Effective July 29, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has issued a final rule that expands the scope of its existing Health Breach Notification Rule (“HBNR”) to include health and wellness applications (“apps”) typically associated with wearable technologies such as smart watches ...
Quebec is currently facing a major shortage of physicians. To remedy the situation, several ministers in the CAQ government announced in early 2024 that significant changes would be implemented to reduce physicians? administrative burden. And so, on May 31, 2024, Minister of Labour Jean Boulet introduced Bill 68, An Act mainly to reduce the administrative burden of physicians ...
Texas recently enacted a new Workplace Violence Prevention law to protect healthcare employees from violence in Texas healthcare facilities. Texas also implemented a complementary notice requirement applicable to all Texas employers to encourage reporting incidents of workplace violence. Texas implements statutory protec- tions to prevent workplace violence against healthcare workers ...
Nearly two years following passage of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA), Treasury and the IRS released the unpublished version of the final rule (Final Rule) for compliance with the IRA’s prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements (PWA requirements). Taxpayers seeking to claim the highest available investment and/or production tax credits for renewable energy projects must comply with the PWA requirements ...
Introduction In 2020, faced with statistics showing that nearly one in two women and three in ten men believed they had suffered sexual harassment or assault in the workplace,1 the Minister of Labour expressed its intention to help prevent and address this issue. The government began by setting up a committee to examine cases of sexual harassment and assault (the ?Committee?). Its mandate was to analyze how such cases are handled in workplaces across the province ...
Introduction NIS2 (the second “Network and Information Systems Directive”) is an updated regulatory framework introduced by the European Union tostrengthen cybersecurityacross member states. It is a successor to the original NIS Directive, which was adopted in 2016 ...
The EU’s much-anticipated AI Act has finally reached the statute book, with the legislation due to formally enter into force in early August. The arrival of the legislation represents a genuinely momentous shift in the focus of regulation of AI and its associated technologies, stepping away from the line of thinking that AI is just another category of software which should be subject to the same laws, standards and regulation as other, similar technologies ...
July 15, 2024 By: Roger L. Scott In September of 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 553, which amended Labor Code section 6401.7 and created new section 6401.9 to require employers (with few exceptions) to develop and implement a detailed workplace violence prevention plan and to train their employees in addressing workplace violence. Employers were required to comply by July 1, 2024 ...
A recent appeal case upheld a breach of contract claim over a lifetime rail travel benefit delivered by a third-party provider. We examine the case and how employers can avoid such disputes through clear terms and conditions for employee benefit schemes ...
Continuing the series on protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 we focus on gender reassignment and the need for employers to understand the legal protections and the potential consequences of failing to comply with them. What is gender reassignment? A somewhat misunderstood protected characteristic, gender reassignment protects those who are either proposing to undergo, are undergoing or have undergone a process designed to change their sex ...
On July 5, 2024, the Financial Market Commission (“CMF”) updated its "Frequently Asked Questions" document related to General Rule No. 502 (“NCG 502”). The NCG 502 regulates the registration, authorization, and obligations of financial service providers under Law No. 21.521, known as the "Fintech Law ...
Introduction On July 2, 2024, the Superior Court rendered a decision in Lallier c. Société d?assurance Beneva inc.,1 ruling on an insured?s claim against his insurer for an insurance benefit further to a loss, as the insurer had denied coverage, alleging the insured?s intentional fault. Despite the absence of hard evidence of the insured?s intentional fault, the Court ruled in favour of the insurer based on evidence established by presumption ...
As previously reported, on April 24, the Federal Trade Commission passed a Final Rule that would render almost all non-compete agreements with workers unlawful, effective September 4, 2024. However, a recent decision from the Northern District of Texas blocked enforcement of that Rule for a short list of litigants and casts doubt on the Rule’s enforcement in the future ...
Roskomnadzor (Russian Data Protection Authority) plans to make it easier for personal data subjects to revoke consent to the processing of personal data Roskomnadzor proposes making it possible to ****revoke consent**** to the processing of personal data “in one click” ...
Recently, the Ohio General Assembly passed a bill, Substitute S.B. 40, which will enter Ohio as a party to the new Dentist and Dental Hygienist Compact, and ultimately allow dentists and hygienists practicing in other compact states to practice in Ohio. This summer, the compact will form its commission, and will continue to work on operationalizing into 2025 before officially opening privilege applications ...
In this article we look at some of the key factors that influenced deal term trends through analysing the many transactions Shoosmiths advised on over the last year. For the third successive year Shoosmiths remained the UK’s most active law firm advising on mergers and acquisitions (according to Experian MarketIQ), acting on over 400 deals worth over £7bn in 2023 ...
Malta has been a forerunner in regulating digital assets with the introduction of the Virtual Financial Assets Act, Chapter 590 of the Laws of Malta (the “VFA Act”) back in 2018. Following its approval in 2022 and publication in 2023, Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 of the European Parliament and Council on markets in crypto-assets (“MiCAR”) has an 18-month window to become fully enforceable by 30th December 2024 ...
Ban on foreign information security services from “unfriendly” jurisdictions Decree No. 250 of the Russian President dated 1 May 2022 “On Additional Measures to Ensure the Information Security of the Russian Federation” previously imposed restrictions on the ****use of foreign information security means**** ...
The Board concluded that the NDPA does not have authority to impose coercive fines in ongoing cross-border cases. Only in exceptional cases may concerned data protection authorities, such as the NDPA, adopt provisional measures until three months on its own territory. The GDPR sets out that national powers, such as coercive fines, shall not impair the effective powers of the cooperation and consistency mechanism ...
The Automated Vehicles Act (the Act) outlines the safety requirements that manufacturers and operators of automated vehicles will need to meet in order to deploy their goods and services on UK roads. In this article Ben Gardner outlines the key safety areas that will need to be considered ...
Bill Gates said in a blog post: “The development of AI is as fundamental as the creation of the microprocessor, the personal computer, the Internet, and the mobile phone. It will change the way people work, learn, travel, get health care, and communicate with each other. Entire industries will reorient around it. Businesses will distinguish themselves by how well they use it ...
Shoosmiths’ FinTech partner, Luke Stubbs, was a speaker at the recent FinTech Week London Conference, participating in a panel discussion focused on international payments. FinTech Week London reflects the City's role as a FinTech hub and comprises a week of events culminating in a major conference, which Shoosmiths was proud to sponsor ...
On August 1st, 2024, Law No.21,643 which amends the Labor Code regarding the prevention, investigation and sanctioning of labor, sexual harassment and workplace violence (the “Law”), will enter into force. General Ruling No.3813 (“General Ruling”), issued by the Superintendence of Social Security ("SUSESO") on June 7th, 2024, provides technical assistance in all matters covered by the new Article 211-A of the Labor Code ...
On August 1st, Law No.21,643, which amends the Labor Code regarding the prevention, investigation and sanctioning of labor, sexual harassment and workplace violence (the “Law”), will enter into force. In this context, on June 7th, 2024, the Labor Board issued ruling No. 362/19, which establishes the meaning and scope of the amendments introduced by the Law (the “Ruling”). The most relevant aspects of the Ruling are the following: 1 ...
The ‘Digital Operational Resilience Act’ or “DORA” (Regulation (EU) 2022/2554) shall be enhancing and improving Information and Communications Technology (‘ICT’) operational risk requirements across various financial sectors. Subsequently, it imposes obligations on a vast array of different financial entities, as well as certain ICT service providers that assist such financial entities ...