Sky Blog
The meteoric global rise of ESG investing is increasingly being met with an equally ambitious regulatory disclosure regime, and, targeting greenwashing, policymakers are beginning to bare their teeth. In the latest salvo, on 25 May the US Securities and Exchange …
On February 23, 2022, the European Commission issued its long-awaited proposal for a Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence (the Proposed Directive). Under the Proposed Directive, large companies operating in the EU market must identify, prevent, and mitigate any actual …
In recent years, several countries have imposed disclosure requirements on public firms for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance. These mandates have also been accompanied by the European Union’s wide-reaching Non-Financial Reporting Directive, effective in 2018 (Directive 2014/95/EU). Similar legislative …
The core concepts of securities regulation tend to be similar across jurisdictions. However, there are differences that may seem small and insignificant at first glance but in fact generate the potential for arbitrage by the kind of sophisticated actors that …
In the wake of the landmark judgment in Schrems II in July 2020 (which invalidated the EU-US Privacy Shield with immediate effect) (as reported by us here), the European Commission has recently adopted a number of hotly anticipated (at …
With the increasing internationalization of law and legal scholarship, comparative corporate governance has seen a burgeoning volume of research from a practical, theoretical, and empirical perspective. Practically speaking, both internationally and within individual countries, most corporate governance research deals with …
In my recent article, A Social Enterprise Company in EU Organizational Law?, I discuss the present and future regulation of social enterprises in Europe. For the moment, social enterprises – like other “social economy” organizations – have been harnessed …
On October 23, 2019, the European Parliament and the European Council adopted the Whistleblower Protection Directive (Directive) to set a minimum standard for the protections EU member states must provide to whistleblowers.
For the first time, whistleblowers are protected under …
On June 4, 2021, the European Commission (“EC”) released a final working draft, along with its implementing decision, for a new set of Standard Contractual Clauses (“New SCCs”) for the transfer of personal data to countries …
On April 21, 2021, the European Commission published an ambitious new package of “sustainable finance” regulation proposals. By far the most awaited element of this release concerned the Commission’s proposal for the review of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (“NFRD…
On April 26, 2021, the United Kingdom implemented a new sanctions regime that allows the UK government to impose asset freezes on public officials and other persons involved in serious corruption. The regime replaces, and expands, the Misappropriation of State …
The new Article 22 EU Merger Regulation (EUMR) Guidance[1] released by the European Commission (EC) enables the EC to review any acquisition, even those that do not qualify for notification under national (or EU) merger control rules.
Recent developments have placed antitrust law on a collision course with corporate purpose. In a new paper, I reveal the unforeseen negative impacts of this conflict and provide a roadmap for avoiding them.
Businesses and investors are increasingly embracing …
In this two-part alert, we examine key global legislative developments and proposals in the bourgeoning field of mandatory corporate human rights due diligence. In Part One (available here), we looked at very recent steps taken by the institutions of …
The concept of mandatory corporate human rights due diligence is gaining momentum, both within Europe and on the international stage
In this two-part alert, we examine key global legislative developments and proposals on this important topic. In Part One, we …
In our recent paper we discuss the European regime governing the disclosure of inside information. In particular, we try to find an answer to the question of which duties of the disclosure regime have been violated in two situations: where …
As we wrote toward the end of 2020, the risks associated with business and human rights, and ESG more generally, have led a growing number of companies to create human rights/ESG management systems or to integrate human rights/ESG into existing …
At 11pm on December 31, 2020, the Brexit transitional period ended and the UK’s autonomous sanctions regime, consisting of approximately 30 regulations, came into force. It is largely based on the EU’s sanctions legislation that was previously implemented in the …
The European Commission retained Ernst & Young (“EY”) to undertake a detailed study of “short-termism” and, implicitly, to report whether it was a major roadblock to more sustainable corporate governance. Their study was then presented at a three day international …
In July 2020, the European Commission published the “Study on directors’ duties and sustainable corporate governance” by EY. The report purports to find evidence of debilitating short-termism in EU corporate governance and recommends many changes to support sustainable …