Page 42 - Client Alert News Today

On February 9, 2021, the European Securities and Markets Authority ( ESMA), the European Banking Authority ( EBA) and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority ( EIOPA) (collectively the ESAs) published a joint letter 1 on streamlining the governance and oversight concepts in DORA. The joint letter was sent to the EU’s legislative policymaking stakeholders on the DORA proposal 2 and is likely to influence further detailed rulemaking and the direction DORA takes In summary, D...

SEC Enforcement and Exams Likely to Focus More on Private Funds in the New Administration For the next several weeks and months, intense focus will be trained on determining the priorities of the Biden administration. We believe that at the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), the new administration will ramp up examinations and investigations of investment advisers, and specifically advisers to private funds. The industry has certainly been in growth mode. By the SEC’s own calcula...

To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog: We hope you’re settling in well in to what is already quite an eventful 2021. While the European Commission continues to focus on combatting COVID-19 including clarifying confusion in contractual arrangements with vaccine providers, it is also pressing ahead with its longer-term plans to future-proof against further pandemics, drive the economic recovery as well as add a Health Union, some of which builds of lessons learned from its...

To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog: Following the end of the EU-UK transition period and the UK’s full withdrawal from the EU on December 31, 2020, (re-)insurance undertakings domiciled in the UK or Gibraltar have lost their European passporting rights that they previously had under Article 15(1) of Directive 2009/138/EC Solvency II). Equally, those pension funds that were, under EU rules categorized as institutions for occupational retirement provision ( IORPs), domi...

In brief After almost a decade of negotiations, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement was signed on 15 November 2020 by 10 ASEAN member states, along with Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea. The RCEP is the largest regional free trade agreement outside the WTO, and its member states account for approximately 30% of the world’s gross domestic product (USD 26.3 trillion) and 30% of the world’s population (2.3 billion). Its overarching aim is to est...

Introduction On President Biden’s first two days in office, he issued a National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness and 11 related Executive Orders, including an Executive Order on a Sustainable Public Health Supply Chain. The National Strategy proposes a “comprehensive,” “coordinated,” and “aggressive” response to the pandemic. One of the National Strategy’s seven stated goals is to “[i]mmediately expand emergency relief and exercise the Defense Prod...

TAKEAWAYS Under new legislation, almost all DC employers will be prohibited from entering into non-compete agreements or enforcing workplace policies that restrict DC employees from obtaining outside employment. Non-compete agreements entered into before the effective date will remain valid and enforceable. Employers should review and revise onboarding and workplace policies and consider drafting or strengthening disclosure requirements and conflict of interest policies. On January 11, 2021, Ma...

To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog: On December 27, 2020, the Economic Aid to Hard-Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits and Venues Act (the “Economic Aid Act”) became law. The economy continues to struggle from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. This new law provides additional support to many small businesses. So far in the month of January alone, the Treasury Department (the “Treasury”) and the Small Business Administration (SBA) have issued over 200 pages o...

Key Points CBP has issued a “region-wide” WRO on cotton and tomato products “grown or produced” by entities “operating in” the XUAR. In a press release, CBP states that the order covers “apparel, textiles, tomato seeds, canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, and other goods made with cotton and tomatoes.” Unless or until the agency clarifies the scope of the order, and consistent with the underlying statute, importers should anticipate that CBP will enforce the WRO broadly to any import...

To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog: Following months of congressional negotiations, on December 27, 2020, President Trump signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, a $2.3 trillion piece of legislation that includes $900 billion in federal funding and relief for COVID-19.[1] The legislation also includes the No Surprises Act (“Act”), effective January 1, 2022, which significantly bolsters consumer protections for patients by addressing the circumstan...