All Legal & Institutional articles – Page 9
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ArticleKering investigated by French financial prosecutor
Kering said that the French financial public prosecutor (Parquet National Financier) has opened a preliminary inquiry concerning the company in February 2019. The French luxury goods group added that it had not previously been informed of the inquiry. The comments come following media reports about the prosecutor investigating the company ...
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Article
The U.K. reaches trade accord with Vietnam, but deal with EU unlikely
The U.K. has finalized a free trade agreement with Vietnam, which is scheduled to become effective from Jan. 1. It is the third trade agreement reached with an Asian country, after those with Singapore and Japan. The U.K. has also reached a preliminary trade agreement with Canada. The U.K. is ...
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ArticleEU agrees on common rules for travel restrictions due to Covid-19
The European Council has adopted a recommendation on a coordinated approach to travel restrictions in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The council comprises the heads of state or government of the countries forming the European Union, as well as the president of the council and of the European Commission. ...
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ArticleGlobal talks on digital tax prolonged to 2021
The 137 countries involved in talks on base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) due to the digitalization of the economy have agreed to keep working towards an agreement on the taxation of digital companies by mid-2021, thus acknowledging that they will fail to strike a deal by the end of ...
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News briefs
TikTok ban suspended by U.S. judge
A federal judge, Carl Nichols, has decided to suspend an executive order issued by president Donald Trump that would have banned the Chinese video sharing app TikTok from being downloaded on mobile phones in the U.S. The ban was scheduled to start from Sept. 27. TikTok filed an appeal against ...
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News briefs
Gifts to French opticians to be forbidden
Initially launched in 1993 in order to regulate relations between industry suppliers and health care professionals, and to ensure the independence of the latter in their choice of products offered to consumers, the so-called “antigifts” French law will be extended to opticians as of Oct. 1 this year. It will ...
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ArticleU.S. delays TikTok ban to Sept. 27 as Trump gives blessing to deal with Oracle, Walmart
The U.S. Department of Commerce said that it has delayed until Sept. 27 the prohibition of the Chinese mobile application TikTok. The department had previously announced that the ban would start today. The decision comes after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had given his “blessing” to a proposed deal ...
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Article
Novartis, Roche, Genentech fined €444.85 million in France in AMD treatment case
The French competition authority, Autorité de la concurrence, has fined the pharmaceutical groups Novartis, Roche and Genentech, a combined €444.85 million for abuse of dominant position to impose the use of the drug Lucentis over its cheaper alternative Avastin in the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Genentech, which is ...
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ArticleEssilux to appeal Dutch court ruling on GrandVision
EssilorLuxottica has decided to file an appeal against a judgment dismissing its request for disclosure of information from GrandVision. The company repeated that it is concerned about GrandVision’s behavior in “continuing to deny access to important information” related to its handling of the Covid-19 outbreak. “Legal proceedings, including the appeal, ...
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ArticleEssilorLuxottica ready to pursue lawsuit against GrandVision after losing first round
Yesterday, a Dutch district court rejected EssilorLuxottica’s request to obtain information from GrandVision to determine whether the Dutch retailer had breached the terms an agreement in view of its takeover by Essilux. The court said that the large volume of corporate information that Essilux is seeking to obtain without specific ...
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ArticleGerman optics industry calls for stripped-down free trade deal between U.K., EU
Spectaris, the German industry association for optics, photonics, analysis and medical technology based in Berlin, called for a “stripped-down” free trade agreement between the U.K. and the European Union to avoid the parties failing to strike a deal, which would lead to a so-called hard Brexit. “Better a stripped-down free ...
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ArticleABG, SPARC picked to buy Brooks Brothers for $325 million
The iconic American apparel group Brooks Brothers has selected Authentic Brands Group (ABG) and its partially owned retail unit SPARC as the winning bidders of a competitive sale process after they increased their offer to $325 million for the vast majority of the company’s global business operations as a going ...
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ArticleEssilorLuxottica has secured trade data held by GrandVision
EssilorLuxottica has secured information stored on servers managed by GrandVision in connection with legal proceedings involving the two companies. The Dutch eyewear retailer said that the measure was handled by an unamed independent third party. A backup of the information will be held by the third party until there is ...
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ArticleGrandVision starts arbitration proceedings against EssilorLuxottica
GrandVision has initiated arbitration proceedings against EssilorLuxottica’s claims that the Dutch retailer had breached its obligations under the co-called “Support Agreement” in managing its business during the Covid-19 pandemic. GrandVision reiterated that it strongly disagrees with EssilorLuxottica’s accusations. It added that it has initiated the arbitration to obtain confirmation that ...
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News briefs
EU sees trade deal with U.K. as unlikely
Michel Barnier, the European Union’s chief negotiator for Brexit, said he views the possibility of reaching an agreement by the end of the year with the U.K. on the parties’ future trade relations as unlikely, following a new round of inconclusive talks in London. Barnier said there had been little ...
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ArticleEU suspends deadline for probe into Essilux’s takeover of GrandVision
The European Commission has suspended the deadline for the end of an in-depth investigation into EssilorLuxottica’s proposed €7.2 billion takeover of GrandVision, according to a filing on its website. The commission has repeatedly postponed the deadline. The last one being August 27. The proposed deal, referred to as case M.9569, ...
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ArticleCirillo Marcolin takes over presidency of Confindustria Moda
As planned, Cirillo Marcolin has taken over the rotating presidency of Confindustria Moda, the umbrella organization of the Italian fashion industry, replacing Claudio Marenzi. Confindustria Moda comprises Sistema Moda Italia (SMI), which groups the textile and apparel firms operating in the country; Assocalzaturifici, the shoemakers’ association; Assopellettieri, formerly called Aimpes, ...
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ArticleEssilorLuxottica sues GrandVision over Covid-19 disclosure
EssilorLuxottica has initiated legal proceedings before a district court in Rotterdam to obtain information from GrandVision regarding the management of its business during the Covid-19 pandemic and the extent to which it has allegedly ”breached its obligations under the support agreement.” The Franco-Italian eyewear company, which made a €7.2 ...
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ArticleEU may ask Essilux to sell stores in GrandVision deal
The European Commission may ask EssilorLuxottica to sell stores in Italy and another EU country, either France or the Netherlands, to secure its planned 7.2 billion euro acquisition of GrandVision, according to the newspaper Financial Times. But the company has not yet committed to selling shops as it argues that ...
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News briefs
Germany increases funding for industrial research
Following lobbying by the German industry association Spectaris and other groups, the German government has agreed to increase by €50 million funds destined to corporate industrial research to a total of €300.6 million. The money is part of a stimulus package to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Spectaris’s ...
