The sudden and unprecedented enforcement action targeting China’s largest ride-hailing company Didi appears to have opened yet another chapter in Beijing’s crackdown on the country’s tech giants. The order for Didi to remove a suite of apps just days after the company’s IPO in the US may have been driven by security and commercial concerns over foreign access to large swathes of data generated by the service’s users. Also on today’s podcast, we mark the first-year anniversary of the “Schrems II” court ruling, which nullified the so-called Privacy Shield that had allowed for data transfers to take place between the European Union and the United States. The decision brought deep uncertainty to transatlantic business dealings, yet a solution to the problem remains elusive, complicated by the absence of a federal privacy legislation in the US.

MLex Market Insight

Didi’s data remains central to enforcement in China; and the one-year anniversary of Schrems II

The European Union’s ambitious plan to transform the region’s economy in a bid to combat climate change took a step forward this week, with the announcement of a series of proposals that would help reach ambitious targets to cut the bloc’s carbon emissions. Under the EU’s proposed “Fit for 55” package, which sets a 55 percent emissions cut from 1990 levels by 2030, companies across the energy, transport and heavy industry sectors face a mix of carbon-pricing measures and regulations to accelerate the switch to cleaner fuels and energy sources. Also on this week’s podcast: the Biden administration’s wide-ranging executive order sets out an antitrust and privacy vision with wide-ranging implications for Big Tech.

The EU’s ambitious plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions; and Biden outlines his antitrust vision

The green credentials of nuclear power have come under recent scrutiny in the European Union, as the bloc ponders whether to label as environmentally friendly investment in the industry. The argument of what’s referred to as the taxonomy of nuclear energy is pitting scientist against scientist and, more importantly, the pro-nuclear energy France against the nuclear skeptic Germany. Yet the impasse over how to classify the investment status of nuclear may suit the European Commission, as it navigates its way through a politically charged scientific debate. Also on today’s podcast, we take a look at the 10-year anniversary of the UK Bribery Act. The legislation is being regarded as a qualified success that has provided a strong deterrent against corporate wrongdoing. However, the low number of criminal convictions means that corrupt top executives won’t be losing much sleep.

The politics of classifying nuclear power in the EU; and 10 years of UK Bribery Act

Digital advertising is back on the agenda in Europe, with the announcement of a fresh EU antitrust probe targeting Google’s practice of hoovering up data to better target advertising. However, the new investigation will also leave room for parallel action by regulators in Germany and France, with the European Commission skirting around the national watchdogs’ focus areas: online market power and the market for serving online ads. Meanwhile, in South Korea the local competition regulator is looking into the adtech practices of both Facebook and Google, while an Australian report into digital advertising is expected to put forward recommendations for the regulation of digital advertising.

Facebook and Google’s adtech practices are back on the regulatory agenda in Europe and Asia

A central part of the EU’s ambitious privacy legislation, the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, was put to the test recently, with a European court asked to rule on whether Belgium’s data-privacy regulator had the right to pursue an investigation into Facebook. The question went to the heart of a central mechanism of the GDPR: the so-called one-stop-shop. But the EU court’s ruling wasn’t as cut and dried as some may have hoped. Also on this week’s podcast: UK steelmakers are facing stiffer competition from foreign rivals, while also facing limits on selling in their competitors’ markets. The predicament is linked to “safeguards” — trade tools that have highlighted trade-policy differences between the UK and the EU in a post-Brexit world.

GDPR’s one-stop-shop principle is put to the test; and the EU-UK clash over trade settings

The next time you ask Alexa for information or bark out an order at Siri — or even just order a burger at your McDonald’s drive through — you’ll find yourself at the heart of what could become one of the most significant regulatory challenges of the next decade. Whether it’s your fingerprints, the retina or your eyes or the sound of your voice, your biometric data is of value to any company wanting to get a sense of what you like and what products you’re likely to buy. On today’s podcast, we look at how biometric data concerns are playing out in US courts, as well as the European Union’s probe of antitrust concerns tied to Big Tech’s use of your vocal-cord vibrations as the access point to a world of services and products.

Why voice activation is shaping up as the next big thing in Big Tech regulation

The global push for registries revealing what people and interests lie behind even the most obscure of shell companies is gaining momentum, with a UN special session prompting a renewal of commitment to establishing ownership databases. But while the mounting interest in the registries is being welcomed, the models being embraced by key players in the fight against corruption can differ. Also on today’s podcast: The Kazakh mining company ENRC has been under investigation by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office since 2013. But in a London court, the company has taken aim at both one of its former lawyers and the SFO itself over their communications in the course of the ongoing probe.

