Member News

Member News

COVID-19 News, Member News

Arendt | OECD releases helpful new guidance on transfer pricing during the pandemic

On 18 December 2020, the OECD published its much-anticipated "Guidance on the transfer pricing implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic."  It is clear that government restrictions and trading difficulties have created an environment in which existing transfer pricing policies will not always be appropriate. The OECD has done well to reach rapid consensus among its members on four key transfer pricing topics, namely: comparability analysis, losses and the allocation of COVID-19-specific costs, government assistance programmes and advance pricing agreements (APAs). It...
Brexit News, Member News

Stibbe | Never fear, a post-Brexit competition law checklist is here

On 1 January 2021, the United Kingdom completes the process of separating from the European Union. However, the split between the UK and EU regimes will be a gradual process rather than a swift surgical cut, due to the treatment of ongoing cases and various substantive connections. Nevertheless, now is the time for companies to incorporate any (potential) additional merger filing obligations and antitrust implications into their daily routines. It is also advisable to double-check whether current agreements may...
Member News

Troutman Pepper | Federal Trade Commission Releases Commentary on Vertical Merger Enforcement

Split along partisan lines, the Federal Trade Commission (Commission) voted last week to issue Commentary on Vertical Merger Enforcement (Commentary). The Commentary intends to “provide greater transparency to the public regarding analysis of vertical mergers” by collecting in a single document the Commission’s past vertical merger cases and summarizing how it has analyzed potential anticompetitive effects in vertical transactions. The two Democratic commissioners dissented here just as they had in June 2020, with respect to the issuance of the...
Member News, Trade & TTIP Related

GDLSK | GSP expired as of January 1, 2021

Congress failed to reach a deal before the end of the year that would have extended the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program. As a result, GSP-eligible goods entered or withdrawn from warehouse are subject to “General” (Column 1) duty rates, effective January 1, 2021, at 12:00 a.m. A bill proposed in the Senate would have extended GSP for 16 months, while a bill that was introduced in the House provided for a six-month extension. Neither bill moved forward, primarily...
Member News

Vulcan Insight | The Digital Services Act – clarifying intermediary responsibility

On 15 December, the European Commission proposed the long-awaited Digital Services Act –  a key part of the plan to create a Europe that is ‘fit for the digital age’. The Digital Services Act (DSA) will endeavour to provide much needed clarity to the rules on platform responsibility, given the legal ambiguities coming from the 20-year-old e-Commerce Directive. The digital landscape has changed dramatically over the past two decades and the advent of online platforms such as Facebook, Twitter,...
Member News

BBGFX | 2021 Outlook

It might not feel like a New Year, as the pandemic continues to ravage most countries. On top of the human toll, the economic fallout will continue to depress activity in the first part of 2021.  However, policymakers throughout the G7 provided more stimulus in late 2020 and extended many emergency facilities well into the New Year.  This will help cushion the blow and help facilitate a stronger recovery later in the year. The two Senate seats in Georgia being...
Member News

Orrick | New obligations and sanctions for digital ‘gatekeepers’: European Commission proposes Digital Market Act

The debate about competition issues and unfair practices specific to online platforms and the appropriate tools to tackle them was taken a step further by the European Commission (‘Commission’), which presented two legislative proposals on 15 December 2020: The Digital Services Act (‘DSA’) and the Digital Markets Act (‘DMA’). While the former is intended to regulate online content and increase transparency and accountability, the latter is intended to ensure contestable and fair markets in the digital sector by imposing limits (and...
Member News

Jaguar Freight | ‘The Weekly Roar’: Global Freight Updates

In the first Weekly Roar of what’s going to be a great new year: The EU continues to wheel-and-deal, wariness remains for some persistent global supply chain roadblocks, blockchain continues its uphill fight for relevancy, why rail is cool again, and the obligatory international doom and gloom (with a little positive thrown in.) It’s 2021, so let’s go! With Brexit checked off the to-do list (sort of), the European Union has struck a trade deal with China. There is a lot of opposition...

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