On Thursday 6 January 2022, the European Commission published Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/1, updating the list of dual-use items contained in Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2021/821. The EU Dual Use List is updated by the European Commission each year to ensure it remains aligned with the control lists of relevant international non-proliferation regimes, in which Member States (and the EU itself) participate.
The year has ended with important new developments for companies that contract with the public sector, new developments that have come into force on January 1. Both the State and Catalan’s budgetary laws contain provisions on this matter. Also, as each year, the new thresholds applicable to harmonized contracts have been published.
Law 16/2021 of December 14 was published on December 15, which modifies Law 12/2013, of August 2, on measures to improve the functioning of the food chain. This new reform intends to respond to the continuous claims of farmers in the agricultural and food sector, taking advantage of the framework of the transposition of the Spanish legal system of Directive (EU) 2019/633 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of April 17, 2019, related to unfair business practices in relationships between companies in the agricultural and food supply chain.
The UK government has begun a consultation on disability workforce reporting. The consultation includes questions on current practice and explores the possibility of voluntary or mandatory reporting practices.
On 14 and 15 December 2021, Legislative Decree No. 184/2021 and Legislative Decree No. 195/2021, which significantly amended Legislative Decree No. 231/2001 on corporate liability and the Italian Criminal Code entered into force.
In this article, we highlight some key decisions and legislation of which employers should be aware in 2022 such as the Employment Bill, increase in statutory pay rate in April 20202 and decisions on discrimination and holiday pay
With effect from 1 January 2022, the provisions of the recent amendment of Act No. 127/2005 Coll., on Electronic Communications and on Amendment to Certain Related Acts relating to the storing and accessing of cookies and other information on users’ devices and telemarketing, have become effective.
On 25 November 2021 (Case C-102/20), the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that displaying advertisements directly in the e-mail inbox, so-called inbox advertising (“Inbox Werbung”), is only permissible with the recipient’s prior consent. The ECJ’s reasoning can also apply to the legal situation in Switzerland on the basis of the provisions of the Federal Act against Unfair Competition.
On 4 January 2022, the new UK foreign investment review regime under the National Security and Investment Act came into force, completing the overhaul of the UK’s foreign investment rules and commencing operation of a standalone foreign investment screening regime for the first time in the UK.
In December 2021, the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) issued four General Licenses (“GLs”) (GLs 16, 17, 18, and 19), published seven new Frequently Asked Questions (“FAQs”) (FAQs 949, 950, 951, 952, 953, 954, and 955), and amended three FAQs (FAQs 929, 930, and 931), which address primarily authorized humanitarian activities related to Afghanistan OFAC also issued a Fact Sheet titled “Provision of Humanitarian Assistance to Afghanistan and Support for the Afghan People” to provide further guidance on the scope of US sanctions and authorized humanitarian activities in relation to Afghanistan. Key points are summarized below.