Tax filing – and penalties – for foreign accounts may soon be the subject of a major legal decision. The U.S. Supreme Court plans this fall to hear Bittner v. U.S. This case presents a conflict over statutes under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). The question is whether a “violation” under the BSA is the failure to file an annual FBAR no matter the number of foreign accounts or whether there is a separate violation for each account that isn’t...

The EU and the UK are developing significant changes to their regulatory frameworks to reflect the growing importance of the cryptoasset sector in Europe. We discuss a major EU development—the proposed Markets in Cryptoassets Regulation (MiCA)—immediately below and significant UK regulatory initiatives in the following section. MiCA On June 30, 2022 the Parliament and Council of the EU reached provisional political agreement in relation to MiCA. MiCA aims to introduce a harmonized legal framework for certain cryptoassets and cryptoasset market participants...

The EIB’s new Transport Lending Policy comes after a public consultation involving over 3 500 individuals and organisations. The new policy sets out the EIB’s priorities for supporting the transport sector, in line with the EIB Group Climate Bank Roadmap. Priorities include more investment in public transport; shared and active transport; clean vehicles; alternative fuel infrastructure; intelligent transport systems; inter and multimodal transport; safe system approach to road safety; resilience of transport infrastructure; completion of networks in all...

In February 2022, Executive Order 14024 highlighted that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatened not only Ukraine but also the national security and foreign policy of the United States. Pursuant to this executive order, and in the face of national security concerns, the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has instituted extensive sanctions, including both economic and trade sanctions. Also, in response to the national security concerns, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a...

The EACC, in partnership with the International Property Tax Institute (IPTI), wants to keep its members up to date with the latest developments in property taxes in the USA and Europe. IPTI has put together below a selection of articles from IPTI Xtracts; more articles can be found on its website (www.ipti.org). United States New York: The dubious value of ‘value capture’ financing Gov. Hochul’s Penn Station Area Civic and Land Use Improvement Project is speeding toward a vote this summer. But...

The European Commission next week will publish an EU-wide emergency plan to reduce gas use this winter. The initiative comes in light of the Russia’s significantly reduced gas deliveries, as well as the increasing likelihood that Gazprom will not restore deliveries after the planned maintenance period of the Nord-Stream 1 pipeline.  Among others, the plan to reduce gas usage includes recommendations for limit heating in public buildings and offices to only 19°C and cooling to 25°C, as well as measures...

As predicted, the United States Supreme Court issued its final decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturning the landmark 1973 case Roe v. Wade, which held the U.S. Constitution protected the right of women to terminate a pregnancy prior to the date of viability. The June 24, 2022, Supreme Court decision holds there is no such Constitutional right, and gives the power to regulate the legality of abortions back to the individual states 50 years after Roe....

Two major delegated acts will come into force that amend the MiFID II framework in order to integrate sustainability risks and factors into banks’ organisational requirements, rules of conduct and product governance obligations. In the coming weeks and months, two major delegated acts will come into force that amend the MiFID II framework in order to integrate sustainability risks and factors into banks’ organisational requirements, rules of conduct and product governance obligations. I. Legal requirements Banks will have to abide by...