Companies within the internal market can build their market power by abstracting value from its client’s personal information. When entering into an unfamiliar market, a company should always bear in mind the balance between the levels of protection that it should provide to its consumers and the degree of competitiveness that it holds from controlling …
Author: Kim Goudzwaard
China’s One Belt One Road Initiative on tax and customs
In September and October 2013, the Chinese President Xi Jinping had brought up two strategic initiatives which are jointly known as the “One Belt One Road” Initiative[1] (OBOR), respectively the New Silk Road Economic Road (SREB) and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (MSR). These two projects are considered a re-establishment of the historical trade …
When data protection mingles with competition law and the right to data portability
According to Margrethe Verstager, European Commissioner for Competition, “we as consumers have a new currency that we can use […] – our data”[1] which most of the time consumers do not realize they posses and this is what the Digital Single Market Strategy addresses. The Digital Single Market Strategy aims at creating easy access and …
Chinese investments fund based in London will trigger EU AIFM Directive
A 500 million pounds investment into a London-based fund had been announced by the Chinese company Cocoon Networks at a Beijing-London Tech Venture Forum held on the 19th of January 2016. Two big private equity companies were behind this, namely China Equity Group and Hanxin Capital. This fund is to be expected in place in …
Labor law and Tax optimization, the war has only just begun!
This is legal news that Wolters Kluwer would have wished not to have to publish. Indeed, their tax optimisation techniques just suffered a severe loss against the French labor rights. In 2007, the Dutch media and editing group Wolters Kluwer decided to merge several companies. This project was called the “COSMOS project”. As part of …
Dutch legislative reform introduces an obligation to notify data breaches also applicable to non-Dutch undertakings
The Dutch reform entered into force on the 1st of January 2016 and contains an obligation to notify data breaches in a maximum of 72 hours from the occurrence of the breach[i]. The obligation used to be valid only for data controllers of certain sectors [ii], while this new law extends the obligation to all …
Replacement of the goods due to their lack of conformity: Is a pet replaceable?
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”(Gandhi). France currently has more than 63 million pets, which means that almost 1 out of 2 households has at least one animal. Despite these, the legal status of the animal has evolved only recently. Indeed, the …
Terrorism: The employer’s duty to protect the mental health of his employees
France has experienced these last months’ horrific terrorist attacks and everyone feels more or less affected by this danger. It seems then important to review the obligation borne by the employer to protect the mental and physical health of his employees. In a judgment of November 25th, 2015, the French Supreme Court (Cour de Cassation) …
Can the artistic creation of robots be entitled to copyright protection?
A few years ago, this question will have seemed coming straight out of one of the Hollywood movies. But today, due to the technology development this question finds a place in doctrine. However, this interrogation is subject to debate within the legal profession. In its current states, French law does not allow a corporation to …
Joint Ventures in China
In the last decades there is a stronger cooperation between China and The European Union at the governmental level (e.g. negotiations for an EU-China investment agreement or China’s one Belt One Road policy), leading to a better environment and more business opportunities for European business and investors. Setting up a joint venture (JV) with a Chinese …