On Wednesday, EU Foreign Ministers met in Prague for an informal Foreign Affairs Council hosted by the Czech Presidency of the Council. After countries logged heads in the past week over whether to fully suspend visa for Russians, Ministers found a compromise agreement by suspending a visa facilitation agreement with Russia.  The 2007 Agreement was designed to streamline the process, its suspension will once again make the visa application process for Russians lengthier and more expensive. Whether this will, however, deter...

Learn how reframing offers different perspectives on business issues. This insightful, iterative skill ensures you find the right questions — and the right answers. Reframing is a multipurpose iterative and problem solving skill that can be used to reposition or pivot the core problem of a project within a structured innovation process.. There’s a traditional quote in design and research methodologies that states the worst possible mistake in business is “getting the right answer to the wrong question.” This is exactly what...

Communication, or the lack thereof, within a company can lead to many issues. Lack of communication causes frustration with the team and causes the company to be less effective as a whole. Here are a few ways to better manage communication in the work place: Have Regular Meetings to Discuss Happenings Meeting with staff regularly to discuss problems and other happenings in the work place, will help keep everyone involved. Meeting not just one on one, but with everyone at once...

The IRS is offering pandemic-related relief for certain penalties, including those for international information returns (IIRs), with respect to tax returns for 2019 and 2020. The catch: The returns must be filed no later than this Sept. 30. The IRS Notice, “Penalty Relief for Certain Taxpayers Filing Returns for Taxable Years 2019 and 2020,” also provides relief from certain information return penalties regarding taxable year 2019 returns that were filed on or before Aug. 1, 2020, and taxable year 2020...

This month’s newsletter provides an overview of recent changes in Canadian and American immigration. Here is the most recent news since the beginning of the pandemic and travel restrictions as of August 25th. Temporary residents’ orientation : super visa New ministerial instructions concerning the parents and grandparents multiple-entry temporary resident visa (TRV), also known as the super visa took effect on July 4, 2022. Intended for parents and grandparents of Canadian citizens and Permanent Residents, the super visa is valid for 10...

The Department of Commerce announced Aug. 23 it is delaying the issuance of the preliminary determination in the Auxin circumvention investigation until Nov. 28, 2022. The date had been set for Aug. 29, 2022. The decision is in response to a request by the petitioner, Auxin Solar, Inc., to allow Commerce more time to develop and analyze the questionnaire responses and comments from interested parties. If a positive determination is made Commerce will issue a preliminary order and Customs will...

An EIB delegation led by President Werner Hoyer, with the participation of Vice-Presidents Ambroise Fayolle and Thomas Östros, visited Washington DC on 25 and 26 August for high-level meetings with the US Administration, multilateral development institutions and leading think tanks on climate action and the forthcoming COP27 (6-18 November in Egypt), energy transition, Ukraine’s reconstruction and the global economic outlook as a result of the war in Ukraine. The first day of the visit featured bilateral meetings with officials at...

On July 18, 2022, the U.K. Government published a paper on its proposals for AI regulation “Establishing a pro-innovation approach to regulating AI” (the AI Paper). This was published alongside the Government’s AI Action Plan, the first update provided since the Government published its National AI Strategy in September 2021. The AI Paper provides for an alternative approach to AI regulation in the U.K. when compared with the recently proposed draft legislation for AI regulation in the EU (the EU...