Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP (JD Supra European Union)

European Commission issues first Delegated Act in the much-debated Taxonomy, moving forward with a multi-step approach in determining which activities are classified as sustainable. Nuclear energy, natural gas and agricultural activities are among those to be addressed in a complementary legislation later this year. The first Delegated Act, released on April 21, classifies as sustainable a...

EU’s in-house science body determines that nuclear energy is a sustainable technology under the EU’s green finance rules; ruling has positive impact for government and private sector support for nuclear technologies in the EU and beyond. The EU Taxonomy Regulation establishes a list of environmentally sustainable economic activities; inclusion in the Taxonomy can significantly impact government...

Financial market participants and advisers in the EU now need to comply with the ESG disclosure regime. The key terms of the SFDR are applicable on 11 March 2021. Financial firms will have entity level and financial product level disclosures.

A Report published by the UK’s Exiting the European Union select committee sets out a series of tests against which to measure the eventual Brexit deal. The Report sets out 15 tests with which to judge any Brexit deal, including an open border on the island of Ireland, and no tariffs on trade between the UK and the EU27.

The Prime Minister has given the clearest indication yet of what the UK will seek in the Brexit negotiations. Access to each side’s markets is going to be less than it is today.

The guidelines present a stark contrast to Prime Minister May’s vision of a “deep and special” partnership with the EU after Brexit. The President of the European Council has issued negotiating guidelines for the future trading relationship the EU wants with the UK.

We now have more clues on what the terms of the EU’s divorce from the UK may look like—expect friction. The European Union has published a draft of the proposed Withdrawal Agreement covering the UK’s departure from the EU and the European Atomic Energy Community.

Booking model practices used by international banks placed under scrutiny as a result of Brexit. The European Central Bank has been considering the booking model practices used by international banks, and how to prevent the use of “empty shells.”

The European Union has published a technical note warning of dire consequences for businesses if the UK leaves the EU with no deal in place. The European Commission has warned companies across Europe to prepare for significant border friction and costs after the UK leaves the EU.

Gibraltar has become the first jurisdiction worldwide to offer a fully regulated framework for firms working with distributed ledger technology (DLT)—also known as blockchain. The new regulatory framework means that FinTech and other firms in Gibraltar which want to use DLT for transmitting payments, recording transactions and similar use cases will now need to be licensed by the GFSC in much the

The European Council has set out its negotiating position whereby the UK will become a rule taker, not a rule maker, during the transition period. The European Council recently approved negotiation guidelines covering the transition period for the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

Payment service providers operating in the EU must take note of new risk management requirements from the European Banking Authority. The European Banking Authority’s operational and risk management guidelines apply to all payment service providers operating in the EU.

Financial institutions should take note of, and make every effort to comply with, the European Banking Authority’s new cloud computing guidance which will be effective from 1 July 2018. In order to clarify EU-wide supervisory expectations, the European Banking Authority has published its final guidance for the use of cloud service providers by financial institutions.

The UK and the EU have published a joint report at the conclusion of the first phase of the UK’s Article 50 withdrawal negotiations. Agreement has been reached in principle on three key issues: the rights of EU citizens in the UK, and of citizens in the EU; the financial settlement; and Northern Ireland. Progress has been made on “aspects of other separation issues.”

Increasingly, businesses across Europe must report on a wide range of ethical and related matters in addition to publishing their financial results. Requirements for businesses to undertake non-financial reporting have been steadily increasing across Europe for some time.

Within the past few months, there have been a number of reports of the resurgence, particularly in Europe, of synthetic securitizations of risky assets. These transactions allow banks to transfer credit and other default risks with respect to illiquid assets held on their balance sheets, improve their capital ratios and thereby free up regulatory capital to be used for additional lending.

A new data protection framework (the GDPR) has been adopted, significantly changing current EU laws. It will take the form of a Regulation and so will be directly applicable in all EU Member States from 25 May 2018. Once in effect, the current Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC will be repealed. Organisations operating in the EU will be caught. Importantly, organisations outside the EU who...

With the August 1st start of the Privacy Shield, the European Commission’s new and long-awaited transatlantic data transfer agreement with the U.S., businesses that had previously relied on the invalidated Safe Harbor scheme now have a similar option available again. U.S. companies subject to Federal Trade Commission or Department of Transportation jurisdiction can begin to self-certify with the...

The European Securities and Markets Authority is soliciting public comment on its recently published discussion paper on the benefits and challenges of using Distributed Ledger Technology. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published a discussion paper on the potential use of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) in securities markets. In its paper, ESMA outlined the...

The choice of UK voters to pull the country out of the European Union complicates the compliance duties of companies that deal with data from the UK and the EU, but initially, businesses ought to continue to focus on the internal changes they need to be making to get ready for the new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

On January 1, 2016, the European Union’s “bail-in” provisions went into effect. The bail-in provisions, authorized under the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) and implemented by the Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM), provide for financial resolution of covered institutions by cancelling or reducing liabilities of a failing bank, or converting debt to equity, as a means of restoring a...

On February 2, 2016, the European Commission and the U.S. Department of Commerce reached an accord on a new transatlantic data transfer protocol. Nicknamed the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, the framework would replace the 15-year-old Safe Harbor, which was invalidated by the European Court of Justice on October 6, 2015.

European Union officials finally reached agreement this week on a new European data protection regulation (Regulation) that will essentially tear up existing European laws, introduce a brand new statutory regime and potentially subject companies doing business in Europe (including U.S. businesses) to fines of up to four percent of their annual global revenue.

With EU-U.S. data transfer scheme Safe Harbor being found to be “invalid” recently by Europe’s top court, pressure has increased on U.S. and EU officials to put aside differences and see if an alternative 2.0 scheme could be brokered. News this week is that the EU and U.S. are making some progress at a high level, but there is still a good deal of work to be done.

Europe’s top court ruled that U.S. companies relying upon the “Safe Harbor Framework” data sharing regime to maintain information regarding EU citizens is “invalid.” This means that any company relying upon the Safe Harbor Framework, and any U.S. company holding EU citizen data in the U.S., urgently needs to review and reform how such data is transferred and stored to avoid the risk of fines....

Law firms and clients that are caught unaware of changes to international data protection legislation risk heavy fines. New laws, fines and increased enforcement activity mean that staying on top of data protection issues is now more important for businesses than ever before. Perhaps it is unsurprising that many businesses have traditionally taken a somewhat half-hearted approach to

The European data protection authorities will be conducting a “cookie sweep” later this month, carrying out random spot checks on websites to assess for compliance with EU “cookie” laws. Businesses should therefore be checking their websites and cookie notices now to ensure they are compliant and fix any issues. Even if you are a non-EU (e.g. US) company it may catch you.

When precisely is a data controller lawfully permitted to process personal data? If a data controller does not have the consent of a data subject to process his or her data, when does the “legitimate interest” condition bite? These are the million-dollar questions that the many EU entities (as well as those farther afield) that process data grapple with on a daily basis. The...

The United States, European Union and Canada each took steps recently to expand sanctions against Russia, including the targeting of major defense companies and the addition of export controls. These designations and export control steps have implications for defense contractors and brokers.

Ever since I was old enough to appreciate them, I have enjoyed the Peanuts stories by the late Charles Schulz. Being young, it took me a while to realise that the cartoons, and particularly what the characters did or said, were not really aimed at children. The characters were just vehicles for Schulz’s observations on life, whether it was the misfortune that seemed to dog Charlie Brown, or the...