On 13 July 2023, Judge Analisa Torres of the Southern District of New York issued an Order on competing motions for summary judgment in the closely followed SEC v. Ripple Labs, Inc. litigation. As the first court decision to broadly address the question of whether a cryptocurrency itself is a security, as the SEC has maintained in most circumstances, the Order may have broad implications to the state of crypto industry regulation in the US.
The United States tax treaty with Chile has finally been approved by the Senate, over a decade after its original signature on 4 February 2010.
On 22 June 2023, the Senate voted 95-2 to pass the resolution of advice and consent to ratification of the Convention Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of Chile for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income and Capital. The treaty now heads to the President for official ratification.
On 18 July 2023, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek signed SB 619 into law as the Oregon Consumer Privacy Act, making Oregon the eleventh US state to enact consumer privacy legislation and the seventh in 2023 alone. The compliance deadline for for-profit entities is 1 July 2024.
In the first part of this series, A Legal Makeover Guide for Complying with New Cosmetic Regulations under the Modernization of Cosmetic Regulation Act of 2022 (MoCRA) Part I, we provided an overview of the new US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ‘s regulatory requirements for cosmetics and their implementation deadlines. In this second part, we will delve into the details and look at the good manufacturing practices regulations the FDA plans to establish for cosmetic products.
On 9 June 2023, the White House released a memorandum of agreement between the Treasury Department and the Office of Management and Budget, which clarifies that tax regulations will not be subject to review by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs and, in doing so, supersedes and essentially reverses a 2018 memorandum of agreement from the Trump administration.
The Colorado Privacy Act has been enforceable since 1 July 2023. Just as the California Attorney General has done through several sweeps, the Colorado Attorney General, Phil Weiser, has announced through letters sent to business that enforcement of the Colorado Privacy Act has begun.
The initial round of letters are meant to educate businesses on their new obligations, with particular emphasis on the collection and use of sensitive data and related prior consent requirement as well as the obligation to allow consumers to opt out of targeted advertising and profiling.
Baker McKenzie’s Sanctions Blog published the alert titled BIS Issues Best Practices for License Applications for Medical-related Items for Russia, Belarus, and Occupied/Covered Regions of Ukraine on 19 July 2023. Read the article via the link here. Please also visit our Sanctions Blog for the most recent updates.
Baker McKenzie’s Sanctions Blog published the alert titled Canada Imposes Additional Sanctions Against Russia: 39 Individuals and 25 Entities Targeted on 20 July 2023. Read the article via the link here. Please also visit our Sanctions Blog for the most recent updates.
On 17 July 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) urged Chinese companies to disclose certain business links they may have to Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. The companies may face compliance risk and supply chain disruptions if they operate in the Xinjiang region of China or do business with companies that operate in the area known for its Uyghur population, the SEC said in new guidance. The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which President Biden signed into law in 2021, blocks imports from the region unless a company can prove the products were made without forced labor.
On 19 July 2023, the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) jointly released new draft merger guidelines for public comment. The guidelines are intended to explain how the DOJ and FTC will assess whether future mergers and acquisitions may violate US antitrust law. These guidelines represent another step in the Biden Administration’s effort to increase aggressive merger enforcement.