The Central Bank of Ireland (the “Central Bank”) issued a “Dear CEO” letter to credit and financial institutions (together the “Firms”) in relation to compliance with the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 (“CJA 2010”). This follows inspections carried out by the Central Bank to monitor anti-money laundering (“AML”) compliance by Irish firms (including investment funds and their service providers). The letter gives an overview of potential control weaknesses and failures identified during the Central Bank’s inspections. Additionally,...

The Irish Minister for Finance has announced in his Budget speech of December 5th 2012 that new legislation to provide for Real Estate Investment Trusts (“REITs”) will be enacted in Ireland shortly. The Minister stated: “In order to attract new investment, I will provide for the establishment of Real Estate Investment Trusts, which allow for investors to finance property investment in a risk diversified manner.” It can be noted that Ireland, unlike the US, Germany and the UK, has not had a...

Irish Finance Minister, Michael Noonan, has confirmed that negotiations with the US in relation to a new inter-governmental agreement ("IGA") have now been concluded, and as a result Ireland will be one of the first jurisdictions to enter into a new IGA with the US to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”). These bilateral agreements will aid the US in tackling tax evasion and improving international tax compliance. It is anticipated that, under the Ireland-US IGA, Irish financial institutions will be able...

Finance Ministers of the European Union reached an important agreement on a single supervisory mechanism for the oversight of credit institutions. "I warmly welcome this exceptionally important agreement on the Single Supervisory Mechanism reached by the Council," said European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, noting that "this is a crucial and very substantive step towards completion of the banking union and a timely step forward in the integration of financial supervision for the euro area and for the other Member...

German Investment in the United States at $213 Billion - 570,000 Jobs Supported by German Firms - Germany is 6th largest U.S. Export Market Foreign investors from Germany – the largest European Economy – have long maintained a strong presence in the United States. German investment is highly sought after by state and local governments across the United States as it stands for efficient technologies, a high net value added and well-paid jobs. About 3,500 German majority-owned business operations are present...

On 11 December 2012 the European Parliament voted positively in a first reading on the EU Council's compromise proposals for two draft EU regulations on a unitary patent for Europe. The first draft regulation concerns unitary patent protection, and the second sets out the translation arrangements for such protection. The draft regulations were accepted under the EU's legislative procedure of "enhanced co-operation": With the exception of Italy and Spain, 25 EU member states have embarked on enhanced co-operation with...

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) has experienced a number of ongoing technical issues related to its transition from the Automated Commercial System (ACS) to the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). For example, it has recently come to our attention that CBP inadvertently revealed the names of importers and exporters that requested and were granted manifest confidentiality. CBP is aware of this issue and hopes to resolve it soon. However, until this issue is fully resolved, we recommend that importers and exporters...

Meeting in Brussels today, the EU-U.S. Energy Council discussed co-operation to enhance energy security through the diversification of gas and oil supply sources and routes, regulatory policies that encourage efficient and sustainable use of energy, carbon emissions reduction, and the deployment and storage of zero-emission sources, such as wind, solar and ocean energy. Speaking at the start of the meeting, EU High Representative Catherine Ashton said the EU-U.S. Energy Council has helped both the EU and the United States to...