European Commission

EU Customs Practice Group - April 2013

by White & Case LLP on 5/18/2013

In This Issue: *EU CUSTOMS POLICY: - UCC Developments – provisional agreement *TARIFFS: - Update on duty suspensions/tariff quotas - Proposal on autonomous duty suspensions for flat screens -...more

Demystifying European Antitrust Law

by Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati on 5/17/2013

In the first of a series of WSGR Alerts, the firm's Brussels attorneys outline the European Commission's proposed changes to the antitrust rules on licensing patents, software, know-how, and other intellectual property....more

European Commission Publishes Proposed Legislative Reforms of EU Banks

by Orrick - Structured Finance Group on 5/15/2013

On May 6, the European Commission published a roadmap for legislative changes. This follows the October 2012 publication of the Liikanen report, which provided a set of recommendations on banking reform sponsored by the...more

Orrick's Financial Industry Week in Review - May 13, 2013

by Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP on 5/13/2013

In This Issue: FHFA Limit on Fannie and Freddie Loan Purchases to Qualified Mortgage; Rating Agency Developments; MBIA and Bank of America Settle MBS Litigation for $1.7 Billion: Assured and UBS Agree to Settle RMBS...more

European Commission Plans to Change Consumer Product Safety Rules

by Alistair Maughan | Morrison & Foerster LLP on 4/26/2013

The European Commission plans to introduce new rules to improve the safety regime applicable to non-food consumer products distributed in the EU. The Commission has put forward a new package of measures to provide more...more

European Commission Proposes for Reform of European Trade Mark System

by Désirée Fields, Hiroshi Sheraton | McDermott Will & Emery on 4/17/2013

The European Commission has proposed a number of initiatives aimed at improving trade mark registration systems all over the European Union to make them cheaper, quicker, more reliable and more predictable. For example, as...more

Cyprus: Yesterday's News

by Rick Jones | Dechert LLP on 4/17/2013

As we predicted a few weeks ago (see link below), Cyprus has rapidly fallen off the screen. Back to business as usual, based upon an iron-willed refusal to see the spreading cracks in the edifice of the common market...more

REGULATORY: EU Competition Law: European Commission clears the acquisition of TNK-BP by Rosneft

by King & Spalding on 4/16/2013

The European Commission (“Commission”) has approved without conditions Rosneft’s US$ 54.8 billion acquisition of TNK-BP. The Commission’s 8 March approval came two months after the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (“FAS”)...more

Revisions to The European Union’s Trade Defence Instruments

by Philip Bentley | McDermott Will & Emery on 4/16/2013

The European Commission has published legislative proposals that would make EU anti-dumping and anti-subsidy instruments more efficient and better adapted to shield EU producers from unfair practices. Specifically, the...more

REGULATORY: EU Competition Law: EU Competition Law and Joint Sales in LNG

by King & Spalding on 4/16/2013

Liberalization of the EU natural gas sector began almost two decades ago. Since then, the European Commission (the “Commission”) has used various mechanisms to facilitate market opening including competition law enforcement,...more

Energy Newsletter - April 2013

by King & Spalding on 4/15/2013

In This Issue: - TRANSACTIONAL: - Project Development/FinanceKey Considerations in Energy Take-or-Pay Contracts - Upstream - Russia and former republics Unconventional Russia - Bankruptcy:...more

REGULATORY: Natural Resources: European Commission Issues Consultation for Views on Potential EU Conflict Minerals Initiative;...

by King & Spalding on 4/15/2013

The European Commission (EC) Directorate-General for Trade has issued a consultation to solicit interested parties’ views on a potential EU initiative for responsible sourcing of minerals coming from conflict-affected and...more

Privacy & Cybersecurity Update: Flaming Worms, Stuxnets and Other Cyber Threats — The European Union’s Response

by Joshua Gruenspecht, Stuart D. Levi, Shari Piré, Pierre Servan-Schreiber | Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP on 4/8/2013