The push for beneficial-ownership registries goes global; ENRC turns the tables on the SFO

This week’s failure by Australian prosecutors to secure a conviction in the first criminal-cartel trial in over 100 years spells trouble for the country’s competition enforcer, which investigated the case. The Country Care prosecution has been widely regarded as a dry run for next year’s criminal-cartel trial targeting some of the world’s largest and best resourced banks. Also on the podcast this week, the death by a thousand cuts of Indonesia’s highly regarded anti-corruption agency.

Failure of Country Care criminal-cartel trial points to future challenges for Australian enforcer

Fish for finance” may sound like a trendy eatery in London’s West End, but it is simply the latest round of post-Brexit animosity between the United Kingdom and the European Union over access to each other’s markets. The case has attracted some public attention — in no small part as a result of London’s decision to send navy ships to protect its territorial waters around the island of Jersey from French fishermen. But the mechanics of the case are part of the dry, procedural side of negotiating Britain’s departure from the EU. Also on this week’s podcast: why European environmentalists are increasingly turning to the courts to pressure governments into climate-change action, and why they’re succeeding.

The EU Clash Over Fishing Rights And Banking Access; European Fight For The Environment In Court

The legal clash between Epic, the maker of the popular videogame Fortnite, and tech company Apple has prompted some unusual exchanges in a US court, with senior company executives questioned over their anatomical understanding of a tuxedoed, anthropomorphic banana called Agent Peely. It’s all part of Epic’s antitrust lawsuit over Apple’s management of its App Store and accusations that the tech giant’s high security standards are leading to violations of competition law.

Epic’s Apple lawsuit sparks a court debate about App Store availability of online smut

Like a good murder novel, the demise of ABLV Bank of Latvia has left us with a chalk silhouette on the sidewalk, but with little clarity about who committed the crime. Now, the demise of the bank in the wake of a money-laundering scandal has left out-of-pocket investors determined to crack open the European Union’s byzantine financial-services oversight mechanism. Also on the podcast: the European Union’s new discretionary powers to fight foreign subsidies. There’s no name checking of China in the official documents, but the bloc’s efforts appear squarely targeted in managing the behaviors of Beijing-backed enterprises.

Who killed Latvia’s ABLV Bank? And the risks of Europe’s tough new stance on foreign subsidies

The acquittal of two Serco executives who had been facing fraud charges in the UK amounts to a serious blow for the Serious Fraud Office. The enforcer has been struggling to secure the conviction of individuals, even when it has succeeded in demanding fines and admissions of guilt from the companies that employ those charged. Meanwhile, anyone accepting a bribe on the idyllic island of Barbados could soon be facing the long arm of US law, with a court sentencing a former minister of the Caribbean country to two years’ jail over money-laundering charges. The case of Donville Inniss has highlighted how US money-laundering laws can be used as a backdoor avenue for prosecutors to target foreign officials.

Serco fraud acquittals deal a heavy blow to the UK prosecutor

China has demonstrated to some of the country’s largest technology players that antitrust oversight isn’t limited to the State Administration for Market Regulation — the top competition enforcer. Recent events in the country show that, when needed, all regulatory agencies are prepared to pitch in. Also on today’s podcast: the Petroecuador bribery saga. The company wanted to recover money from a bribe payer; but a US judge baulked at granting the troubled Latin American oil company its restitution claim.

Big Tech hit by China’s multipronged antitrust enforcement; Petroecuador’s fight for restitution

The joint statement by the antitrust regulators of Australia, Germany and the UK this week was a chance for antitrust officials to call for sharper tools to manage mergers and acquisitions — with particular regard to fast-moving digital markets. The regulators also warned that behavioral remedies of the type put forward by Google to get its acquisition of smartwatch maker Fitbit past regulators in the European Union may be unenforceable. Also on the podcast: What the super-implosion of soccer’s Super League tells us about European antitrust.

National regulators call for sharper M&A tools; soccer’s Super League antitrust dimensions

On March 30, the US Federal Trade Commission challenged Illumina’s proposed acquisition of cancer diagnostic startup Grail, arguing that Illumina would have both the incentive and the ability to disadvantage Grail’s competitors by denying them access to its essential, next-generation sequencing technology. The deal has tapped into global regulatory concerns over vertical acquisitions, pharmaceutical deals and so-called killer acquisitions.

Illumina’s $7.1 billion play for cancer startup Grail faces global headwinds

Listen in as MLex expert contributors discuss some of the most important developments in regulatory risk and opportunity worldwide.

hubhopper

MLex Market Insight

hubhopper