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In July this year, the European Commission adopted an adequacy decision for the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. The decision allows the free flow of data from the European Union to the United States if US companies abide by the Framework. It is likely that the Commission will soon look at adopting adequacy decisions for African countries, in addition to other regions, with such decisions expected to have applicability for those countries that have developed privacy laws that are modeled, fully or partially, on the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulations or the earlier EU Data Protection Directive (1995).

Please join Baker McKenzie and ICPA for a fireside chat with Assistant Secretary Axelrod (U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security) where he will share his insights on what to expect in the year ahead for export enforcement. Assistant Secretary Axelrod will provide his perspectives on Bureau of Industry and Security priorities and the multilateral enforcement framework that is emerging globally.

Last year, we warned that the Federal Trade Commission was starting to go after directors, owners and private equity firms in control of entities that violated American antitrust laws. That has now proven true.
On 21 September, the FTC filed a 106-page complaint in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas against US Anesthesia Partners Inc. and its private equity investor, Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe XI LP.

In the ongoing debate concerning data broker regulation, trade-offs between competition and privacy are not always holistically appreciated. This article — originally published in Competition Policy International’s TechReg Chronicle — examines the importance of data protection for individual privacy and access to data for competition, discusses the role of data brokers in data privacy and sharing, and reviews existing, new, and proposed regulations of data brokers who now face additional and varying restrictions in state and federal privacy and consumer protection laws that will increase their compliance costs.

With the new year comes the 1 January 2024 effective date of the Corporate Transparency Act, which will require approximately 32.6 million US entities to report beneficial ownership information (BOI) to the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). On 28 September 2023, FinCEN published proposed regulations modifying the BOI Reporting Requirements, which are found in the CTA’s implementing regulations.

On 20 October 2023, the IRS issued a press release announcing a new initiative to send compliance alerts to roughly 150 US subsidiaries of large foreign corporations that distribute goods in the United States to challenge transfer pricing practices that it alleges resulted in improper losses and exceedingly low margins year after year. Further, in 2024 the IRS will expand the Large Corporate Compliance program to include audits of an additional 60 corporate taxpayers selected using artificial intelligence and input from subject matter experts.

Employee handbooks have recently come to the forefront of employers’ key priorities. Why? The NLRB’s recent decision in Stericycle adopted a retroactive “employee friendly” standard for workplace rules, including those often included in handbooks. In addition, the new year often rings in new laws requiring changes to workplace policies likely to be included in handbooks. And the US Supreme Court decision banning affirmative action in higher education has led employers to take a closer look at their inclusion, diversity and equity related policies and statements in employee handbooks.

In a notable turn of events, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it would abandon its in-house post-consummation challenge of the 2018 acquisition by Axon Enterprise, Inc. of VieVu, LLC. The FTC’s decision follows a recent adverse ruling from the Supreme Court, which held that parties are entitled to assert constitutional challenges against the FTC before being required to participate in its administrative proceedings. Following the Supreme Court’s decision, the FTC is likely to confront more challenges when pursuing enforcement actions—including, in particular, merger challenges—through its in-house administrative proceedings.

On 5 October 2023, the Canadian Securities Administrators published guidance on dealing in Stablecoins, including by imposing updated terms and conditions for crypto asset trading platforms that offer Stablecoins, and requiring issuers of certain Stablecoins to provide undertakings in a form substantially acceptable to the regulators by 1 December 2023.

On 8 November 2023, join thought leaders from government, the judiciary, academia, and private practice for this timely gathering on the Georgetown Law campus in Washington, DC. Laws and policy surrounding the protection of trade secrets are changing as technology evolves. In this first-of-its-kind event at Georgetown, intellectual property experts will discuss the following topics: How generative AI is transforming the trade secret landscape, the role of non-competes, protecting against leaks of confidential information, the impact of China’s emerging trade secret protection landscape on global commerce, and the future of trade secrets in the US and abroad.