On 6 October 2021, the Ministry of Information and Communications released a proposal to amend the Law on Telecommunications, including an outline for the proposed amendments. The outline of the new Law is still in a skeletal proposal form.
This week’s discussion in the ‘This Week in Government Enforcement’ series will cover the following:
• Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco on corporate enforcement priorities under the Biden Administration
• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is targeting big tech
o What do they want and why do they want it?
o How should tech firms prepare, whether they receive a request from CFPB or not?
In November, the United States announced that Ethiopia, Guinea and Mali would be terminated from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (“AGOA”) trade preference program, unless they took urgent action to meet eligibility criteria by 1 January 2022. AGOA eligibility requirements include, among other things, that countries must follow the rule of law and implement economic policies that reduce poverty and combat corruption and bribery. Countries must also protect internationally recognized human and worker rights, and must not engage in activities that undermine national security interests.
Effective 1 January 2022, cloud service providers in Malaysia will be subjected to licensing requirements under the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Act 1998. Technical standards are also expected to be implemented in due course to ensure that licensed cloud service providers comply with prescribed requirements as to data security and data protection. Cloud service providers are advised to carefully consider whether the new licensing regime applies to their solutions, and to ensure they are duly licensed when the requirements come into force in the new year.
Two years ago, on 5 November 2019, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the formation of the Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF). DOJ press releases indicated the purpose was to create a joint, collaborative interagency partnership focused on deterring, detecting, investigating, and prosecuting antitrust crimes. The Strike Force has prosecutors from 22 US Attorneys’ Offices and 7 national law enforcement partner agencies, including the Antitrust Division of the DOJ, investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Inspectors General for multiple Federal agencies. To date, the PCSF is active in almost a quarter of US judicial districts and coordinates with many US agencies and offices.
China has strengthened its commitment to protect personal information by adopting the new Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL 《中华人民共和国个人信息保护法》) which gives data subjects the power to control and determine how, with whom and for what purposes their personal information can be shared, analyzed or handled. Our Firm has previously released a more detailed discussion on the PIPL, which took effect on 1 November 2021.
In April, Royal Decree-Law 7 of 27 April 2021 was passed. It introduced major amendments to Royal Legislative Decree 1 of 16 November 2007, approving the revised text of the General Consumer and User Protection Act and other supplementary acts, which we analysed in our May newsletter.
As a sponsor at the 2021 Hong Kong Fintech Week, Baker McKenzie moderated several panel discussions and hosted a couple of virtual masterclasses, including one on the topic “Future of Work: New Workforce Reality.” This session covers interesting developments from an employment perspective, looking closely at key considerations for financial institutions dealing with the changing environment including critical risks in cybersecurity, data privacy and intellectual property confidentiality, occupational health and safety issues, and fraud risks.
Financial crime remains at the top of the regulatory agenda across the globe. As responses to the pandemic stabilise, and following some high-profile global incidents, regulators face renewed pressure to manage financial crime more effectively through robust supervision and enforcement. In the October 2021 edition of the City Library’s Compliance Officer Bulletin, our business crime, regulatory and cybersecurity lawyers explore the latest developments in anti-money laundering and financial crime in a series of articles
Baker McKenzie’s 30th International Environment Conference will begin on 9 November 2021 and go until 30 November 2021. These 75-minute weekly webinars will include an overview of key regional differences and how governments approach the resolution of these challenges.