Chapter News

IMF | Cyber Risk is the New Threat to Financial Stability

Many of us take for granted the ability to withdraw money from our bank account, wire it to family in another country, and pay bills online.Amid the global pandemic, we’ve seen how much digital connection matters to our everyday life. But what if a cyberattack takes the bank down and a remittance doesn’t go through? As we become more reliant on digital banking and payments, the number of cyberattacks has tripled over the last decade, and financial services is the...

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Chapter News, COVID-19 News

EU Council greenlights temporary VAT relief on COVID-19 vaccines and test kits

The EU is taking steps to ensure affordable access to COVID-19 vaccines and testing kits. The Council today adopted amendments to the directive on the common system of value added tax (VAT) to allow member states to temporarily exempt COVID-19 vaccines and testing kits, as well as closely related services, from VAT. Member states may also apply a reduced VAT rate to testing kits and closely related services, if they choose to do so. This possibility is already available for vaccines. The...

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Chapter News

EU Council conclusions on European Union – United States relations

The Council reaffirms the strategic importance of the European Union’s partnership with the United States of America as the world’s foremost and closest relationship, rooted in shared values and common interests, cultural and historic ties, as well as geopolitical reality. A strong transatlantic partnership is vital to ensure and to contribute to our common security, stability and prosperity. We also believe that transatlantic relations are the bedrock of the rules-based international order, reinforcing international peace and security, freedom,...

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Chapter News

Digital Decade: EU Commission launches Action Plan to support recovery and transformation of the media and audiovisual sectors

Today the Commission adopted an Action Plan to support the recovery and transformation of the media and audiovisual sector. These sectors, particularly hit by the coronavirus crisis, are essential for democracy, Europe's cultural diversity and digital autonomy. The Action Plan focuses on three areas of activity and 10 concrete actions, to help the media sector recover from the crisis by facilitating and broadening access to finance, transform by stimulating investments to embrace the twin digital and green transitions while ensuring the sector's future resilience and empower European...

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Chapter News, COVID-19 News

OECD | COVID-19 crisis adds pressure to private and public pensions systems

The COVID-19 crisis has compounded the challenges facing retirement savings and old-age pension arrangements and added new ones, according to a new OECD report. The OECD Pensions Outlook 2020 says that population ageing, low growth, low returns and low interest rates were already weighing heavily on funded and pay-as-you-go pension plans, defined benefit and defined contribution schemes, as well as private and public retirement provisions before the outbreak of the pandemic. The shocks from the global health and economic crisis will...

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Member News, Trade & TTIP Related

Faegre Drinker | Looking Ahead to a Biden Administration, the EU Unveils Blueprint for Enhanced United States-EU Cooperation

With less than 50 days before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, the European Union has — in hopes of, in part, curing bilateral trade tensions and “unilateral tendencies” that have recently tested the United States-EU trade relationship — set forth a policy roadmap (and, perhaps, an olive branch) for renewing the trans-Atlantic partnership. How receptive the incoming Biden administration will be to this overture remains to be seen, especially given President-elect Biden’s recent statements that he intends to...

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Chapter News, COVID-19 News

OECD tax revenues fall slightly before the COVID-19 pandemic, but countries face much larger decreases ahead, particularly from consumption taxes

December 03, 2020 | Tax revenues fell across the OECD for the first time in a decade during 2019, but a much larger decrease is expected in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic drives down economic activity and consumption tax revenues, according to new OECD research published today. The 2020 edition of the OECD’s annual Revenue Statistics publication shows that the average tax-to-GDP ratio has fallen to 33.8% in 2019, a decrease of 0.1 percentage points since 2018. This was due to decreases...

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Member News

NautaDutilh | Celebrate the Holiday Season and Plant a Tree

Today in New York, the Tree at Rockefeller Center will be lit, kicking off the 2020 holiday season. This year we will be watching the lighting from home, as we imagine many of you will too. As an alternate celebration of the Tree Lighting, we took a day off to participate in a tree planting event with One Tree Planted. It was a rewarding experience - and one we'd like to share with you. We will not ask you to get...

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Member News

Stibbe | The next 5 years: European Commission launches New Consumer Agenda

Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the European Commission is already looking ahead to set its consumer protection priorities for the next five years. Key points in the New Consumer Agenda include equipping consumers with better information on product sustainability, digital transformation, effective enforcement, safety concerning products ‘made in China’ and protecting particularly vulnerable consumers such as children, older people or those with disabilities. The New Consumer Agenda is a follow-up to the 2018 New Deal for Consumers. On 13 November 2020, the Commission...

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Chapter News, Trade & TTIP Related

EU Commission | A new EU-US agenda for global change

Joint communication to the European Parliament, the European Council and the Council | December 02, 2020 | 1.      Introduction The relationship between the European Union and the United States is unique and built on shared history, shared values and shared interests. The transatlantic partnership was born of a promise of collective peace, progress and prosperity. After the Second World War, the Marshall Plan helped rebuild Europe’s communities and economies. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) ensured our collective security. Together, Europe...

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