In 2007, litigation was initiated in the Court of International Trade (CIT) alleging that gender and age tariff rate disparities on identical or substantially similar products were discriminatory and unconstitutional. Cases were filed on behalf of numerous importers raising identical claims and a few test cases were selected (e.g.Totes-Isotoner Corp. v. United States, 569 F. Supp. 2d 1315 (2008) ("Totes")) and the rest of the cases were stayed pending the outcome of these cases . Unfortunately, the test cases were...

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The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), under the leadership of its Chairman Thomas J. Curry, is increasingly focused on cybersecurity risks to financial institutions. At the end of June 2014, the FFIEC created a cybersecurity awareness Web page that assembles the key information about cybersecurity risks to financial institutions. Please note that of the six FFIEC members, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is now included as a voting member of the FFIEC, along with the other federal prudential...

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In this three-part series of posts, we bring you a checklist of questions to help you tackle the challenge of website legal compliance. Are your terms and conditions of sale binding? It is imperative that online purchasers are bound by the terms and conditions of sale or engagement.  Simply making terms and conditions available by hyperlink may not be sufficient to incorporate the terms and conditions of sale into the purchase arrangements. It is generally recommended that purchasers should be required to...

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The SUNY Global Engagement Program in New York City is an internship program for students with interests in global issues. The program is seeking to build partnerships with non-profit international organizations interested in having high achieving, ambitious students undertake non-paid internships.  We realize how important having good interns is for many organizations. GEP helps match academically strong students with organizations that work in their area of interest.  Student applicants are pre-screened to ensure strong candidates and they are closely supervised...

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Start-ups comprise an important success factor for Austria as a business location, because they open up new markets and growth opportunities. Young companies create new jobs, stimulate the economy and generally make it more resistant to crises. It is also obvious that company founders are confronted with numerous challenges and have to be supported as effectively as possible. This especially applies to ensuring financing possibilities.  In particular, young companies which show disproportionately high growth often face the problem of...

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Race 14 got underway as crew members waved goodbye to the New York City skyline and looked towards the warm welcome they knew would be waiting for them when they arrived in Derry-Londonderry after the 2850 mile race.  The early days of the race saw gains and losses made by all boats as they chose different tactics in the light winds that they were faced with. The crews saw air and water temperatures plummet as the fleet neared the...

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As we predicted in Observation 1.0, the inevitable waves of Volcker Rule guidance and interpretation have begun. A set of frequently asked questions, developed jointly and adopted in substantively identical form by the federal banking agencies (the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), (the “Interagency FAQs”) has just been published. Since we understand that...

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Investment funds, including private equity funds, often receive capital contributions from tax-exempt organizations. These tax-exempt institutions may include U.S. and foreign pension funds, as well as U.S. and foreign charities and college and university endowment funds. This article addresses some of the U.S. withholding tax exemptions and obligations as they relate to foreign tax-exempt organizations invested in investment funds. Taxation of Foreign Investors on U.S.-Source Investment Income Private equity, venture capital and domestic hedge funds typically are formed as partnerships for...

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The CMBS market saw an impressive finish to the first half of 2014 with spreads tightening sharply across the board in June. Those gains came after a disappointing May in which performance was largely flat. In 2012 and 2013, the spring and early summer turned out to be hazardous times for CMBS investors with meaningful spread widening during those stretches. There was no such drama this year as CMBS investors saw big gains over the last 30 days. Legacy Paper Legacy super...

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Nearly every business has a website, whether just for information purposes or for selling goods or services. Yet, how many businesses are aware of the legislation which applies to websites and e-commerce transactions? Is your website designed to comply with WEEE, e-commerce, equality and data protection legislation?  It is a criminal offence not to comply with some of this legislation.  The way in which you commission and design your website also has significant implications for your business. Over the next...

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