Member News

EXEO Attorneys | Immigration U.S. & Canada Weekly Update

This week’s special newsletter provides an overview of notable changes in Canadian and American immigration over the month of March, including all measures directly related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Here is the latest news as of May 6th 2021. CANADA New pathway to permanent residency for over 90,000 essential temporary workers and international graduates Effective May 6, 2021, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will begin accepting applications under the following three (3) streams: 20,000 applications for temporary workers in health care ...

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COVID-19 News, Member News

Troutman Pepper | COVID-19 Resource Guide for Human Resources Professionals: Employers Must Notify Workers About New COBRA Continuation Coverage Rights by May 31

Who Needs to Know U.S. employers, particularly HR personnel. Why It Matters The May 31 deadline to notify workers about new COBRA continuation coverage rights is rapidly approaching. Many employers still have questions about who should receive this notice. This alert provides a step-by-step guide to help answer this question. By now you’re aware that the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), signed into law by President Biden on March 11, provides a six-month COBRA subsidy for individuals who lose health coverage due to...

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Member News

Stibbe | Upward referral of killer acquisitions: enlightened or one-stop shop flop?

Companies involved in M&A deals falling below the EU and national notification thresholds need to think twice about their deal’s potential impact on competition from now on. The Commission has kept its promise to tackle (non-notifiable) killer acquisitions and published Guidance on its upward referral mechanism. The Guidance has already been put to the test through a national referral of the (non-notifiable) Illumina/Grail acquisition to EU level. Until it is clear whether the EU courts share the Commission’s views, companies – particularly in the...

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Chapter News

EU Commission proposes new Regulation to address distortions caused by foreign subsidies in the Single Market

The European Commission proposes today a new instrument to address potential distortive effects of foreign subsidies in the Single Market. Today's legislative proposal follows the adoption of the White Paper in June 2020 and an extensive consultation process with stakeholders. It aims at closing the regulatory gap in the Single Market, whereby subsidies granted by non-EU governments currently go largely unchecked, while subsidies granted by Member States are subject to close scrutiny. The new tool is designed to effectively tackle foreign subsidies...

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Chapter News, COVID-19 News

Coronavirus: EU Commission proposes EU Strategy for the development and availability of therapeutics

The European Commission is today complementing the successful EU Vaccines Strategy with a strategy on COVID-19 therapeutics to support the development and availability of much-needed COVID-19 therapeutics, including for the treatment of ‘long COVID'. Today's Strategy covers the full lifecycle of medicines: from research, development and manufacturing to procurement and deployment. It is part of the strong European Health Union, in which all EU countries prepare and respond together to health crises and ensure the availability of affordable and innovative medical supplies – including...

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Chapter News

FTC | Aiming for truth, fairness, and equity in your company’s use of AI

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technology promise to revolutionize our approach to medicine, finance, business operations, media, and more. But research has highlighted how apparently “neutral” technology can produce troubling outcomes – including discrimination by race or other legally protected classes. For example, COVID-19 prediction models can help health systems combat the virus through efficient allocation of ICU beds, ventilators, and other resources. But as a recent study(link is external) in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association suggests, if...

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Chapter News

IMF | US Dollar Share of Global Foreign Exchange Reserves Drops to 25-Year Low

The share of US dollar reserves held by central banks fell to 59 percent—its lowest level in 25 years—during the fourth quarter of 2020, according to the IMF’s Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves (COFER) survey. Some analysts say this partly reflects the declining role of the US dollar in the global economy, in the face of competition from other currencies used by central banks for international transactions. If the shifts in central bank reserves are large enough, they can affect...

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Member News

Pirelli | Four pieces of advice for ensuring your battery is always well-charged

It seems a paradox, but in reality it can happen that modern cars, despite being increasingly reliable and powerful, sometimes become weaker as a result of the ever-growing number of their electrical functions. Up until the 1980s, a car would often break down because of a punctured tyre or a mechanical failure. Over recent years, however, a battery malfunction has become the most common problem when a car comes to a stop on the road. There are some indisputable analyses:...

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Member News

CLA | International Impacts of U.S. Tax Reform Proposals

Key insights The proposal for higher corporate income tax rates, as well as significant changes to existing international tax rules, would directly impact corporate taxpayers, particularly those with foreign subsidiaries. Additional incentives have been proposed to spur clean energy, onshoring, and community-based investments. On March 31, 2021, the White House released a summary factsheet of the “Made in America Tax Plan,” a tax proposal that would generate revenue to pay for the recent “American Jobs Plan” spending proposal. The White...

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Chapter News

Understanding post-referendum weakness in UK import demand and UK balance of payments risks for the euro area

1 Introduction The UK referendum on EU membership in 2016 has set the course for the most significant change to the relationship between the United Kingdom and its closest trading partners for decades. The primary interest from the ECB’s perspective is to understand the likely impact on trade of the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union, as the United Kingdom has long been one of the euro area’s major export markets. This article reviews the development of UK import...

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