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The Foreign Extortion Prevention Act (FEPA), enacted on 14 December 2023, as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024, establishes criminal liability for foreign officials soliciting or accepting bribes from specific US entities. FEPA criminalizes corrupt demands by foreign officials and carries potential penalties of up to USD 250,000 fine and 15 years imprisonment. Aligned with international anti-corruption conventions, FEPA reinforces the Biden Administration’s national security priority to combat corruption, and may impact FCPA investigations.

Welcome to the next edition of our quarterly HR Privacy newsletter designed to keep you updated with key cases, legal developments, trends and news relating to employment / HR data privacy matters, which is brought to you by the Baker McKenzie EMEA Employment and Compensation practice group.
This edition explores high-profile case-law decisions and new consultations and guidance in the UK, Germany, Netherlands and Spain markets.

Countries are approaching plastics regulation in different ways. Measures that have been proposed and adopted vary and include imposing plastic taxes, bans on single-use plastics, microbead bans, deposit return schemes, and consumer charges to discourage consumption (e.g., carrier bag charges). At an international level, in 2022, a UN resolution was endorsed to end plastic pollution and propose an international legally binding agreement by 2024.

PE investors need to be attuned to antitrust issues, particularly on the sell side, when investing in technology given the current US Federal Trade Commission’s aggressive approach to enforcement and focus on big tech. National security concerns and data security also loom large. Download the full PEI Keynote Interview to understand how antitrust, national security and data protection issues are key to PE firms when executing deals in the technology industry.

The United Kingdom just hosted the first-ever global Artificial Intelligence Safety Summit on 1 and 2 November 2023, an event that brought international attention to the regulation of Artificial Intelligence. UK Prime Minister Sunak underscored the urgency for global collaboration in the governance of AI, a technology that defies national boundaries and demands a collective regulatory approach. The summit’s outcome was the Bletchley Declaration, a commitment signed by leading nations, including Germany, the United States, and China, to enhance cooperation in the development and regulatory oversight of AI technologies.

Cybersecurity threats and risks are increasing each day, and cybercriminals are getting more sophisticated in their attacks. Companies need to ensure that their data security measures keep up with ever-changing regulations and that they have protocols in place to deal with cyber threats, breaches, and ransomware attacks. Retail brands recognize that in an increasingly connected world, cybersecurity should remain a top priority.

On 3 October 2023, the OECD published the Multilateral Convention to Facilitate the Implementation of Pillar Two’s Subject to Tax Rule (STTR). As a reminder, the STTR is an integral part of the Pillar Two package, which consists of domestic rules (the GloBE rules) and a treaty-based rule, the STTR. One of the key differences compared to the GloBE rules is that the STTR is not limited to MNE groups with a consolidated turnover exceeding the EUR 750 million threshold.

Baker McKenzie has a long-standing history of participation and involvement in the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP), advising governments, companies and other entities on implementing the Paris Agreement and leading on the development of both international and domestic carbon markets.
The team will be on the ground in Dubai for COP28 and look forward to engaging in ground-breaking discussions with all key stakeholders to share insights and continue to offer cutting-edge advice to our clients. In the meantime, we have prepared a series of primers on what we expect to be some of the key themes for COP28.

The proliferation of sustainability-related disclosures is a key trend in the prevailing socio-economic and legislative landscape. Tax – an increasingly important metric in the sustainability agenda – is starting to follow suit. In recent years, global, regional, and domestic measures have emerged with a view to increasing tax transparency, and this trend shows no sign of abating.
In this article, which is part of our ESG & Tax series, we outline the evolving tax transparency landscape and identify some of the key trends for businesses to get to grips with.