The last thirty days in September, the end of the US federal government’s fiscal year, is generally an important time to analyze enforcement activity by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission. In this short video, Baker McKenzie Partner Peter Chan, a former SEC Assistant Director of Enforcement, provides his insights regarding the importance of the timing of some of these enforcement actions.
This publication features the latest Employment developments in Italy, including updates in relation to whistleblowing, electric cars, relocation of employees and more.
We are pleased to announce that Baker McKenzie has published the FY24 edition of Directors Duties in Australia.
Matters covered in the guide include common law and statutory duties, financial reporting, continuous disclosure, insider trading and other topical issues including managing environmental and cyber security risk.
On 15 July 2023 the Italian National Anti-Corruption Authority issued the new interpretative Guidelines of Legislative Decree no. 24/2023, implementing the EU Whistleblowing Directive. The new Guidelines aim at providing practical guidance to those employers that, pursuant to the new law, are now required to implement their own internal reporting channels.
Welcome to the 2023 edition of Baker McKenzie’s Doing Business in Canada, a practical guide to the business and investment legal framework and developments in Canada. We hope that you find this guide a useful and practical resource.
On 11 May 2023, GCI Communications Corp. (GCI) agreed to pay more than USD 40 million to the US government to settle allegations that it submitted false claims to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) by knowingly inflating its prices in a competitive bidding program regulated by the FCC. The investigation began when a former GCI employee, Robert Taylor, filed a qui tam action against the company under the False Claims Act (FCA) after it allegedly falsely claimed and received funds from the FCC’s Rural Health Care Program. This settlement signals the DOJ’s intent to partner with other government agencies, in this case the FCC, in using the False Claims Act to combat fraud by organizations that service health care providers. It is also one of the DOJ’s largest settlements of allegations under the FCA in 2023.
The German Whistleblower Protection Act was (finally) passed on 12 May 2023, after several attempts, following final amendments proposed by the Mediation Committee on 9 May 2023, which have now been accepted by the Federal Parliament (Bundestag) and the Federal Council (Bundesrat). The long overdue law serves to implement the European Whistleblower Directive (Directive (EU) 2019/1937), which actually provided for an implementation deadline of December 2021. The law will now come into force in mid-June 2023.
In a recent Baker McKenzie global survey, 87% of senior lawyers expressed concern about facing an internal investigation in 2023 – a 22% increase from last year. At the same time, data privacy concerns, new regulations – including the EU Whistleblowing Directive – and a rising focus on ESG considerations are further compounding the challenges for organizations in this space. Explore the drivers for whistleblowing and investigations activity, key regional trends and steps to overcome common compliance pitfalls.
We provided an overview perspective on EU Whistleblowing Directive: Local Implementation which includes updates on the latest EU employment and compliance developments.
The European Whistleblowing Directive was supposed to be implemented by the European Union’s 27 member states by no later than 17 December 2021, impacting employers with operations in those jurisdictions.
This publication features Italy’s latest developments in employment law.