U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) is seeking comments on an interim rule that amends its regulations governing the importation of merchandise bearing recorded trademarks or recorded trade names.  That interim rule becomes effective on publication in the Federal Register. The interim rule provides CBP with expanded authority to disclose to an intellectual property rights holder information appearing on merchandise or its packaging for the purpose of assisting CBP in determining whether the merchandise bears a counterfeit mark. CBP will...

The European Commission has adopted its Monitoring Report on Croatia’s accession preparations today. This is a part of the regular 6-monthly monitoring as foreseen by the Accession Treaty. The Monitoring Report assesses the progress made by Croatia in its preparations for accession to the European Union. It covers the period between the 1st September 2011 and 29th February 2012, provides an overall assessment of the level of preparedness for membership, and highlights the areas where further efforts are necessary in order...

EACCNY Member DE BRAUW BLACKSTONE WESTBROEK provided us with a brief overview of some of the key features of the laws against bribery in the home states of the contributing firms: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (together, the “Six States”; individually, a “State”) and some practical guidance on the use of a single set of procedures which might be designed to prevent bribery so as to avoid or mitigate liability in each of them. It...

Celebrations in advance of Croatia joining the European Union scheduled on July 1, 2013 started with a Breakfast at Tiffany at the flag ship store on Fifth Avenue, with a concert by Julian Rachlin and Friends, bringing together the Big Apple’s business and cultural leaders. Tiffany & Co is known the world over for its spectacularly beautiful jewelry and for its support for culture. Tiffany & Co. issued a statement that it was honored to host world-renowned musicians, including violinist...

News shared by Tegris Advisors: Burger King Worldwide Holdings, Inc. (“Burger King Worldwide”), the world's second largest fast food hamburger restaurant chain, and Justice Holdings Limited (“Justice”) (LSE: JUSH), a publicly listed UK investment vehicle, today announced that they have entered into a definitive business combination agreement. Under the terms of the agreement 3G Capital, a global investment firm and Burger King Worldwide’s principal stockholder, will receive approximately $1.4 billion in cash and continue as the majority shareholder. The Justice shareholders...

Grunfeld, Desiderio, Lebowitz, Silverman & Klestadt LLP Update As importers of textiles and apparel have observed in recent years, verifications of duty-free / preferential duty claims can oftentimes involve dizzying requests for a myriad of extremely detailed documents -- with claims being subject to rejection for seemingly inconsequential omissions or minor inconsistencies. The exercise has been further complicated by differing interpretations among the ports as to the nature of the required documents. In its latest effort to provide uniformity and clarity...

NautaDutilh Update by Benoît Malvaux and Kurt Demeyere of NautaDutilh After lengthy negotiations to form a government, a political compromise was finally reached.  Prime Minister Di Rupo announced in his State of the Union address on 7 December 2011 that the federal budget deficit must be reduced by EUR 11.3 billion in 2012 in order to meet the criteria set by the Maastricht Treaty.  In this regard, the Act of 28 December 2011 (the "2011 Act") already introduced a number of...

NautaDutilh Update On 8 January 2012, an act implementing Directive 2009/109/EC (the "Directive") was adopted by the Belgian Parliament (the "Act"). The Act entered into force on 18 January 2012. The Act was adopted in response to the European Commission's comments that some of Belgium's reporting and documentation requirements for mergers and divisions were outdated and excessive; the purpose of the Act is to reduce the administrative burden in this regard. The Act provides new rules with respect to the reporting...