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The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) and the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) published their  Joint Opinion  on the proposed Data Act. The EDPS and EDPB welcome the efforts made to ensure that the Data Act does not affect the current data protection framework. At the same time, since the Data Act would also apply to highly sensitive personal data, the EDPS and EDPB urge the co-legislators to ensure that data subjects’ rights are duly protected. The access, use and sharing of personal data by entities other than data subjects should occur in full compliance with all data protection principles and rules. Moreover, products should be designed in such a way that data subjects are offered the possibility to use devices anonymously or in the least privacy intrusive way possible.

Governments need to step up their efforts and coordination to combat money laundering and terrorist financing by adopting stricter regulation and supervision of the virtual assets sector and the specialised “gatekeeper” professions, such as lawyers, accountants and other services providers who often help launderers, according to the Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing body  MONEYVAL . In its  annual report for 2021 , MONEYVAL examines the action required to improve the combat against money laundering. It also assesses compliance with international standards and developments in the legal and institutional frameworks to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing in the 34 jurisdictions it monitors.

By Nicole K.Phinopoulou, Lawyer, Banking & Financial Services, LLB. LLM. LPC, CISL, University of Cambridge T Leaders around the world are reaffirming their commitment to accelerate measures to fight climate change. Similarly, Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank (ECB), recently stated that the fight against climate change is on the agenda of ECB’s Governing Council on assessment and discussions when determining the monetary policy of the Euro-zone.

In its first annual report, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) gives an account of the first 7 months of its operational activity.  For the first time, statistics on EPPO operations per participating Member State, crime, seizures, number of indictments and other key figures are shared. While many expected a slow start followed by a gradual increase in activity, the EPPO worked at full speed from Day 1. The EPPO is a systemic part of the overall architecture put in place to protect EU taxpayers’ money.

In Papua New Guinea, defending women accused of sorcery, has become a life-threatening occupation. The UN and European Union run  Spotlight Initiative , is promoting legislation that will protect threatened human rights defenders in the country, who risk violence, torture, and death. 

By Christina Poursanidou, EU Qualified Lawyer and FCC Officer As presented by FATF’s Mutual Evaluation Report [1]  in early 2020, the UAE is exposed to significant ML and TF risks, due to its cash intensive economy, the large size of its financial sector, the expansion of the FFZs and the big volume of trade in gold and precious stones. Despite the significant improvements made by the UAE, there are still significant deficiencies and fundamental improvements are needed, in order to demonstrate that the system cannot be used for illegal purposes. Last month, UAE made a high-level political commitment to strengthen the effectiveness of its AML/CFT regime. Although, during March 2022 the seat of UAE in AML Compliance map was going to change significantly.

In Chamber judgment in the case of Al Alo v. Slovakia (application no. 32084/19) the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 (d) (right to a fair trial/right to obtain attendance and examination of witnesses) of the European Convention on Human Rights. 

By Efi Thoma, Lawyer LL.M. “Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth”, said Albert Einstein. In Huxley’s Brave New World, it was predicted the emergence of a “controlling oligarchy” who would conduct similar experiments on human beings to condition docility and minimize the potential for civil unrest. In Brave New World, the main “reward” used to condition subservience via positive reinforcement was a super-drug called Soma. “The World Controllers”, writes Huxley, “encouraged the systematic drugging of their own citizens for the benefit of the state.”

European Commission refers United Kingdom to Court of Justice of the European Union over a UK judgment allowing enforcement of an arbitral award granting illegal State aid. The Commission has decided to refer the United Kingdom to the Court of Justice of the European Union in relation to a judgment of its Supreme Court of 19 February 2020 allowing enforcement of an arbitral award ordering Romania to pay compensation to investors, despite a 2015 Commission decision having found that the compensation infringed EU State aid rules.  According to the UK Supreme Court, on the basis of  Article351 TFEU , the UK's EU law obligations at the time did not stand in the way of its alleged international obligation to recognise and enforce the arbitral award under the International Convention for the Settlement of Investment Disputes. When the UK Supreme Court delivered its judgment, proceedings concerning the validity of the Commission's 2015 decision were pending before the Union Courts.

A new report from the International Bar Association (IBA) has revealed that of 3,000 young lawyers – defined as aged 40 and under – surveyed around the world, a significant number of them are either leaving or considering leaving their current job in the next five years. Fifty-four per cent of survey respondents reported that they were ‘somewhat likely’ or ‘highly likely’ to move to a new workplace, 33 per cent wanted to switch to a different area of the legal profession and 20 per cent were thinking about leaving the profession entirely.  The IBA Young Lawyers’ Report is based on the results of an international survey carried out by the IBA’s Young Lawyers’ Committee (YLC) and Legal Policy & Research Unit (LPRU) in collaboration with market research company Acritas (part of Thomson Reuters). The research was undertaken to identify young lawyers’ priorities, interests, and concerns around their jobs and future career plans; whether any such concerns are being adequately addressed