Partnerblog
Contracting with European Institutions: legal issues and practical tips
In 2019, the European Commission alone spent more than €3 billion on public procurement. The contracts of the European institutions are therefore opportunities to be seized. Only few companies are familiar though with the specific legal regime that applies to the conclusion and execution of public contracts of the European institutions. In this article, we highlight certain differences from (Belgian) national public procurement law and provide practical advice to help you engage in tendering for European institutions with confidence.
Legal Entity Management: Beyond Compliance
With a global environment characterised by regulatory change and a growing emphasis on multi-jurisdictional scrutiny and transparency by regulators, stakeholders and investors, effective entity management is entering the public domain.
Cybersecurity Insights for Company Lawyers: Lessons Learned from the Latest Major Hacks
As cybersecurity has become a boardroom topic, legal professionals need to be informed about the corresponding legal risks in order to understand and assess their organization’s exposure, maturity, resilience and readiness as well as the possible legal impact and consequences of a cybersecurity-related incident. One-liners like “It is not about ‘if’ but ‘when’ a cybersecurity incident will happen in your organization,” or “Prepare for the worst, hope for the best,” are frequently used as eloquent calls to action, but what does that mean in practice for company lawyers? The purpose of this blog post is to provide company lawyers with some insights on current cybersecurity matters and to provide a basis for informed discussions about cybersecurity with key stakeholders within their organization, allowing them to ask the right questions to IT Security, to get relevant information from the key business functions and to inform the C-suite and the Board appropriately.
New Collective Bargaining Agreement on Telework during COVID-19 pandemic
As the telework during the COVID-19 pandemic does not perfectly fit with the existing legal systems of occasional or structural telework, employers and employees were confronted during the last year with the absence of a clear legal framework. The new Collective Bargaining Agreement no. 149 of 26 January provides a framework for employers and their employees to make proper arrangements on several aspects of telework.
New Rules on Remote General Meetings Held Using an Electronic Means of Communication
The Act of 20 December 2020 providing for various temporary and structural measures in the framework of the fight against the spread of Covid-19 (the "Act") recently amended the statutory provisions on the holding of general meetings remotely using an electronic means of communication, in particular Articles 5:89 (SRL/BV) and 7:137 (SA/NV) of the Code of Companies and Associations (the "CCA").
Antitrust in 2021: is your business prepared for a tougher enforcement environment?
Antitrust policy and enforcement is now mainstream news: it is front and centre in discussions about large tech players and digital markets; it is a core issue in the debate on sustainability; and it remains a key consideration in global trade negotiations.
Why the general counsel should care about regulatory compliance software
According to the Legal Departments in a Digital Era report, 72% of legal departments say compliance and risk management are highly important. However, the maturity level is at 34%. Discover the other challenges and more expert insights in this article.
The European Commission unveils proposals for a digital services act and a digital markets act
On 15 December 2020, the European Commission finally unveiled its long-awaited proposals for a Digital Services Act (DSA) and a Digital Markets Act (DMA). The DSA aims to harmonize the liability and accountability rules for digital service providers, while the DMA aims to promote fair and contestable markets in the digital sector.
Birth leave will be extended to 15 days in 2021 and 20 days in 2023
The new Belgian government prioritises the promotion of gender equality and the fight against discrimination based on gender. One of the first steps in this agenda is the extension of birth leave, which is the leave that fathers or co-parents (it is a gender-neutral type of paternity leave) can take at the birth of a child.
The New B2B legislation put into practice: Are you ready?
There have been some major changes in the B2B landscape recently. On May 24, 2019, two new acts bringing some major changes to Belgian competition law and the legal framework of B2B relationships were published in the Belgian Official Journal. Firstly, the Act of April 4, 2019, which introduced new rules for B2B relationships relating to unfair market practices, abuse of economic dependence and unlawful contractual terms. Secondly, the Act of May 2, 2019, which introduced a number of changes to the competition rules (i.e., in Book IV of the Code of Economic Law). All of these changes are now in effect. The new rules on unfair market practices entered into force on September 1, 2019, the rules prohibiting abuse of economic dependence on August 22, 2020. And more recently, on December 1, 2020, the new rules on unlawful contract terms entered into force.
Competition Rules for Vertical Agreements under Review : What’s to come for distribution relationships in the digital age?
Businesses distributing goods and services in the EU rely heavily on the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) for legal certainty. It sets out the conditions under which distribution agreements are presumed to comply with the European competition rules. However, certain of its provisions are no longer adapted to recent market developments, notably the growth of online sales and the increased importance of new market players, such as online platforms. Recently, the European Commission proposed a number of changes to the VBER which is currently under review.
How to manage and access the e-mail accounts of ex-employees ?
If an employee leaves the company, can the mailbox remain active for a while and does the employer have access to the e-mails therein? A recent decision of the Data Protection Authority (DPA) clarifies. In this decision, the DPA decided to impose an administrative fine of EUR 15,000 on a company that only closed e-mail addresses linked to former employees (surname and first name) after 2.5 years.
Data protection litigation: preparing to defend yourself – or attack
If people were to look, they would probably conclude that you do not fully comply with data protection rules. Top of the line security always fails somewhere, typically at the human level, and the same reasoning applies to data protection compliance: even if you build your processes, systems and procedures with data protection rules in mind, you cannot prevent every mistake. However mature your organisation may be in data protection terms, there is always a weakness – and non-compliance is then a likely consequence. This provides regulators, competitors and data subjects with opportunities to attack you. Conversely, there may be cases where you wish to use weaknesses of a competitor or adversary against them. Either way, you need to give careful thought to data protection litigation, both as a risk you have to manage and as an opportunity on which you can capitalise. We will examine below practical considerations based on our own experience in cases before the Belgian Data Protection Authority (BDPA), the case law of the BDPA’s Litigation Chamber (and appeals before the Market Court) and commercial disputes in which the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other data protection rules come into play.
Stibbe organises a webinar on the implications of the groundbreaking Schrems II
On 29 October at 11 am, Stibbe organises a webinar on the implications of the groundbreaking Schrems II decision which annulled the U.S. Privacy Shield and questioned the standard contractual clauses. We will elaborate on the remaining options for international personal data transfers outside of the E.U.”
Proxy Decrees adopted during COVID-19 crisis: practical points of attention for the in-house lawyer
The ongoing COVID-19 crisis has affected all aspects of our daily lives. For in-house lawyers, it is important to keep an overview during these turbulent times. In any case, the regulator does not make things any easier for in-house lawyers with the multitude of regulatory initiatives in response to this crisis. The various federal initiatives are discussed below. On 30 March 2020, the two laws of 27 March 2020, empowering the federal executive power to take measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus (hereafter: “Special Proxy Law I” and “Special Proxy Law II”, collectively the “Special Proxy Laws”), were published in the Belgian Official Journal. These Special Proxy Laws gave the federal executive power the power to amend existing laws in certain matters and under certain conditions by royal decree until 30 June 2020, in order to respond adequately and in a timely manner to the various challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. This article reflects on the practical points of attention in this respect, and explains the impact of the proxy decrees on the daily practice of in-house lawyers.
The EU Copyright Directive: the three most controversial provisions
In April 2019, after years of debate and a rather controversial EU legislative process, the Directive (EU) 2019/790 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market (hereafter referred to as the Copyright Directive) was finally adopted. The purpose of this directive was to adapt copyright protection to the digital age in order to create an internal market for digital content and services. Three specific targets were set: (1) to adapt exceptions to reflect the digital and cross-border environment (2) to ensure wider access to content, and (3) to achieve a well-functioning marketplace for copyright.