues in the existing guidance, before...

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In a very short period of time, private equity groups and their portfolio companies have had to deal with an unprecedented amount of change in response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. Pepper Hamilton is working diligently in response to these events and has developed guidance on many of the issues that you may soon face, or indeed may already be facing. The guidance offered below takes into account developments as of today, but, as the situation continues to...

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On Sunday night, March 22, 2020, the federal banking agencies (OCC, FDIC, NCUA, Federal Reserve), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the State Conference of Bank Supervisors issued an Interagency Statement on Loan Modifications and Reporting for Financial Institutions Working with Customers Affected by the Coronavirus. The Guidance does two key things: 1. Short-term loan modifications granted to borrowers that have become financially distressed as a result of economic conditions created by COVID-19 will not result in a loan being classified...

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Many early stage and emerging growth companies utilize venture lending as a source of funding to compliment equity financing. But what happens to these loans in difficult and uncertain times? Wilson Sonsini has experience in the venture lending markets that goes back more than three decades through multiple economic cycles and we know the active participants in the market well. We have helped both borrowers and lenders through difficult transactions in similar circumstances and we can offer some thoughts...

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Among the many matters the COVID-19 outbreak has disrupted, it has become more challenging for some IP-owners to abide by the strict procedures and deadlines for protecting their intellectual property rights, including trademarks, patents, and industrial designs. International IP offices have responded. We summarize below the current positions of some of the major intellectual property offices on applicable deadlines, in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Some of these intellectual property offices have modified procedures and deadlines for protection of intellectual...

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The COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic is affecting hundreds of thousands of people and is leading, all over the world, to far-reaching health and safety measures. As a result, the COVID-19 crisis has major social and economic consequences. Measures are being adopted to limit the impact on taxpayers as much as possible. In this EUTA Special Edition we provide an overview of the most important announced measures adopted by the European Commission as well as within our home countries Luxembourg, Belgium, Switzerland...

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There are a few definitions under the word “Crisis” in the dictionary. They include (1) an unstable time and period of change and (2) “an emotionally significant event or radical change of status in a person’s life.” Depending on your personality and disposition, there are a lot of things that could be perceived as significant events or unstable times that cause a period of change. Change is constant and with the hyper-frenetic pace of technology, communications and activity, disruptive events...

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Key Notes: • The increase in teleworking during the COVID-19 crisis creates unique data and infrastructure security challenges that organizations must address. • New teleworking arrangements or increased volume of telework could also require changes to HIPAA documentation. In response to concerns about COVID-19, many organizations are requiring their employees, contractors and other business partners to telework and use remote access technologies to perform their daily work or furnish services. While this may be unavoidable given the current health crisis, permitting access...

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