After months of debate and uncertainty, the U.S. Congress has passed the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, thereby reopening the EB-5 Regional Center Program and increasing the program’s minimum investment requirement to $800K, among other important changes. In addition to bringing relief to the thousands of EB-5 Regional Center applicants whose petitions were at a standstill since the program lapsed last June, the new bill brings important changes to the EB-5 program as a whole. Most notably, the...

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). USA New York: New York City Tax Assessments Disregard Reality New York City has published three tax-year assessments since COVID-19 swept into our world. The New York City Tax Commission...

In this week’s Roar we have competing forces making waves in all directions, including higher (and still growing) fuel costs, strong import volumes, a positive in a sea of negativity, rising commodity prices in Asia, and the US Department of Transportation trying to tamp it all down. The combination of skyrocketing bunker prices, including Low-Sulphur increasing by a third since the end of February. economic woes at home, and eroding consumer confidence has some in the industry predicting a...

The European Central Bank announced this week that it is speeding up its exit from bond purchases as the economic effects of the war in Ukraine lead to a surge in inflation across the EU. The decision aims to secure “as much optionality as possible” in view of the “huge uncertainty” faced by the eurozone, ECB President Christine Lagarde stated at a press conference following the announcement. At the same time, the central bank couldn’t simply ignore record-high inflation. “The prospects...

Situation update, March 9, 2022 | EB-5 Program Expected to Increase to $800K by Mid-March After months of turmoil, the US EB-5 Program’s minimum investment is likely to increase to $800,000 as the negotiations on the re-authorization of the Regional Center are coming to an end. The vote confirming the reform is expected to take place on March 15. Early on March 9, the US Congress announced that it will vote on yet another stopgap funding bill to prevent a shutdown in...

Just as steam power and mechanization, electricity and assembly line production, and computer technology all drove seismic business transformation over the past three centuries, Industry 4.0 will prove just as revolutionary. The integration of information and communication technologies is the inevitable next step for organizations seeking to realize the full benefits of production automation, with systems networking attuned to levels of sophistication that can almost autonomously control the smart factories of the future and much more. However, the dizzying array of...

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues received unprecedented attention from investors during the 2021 proxy season, and early indications show that the momentum will continue to build this year. On March 4, two ESG shareholder proposals were approved at the Apple Inc. (Apple) annual meeting. Civil Rights Audits The first proposal, which was approved by approximately 53.6% of shareholders, asks the board of directors to conduct a third-party civil rights audit for public disclosure on Apple’s website. Specifically, the proposal requests that...

We expect many of the trends of 2021 in health data privacy to continue to pick up steam this year. See below for six noteworthy trends that life sciences and healthcare companies should continue to keep an eye on in 2022: Interoperability of Health Records to Facilitate the Electronic Exchange of Health Information Patient Access Rights to their Medical Records Litigation and Enforcement Focus on Individual Consent to Data Sharing Health Data Breach Notification and Security Growing Patchwork of...