The Commission has recently adopted a proposal for a Council Recommendation to ensure that any measures taken by Member States that restrict free movement due to the coronavirus pandemic are coordinated and clearly communicated at the EU level. The Commission’s proposal sets out four key areas where Member States should work closer together:

Common criteria and thresholds for Member States when deciding whether to introduce travel restrictions; Mapping of common criteria using an agreed colour code; A common framework for measures applied to travellers from high-risk areas; Clear and timely information to the public about any restrictions.

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Ms. Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank and Mr. Luis de Guindos, Vice-President of the European Central Bank recently gave a speech at an ECB press conference at Frankfurt am Main on 10 September. We will now report on the outcome of today’s meeting of the Governing Council, which was also attended by the Commission Executive Vice-President, Mr Dombrovskis. The incoming data since our last monetary policy meeting in July suggest a strong rebound in activity broadly in line with previous expectations, although the level of activity remains well below the levels prevailing before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Continue reading…

The Banca d’Italia announced today that the ban on onboarding new customers at ING Italy, imposed in March 2019 has been removed. The decision follows the comprehensive steps undertaken by ING Italy to strengthen its processes and management of KYC compliance risks. Following an inspection by the Banca d’Italia, which had identified shortcomings in AML processes, in March 2019 ING Italy was banned from taking on new customers. Existing customers in Italy have continued to be fully served throughout the period.  Continue reading…

by Michel Klompmaker

Last month, the UWV1 published the full list of all companies that have made use of the Temporary Emergency Measure Bridging for Employment in the Netherlands, better known as the NOW scheme. It has become something more than a list, a complete register with more than 2,000 pages! Really for the enthusiasts, because it states exactly which companies have used it, their location and what the advance payment has been. Did you find the hourly rate charged to your company by your law firm and / or notary office to be disproportionately high? Then take a look at the register to see whether they had the guts to have made use of the NOW scheme (perhaps, in your opinion, previously misused). Continue reading…

An alleged criminal network of copyright infringement hackers was recently dismantled by US authorities and their counterparts in 18 countries where they also received a great amount of support from Eurojust and Europol. This criminal network was known for pirating movies and distributing the illegal digital contents around the world. In a great coordinated effort, more than 60 servers were taken out of service in North America, Asia and Europe and several members of the criminal network were apprehended and taken in by the authorities. This crime group’s illegal activities ended up having significant negative effects, costing tens of millions of USD in losses annually to the US movie, television and other entertainment industries. Continue reading…

TikTok, the widely used Chinese video sharing social networking app, does not seem to protect children that use the app. Such findings have been revealed by the Dutch Foundation for Market Information Research (SOMI), which will continue its research into the business model and practices of the TikTok app. Moreover, the app most likely also gathers unauthorised personal information from its users, especially from minors. If these findings were found to be correct, then this would mean that TikTok would be violating the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) regulations. If they decided to follow up on this, SOMI could potentially stand up against the app’s apparent disregard of the European regulations and also introduce increased supervision measures while children use the app to reassure parents that are concerned. Continue reading…

The European Commission has concluded its exploratory talks with Moderna to purchase a potential vaccine against COVID-19. Moderna is the fifth company with which the Commission has concluded talks, following Sanofi-GSK on 31 July, Johnson & Johnson on 13 August, CureVac on 18 August, in addition to the signature of an Advance Purchase Agreement with AstraZeneca on 14 August. The envisaged contract with Moderna would provide for the possibility for all EU Member States to purchase the vaccine, as well as to donate to lower and middle income countries or re-direct to European countries. Continue reading…

Ravi Menon, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, recently gave a keynote speech via video conference from Singapore. COVID-19 has triggered the sharpest contraction in the global economy since the Great Depression of the 1930s. We can expect a gradual recovery from the third quarter onwards as countries re-open their economies. But there is considerable uncertainty about the strength and durability of this recovery. The trajectory of the economy will be largely shaped by the trajectory of the pandemic – which is itself a significant source of uncertainty. The risk of secondary waves of infection is not trivial. Those countries that have put in place strong safe management measures and a robust regime of testing, contact tracing, and swift isolation of infected persons, are more likely to minimise a second outbreak of infections and sustain their economic recovery.  Continue reading…

by Ahsan Habib

Sanctions cannot bring about success in isolation. The dialogue with the target country must be ongoing, both at the official and diplomatic level and via view exchanges with citizens and opposition groups in the target country. I would like to start with remembering the fairytale (which was quite familiar to me when I was a young child back home in Bangladesh) in which a little girl had a choice of three beds in which she could take a nap. The father’s bed was too hard, the mother’s was too soft, and only the baby bear’s bed was comfortable enough for her in which to fall asleep, finally she picked the bear’s one. Undoubtedly, those who impose sanctions should recall that Goldilocks (that little girl in the fairytale ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’) only slept soundly when she found the bed that was neither too soft nor too hard. Sounds weird at the beginning!! Trust me, it’s not weird, but rather relevant. Continue reading…

The European Central Bank (ECB) recently extended its recommendation to banks on dividend distributions and share buy-backs until 1 January 2021 and asked banks to be extremely moderate with regard to variable remuneration. It also clarified that it will give enough time for banks to replenish their capital and liquidity buffers in order not to act pro-cyclically. This updated recommendation on dividend distributions remains temporary and exceptional and is aimed at preserving banks’ capacity to absorb losses and support the economy in this environment of exceptional uncertainty. This uncertainty makes it difficult for banks to accurately forecast their capital positions. As demonstrated by the vulnerability analysis the level of capital in the system could decline significantly if a severe scenario were to materialise. Continue reading…