Legal news

Invalidation of the Privacy Shield: What is the future of data transfer to the United States?

"For our privacy, the United States must seriously reform its supervision to reclaim the privileged status for American companies." - Max Schrems The 16 July 2020 Schrems II decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU") had a huge impact on the personal data protection world (e.g., Google was obligated to immediately change its privacy policy). In that judgment, the CJEU brings to light the fundamental right to privacy in the context of a transfer of personal data to third countries (See a summary of the judgment here). In Schrems II, the CJEU invalidated the European Commission’s conclusion ...

August 11th, 2020| Legal news

Personal Data Protection: a register of decisions on line in the context of the one-stop shop!

Data protection is a constantly changing subject. In addition to the publication of certain decisions taken and sanctions imposed by the regulatory authorities (See our article on the topic: https://www.dsm.legal/en/what-sanctions-have-been-ordered-by-supervisory-authorities-in-application-of-the-gdpr-2/), the EDPB recently put on line a register of decisions adopted under Article 60 of the GDPR. You can consult the register here: https://edpb.europa.eu/our-work-tools/consistency-findings/register-for-article-60-final-decisions_en What’s the concept? It’s still the same, to move towards a uniform application of the applicable personal data protection regulations. Thus, the entities involved in the cross-border processing of personal data can benefit from the "one-stop shop", and deal with a single authority for ...

July 30th, 2020| Legal news

Digital platforms: Have you been compliant since 12 July 2020?

Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on promoting fairness and transparency fot business users of online intermediation services, became applicable on 12 July 2020. The regulation imposes new obligations on providers of online intermediation services as well as search engines in their commercial relationships with businesses using those services or assimilated platforms. The general terms and conditions governing the relations between the parties, though they are both professionals, must be sufficiently clear and accessible starting from the contract negociation stage and for the duration of the commercial relationship. The parallel with ...

July 14th, 2020| Legal news

Joint Article by Mario DI STEFANO and Alessandra MEDINA on “Les étapes de négociation d’un plan social” in AGEFI Luxembourg – July 2020

AGEFI Luxembourg, a Luxembourg financial journal, published a French-language article in its July 2020 edition on The phases of negociation of a social plan (French-language article: Les étapes de négociation d’un plan social) jointly written by Mario DI STEFANO and Alessandra MEDINA. To see the pdf version of the article click here To see the complete June 2020 edition of AGEFI Luxembourg click here: https://www.agefi.lu/publications/FreeMonthlySample/index.html

July 14th, 2020| Legal news

End of the state of emergency: A new law on the holding of company meetings

When the state of emergency officially ended on 24 June 2020, the Grand-Ducal Regulation of 20 March 2020, as amended, which authorized by a series of temporary measures companies and other legal persons to adopt resolutions without holding physical meetings, ceased to be in effect. (See our Webinar) Those measures were replaced by the Law of 20 June 2020 on measures for the holding of company meetings. (Link to the law) Also in the context of the state of emergency, the Law of 22 May 2020 introduced certain temporary derogations to the provisions on the deadlines for the filing and ...

July 9th, 2020| Legal news

GDPR: Judicial Oversight of the French supervisory authority (CNIL) – July 2020

The use of a "cookie wall" which consists of blocking access to an internet site if one refuses to consent to cookies, has largely been punished by supervisory authorities and is even a target in new consent guidelines adopted by the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) in May of 2020 (you may consult our article on this topic by clicking on the following link: https://www.dsm.legal/fr/consentement-et-cookies-luxembourg-rgpd-digitalleuropean-data-protection-board-edpb/). Thus, supervisory authorities consider that this practice forces a user’s consent and consequently the "freedom of consent" requirement, necessary to valid consent, is no longer fulfilled. The French Council of State’s (Conseil d’Etat) decision of ...

July 1st, 2020| Legal news

Review of Webinar on “IT Partners: IT security is also ensured through your contracts—how can you protect yourself if your customers fall victim to a cyber-attack?”

DSM Avocats à la Cour organized a webinar on Tuesday, 2 June 2020, on the topic of "IT Partners: IT security is also ensured through your contracts—how can you protect yourself if your customers fall victim to a cyber-attack?" During the webinar, Renaud LE SQUEREN, Partner and Attorney-at-Law (Avocat à la Cour), and Héloïse CUCHE, Lawyer (Avocat), discussed the new responsibilities of IT service providers and the manner in which they can use their general terms and conditions to protect themselves in a context in which the risk of a cyber-attack increases as economic actors use new technologies. First step ...

June 22nd, 2020| Legal news

Joint Article by Marie-Paule GILLEN and Renaud LE SQUEREN on IT Outsourcing in the Financial Sector in AGEFI Luxembourg – June 2020

AGEFI Luxembourg, a Luxembourg financial journal, published a French-language article in its June 2020 edition on IT outsourcing in the financial sector (La sous traitance informatique dans le domaine financier) jointly written by Marie-Paule GILLEN and Renaud LE SQUEREN. To see the pdf version of the article click here: AGEFI Luxembourg Marie Paule GILLEN Renaud LE SQUEREN DSM Avocats à la Cour La sous traitance informatique dans le domaine financier To see the complete June 2020 edition of AGEFI Luxembourg click here: https://www.agefi.lu/publications/FreeMonthlySample/index.html

June 16th, 2020| Legal news

Extension of deadlines for tax information exchanges during the COVID-19 crisis: “DAC 2” and “DAC 6” and FATCA impact – 9 June 2020

Long discussions ensued at the European level following the 08 May 2020 directive proposal aimed at responding to the urgent need to postpone certain deadlines for the declaration and exchange of tax information due to the COVID-19 pandemic (the "Amending Directive"), following which a compromise was reached during the 03 June 2020 Coreper, or Permanent Representatives Committee, meeting. Thus, the Member States will be granted the option to extend by 3 months the deadlines by which to communicate the information under Article 8 (6) (b) of Directive 2011/16/EU, as introduced by Directive 2014/107/EU ("DAC 2"), with respect to data for ...

June 9th, 2020| Legal news

Outsourcing data to the Cloud: participation in the European Securities and Markets Authority’s consultation – 9 June 2020

On 3 June 2020, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the goal of which is to improve investor protection and promote the stability and proper functioning of financial markets, opened a consultation on its draft guidelines on outsourcing to cloud service providers. The purpose of this consultation is to provide guidance on the requirements for outsourcing applicable to financial market actors when they subcontract to cloud service providers. This consultation invites the competent national authorities and financial market actors as of 3 June 2020 to provide comments on the: governance, documentation, oversight and monitoring mechanisms that firms should have ...