Introduction The rapid spread of COVID-19 pandemic has led to a significant increase in demand for medical devices (MDs) and personal protective equipment (PPE), masks for social use (textile articles) and other products destined to prevent the spread of the disease. As a result, it became clear that there was insufficient supply to meet existing needs during the state of emergency and the subsequent period ...
IP landscape While the world is in the grip of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, the patenting of pharmaceutical and biological compositions and the launch of generic products is even more hotly debated than before, particularly in the world's developing and least-developed countries ...
The CFPB’s debt collection rule highlights the consumer’s ability to customize communication by designating specific times, places, and mediums of communication (e.g., email) as inconvenient. The consumer’s ability to customize communication will significantly impact debt collector’s communication strategies and could require substantial changes to a debt collector’s procedures and technologies ...
The CARES Act provided historic, temporary relief to mortgage holders facing Covid-19-related financial troubles. R. Aaron Chastain, partner at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, looks at where mortgage lenders and servicers stand as the pandemic continues and federal agencies and state governments continue to adjust compliance requirements and rules ...
The 2020 election in California as pertains to national politics was never in doubt, but despite being a deeply blue state, Californians continued to show their divide on taxing businesses and making major changes to the statewide tax code. Several ballot initiatives, both at the state and municipal level, would have radically altered how businesses and executives are taxed ...
On November 2, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission voted to harmonize, simplify, and improve the current tangled framework for exempt securities offerings, a move intended to promote capital formation and expand investment opportunities while preserving or improving important investor protections. Under SEC requirements, all securities offerings must be either registered with the SEC or qualify for an exemption from registration ...
On November 9, 2020, the federal government announced a further temporary extension to permitted layoff periods for federally regulated private-sector employees. Background In June of 2020, the federal government extended the time periods for layoffs under the Canada Labour Standards Regulations to allow federally regulated private-sector employers more time to recall laid-off employees ...
As part of our series of continuing updates1 on different aspects of The Setting Every Community Up For Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (the “SECURE Act”) and related legislation that may impact (or provide opportunities for) employers that sponsor retirement plans, this alert provides an overview of changes to rules related to nondiscrimination testing where defined benefit plans have been frozen or closed to new participants under the SECURE Act, and a reduction in the m
After months of predictions of a possible Democratic wave,Tuesday’s election delivered mixed results. Joe Biden appears poised to narrowly defeat President Trump after one of the most contentious election cycles in recent memory. Republicans are favored to retain their Senate majority despite having to defend twice as many seats as their Democratic counterparts ...
Dykema’s M&A transaction volume was up sharply in the third quarter with 25 deals closing during that three-month period. The transactions involved a wide variety of industries including Dental Service Organizations (DSOs) and Medical Service Organizations (MSOs), alcoholic beverages, precious metals, automotive, waste management, health & fitness and cloud services ...
In this newsletter you will find a selection of the main legal news related to the fintech and digital banking market in Argentina. 3.0 transfers New open and interoperable model for instant payments As we anticipated in previous bulletins, the Central Bank (BCRA) completely updated the system of immediate electronic payments existing until now, taking it to a much more ambitious, interoperable and open model, which aims to interconnect bank accounts and accounts on an equal footing ...
The London Interbank Offered Rate («LIBOR«) is arguably the financial world’s most important number; it is a proxy for banks’ marginal funding costs and serves as benchmark rate in millions of loans, floating-rate debt, and financial contracts. The publication of the LIBOR will in all likelihood, cease by the end of 2021. The shift from LIBOR is an immense change to global finance and will have far-reaching impacts on the financial services industry ...
Effective Nov. 9, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) amendments to “modernize the description of business, legal proceedings, and risk factor disclosures” required under Regulation S-K take effect. These amendments largely follow the proposed amendments, dated Aug. 8, 2019,[1] with some clarifications. The intent of the amendments is to improve the disclosure regime, which has not had a major overhaul in over thirty years ...
While a few legislative races are still being tabulated, Democrats maintained their supermajority status in both the Illinois House of Representatives and Senate in this election cycle. Current projections, that are subject to change pending mail-in ballots, are for a Democrat supermajority of 72-46 in the House and 41-18 in the Senate. This was not an unexpected outcome, though most pre-election predictions had the Democrats achieving an even wider gap in the Legislature ...
The CFPB finalized its long-awaited debt collection rule. Join us this Thursday to learn about what is in the final rule, how the final rule is different from what the CFPB proposed in May 2019, and how the final rule might impact your business. The rule will become effective one year after it is published in the Federal Register ...
The Coronavirus pandemic has caused a shift in the paradigm of modern-day workplaces. Companies across the globe have seen a rapid and widespread shift to remote work, making compliance with the GDPR harder than ever. The Federal Office of Information Security (BSI), in its recent report on the ‘State of IT Security in Germany 2020’, expressed its concern and indicated a ‘tense situation’ for data protection in the country ...
If a branded medicine and its generic version are put on the EEA market by economically linked undertakings, is a parallel importer then allowed to rebrand and repackage the imported generic version as the branded reference medicine? This has been a hotly debated issue in recent years and recently led the Brussels Court of Appeal (CoA) to refer three questions to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) (Cases C-253/20 and C-254/20) ...
While yesterday’s federal election results from West Virginia were not a surprise, the down ballot races, especially for the State Legislature, clearly demonstrated what was a strong red wave that engulfed incumbents, swept away open seats, and cemented what may be durable majorities in both chambers for years to come. As around the country, early voting enthusiasm also gripped West Virginia ...
The Setting Every Community Up For Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (the “SECURE Act”), made sweeping changes to retirement plan rules ...
The Russian insurance market is facing fundamental changes that will reshape the industry, by creating new opportunities for foreign insurance companies to operate in Russia. Within the framework of its obligations as a WTO member state, Russia must allow access of branches of foreign insurers, from WTO countries, to the Russian insurance market, by August 2021 ...
On 30 September 2020, the Royal Government of Cambodia (“RGC”) issued a press release and rolled out ‘Round 6’ of measures aimed at mitigating the impacts of COVID-19 on businesses and workers in Cambodia. These represent a combination of new and existing measures (that have been extended) ...
Balance has been tipping over from creditors to shareholders and the pandemic is only bringing this deepening fault line to the fore. Covid-19 slammed into the global consciousness this March and, as expected, immediately torpedoed the markets. But despite the worsening economic data hogging news headlines, exacerbated by intensifying US-China tensions, the markets have paradoxically strengthened since ...
Belgium is, for the second time, in lockdown. The new Ministerial Decree of 1 November 2020 stipulates that, as from today until 13 December 2020, all workers are obliged to telework. However, an exception applies when either the employee’s role or the continuity of business operations, activities and services does not allow for teleworking ...
On Oct. 26, 2020, the IRS announced in Notice 2020-79 cost of living adjustments (COLAS) to the qualified plan dollar limits for 2021. Below is a summary of the limits that are generally relevant for most retirement plans. Effective Jan. 1, 2021: The elective deferral limit for 401(k), 403(b), and eligible 457(b) plans is unchanged at $19,500. The catch-up contribution limit for those aged 50 or older remains stable at $6,500 ...
