Regulatory complexity is having a significant impact on widespread blockchain adoption, according to an EY poll of senior professionals who attended the EY Global Blockchain Summit in New York. Sixty one percent see regulatory complexity as the biggest barrier to widespread adoption, followed by integration with legacy technology (51%) and a lack of general understanding of blockchain’s capabilities (49%). Despite regulatory complexity, respondents cite changes to regulation as the primary driver for the integration of blockchain technology into the broader...

By Totis Kotsonis , Partner | Eversheds Sutherland On 1 June the UK applied officially to join the WTO’s Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA). This voluntary plurilateral agreement, within the WTO framework, commits signatory parties to open their public procurement markets to each other’s suppliers on a “no less favourable than domestic suppliers” basis and to comply with a set of rules that promote fairness and transparency in public procurement. GPA parties include, the EU, the United States, Canada, Japan and South Korea....

KEY EVENTS THIS WEEK: BREXIT British government propose time-limited ‘Irish backstop’ customs proposal Downing Street yesterday published its proposal for a temporary customs arrangement between the UK and the EU which it hopes will resolve the long-standing issue of avoiding the re-emergence of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. The text of the proposal will now be presented to the remaining EU27 later on this month to the European Council Summit.  Significantly, the proposal makes clear that the temporary...

By TMF Group The United Kingdom is a multilingual, multi-ethnic society, with notable cultural differences between its capital London and the regions. An understanding of the variations in approach is important to UK business success. The UK covers an area of 243,610 km2 (94,060 mi2) and has a population of 65.64m (2016). It is made up of four separate countries: England, Scotland, Wales (making Great Britain) and Northern Ireland. Great Britain is sometimes called just ‘Britain’ for short, although technically Britain refers...

By Kari Honkaniemi | BOS Container USA, LLC   For three years in a row BOS Container USA has won Inside Self-Storage's award for Best of Business in the category of Most Innovative Product. We are running to make it for the fourth time in a row and hope to count on your votes. We are again nominated for Best of Business in two following categories: Best Portable-Storage Unit Most Innovative Product You can cast your votes here. Thank you for your support! -------------- Best regards, Kari Kari Honkaniemi &...

By Justin T. Tarka (London) | Ogletree Deakins With the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the European Union’s new privacy law having come into effect on 25 May 2018, thousands of companies have been flooding inboxes in recent weeks with emails asking for consent from recipients, seemingly to comply with the GDPR. While it is probably reassuring to hear from those that hold particularly sensitive information—banks, for example—perhaps less welcome are emails from companies with whom email recipients may have had merely occasional contact,...

On June 4th, TD  launched the TD Ready Challenge, an annual North American initiative that has ten $1 million (CDN) grants available to help catalyze innovative solutions for a changing world. The announcement follows the recent launch of The Ready Commitment, a multi-year program targeting CDN $1 billion (US $775 million) in total by 2030 towards community giving. The TD Ready Challenge will address the four areas identified within The Ready Commitment as critical to building an inclusive future – Financial Security, a more Vibrant Planet, Connected Communities...

By  Sebastian Janka and  Sarah Blazek | Noerr A recent ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on 10 April 2018 highlights the serious consequences for natural persons of participating in anticompetitive agreements. According to the decision, it is compatible with EU law for EU Member States to extradite citizens of other EU Member States to third countries such as the United States. This applies even if national constitutional law blocks the extradition of that country’s nationals. Such an extradition does not constitute discrimination,...