Study Abroad
Deregulation is a global phenomenon.
EU competition chief on digital regulation: 'We're not here to make enemies'
EU says it is doing this to protect the innovation from startups and small businesses.
You know, the kind that you can’t find very easily anywhere in the Continent.
This is about control and power and jealousy and money.
‘The European Commission has no intention to “make enemies” with the implementation of its digital regulation, the European Commissioner for competition Teresa Ribera said on Wednesday during an event in Brussels organised by the Global Competition Law Centre and the College of Europe.
‘“We want to make friends, not enemies, but we think it is important to respect the law, people, and operators,” the Commissioner said.
‘The European Commission fined Apple and Meta last Wednesday, 23 April, for violating the Digital Markets Act (DMA), drawing sharp responses from both companies which signalled plans to appeal.
‘Apple was fined €500 million for restricting developers' ability to communicate with consumers and direct them to alternative offer channels.’
EU Regulatory Overreach Threatens American Sovereignty
EU wants to exert some measure of control over American businesses.
‘Most Americans pay little heed to the machinations of the European Parliament, the European Commission, or the various regulatory bodies of the European Union. They should. As part of its expansive EU Green Deal, Brussels bureaucrats have been working to put American companies that do business in Europe—or even those that merely do business with companies that do business in Europe—under the thumb of onerous environmental and human rights standards. This extraterritorial regulatory power grab would apply even when the European diktats directly conflict with American law.
‘The threat of overseas governments regulating American businesses is the “fifth horseman of the regulatory state,” to borrow a framing one of us (Copland) used in a 2018 City Journal article. In that article, subsequently expanded into a book, Copland described how regulation by administration, regulation by prosecution, regulation by litigation, and progressive anti-federalism combined to control huge swathes of economic activity largely untethered by national elections. To those four, we can now add: regulation from abroad.’
UK announces draft rules for crypto industry, touts greater collaboration with U.S.
Reeves met with Bessent. We’ll see how much collaboration there is in practice.
‘Britain on Tuesday published draft legislation for the cryptocurrency industry, touting greater collaboration with the U.S. as it looks to regulate the wild world of digital assets.
‘Speaking at a fintech event Tuesday, U.K. Finance Minister Rachel Reeves announced plans for a “comprehensive regulatory regime for crypto assets,” adding that the proposals would aim to make the country a “world leader in digital assets.”
‘The rules will bring crypto exchanges, dealers and agents into the regulatory fold, “cracking down on bad actors while supporting legitimate innovation,” the U.K.‘s Treasury department said in a statement released following Reeves’ remarks.
‘“Crypto firms with UK customers will also have to meet clear standards on transparency, consumer protection, and operational resilience — just like firms in traditional finance,” the Treasury’s statement added.’
The Ever-Thriving Greek Bureaucracy!
Why does Greece have so many attorneys? What do they do all day?
‘In March of 2019, I traveled to Greece and visited a Notary Public in Loutraki, Corinth, in order to take care of the Inheritance Acceptance Act of my late father-in-law. I did that on behalf of my wife and her siblings. The Notary Public transferred me to an attorney in Corinth in order to prepare all needed paperwork, so the Notary Public could write the final Contract. I paid the Corinth attorney 1,000 euro in advance and we made her a power of attorney to sign the final Act. She promised to have everything ready by July of 2019. Every time we call or visit the attorney she always promises to have everything ready within a week… Well it is now March of 2025, six years later and the slow moving attorney has not delivered. Greece has almost 50,000 attorneys, while Austria with the same population has only 6,000 attorneys. We still cannot make any progress as a European Union country. Such is the situation with our attorney in Corinth. We could accept the help of any Greek government agency in order to resolve our case, especially the help of the Foreign Ministry’s Secretary General for Greeks Abroad and Public Diplomacy, who assists the Diaspora with its problems.’
Vietnam’s To Lam makes ‘fast and furious’ cuts to bureaucracy in quest for lean new era
Communist General Secretary intends to reduce the public sector employee base by 20 percent. He’s moving fast.
‘In the quest to hasten a “new era” for Vietnam, Communist Party chief To Lam is reducing a bloated bureaucracy – including cutting the number of provinces in half – in the boldest administrative reforms in decades that experts say will also extend his influence.
‘The plan to reduce the country’s municipalities and provinces from 63 to 34 was approved by Vietnam’s Central Committee on April 12.’
DeepSeek, please explain this Chinese initiative to protect intellectual property to me.
‘The revision and promulgation of the “Regulations on the Protection of Trade Secrets” is an urgent need to adapt to the new situation and new challenges of trade secret protection. With the development and changes of the domestic and international economic situation, the “Several Provisions on Prohibition of Infringement of Trade Secrets” revised in 1998 has lagged behind the needs of practice and needs to be revised and improved in line with the times. On the one hand, with the rapid development of the digital economy, digital information has become an important carrier of corporate trade secrets. The huge changes in trade secrets in the digital age have put forward higher technical requirements for corporate self-protection and administrative law enforcement, and there is an urgent need for detailed and clear rules and guidance. On the other hand, in recent years, the world’s major developed economies have issued some new institutional regulations on trade secret protection, and major multilateral economic and trade agreements have also put forward clear requirements for trade secret protection. Improving the system of trade secret protection is an inevitable requirement to connect with international high-standard economic and trade rules and better respond to the new trend of global market competition.’
Bankers who lament ringfencing should watch what they wish for
Bankers love to see regulatory change. Beware the competition it might bring, UK edition.
‘Goldman uses deposits in its Marcus savings accounts to fund investment banking. It has avoided crossing the deposit threshold where it would have to separate its consumer business. If the rules were removed, it could raise as much cash as it wants, eating into the profitable deposit bases of established banks. JPMorgan’s Chase presents the same risk, plus the additional threat that lower costs would encourage it to speed up investment in its nascent UK lending operations.
‘There are some real flaws in the ringfencing rules, like restrictions on “shared services” that make it hard to use cyber security or anti-fraud expertise within a large group.
‘But the sudden push for more drastic change is opportunism on the part of banks hoping to benefit from a broader deregulatory trend. There have been two major reviews of ringfencing in the past three years, both of which found it was working as intended; not enough has changed since then to suggest they would come to a different conclusion now.
Broken justice: the return of the ‘Italian torpedo’
Bureaucracy (and torts) favors the large and the incumbent who have the deep pockets to drag out the fight and make it more expensive.
Justice delayed is justice denied.
‘The phrase refers to preemptively filing a lawsuit in a country such as Italy, whose courts are slow to resolve cases, in a bid to thwart an opponent’s legal action or force them to settle. The practice, which was employed for decades by litigators, has seen a resurgence in the UK after it left the EU and lost the legal protections limiting the “Italian torpedo”.
‘Speaking from his office in Milan, where he still works full time at the age of 91, Franzosi said the legal tactic has proven surprisingly resilient despite the EU clamping down on it over the past decade.’