JD Supra European Union › Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner

• JD Supra European Union

The COVID-19 pandemic has made 2020 a difficult year for many companies looking to do deals. Competition agencies and other government regulators have in many cases slowed down their timeframes or even refused to accept regulatory filings.

• JD Supra European Union

On 2 September 2020, the European Data Protection Board (“EDPB”) published draft guidelines on the concepts of controller, joint controllers and processor, which – as explained below - play a crucial role within GDPR compliance (the “draft Guidelines”). These are intended to update and replace decade old guidance and cover the “joint controller” concept brought in by the GDPR.

• JD Supra European Union

ESMA has updated its CESR recommendations in line with the Prospectus Regulation and has taken this opportunity to clarify its expectations on key areas such as working capital statements and pro forma information. The ‘comply or explain’ principles will apply to the  Guidelines and the Guidelines will come into force two months after they have been published on ESMA’s website in all the official

• JD Supra European Union

It depends on the country. Many EU countries have laws that address whether a company can record a call without obtaining the consent of the caller.

• JD Supra European Union

The judgment by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the case known as “Schrems II” has far-reaching impact for businesses looking to ensure continuity of personal data flows between the EU and the US and other destinations. The EU’s data protection law – specifically the GDPR – restricts the export of personal data from the EU to countries which are not considered by...

• JD Supra European Union

Yes. Most cookie banners can be classified into one of three general categories: (1) notice only banners, (2) notice + opt-out banners, and (3) notice + opt-in banners.

• JD Supra European Union

After a decade of relatively stable deal activity across Europe and globally, companies now find themselves operating in a new and evolving M&A environment. Transactional risk and disruption are the current norm, but against that backdrop of uncertainty, there are also opportunities. Distressed M&A has come back to the fore and we are starting to see interesting developments in deal...

• JD Supra European Union

For almost as long as EU merger control has existed, scholars and practitioners have discussed and debated the European Commission’s (EC) split roles as investigator, prosecutor, judge, and jury under the EU Merger Regulation (EUMR). It wasn’t until the EU courts overturned three EC prohibition decisions due to manifest errors in assessment in the early 2000s that the discussion shifted to the...

• JD Supra European Union

DAC 6 is a new regime under which intermediaries and/or taxpayers must report to an EU tax authority information about cross-border arrangements with a view to the information being exchanged with other EU tax authorities. The new regime will go fully live on 1 July 2020, but it will be back-dated to include cross-border arrangements in which the first step was taken on or after 25...

• JD Supra European Union

The European Commission has published its long awaited report into the application and scope of AIFMD.  The report is generally positive and concludes that overall AIFMD has been successful in meeting its objectives.

• JD Supra European Union

Not necessarily. It is a common practice for controllers to charge consumers different amounts depending upon whether they consent to certain types of processing.

• JD Supra European Union

Prior to the Coronavirus outbreak, the European Commission was making substantial progress with its Digital Single Market strategy, aimed at ensuring better access to online goods and services by limiting barriers to e-commerce and access to online content. There are key deadlines this year by which EU Member States are to implement aspects of the Commission’s consumer protection strategy into...

• JD Supra European Union

Yes.  The GDPR anticipates that a company may process personal data as long as one (or more) of six lawful purposes applies. One of those lawful purposes relates to the collection of personal data about a person as part of performing a contract with that person. 

• JD Supra European Union

The GDPR prohibits a company from processing personal data unless one of six “lawful purposes” are present. One of those lawful purposes occurs when processing is necessary for a “legitimate interest pursued by the controller or by a third party.”

• JD Supra European Union

The type of contractual provisions that a company is required by the GDPR to impose upon a service provider differ based upon two primary factors: (1) whether the service provider is a “processor,” a “controller,” or a “joint controller,” and (2) whether the service provider is located outside of the European Union and the parties intend to rely upon the Standard Contractual Clauses as an...

• JD Supra European Union

What is DAC6? DAC6 is a new regime under which intermediaries and/or taxpayers must report to an EU tax authority information about cross-border arrangements with a view to the information being exchanged with other tax authorities.

