Six countries remain subject to potential action while broader international tax negotiations continue WASHINGTON – The United States Trade Representative (USTR) today announced the next steps in its Section 301 investigations of Digital Service Taxes (DSTs) adopted or under consideration by ten U.S. trading partners.  In January, USTR found that the DSTs adopted by Austria, India, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom were subject to action under Section 301 because they discriminated against U.S. digital companies, were inconsistent with...

Empty office buildings. Reduced store hours. Unbelievably low hotel room rates. All are signs of the times. The containment measures put in place last year in response to the pandemic shuttered businesses and offices, and dealt a severe blow to the demand for commercial real estate—especially, in the retail, hotel, and office segments. Beyond its immediate impact, the pandemic has also clouded the outlook for commercial real estate, given the advent of trends such as the decline in demand for...

Blog post by Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB | One year ago, we launched our pandemic emergency purchase programme (PEPP). Since then, the PEPP has provided crucial support to euro area citizens in difficult times. It stabilised financial markets by preventing the market turbulence in the spring of last year from morphing into a full-blown financial meltdown with devastating consequences for the people of Europe. And it has ensured that financing conditions have remained favourable, helping households and families...

The OECD, in its capacity as Depositary of the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (the MLI), has today published the Arbitration Profiles of 30 jurisdictions applying Part VI on Arbitration of the MLI and an opinion of the Conference of the Parties to the MLI. Arbitration Profiles Part VI of the MLI allows jurisdictions choosing to apply it to adopt mandatory binding arbitration for the resolution of tax treaty disputes. The Arbitration...

A robust post-COVID-19 recovery will depend on banks having sufficient capital to provide credit. While most European banks entered the pandemic with strong capital levels, they are highly exposed to economic sectors hit hard by the pandemic. A new IMF study assesses the impact of the pandemic on European banks’ capital through its effect on profitability, asset quality, and risk exposures. The approach differs from other recent studies—by the European Central Bank and European Banking Authority—because it incorporates policy support provided to banks and borrowers....

The EU Commission today adopted the first annual work programme of Erasmus+ 2021-2027. With a budget of €26.2 billion, (compared to €14.7 billion for 2014-2020), complemented with about €2.2 billion from EU's external instruments, the new and revamped programme will fund learning mobility and cross-border cooperation projects for 10 million Europeans of all ages and all backgrounds. It will seek to be even more inclusive and to support the green and digital transitions, as set out in the European Education Area....

New rules on transparency and sustainability are set to transform the way EFSA carries out its role as risk assessor in the EU food safety system. A new regulation passed by the European Parliament and Council of the EU, which will apply from 27 March, will bolster the Authority’s ability to carry out its risk assessments in accordance with the highest transparency standards. The regulation will strengthen the reliability and transparency of the scientific studies submitted to EFSA and reinforce the governance...

Today, the Commission presented an Action Plan for the development of organic production. Its overall aim is to boost the production and consumption of organic products, to reach 25% of agricultural land under organic farming by 2030, as well as to increase organic aquaculture significantly. Organic production comes with a number of important benefits: organic fields have around 30% more biodiversity, organically farmed animals enjoy a higher degree of animal welfare and take less antibiotics, organic farmers have higher incomes and...