We are proud to announce that Sharon Xuereb and Alexia Valenzia, both members of our intellectual property, data protection and IT team, have been nominated to sit on the Malta IT Law Association’s Executive Committee for 2021.
As the world transitions to a low-carbon economy, the drive towards scaling up the financing of investments which embrace ESG (environmental, social and governance) principles and result in environmental benefits continues to gain traction.
On the 3rd of December 2020, Directive (EU) 2018/1673 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on combating money laundering by criminal law (also known as the ”6AMLD”) came into force.
With less than one month to go to the implementation of the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2019/2088) (“SFDR”), published in the Official Journal of the EU on 9 December 2019 as part of the EU Commission’s sustainable finance action plan, firms falling within its scope must now take the necessary steps to ensure compliance with the SFDR requirements, applicable as from 10 March 2021.
On 13 January 2021, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a public statement intended to remind investment firms of the requirements under MIFID II on the provision of investment services to retail or professional clients by firms not established or situated in the European Union.
The European Union Intellectual Property Office recently launched its Ideas Powered for Business SME Fund (the “Fund”) which is aimed at assisting small and medium-sized enterprises (“SMEs”) access their intellectual property rights. The Fund is a €20,000,000 grant scheme supported by the European Commission.