Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on harmonised rules on fair access to and use of data (Data Act)

With the Data Act, the EU Commission intends to enact comprehensive rules for a fair and innovative data economy in the EU and thus, in particular, specify who is entitled to make commercial use of non-personal data generated in the EU, especially data collected, obtained or otherwise generated by connected products or related services in the so called internet of things (IoT).
However, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) continues to apply to the processing of personal data by manufacturers of products and providers of services as well as the right to access personal data.

March 14, 2023, press conference by Pilar del CASTILLO VER (Rapporteur) and Thierry BRETON (Commissioner for the Internal Market) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on harmonised rules on fair access to and use of data [Data Act; 2022/0047 (COD)]

Partial revision of Swiss company law: Alternative procedural forms for general meetings of stock corporations

In addition to the classic variant of holding general meetings of Swiss stock corporations with the physical presence of shareholders and shareholder representatives at a single meeting venue or at several meeting venues (Art. 701a para. 1 CO) in Switzerland or abroad (Art. 701b CO), Swiss stock corporation law regulates with effect from January 1, 2023 – in addition to various other revision items – the requirements and conditions for holding a shareholders’ meeting as a purely virtual general meeting without a physical meeting location (Art. 701d CO) as well as the hybrid general meeting, in which shareholders can exercise their shareholder rights, in particular the right to vote on shares, either at the meeting location or by electronic means (Art. 701c CO).

The amended provisions of the Swiss company law, which were adopted by both chambers of the Swiss Parliament on June 19, 2020, are largely in line with the relevant law of the European Community (EU) pursuant to the DIRECTIVE 2007/36/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of July 11, 2007 on the exercise of certain rights of shareholders in listed companies.