On 11 June 2021, the Recast Dual-Use Regulation was published in the Official Journal of the European Union as Regulation 2021/821. The Regulation, which comes into force on 9 September 2021, will replace the current Dual-Use Regulation introduced in 2009.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has access to data from the Department of Home Affairs on passenger movements from the 2016-17 to 2022-23 financial years (being 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2023). The ATO estimates that details of approximately 670,000 individuals will be obtained each financial year.
On 15 June 2021, after an initial consensus from health ministers in Luxembourg, the European Parliament’s health committee approved an extension of the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) mandate.
The pace of digital transformation has been accelerating worldwide. As part of this continued growth trajectory, the use by corporates of data centres has become essential. The COVID-19 pandemic has given an additional boost to the expansion of the digital economy, as businesses adapt to home-working and additional data needs.
With decision of 15 April 2021, published on 19 May 2021, the Italian Data Protection Authority fined a physician for having disclosed a patient’s health data through the projection of a presentation relating to a clinical case during a congress.
The Public Access Information Agency has provided recommendations to protect personal data on video call platforms.
On June 9, 2021, the Biden Administration issued Executive Order 14034, “Protecting Americans’ Sensitive Data from Foreign Adversaries” (“EO 14034”). EO 14034 revokes three executive orders issued by the Trump Administration that effectively banned certain Chinese connected software applications (“apps”) from operating in the United States. Although EO 14034 revokes these legal authorities and calls for their implementing rules to be rescinded, EO 14034 signals that the Biden Administration will continue to analyze the national security risks presented by apps developed by persons subject to the jurisdiction or control of “foreign adversaries” and suggests that additional restrictions may be issued in the future.
On 11 May 2021, the ”Draft Modification of the Mexican Official Standard NOM-151-SCFI-2016, Requirements to be observed for the conservation of data messages and digitalization of documents, published on 30 March 2017” (”Project”) was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation. The Project aims to regulate and approve the rules applicable to the communication and transmission of data messages through ”certified electronic communications.”
In this era of rapid digitalization the physical structures that facilitate the efficient transmission, storage and processing of data have increasingly critical roles to play in meeting our exponential growth in data usage. As digital infrastructure scales up, so does interest in investing into this new asset class, especially by long-term private capital investors.
In June of 2021, the United States Supreme Court issued its first-ever holding related to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (enacted in 1986). Bradford Newman, Chair of Baker McKenzie’s North America Trade Secrets Practice, explains the two key holdings from this important decision and the specific practical steps all companies should now take to strengthen their trade secret protections.