France

In light of the global pandemic, governments across the globe are faced with urgent needs whose immediate coverage is a matter of life and death. Hence, these unusual and uncertain times call for rare and exceptional measures, and without much ado, governments around the globe have provided them. Common to all approaches is the will to enable public contractors to procure the urgently needed supplies to save lives and contain the pandemic without major bureaucratic hurdles.

Baker McKenzie's EMEA Tax Practice Group presented an overview on "Digital Tax", the third in a series of short webinars to keep tax professionals abreast of recent developments in these less than certain times on 23 June 2020.

Today with the increase in online transactions, we have also been witnessing a huge spike in cyber crimes. It is therefore essential to secure...

Baker McKenzie's EMEA Tax Practice Group presented an overview on "Employee Benefits", the second in a series of short webinars to keep tax professionals abreast of recent developments in these less than certain times on 9 June 2020.

Baker McKenzie's EMEA Tax Practice Group presented an overview on "Transfer Pricing", the first in a series of short webinars to keep tax professionals abreast of recent developments in these less than certain times on 26 May 2020.

Following a recent announcement of the European Commission’s proposal for a three-month deferral of reporting deadlines under the new DAC6 mandatory disclosure regime in the EU and UK, the Committee of the Permanent Representatives of the Governments of the Member States to the European Union (COREPER) has now reached an agreement on a revised proposal which could possibly defer the reporting deadline for six months. On the basis that the draft Directive, once approved, may be adopted at the discretion of each member state, it is imperative that businesses do not delay in preparing to meet their existing compliance obligations should reporting dates not be deferred (or not be deferred in all Member States where they operate).

The Government of France issued an ordinance (n° 2020-115), which transposes the EU Directive (2018/843) of 30 May 2018 of the European Parliament and of the Council, known as the "5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive", on 12 February 2020 to aid in the efforts to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism in France. This ordinance has been supplemented by two decrees (n° 2020-118, n° 1010-119) adopted on the same day.Covered institutions with a presence in France should carefully analyze the ordinance and its supporting decrees and, where necessary, review and adapt their processes to ensure compliance with the new regulatory framework. In particular, client identity checks need to be adapted.

In early March 2020, after COVID-19 had already begun its journey of destruction around the world, the European Commission (Commission) published its Comprehensive Strategy...

During the current pandemic crisis many companies within the Financial Services Industry (FSI) are struggling to balance the various countries’ COVID-19 relief measures with...

On 28 April 2020, the Prime Minister gave an outline of the plan to gradually relax the lockdown from 11 May onwards. On 3 May 2020, the Ministry of Labour published a National Deconfinement Plan for companies to ensure the health and safety of employees, link here. Companies which have not already done so must take steps to adapt working conditions to these new recommendations.