The media is replete with reports of a botnet onslaught paralyzing Spamhaus, flaming worms usurping strategic information in the Middle East and a stuxnet super weapon wreaking physical damage to Iran’s nuclear reactors....more

Gentlemen, Start Your Engines: The Race for Riches in U.S.–EU Trade Begins with a Mandate from the European Commission

by Reid Whitten | Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP on 4/3/2013

Agreements to free up the flow of trade between countries or regions are aimed to increase economic activity and wealth on both sides. The EU and United States, however, already make up 40% of global economic output and the...more

Commission Launches First State Aid Investigations Into Football Clubs

by Robert Bäuerle, Martina Maier | McDermott Will & Emery on 4/2/2013

The European Commission opened the first in-depth investigation into alleged State aid for professional football clubs. This comes after the Commission launched investigations into the financing of arenas. It is likely that...more

The UK’s New Financial Services Act – a Guide to the Main Changes

by Carmen Reynolds, Stuart Willey | White & Case LLP on 3/28/2013

The UK’s Financial Services Act 2012 (the Act) will come into force on 1 April 2013. On implementation, the Act will amend many of the UK’s existing financial services legislative measures and give effect to several of the...more

"UK’s Department of Business, Innovation and Skills Proceeds with Private Competition Action Reforms"

by Patrick Heneghan, David Kavanagh, James Keyte, Gary MacDonald, Tiffany Rider, Ingrid Vandenborre | Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP on 3/28/2013

The U.K.’s Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has issued a ‘government response’ or plan for reform indicating that the government will move forward with a number of substantial changes to the U.K.’s...more

Financial Services Quarterly Report - First Quarter 2013: The Role of the Depositary Under the AIFM Directive

by Richard Frase | Dechert LLP on 3/28/2013

The Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (the “AIFM Directive”) requires that private funds appoint a “depositary”. To date, there has been no cross-border regulatory requirement for hedge or other private funds to...more

Financial Services Quarterly Report - First Quarter 2013: The European Financial Transactions Tax

by Daniel Hawthorne, Mark Stapleton | Dechert LLP on 3/26/2013

The European Commission on 14 February 2013 adopted a proposal for a Directive1 authorising eleven countries – Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia and Slovakia (the “FTT Zone”)...more

ESMA Publishes Draft Standards for Prospectus Supplements

by Gemma Formby, Iain Wright | Morgan Lewis on 3/26/2013

Aim of proposed regulatory technical standards and consultation paper is to clarify the list of events that will trigger the automatic requirement for a supplement....more

EU Parliament Approves Online Transaction Dispute Resolution Platform

by BuckleySandler LLP on 3/25/2013

On March 12, the European Commission announced that the European Parliament voted to support new legislation governing the out-of-court resolution of contractual disputes resulting from online transactions for the sale of...more

UCITS V Bonus Plans and Remuneration Rules for Fund Managers

by Emma McDonnell, Declan O’Sullivan | Dechert LLP on 3/22/2013

First bankers, now managers of UCITS funds are in the firing line for the European Union assault on bonuses. As widely reported in the financial press this week, the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs...more

Seizure of Electronic Data: Dawn Raid Inspection Guidance Revised

by Andrea L. Hamilton, David Henry, Martina Maier, Mai Muto | McDermott Will & Emery on 3/22/2013

In an era when the vast majority of written communications are made by electronic means, a company’s obligations to cooperate with Commission officials in an “antitrust dawn raid” extend to the granting of access to all...more

Cloud Computing: Plan For Storms

by Tim Banks | Dentons on 3/20/2013

Originally Published in Canadian Corporate Counsel Association Magazine - Winter 2012. The Promise and the Challenge. Organizations are able to leverage reliable internet connectivity to access quickly scalable...more

A European Financial Transaction Tax

by David Goett, Peter J. Green, Jeremy C. Jennings-Mares | Morrison & Foerster LLP on 3/18/2013

In September 2011, the European Commission initially proposed that a financial transaction tax (“FTT”) be implemented by all 27 EU Member States, although it soon became clear that a significant proportion of the Member...more

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