Financial technologies need specific legal solutions and an open approach to the law. There are lots of indications that financial technology, or FinTech, is one of the next chapters in the digital revolution unrolling before our eyes. The role of finance in the economic life of the society was laid bare by the last financial crisis. The tragic consequences of errors committed on Wall Street, i.e ...
For far too long, Africa has been plagued by the demon of conflict minerals, which have played a key role in fuelling conflict and extensive human rights violations. The terrible scenes in Sierra Leone, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) remain vivid in the mind. In the history of conflict minerals, diamonds occupy the highest spot. They are valuable, portable and easily tradeable ...
Earlier this year, we released our inaugural cyber survey report, Perspectives on Cyber Risk (the Report), intended to provide insight into Australian organisations' cyber risk posture and cyber resilience capability.Perhaps one of the more surprising findings in the Report was that surveyed organisations did not appear to be overly concerned about the risk of regulatory action flowing from a cyber breach ...
Zoetis, the animal health company, has acquired Danish biotech company Scandinavian Micro Biodevices for USD 80 million (approximately DKK 533 million). Plesner assisted Zoetis with the transaction. Zoetis Inc. has acquired Scandinavian Micro Biodevices ApS for the purpose of extending its pipeline of veterinary diagonistics products ...
On July 1st, 2016 the Pilot Patent Prosecution Highway agreement (PPH) executed by the member states of the Pacific Alliance (Chile, Mexico, Colombia and Peru1) came into force.The PPH Pilot Program is an agreement executed by the patent offices of said countries, which allows applicants to request an accelerated examination process of a patent application ...
On June 25th, 2016, Law No. 20,930 that establishes the environmental conservation right was published in the Official Gazzette. The purpose of this law is to create a mechanism to simplify and promote the participation of private parties in the conservation of the environment, as a complement to the work done by the State in these matters. This right has its origin in Comparative Law ...
On June 23rd the United Kingdom (UK)1 decided, by means of a referendum, to exit from the European Union. This decision is known as “Brexit”. According to Art. 50 of the Treaty on European Union, the UK must notify the European Council – which for this purpose represents the EU – of its intention to exit, after which the parties will negotiate an agreement setting out the arrangements of that withdrawal and of the future relationship between the UK and the EU ...
The US Second Circuit Court of Appeals, overturning an earlier court ruling from a lower court, has held that the US Government cannot compel Microsoft to hand over emails stored on a server in Dublin in a narcotics case. The decision is a milestone victory for privacy rights and will be greatly welcomed by US technology companies storing data abroad ...
The European Commission has today adopted the Privacy Shield. The Privacy Shield is intended to provide a framework for EU-US data transfers. What is the Privacy Shield? European data protection law restricts the transfer of personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA) unless the country to which the data is transferred ensures an adequate level of data protection ...
The Environmental Evaluation Service (SEIA) has published the “Guide for Determination of the Ecological Flow for Hydropower Plants”.The objective of the Guide is to establish uniform criteria for determining the environmental flow regime in hydropower plant projects that are evaluated by the SEIA. The Guide incorporates the use of hydrological criteria, valuation of ecosystem services and anthropic uses, while also taking into account the particular project’s specific characteristics ...
Article 81 of the Food Safety Law of the PRC (the “Food Safety Law”), revised in 2015, stipulates that the product formulas for infant formula milk powder shall be registered with the food and drug administration under the State Council ...
An encouraging news update comes from Croatia, as some of the recent reports claim that the Croatian IT market reached a value of EUR 950 million in 2015. According to IDC Adriatic – a regional branch of the global market intelligence provider – this shows an increase of 10.8% when compared to the previous year.IDC Adriatic added that a continuation of the IT market's recovery is expected in 2016 as well. More precisely, further strengthening of the market at an average annual rate of 6 ...
Recently the “guideline for the supervision and regulation of the nutritional composition of foodstuff and its advertisement (“the guideline”) was published by the Undersecretary of Health.The guideline´s main objective is to, “guide the process of supervision and regulation of foodstuff”, taking into consideration the upcoming implementation of Decree No. 13 (June 27, 2016), which modifies the Health Regulations for Food Products ...
1. What Is the Size of the Market and What Are Current Trends in Switzerland? Life Sciences is one of the most dynamic and most rapidly growing sectors in Switzerland with respect to both the industrial and the academic dimension. In 2013, the total financing volume amassed by Swiss biotech companies more than doubled compared to the previous year’s figure, reaching USD 325 million, which amounts to an increase of 112% ...
The Hamburg data protection authority has imposed fines against the companies Adobe, Punica and Unilever, stating that they have continued to transfer personal data to the USA contrary to the stipulations of the Safe Harbor judgment. 1. The Safe Harbor judgment of the ECJ dated October 6, 2015 (legal matter C-362/14) makes it clear that European companies can no longer simply transfer personal data to the USA as a "non-secure third country" ...
Today, Wednesday, June 1st, the Framework Law for the Management of Waste, Extended Liability of the Producer and Promotion of Recycling No. 20,920 (the “Law”) was published.PurposeThe Law seeks to reduce the generation of waste and encourage its reuse, recycling and other types of recovery ...
Today, Wednesday, June 1st, the Framework Law for the Management of Waste, Extended Liability of the Producer and Promotion of Recycling No. 20,920 (the “Law”) was published.PurposeThe Law seeks to reduce the generation of waste and encourage its reuse, recycling and other types of recovery ...
In 20141, major retailers Best Buy Canada Ltd., Costco Wholesale Canada Ltd., Gap (Canada) Inc., Old Navy (Canada) Inc., Guess? Canada Corporation, Wal-Mart Canada Corp., Toys ?R? Us Canada Ltd. and Curves International Inc ...
On May 12th, EPA issued two rules that will significantly impact the oil and gas industry nationally. The first rule, an outgrowth of the President’s Climate Action Plan, establishes new source performance standards (“NSPS”) to curb emissions of methane, as well as volatile organic compounds (“VOCs”), from new natural gas and oil well sites and from new natural gas production gathering and boosting stations, processing plants, and transmission compressor stations ...
The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 (the Act) was signed into law on 10 December 2015. The Act comprises of a framework designed to achieve a low carbon, climate resilient, and environmentally sustainable economy by 2050. The Act provides for two statutory plans which will guide policy in relation to greenhouse gas emission reduction and climate change adaption. The plans are: 1) National Mitigation Plan; and 2) National Adaption Framework (NAF) ...
Responding to a Supreme Court mandate, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA” or “the Agency”) yesterday published a final supplemental finding that it is necessary and appropriate to regulate hazardous air pollutants emitted from coal- and oil-fired power plants under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act. 81 Fed. Reg. 24,420.Read the full alert ...
Entities that file disclosures with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) should be aware of recent actions by regulators and shareholders questioning the sufficiency of opinion statements made in environmental-related disclosures. Most recently, on March 31, 2016, the SEC announced a settlement with Navistar International Corp ...
The world is moving at a break neck pace, and a crucial element at the root of these changes are technological developments. As the global business landscape has been irrevocably altered by these developments, it was only a matter of time before each comprising industry would have had to adapt and – to a certain degree – reinvent itself as a consequence ...
There is encouraging news for those with plans of getting involved in a start-up project in Slovenia, as theSlovenian Enterprise Fundhas announced almost EUR 5 million to support innovative start-ups this year ...
