Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 2 September 2021 The Court of Justice of the European Union declared illegitimate the exclusion of foreign nationals without a long-term permit from the baby bonus, established in 2015, and the maternity allowance for unemployed mothers. As regards the childbirth allowance, the Court notes that it is granted automatically to families meeting certain objective criteria defined by law, without any individual and discretionary assessment

The public and private sectors are investing millions of euros more each year in green technologies, however the steps are still slow and few in number to find and disseminate new products and, furthermore, the prices of green technologies are still too high. EIB President and Bill Gates recently met to discuss ways to accelerate technology growth, lower costs and help sustainable projects reach commercial stage in less time. President Hoyer told Mr. Gates that the EIB is loo

Upon importation of goods into the European Union territory, customs duties and a value added tax (VAT) are in principle due and levied by the Customs authorities. Since the amount of those duties usually depends on the value of the imported goods at the border, how such value is determined has to be considered. To such regard, EU Regulation no. 952 of 9 October 2013 (the European Customs Code) under article 70 (“Method of customs valuation based on the transaction value”) se

The origin of products imported into Europe has a particular significance, because – depending on where the products actually originate from – a relevant customs duty or taxation can be charged or levied. In order to fully understand what the “Rule of Origin” stands for, it is opportune to better define the meaning thereof according to applicable European Law, and in particular EU Regulation no. 952/2013, which more precisely sets forth that: (i) goods wholly obtained in a si

Applicable EU rules prevent a non-European company from directly bidding for any Government contract or Public Procurement tender project in Europe. An exception applies to companies from those States (like Japan and Korea) which have ratified the “GPA-Government Procurement Agreement”, which is part of the “GATS-General Agreement on Trade and Services”. The GATS states in Article XIII.1 that Government procurement is exempt from the main market access provisions of the GATS.

Photo credit: Corriere della Sera EU investment screening mechanism Even if the European Union adopted an open approach towards foreign direct investments, there exist an investment screening mechanism under the Regulation (EU) 2019/452 of 19 March 2019 which applies in cases of suspected dangerous investments for security or public order. Recently, on March 25, 2020, the EU Commission also issued guidelines for foreign investment screening in a time of public health crisis a

On April 22, 2021 Silk Council, Dong & Partners together with the International Intangible Assets Institute, Knowledge Transfer Office of the City University of Hong Kong co-organized the webinar on “Review of European Collaborations”. The webinar was held in Chinese and was addressed to Chinese entrepreneurs and companies interested in investing in Europe. The webinar focused on international business cooperation between Italy, France, Germany, Finland, China and USA. Avv. L