August 2015

On 17 June 2015, the European Commission launched a public consultation on further corporate tax transparency, which suggests a variety of tax transparency measures including country-by-country reporting (see here). The consultation is intended to gather feedback on which companies should offer more tax transparency and to whom. The deadline for the consultation is September…

Later this month, Gabon will host two major African investment forums: the AGOA Forum and the New York Forum AFRICA.

Established by the African Growth and Opportunity Act, the AGOA Forum is an annual gathering that brings together high-level African and U.S. government officials to discuss strengthening economic ties between the U.S. and the continent.…

Last week, our colleague Libbie Cantor published a post on our InsidePrivacy blog regarding the Online Trust Alliance’s (OTA) release of a draft framework of best practices for Internet of Things device manufacturers and developers.  This draft framework applies to, among other things, eHealth technology, such as wearable fitness and health technologies.  The OTA is seeking comments…

“[W]e respectfully request that no further presidential directives primarily focused on government contractors be issued for the foreseeable future,” wrote four government contractor associations in a letter to the White House dated August 3, 2015. The letter was released publicly on Tuesday, August 11, 2015, and signed by representatives of the Aerospace Industries Association, the…

Earlier this week, our colleague Bianca Nunes published a post on cybersecurity risks with connected devices on Covington’s InsideMedicalDevices blog.  This post describes the FDA’s increasing focus on promoting cybersecurity, as well as a draft practice guide for securing health records maintained on mobile devices published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

On August 11, 2015, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a draft guidance memorandum intended to improve cybersecurity protections in federal acquisitions. Specifically, the proposed memorandum provides direction to federal agencies on “implementing strengthened cybersecurity protections in Federal acquisitions for products or services that generate, collect, maintain, disseminate, store, or provides access to…

On August 5, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted, by a three-to-two vote, a rule that will require most public companies to disclose, annually, the ratio of the median of the annual total compensation of the company’s employees to the annual total compensation of the company’s principal executive officer. Companies must comply with the…