VULCAN VIEW - KEY EVENTS THIS WEEK: EU COMMISSION Race for top job kicks off as frontrunners announce their candidacy The end of summer and arrival of September has marked the unofficial start of the race to take over from Jean-Claude Juncker and become the next President of the European Commission. The beginning of the holiday period that has just passed saw the EU’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and the former Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb – who are both senior members of the...

By Daniel P. Erikson and Gabriella Ippolito When the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came into force between the United States, Canada, and Mexico on January 1, 1994, it created the world’s largest free trade area of 444 million people that now produces $17 trillion worth of goods and services. Canada is presently the United States’ second largest trading partner and Mexico is the third largest. U.S. trade with its NAFTA partners stands at $1.2 trillion and the two countries buy one-third...

By  Martin P.J. Kratz QC With Canada implementing mandatory private sector breach reporting under the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) on November 1, 2018, it is worth noting that many breaches are due to human error. These breaches can be minimized with proper policies, practices and employee education, as well as regular monitoring and review of an organization’s privacy policies. Data Commissioners or Information Commissioners often report details around the number, type and sources of breaches that are reported to them. The UK’s...

ING announced today that it has entered into a settlement agreement with the Dutch Public Prosecution Service (DPPS) relating to previously disclosed investigations regarding various requirements for client on-boarding and the prevention of money laundering and corrupt practices. Under the terms of the agreement ING has agreed to pay a fine of €675 million and €100 million for disgorgement. Settlement agreement with Dutch Public Prosecution Service; ING agrees to pay a fine of €675 million and €100 million for disgorgement; ...

By Totis Kotsonis | Partner The UK Government has recently indicated its intention to transpose the EU State aid rules into domestic legislation, even in the event of the UK exiting the EU without a Withdrawal Agreement on 29 March 2019. This was made clear in a “no deal” Brexit technical notice on State aid (the “notice”) published, alongside 24 other “no deal” Brexit technical notices, on 23 August 2018. This policy is the natural consequence of the Government’s strongly held belief that “a...

By Dr. Torsten Kraul, LL.M. The G20, which comprises the world’s largest advanced and emerging economies, continues to commit to “policies and actions that catalyze digital transformations.” This is the outcome of the G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting in Argentina, held on 23 and 24 August 2018. At the meeting, ministers and senior officials discussed the impact of the digital transformation on global development. With a particular focus on the digital gender divide, the agenda included a range of issues including e-government practices, emerging...

If you have employees in France, you’re no doubt starting to worry about this key change to the way personal income tax is collected. What does it mean for your staff, finance and HR department? What will be the cost to your business? The good news is that the French Government has been very proactive in flagging the upcoming change, including posting a mandatory educational video on their website that all employees needed to view, before filing their annual personal...

Tradewind has provided a £450,000 trade finance facility to a UK-based e-commerce retailer that sells flooring products directly to consumers online. Tradewind’s supply chain financing will allow the e-tailer to keep the right amount of inventory in stock so it can make deliveries on time to its customers for a large selection of products. At the same time, with the funding in place, the company can pay its vendors in China on TT terms before items are shipped and...