Almost at the same time as the much-noticed and controversially discussed Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (see Update IP No. 12: Agreement on the Reform of the Digital Copyright Law) and barely noticed by the public, another European Directive on copyright law was adopted ...
In 2013, Virginia Ginni Rometty - CEO of IBM, said “I would like you to think of big data as the next natural resource that can be to our era what steam, electricity and oil were for the Industrial Age." Probably, you have read or heard: Data is the new oil! Data is the new bacon! Data is the new currency! These analogies have become very popular because data is now considered one of the most important commodities ...
The Government of Indonesia finally issued Government Regulation No. 71 of 2019 on Organization of Electronic Systems and Transactions ("GR 71/2019") on 4 October 2019, gaining momentum as the country sees the rise of ‘Unicorns’ and President Joko Widodo boasting about the country’s digital economy. GR 71/2019 replaces Government Regulation No. 82 of 2012 with the same title and came into force on 10 October 2019. GR 71/2019 has 11 chapters and an extensive scope ...
The U.S.-China trade dispute continues to simmer with multiple significant developments in the past several weeks: The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced the exclusion process for Chinese imports subject to List 4A Section 301 tariffs will open on Oct. 31, 2019 and conclude on Jan. 31, 2020. List 4A and 4B tariffs on an estimated $300 billion of goods imported from China, effective Sept. 1, 2019 and Dec ...
Introduction Pursuant to UAE Federal Cabinet Resolution No. 56 of 2019, Emirates Development Bank has been appointed to maintain the register of finance lease contracts created pursuant to UAE Federal Law No. 8 of 2018 on Finance Lease (the Finance Lease Law or the Law). Background The Finance Lease Law was promulgated in December 2018. This Law creates a register (the Register) pursuant to which “Finance Lease Contracts” shall be registered ...
Part 5 of the Environment Bill, contains a number of disparate proposals relating to water – which could have major implications for many. Senior associate Joanne Sear and solicitor Grace Mitchell take a look at some of the key points in the Bill. Water resources planning According to its explanatory notes, the Bill is intended to “improve… water resources planning” and “facilitate… collaborative regional planning” ...
Existing law, the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA), among other things, consolidates the licensure and regulation of commercial medicinal and adult-use cannabis activities and authorizes persons to conduct specified commercial cannabis activities, as defined, in the state. The objectives of the new law are as follows: To provide tax equity to the cannabis industry ...
On September 23, 2019, the IRS published final regulations that amend the rules for hardship distributions from 401(k) and 403(b) plans. The regulations finalize the proposed regulations issued in November 2018 to implement statutory changes made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 intended to make it easier for plan participants to take hardship distributions ...
According to the recent insurance broker's Transactional Risk Insurance Claims Study1, the number of W&I claims have increased by 293% between 2016 and 2018 in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (the EMEA-region). One explanation is of course the triple increase W&I policies issued over the same period. The W&I market have become more mature than what it was just some few years back ...
Cincinnati, Ohio has joined a small but growing list of states and municipalities that ban discrimination on the basis of natural hair styles. On Oct. 9, 2019, the Cincinnati City Council voted 7-1 to add a hair-bias ban to the city’s existing non-discrimination law ...
Acting Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Norman Sharpless has issued a statement warning Americans to stop using vaping products that emit THC until further testing can be done. Federal and state public health agencies, including the FDA, have been investigating an unprecedented wave of 1,000-plus cases of severe lung injuries and deaths among consumers who claimed they used vaping products containing THC, nicotine, or both ...
On Sept. 30, 2019, the IRS issued proposed regulations regarding how the employer-shared-responsibility provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and certain nondiscrimination rules under the Internal Revenue Code (Code) will apply to individual coverage health reimbursement accounts (HRAs). The proposed regulations aim to facilitate the adoption of individual coverage HRAs by employers on or after Jan. 1, 2020. Background On Oct ...
Background After ten long years of the issuance of Law No. 24 of 2009 on the National Flag, Language, Emblem, and Anthem (“Language Law”), the Government of Indonesia has finally issued an implementing regulation of the Language Law, ie Presidential Regulation No. 63 of 2019 on the Use of the Indonesian Language (“PR 63/2019”). It came into effect on 30 September 2019. Key provisions which may be relevant to businesses a ...
The Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) has ruled, upon submission by the Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH), with the decision of 3 October 2019 (Case C-18/18), that hosting providers, in this case Facebook, may be required by a court to seek and erase content which is identical or, under certain circumstances, equivalent to information previously found to be unlawful ...
Yesterday, in a closely-followed case, the Supreme Court decided not to hear an appeal brought by the Domino’s pizza chain, which sought to overturn the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal’s decision that entities selling online must make their websites and apps accessible to people with disabilities ...
In early August 2019, the Indonesian Minister of Manpower amended Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Regulation Number 19 of 2012 on The Requirements for Outsourcing (“MOMR 19/2012”) by issuing Minister of Manpower Regulation Number 11 of 2019 on the Second Amendment to Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Regulation Number 19 of 2012 on The Requirements for Outsourcing (“MOMR 11/2019”) ...
On October 1, 2019 the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that pre-ticked boxes do not constitute a valid consent by web users prior to storing cookies on their devices (Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband e.V. and Planet49 GmbH; Case C-673/17). The decision follows a challenge by the German Federation of the Consumer Organisations against the use of a pre-ticked checkbox which had, by default, consented to cookies on behalf of the user ...
Activists and government leaders are sounding the death knell for our planet unless something is done about climate change. But while sustainability is important, sustainability reporting may not be the answer. In a headline-hogging speech at the UN last month, 16-year-old environmental activist Greta Thunberg berated politicians and business people for doing too little to arrest climate change, ruining the globe for future generations. High-profile scandals back up her claim ...
Elite Dental Associates, Dallas (“Elite”) has agreed to pay $10,000 to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and to adopt a corrective action plan to settle potential violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule[1]. According to OCR, Elite is a privately owned dental practice in Dallas, Texas, providing general, implant, and cosmetic dentistry ...
The Public Prosecutors’ Department in Dubai has the power to impose fines with respect to certain criminal misdemeanors and offences[i] without being required to refer the matter to a Court of Law. Such fines are issued under a Penal Order. This power stems from Dubai Law No. 1 of 2017, which authorises the Attorney General of Dubai to prescribe the offences and the corresponding fines which may be the subject of a Penal Order ...
CFIUS inbound investment national security review expanding to certain non-controlling foreign investments in critical technology, critical infrastructure, and sensitive personal data, as well as to certain real estate transactions. The U.S. Treasury Department published proposed rules in the Federal Register on Sept. 24, 2019, concerning changes to the review process for foreign investment conducted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) ...
On 3 October 2019, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) published its groundbreaking ruling in case C-18/18 establishing that the EU enables national courts to order information societies such as Facebook to remove defamatory information. This also encompasses equivalent versions of previously declared illegal information. In doing so, the ECJ effectively held that EU law does not preclude injunctions issued by national courts from producing worldwide effects ...
