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GDPR – A New Definition of Consent
BREXIT: Unless there is a Favorable Development in the Negotiations, the United Kingdom will Become a Non-EU Country under the New General Data Protection Regulation
In a 9 January 2018 communiqué, the European Commission announced that starting 30 March 2019, the date on which the Brexit will enter into effect, the United Kingdom will be considered a non-EU country, or third country, under the new General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”). Thus, subject to any transitional arrangement that could be agreed upon between the United Kingdom and the European Union, the Commission points out that in the absence of an adequacy decision, a Commission decision recognizing that a State assures an adequate level of protection in light of the GDPR, transfers of personal data to ...
E-commerce: What to do about double payment
It’s not rare that, due to a material error, a customer is invoiced twice the amount of its order when it makes internet purchases. Despite the customer’s identifying itself, which is required for the completion of the order, it sometimes appears difficult to obtain its banking information for reimbursement of the sums collected. What can be done in this situation? You must inform the customer of the receipt of the undue payment and request that it transmit to you its banking information for reimbursement. To do that, we advise you to contact the customer through your usual means of communication ...
Bill No. 7217 establishing an ultimate beneficial owner register brought before the Chamber of Deputies
On 6 December 2017, the Minister of Justice brought before the Chamber of Deputies Bill No. 7217, which establishes an ultimate beneficial owner register for all entities (companies and other entities with legal personality) registered in Luxembourg. The bill will transpose Article 30 of Directive (EU) 2015/849 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing (the "4th AML/CFT Directive"). In the same context, a second bill, No. 7216, was simultaneously brought for the creation of a Fiduciary Register. The ultimate beneficiary owner register ("REBECO") will be kept with the Luxembourg ...
Proposal for a “Free Flow of Data” Regulation
The November 2015 initiative of the free movement of data, introduced as a major policy priority for the European Commission and of the Digital Single Market, tends to reduce the difficulties resulting from the ownership and access to non-personal data. To encourage the free flow of data and promote the sharing of digital information, the priority is to develop a data economy by harmonising Community rules. In this context, on 13 September 2017 the European Commission filed a regulation proposal on the free movement of non-personal data. In the proposal, the Commission introduces a new principle consisting of abolishing the ...
GDPR: The Necessary Adaptation under Luxembourg Law
While General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (the "GDPR") is directly applicable under domestic law, its entry into force in May of 2018 requires an implementing law in Luxembourg. On 12 September 2017, Mr. Xavier BETTEL, Minister of Communications and the Media submitted Bill No. 7184 on the creation of the National Commission for Data Protection (Commission nationale pour la protection des données or “CNPD”) and the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 on the protection of natural persons with regard to personal data processing and the free movement of such data. The first chapter of the bill affirms the National ...
Intellectual Property and Taxation: Luxembourg Develops its Biotechnology Offering
Introduced in 2007, Article 50bis of the Law of 4 December 1967 on income taxation, established a partial tax exemption of up to 80% on revenue generated by the use of intellectual property rights. In compliance with OECD rules, under the Law of 18 December 2015, Luxembourg repealed this special regime while providing a transitory regime which maintained the former regime until 30 June 2021 for applicable rights created or acquired prior to 1 July 2016. On 4 August 2017, after a wait of more than one year, Bill 7163 was brought before the Chamber of Deputies to replace the ...
Disciplinary Proceeding and Right to a Fair Hearing
The applicability of the right to a fair trial/proceeding provided under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights ("Article 6") was recently the subject of a decision rendered by the Medical Board’s Higher Disciplinary Council (See decision No. 03/17 of 15 February 2017). In this case, dentists contested the penalty imposed upon them suspending their right to practice dentistry. They deemed that the Medical Board’s action was unfair and biased, and thereby invalidated the proceeding. The Higher Disciplinary Council thus conducted a review to verify whether the right to a fair proceeding was applicable in disciplinary proceedings. Under ...
Copyright and Algorithms
While in 2011 the "case of the macaque[monkey] selfie" went viral on wordwide social networks, recent exchanges between the Luxembourg Federation of Authors and Composers (Fédération Luxembourgeoise des Auteurs et Compositeurs), the Association of Authors, Composers and Musical Publishers’ Successor Advisory Committee (Commission Consultative des Ayants Droits de la Société des Auteurs, Compositeurs et Editeurs Musicaux or SACEM’s CCAD) and the Culture Ministry in 2017 push us to ask ourselves about the possibility of an algorithm being a copyright holder for its creations, and thus becoming a member of an association for authors and composers. In that regard, the Culture ...
EIUC – Call for Applications for the Venice School of Human Rights – 9-17 June 2017
The EIUC, European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation, has opened registration for the Venice Human Rights School – Human Rights as Our Responsibility, the courses of which will take place in Venice from 9 to 17 June 2017. Registration is open until 27 April 2017, with an early bird discount of 10% to be applied to registrations until 30 March 2017. Registration form here.
