Learn about international soft law frameworks - standards, laws, and proposed laws regarding digitization and digital tools.
Learn about how to navigate uncertainties regarding the EU-US "agreement in principle" on the data privacy framework announced in March 2022.
Learn about the developments around the EU-US Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework announced March 2022.
This article provides an update of the sanctions enacted against Russia and Belarus by the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union.
Can companies collaborate in the interests of environmental sustainability agreements without breaching competition law in the UK? This important question is tackled by draft guidance published by the Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) on 28 February 2023 (“guidance”). The guidance sets out the CMA’s proposed approach to how agreements between competitors in relation to environmental sustainability will be assessed and aims to provide businesses with clarity and comfort on the CMA’s enforcement approach to encourage such initiatives to be progressed. The guidance aligns with the important role the CMA considers it has to play in tackling climate change, as noted in a recent statement by the CMA’s CEO on 25 January 2023.
With organisations increasingly relying on AI technology, UK and EU regulators are turning their attention to effective regulation of AI in an effort to recognise its benefits while instilling confidence in individuals that the increasing use of AI is being deployed appropriately and lawfully. In the EU, the European Commission’s AI Act (“Act”) proposal has undergone further changes following review by EU member states. The Council of the EU approved a compromise version of the Act on 6 December 2022. The European Parliament is expected to vote on the draft by the end of March 2023, with a view to adopting the Act by the end of 2023.
In 2021, in the context of the common agricultural policy reform 2023-2027, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union adopted a new exemption from competition rules for certain agricultural products. Specifically, Article 210a of Regulation 1308/2013 establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products (“CMO Regulation”) introduced an exclusion from the prohibition against anti-competitive agreements (or “cartels”) for certain restrictive agreements in the agricultural sector when those agreements are indispensable to achieve sustainability standards. In this latest development, on 10 January 2023, the European Commission (“Commission”) published for consultation its draft guidelines on how this exclusion should apply. The Guidelines seek to clarify how operators active in the agri-food sector can design joint sustainability initiatives in line with Article 210a.
This article discusses issues such as falling share prices in response to labor disputes, “living wage” resolutions at AGMs, stakeholder concerns over working conditions in supply chains, and workers speaking up about their employer’s culture and ethics, which potentially engage the EU’s new sustainability reporting duty.
This article highlights what firms need to consider during their journey of digital transformation and investments in data opportunities, more specifically in the context of corporate transactions and reorganizations.
Read a short recap of key ESG developments in 2022 in Europe, the United States, Canada, Japan, Germany, Norway, and The Netherlands.