Brexit News, Chapter News

Future EU-UK Partnership: European Commission Receives Mandate to Begin Negotiations with the UK

The European Commission welcomes the Council's decision today, as expected, to authorise the opening of the future partnership negotiations with the UK.   The negotiating directives adopted today are based on the draft recommendation put forward by the Commission on 3 February 2020. They fully respect existing European Council guidelines and conclusions, as well as the Political Declaration agreed between the EU and the United Kingdom in October 2019. The comprehensive negotiating directives define the scope and terms of the future partnership that...

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Member News

2020 Global Container Shipping Outlook

2020 marks the beginning of a new era for the container shipping industry. January 1 brought with it the implementation of a regulation issued by the International Maritime Organization known as IMO 2020, which requires carriers to limit the sulfur content of the fuel they burn to 0.5%—a drastic reduction from the previous cap of 3.5%. The aim of the mandate, one of the most substantial and far-reaching regulatory changes in the marine shipping industry’s history, is to sharply reduce...

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Member News

Li Xu Appointed as Vice Secretary of Overseas United Working Committee, China Association for Promoting International Economic & Technical Cooperation

 Li Xu was appointed as Vice Secretary of the Overseas United Working Committee (OUWC) of the China Association for Promoting International Economic & Technical Cooperation, a subcommittee of the China Association for Science and Technology which is registered in the Ministry of Civil Affairs.   In her new role, Ms. Xu is organizing a global think-tank forum to address the post coronavirus rebuilding effort.  The OUWC is responding to the demands “facing the world frontier of science and technology, economic key...

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Member News

Vulcan Insight: Analysis of the Latest EU Developments

EU-UK Future Relationship: Council adopts negotiating directives On Tuesday, the EU Council adopted a decision to authorise the commencement of negotiations on the future relationship with the UK. As has been repeatedly stated by the EU, the mandate stresses that the future partnership must be “underpinned by robust commitments to ensure a level playing field for open and fair competition”. This is especially important to the EU, given the geographical proximity and economic interdependence between the blocs. Keep reading Europe reacts...

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Chapter News

EU-UK relations: Council Gives go-Ahead for Talks to Start and Adopts Negotiating Directives

The Council today adopted a decision authorising the opening of negotiations for a new partnership with the UK, and formally nominating the Commission as EU negotiator. The Council also adopted negotiating directives which constitute a mandate to the Commission for the negotiations. The Council has adopted a clear and strong mandate for our negotiator, Michel Barnier. This confirms our readiness to offer an ambitious, wide-ranging and balanced partnership to the UK for the benefit of both sides. The EU is...

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Member News

Working in Italy in the Days of Coronavirus

Emergency decrees has been issued to tackle the spread of Coronavirus in “red zones” and other risk areas: “smart working”, allowing employees to work remotely, may be implemented even absent previous agreement between the parties (which is, generally, instead a prerequisite). In compliance with the general obligation to preserve employees’ health, employers must identify alternative measures to minimize risk of infection and preserve the earning capacity of employees not working “smartly”. Italian government approved over the week-end urgent measures to...

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Member News

U.S. Alleges Huawei Involved in Long-Running Scheme to Steal Trade Secrets

On February 13, 2020, the United States brought new criminal charges against Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies Company, alleging that the company participated in a racketeering conspiracy and conspired to steal trade secrets from companies in the United States. The new charges are in addition to the government’s previous allegations that Huawei committed financial fraud and deliberately evaded U.S. sanctions on Iran and North Korea. According to the allegations in the superseding indictment, Huawei used various methods to misappropriate intellectual...

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Chapter News

European Cooperation stakeholders meet at EUIPO

From 24 to 28 February 2020, the first European Cooperation week of the year gets underway at EUIPO. This important forum brings together IP experts from all over the EU with the common goal of implementing the European Cooperation Programmes within the current Strategic Plan 2020 at EUIPO. Experts from the European Union Intellectual Property Network (EUIPN) will meet for the 8th European Cooperation Projects (ECP) working group meetings, the EUIPN Point of Contacts (PoCs) meeting and the Classification working group meeting on trade marks and designs. The meetings are...

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Member News

Tax Reform Presents Opportunities for Foreign Investors in U.S. Businesses

The U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the TCJA), which was enacted at the end of 2017, dramatically changed the U.S. cross-border tax regime. Many of the TCJA's international tax reforms that have received considerable attention deal with multinational corporations. However, there are somewhat lesser known provisions in the TCJA that relate to foreign individuals. This Holland & Knight alert deals with one such provision: a change to the U.S. "S" corporation rules that presents interesting opportunities for foreign individuals...

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Member News

Something’s Happened to the Doctor Patient Relationship

The doctor / patient relationship is one predicated on trust. In any relationship, a certain degree of trust is eroded when one feels that the other isn’t 100% present during a conversation. The doctor / patient relationship suffers when the inputting of EMR (electronic medical records) seems to take precedence over communicating directly to the patient. Making eye contact, observing body language, and focused listening are crucial components to the history taking and even the physical exam. Picking up on...

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