• JD Supra European Union

On 1st April 2020 the Commission issued practical guidance in relation to how public bodies can use the provisions of the EU public procurement rules to source goods, services and works rapidly in response to the emergency situation caused by the Coronavirus outbreak. The guidance emphasises that “ the EU public procurement legislation already provides public buyers in the EU with the...

• JD Supra European Union

The global COVID-19 pandemic is placing an unprecedented strain on healthcare systems around the world. At the same time, the knock on effects of the pandemic are hitting businesses and public authorities hard.

• JD Supra European Union

On 21 February 2020, the European Commission (the “Commission”) announced it had fined Spanish hotel group Meliá almost €6.7 million for restrictive clauses in its contracts with tour operators. The decision highlights the Commission’s ongoing targeting of unlawful restrictions on cross-border sales.

• JD Supra European Union

Electronic money or e-money has been subject to regulation in the EU since April 2002 when the first Electronic Money Directive 2000/46/EC (“EMD1”) established the regulatory framework. However, there have been difficulties ever since in interpreting and applying in practice the definition of e-money.

• JD Supra European Union

The new strong customer authentication (“SCA”) requirements under the Payment Services Directive (EU) 2015/2366 (“PSD2”) went live on 14 September 2019. While the new requirements apply only to payment service providers such as banks and non-bank payment processors, their implications will be felt by regulated and non-regulated businesses throughout the payment processing chain.

• JD Supra European Union

The EU’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) maintains a list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes; the purpose of which is to contribute to ongoing efforts to promote tax good governance worldwide. On 18 February 2020 the Cayman Islands was added to the list, on the basis that it “does not have appropriate measures in place relating to economic substance in the area of...

• JD Supra European Union

The dawn of a new year provides a great opportunity to take stock of where EU merger control might go in the next year. In this blog, we outline what we consider to be five key trends to watch out for in EU merger control in 2020.

• JD Supra European Union

On 11 December 2019, a Regulation amending the Market Abuse Regulation and the Prospectus Regulation was published. The aim of these amendments is to increase the attractiveness of SME Growth Markets by reducing some of the administrative burdens and compliance costs faced by issuers on an SME Growth Market.

• JD Supra European Union

The open banking requirements under the Payment Services Directive (EU) 2015/2366 (“PSD2”) are now in force, under which an account servicing payment service provider (“ASPSP”) must grant an authorised third party service provider (“TPP”) access to certain payment accounts on the basis of the relevant customer consent. PSD2 also sets out the strong customer authentication (“SCA”) requirements for

• JD Supra European Union

What is it? The EU has finalised and issued a new framework for the prudential regulation of investment firms. It will set new classification for investment firms that will in turn determine which of the new capital requirements apply to them. The framework will also set governance and remuneration requirements. As a broad overview: ..Class 1 firms will remain subject to the

• JD Supra European Union

Ursula von der Leyen’s Commission has been confirmed by the European Parliament. President von der Leyen has entrusted Margrethe Vestager with promoting Europe’s digital economy while continuing for a rare second-term as Competition Commissioner. Concerns remain over whether Commissioner Vestager can avoid  conflicts of interest between her two portfolios.

• JD Supra European Union

No. The English supervisory authority, the ICO, has stated that consent requests must be “clearly distinguishable from other matters” and that bundling consent as part of terms and conditions in impermissible. According to the ICO, this requirement is derived from Article 7 of GDPR, which requires that written declarations of consent must be distinguishable.

• JD Supra European Union

The Information Commissioner’s Office or the “ICO” is the British supervisory authority charged with enforcing GDPR. The Commission Nationale de l’informatique et des libertes (the “CNIL”) is the French supervisory authority. Both authorities have published guidance on the use of cookies under GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive recently - specifically, the ICO published its guidance on July 3 and...

• JD Supra European Union

So far, the German, French and British supervisory authorities have released guidance specifically addressing cookies in 2019. The German guidance was published in April 2019...