On 24 March 2022, the European Parliament and the Council reached an agreement on the Digital Markets Act (“DMA”), a pioneering initiative to regulate digital markets and endorse the European digital strategy. The DMA would include a set of obligations for “designated gatekeepers”, namely companies whose digital services would be determined as an important gateway
Regulators and Activists Increase Scrutiny on Use of Cookies and Cookie Banner Design
As many readers will be aware, a key enforcement trend in the privacy sphere is the increasing scrutiny by regulators and activists of cookie banners and the use of cookies. This is a topic that we have been tracking on the Inside Privacy blog for some time. Italian and German data protection authorities have
Must Defendants Prove Some Class Claims are Subject to an Affirmative Defense Undermining Predominance? The Seventh Circuit Says No.
The Seventh Circuit recently shed light on what defendants need not do when invoking an affirmative defense that the defendant contends undermines predominance: establish that the affirmative defense would, on the merits, defeat at least some class claims.
USMCA Labor-related provisions: An assessment after 20 months
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Since entry into force of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (“USMCA”) in July 2020, the United States has brought two known complaints against Mexico under the Agreement’s Facility-Specific Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (“RRM”), concerning allegations that workers at two different factories in Mexico were being denied their fundamental right to organize.
The Office of the
Continued Litigation Over Social Cost of Carbon Emphasizes Its Importance to the Biden Administration’s Climate Agenda
The Fifth Circuit recently allowed the federal government to resume use of the “social cost of carbon” (SCC), after a district court enjoined reliance on the metric earlier this year. The SCC aids cost-benefit analysis of regulatory actions and can provide insights into the impacts of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The continued
The Commission’s Temporary Crisis Framework for State Aid measures to support the economy following the aggression against Ukraine by Russia
On 23 March 2022, the European Commission (the “Commission”) adopted a Temporary Crisis Framework for State Aid measures to support the economy following the aggression against Ukraine by Russia (the “Framework”). In a similar fashion to the temporary framework that the Commission has adopted to address the COVID-19 outbreak (the “COVID-19 Temporary Framework”), and earlier,
Covington Primer on Foreign Military Sales and Financing
Given the growing attention in U.S. military assistance to foreign allies and the applicable ground rules, Covington has prepared a primer to understanding the basics of foreign military sales, foreign military financing, and direct commercial sales. Covington features a multi-disciplinary team of government contracts, export controls, anticorruption, and corporate attorneys with experience in foreign military
EU and US Reach Agreement in Principle on Privacy Shield 2.0
On March 25, 2022, the EU Commission and US announced that an agreement in principle on a new framework for transatlantic data flows had been reached (see the Commission’s statement here, here, and here, and the US White House’s statement here). The Commission and the U.S. published draft factsheets outlining the
USTR Reinstates Limited Exclusions from Tariffs on Chinese Imports
International Trade, Public Policy (U.S.), Technology
On March 23, 2022, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”) announced its decision to reinstate through December 31, 2022, 352 previously granted exclusions from tariffs imposed on Chinese imports under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 (“Section 301 Tariffs”). The reinstated exclusions are a subset
Dryers Wins Back-to-Back Dismissals in Consumer Deception Lawsuits
Last week, Dryers defeated two putative class actions filed by the same law firm, Spencer Sheehan, alleging that representations on the packaging of Häagen-Dazs chocolate-dipped ice cream bars misled consumers about the product’s chocolate coating. In both cases, plaintiffs alleged that the representation that the ice cream is dipped in “rich milk chocolate” is false,