EGF approved nearly half its planned 2021 financing for SMEs, mid-caps and public sector The €24.4 billion European Guarantee Fund, part of an initial EU COVID-19 recovery package to be deployed within 2021, is about to hit halfway mark €11.7 billion in financing to support businesses around the EU in COVID-19 pandemic Approved funding is expected to mobilise nearly €94 billion The European Guarantee Fund (EGF), part of the €540 billion EU recovery package agreed in 2020, has approved funding amounting...

With several months of delay, the European Commission this week adopted its ambitious plan for reforming the EU’s corporate taxation system over the coming years, proposing broad short-term and long-term measures to promote a robust, efficient and fair business tax system in the European Union.  The new strategy, presented by Commission Executive Vice-President for an economy that works for people, Valdis Dombrovskis, and Economy Commissioner, Paolo Gentiloni, is a renewed attempt to reform the EU’s corporate tax system since Member States...

Previously published in the American Society of International Law | Paul Hughes and Alex Melia co-authored an article titled “Parent Company Influence Over Group Compliance Policies” for the American Society of International Law. The article, published May 6, discusses UK company governance obligations, the adoption of corporate compliance programs, and the degree to which new UK case law may render parent companies directly liable for those programs that have been implemented on a group-wide basis. Authors: Paul Hughes, Of Counsel, STEPTOE ...

Planned reductions in the U.S. defense budget over the next few years mean that the Department of Defense (DoD) has been challenged to spend less while rebuilding military readiness. To confront this challenge, various parts of the DoD are working on making weapons systems development more agile. The complete defense supplier ecosystem is now expected to deliver affordable, new technologies faster and maintain competitive advantage within the allocated budget, which may mean moving away from traditional cost-type contracts. The timeline for upcoming military programs...

In response to a series of cyberattacks against the United States and its critical infrastructure, including the SolarWinds breach, President Biden recently issued an executive order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity (Cyber EO). The Cyber EO creates several new cyber and data protection requirements that will impact organizations providing, directly or indirectly, cloud services, software solutions, and other information technology to the federal government. Compliance with the Cyber EO, and the resulting changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and Defense Federal...

A new retirement plan offering may help your business pool resources with other companies to provide retirement benefits for your employees — but are the trade-offs worth it for your organization? Key insights Smaller businesses may be able to use PEPs to provide more robust retirement plans than they could individually. Some businesses could greatly benefit from providers assuming oversight and some liability. These plans lack flexibility and have not undergone the test of time, but they may still be...

Non-disclosure agreements, commonly known as NDAs, are a ubiquitous type of contract in many industries. NDAs can be useful in all sorts of situations, such as when companies look to work together on joint projects, when a party seeks investors, when an employee needs to use confidential information on the job, when a customer shares private data, or when parties agree to a legal settlement. It is important to craft these agreements carefully to protect your sensitive or confidential...

On 18 May 2021, the European Commission issued a communication on “Business Taxation for the 21st Century”. The announcements made therein are expected to translate into actual legislative proposals in the next three years. If implemented, they would represent a systemic change to corporate taxation in the EU. Several short-term proposals would build upon the existing trends of increased transparency and substance requirements, and international negotiations on Pillar One and Pillar Two. The longer-term ambition is adopting a common set of rules to determine an EU consolidate corporate tax...