Finland Pledges Carbon Neutrality Ahead of EU Presidency As Finland prepares to take over the rotating EU presidency from next month, the country’s new left leaning government said on Monday that it will aim to cut its carbon emissions completely by 2035. After lengthy talks following April’s general election, Finland agreed on a new five-party government which has pledged to increase public spending by €1.23bn a year and spend another €3bn on one-off investments, notably in the rail network, over...

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By Daniel Giuliano, Portolano Cavallo Studio Legale  Law Decree no. 34 published on April 30, 2019 (the “Decree”) establishes a new corporate vehicle named “Simple Investment Company” (“Società di investimento Semplice”) (“SIC”), to facilitate fundraising by early stage small and medium-sized companies. SiCs are defined as Italian alternative investment funds (FIA) that are targeted at professional investors, incorporated in the form of an Investment Company with Fixed Capital (“Società d’Investimento a Capitale Fisso”) that directly manages its assets. SiCs’ main features, as...

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By Mark Overmann, Vice President of External Affairs | InterExchange Last week in Washington, DC, our new program, Sustainable Action Costa Rica, was named GoAbroad’s best New Program for Study Abroad Innovation! Sustainable Action Costa Rica is an exploration of 21st century development concerns in a local context. Participants learn through visits with local NGOs and group activities, with outdoor adventures along the way. My colleague Tanya Burovtseva and I were thrilled to be on hand at the 2019 NAFSA Conference to proudly...

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On May 30, 2019, President Trump announced that effective June 10, 2019, all goods imported into the U.S. from Mexico will be subject to an additional duty of 5% ad valorem. This is in addition to the regular duties which are normally applicable to the goods. The President invoked his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose the tariff, stating that the measure was necessary to address the “illegal migration crisis” at the U.S. southern border....

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By Andy Baldwin, Hanne Jesca Bax & Marc Lhermitte | EY The EY Europe Attractiveness Survey 2019 examines the region’s attractiveness as a foreign direct investment (FDI) destination, bringing priorities for Europe into sharp focus. Our report analyzes the level of foreign investment into Europe and gathers the views of over 500 international business leaders on the most important factors that will improve Europe’s attractiveness for investment prospects. Our findings reveal that, relative to other regions around the world, Western...

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The Toy Association opposes President Trump’s plan to impose escalating tariffs, starting at 5 percent, on all U.S. imports from Mexico as a retaliation against the country’s immigration enforcement actions. “While Congress and the administration together must act to fix our broken immigration system, a further misuse of tariffs now focused on Mexico is the wrong approach,” said Steve Pasierb, president and CEO of The Toy Association. “As with China Section 301 tariffs, this amounts to nothing more than a tax with...

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By Stephanie De Smedt | Loyens & Loeff On 28 May 2019, the Data Protection Authority (DPA) imposed its first administrative fine under the GDPR . A mayor was fined 2,000 EUR for misusing personal data for electoral campaign purposes. The DPA noted that while the fine is modest, the message is not: all data controllers must take their responsibility, most certainly those who hold a public mandate. The case: sending of personalized e-mail by a government representative The DPA received a...

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On 31 May 2019, the OECD published its programme of work for developing a solution to the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy (Programme of Work). The Programme of Work will explore technical issues in line with the ‘two-pillar’ approach set out in the OECD policy note of 29 January 2019 (see our tax flash here) and the OECD public consultation document of 13 February 2019 (see our tax flash here). Pillar One seeks to develop new profit allocation...

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June 2019 FX Outlook The tariff truce came to an abrupt end via presidential tweets on May 3.  Until those tweets, US officials had been indicating that progress was being made and there was hope that at the sidelines of the G20 meeting that Trump and Xi would agree on a trade deal.  The end of the tariff truce marked a turning point in the markets. Risk appetites were reduced.  Equities and yields fell.   The dollar eased in the first...

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