The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) recently announced a significant change in policy that will allow it to purchase drug products that were previously unavailable due to the Trade Agreements Act (“TAA”) because they were manufactured in countries with whom the United States does not have a procurement agreement in place. The VA
April 2016
SBA Proposes New Data Rights and Phase III Preferences under SBIR/STTR Awards
The U.S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”) recently issued a notice detailing proposed amendments to the policy directives governing the Small Business Innovation Research (“SBIR”) and Small Business Technology Transfer (“STTR”) programs. The notice indicates that the SBA intends to implement significant changes to the current data rights provided under SBIR/STTR awards, as well as the…
Seventh Circuit, Relying on Defendant’s Post-Breach Statements, Allows Data Breach Class Action to Proceed
By Caleb Skeath
Last week, the Seventh Circuit handed down another friendly ruling for data breach class action plaintiffs, reversing a district court’s dismissal of a class action complaint over a 2014 data breach at P.F. Chang’s restaurants. In reversing the district court’s holding that the plaintiffs had not demonstrated Article III standing, the Seventh Circuit ruled that…
This Week in Congress – April 18, 2016
The Senate is aiming to wrap up consideration of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill this week and conclude work on the long-stalled comprehensive energy reform bill, while the House of Representatives will be zeroing in on legislation to provide more oversight of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
The Senate returns on Monday with…
DoD IG Report Reveals Ongoing Struggles in IT-Acquisition Reform
IT-acquisition reform remains an area of ongoing concern for Federal agencies and government contractors. Indeed, as we previously discussed, the GAO has added IT Acquisitions and Operations to its bi-annual list of programs it identifies as posing a high risk for fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement. Strengthened by Congress’ passage in December 2014 of…
Africa, TPP and TTIP: Integration or Isolation?
By Cov Africa
With the demise of the Doha Development Round at the WTO Ministerial in Nairobi this past December, the multilateral approach to global trade negotiations has largely ended. Given that the number of regional trade agreements has increased from 70 in 1990 to more than 270 today, it appears that it is every region for itself…
EU Data Protection Authorities Call For Further Clarifications on the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield and Raise Some Concerns
Today, the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party (“Working Party”), a group consisting of representatives from the European data protection authorities, the European Data Protection Supervisor, and the European Commission, published its opinion on the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield draft adequacy decision (“Opinion”) (see here). The Opinion is accompanied by a second document, Working Document…
House Judiciary Committee Approves Email Privacy Act
In a unanimous vote, the House Judiciary Committee approved the Email Privacy Act, a long-awaited update to the 30-year-old Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). The proposed changes would strengthen the privacy protections for email and other cloud-storage services by closing a loophole that allowed law enforcement to access older data without obtaining a warrant. …
European Commission Launches Consultation on Reform of the ePrivacy Directive
Following the expected approval of the final text of the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) in the European Parliament this week, the Commission is now turning its attention towards the ePrivacy Directive.
On Monday (April 11, 2016), the Commission launched a public consultation to review and propose changes to the ePrivacy Directive (2002/58/EC). (See the Commission’s…
This Week in Congress – April 11, 2016
This week both chambers will be in session, kicking off three busy weeks of legislative activity before the next scheduled recess. The Senate will resume consideration of its proposal to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), while the House will be taking up legislation related to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) net neutrality rules and…