Last Saturday 17th June 2023, Sanda Ojiambo, Executive Director and CEO of the United Nations Global Compact, announced that she has made the decision to suspend the submission deadline of communications through the digital platform because of the technical problems experienced. In this sense, and whilst the developers work to resolve the problems which have arisen, the platform has stopped being available as of 15th June.

After the recent decision adopted by the UNGC, the deadline for completing and sending the CoP form has been suspended until the stability of the platform can be guaranteed and a new submission period that substitutes that of 15th June 2023 can be offered. Meanwhile, all participating companies are encouraged to continue collecting data and generating responses using the forms provided for this purpose, whilst awaiting the new submission deadline.  

Access to the full information note.

The initiative is in line with the EU Action Plan for Human Rights and Democracy 2020-2024, which includes a commitment by the EU and Member States to strengthen their engagement to actively promote the implementation of international standards for responsible business conduct, such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the OECD Due Diligence Guidance.

1. Subject matter

The proposal for a Directive on corporate sustainability due diligence aims to promote sustainable and responsible business behaviour among companies. 

In particular, the proposed Directive sets the following goals:

1) Improve corporate governance practices.

2) To avoid fragmentation of due diligence requirements in the single market.

3) To increase the liability of companies for adverse effects.

4) Improve access to remedies for affected persons.

5) Complement other existing or proposed measures that directly address specific sustainability challenges or that apply to specific sectors.

2. Scope of application

The criteria for application are based on the number of employees and the worldwide net turnover of EU companies, as well as on the net turnover generated in the common territory in the case of non-EU companies.

In contrast to the European Commission's proposal, the amendments proposed by the European Parliament modify the scope of application of the directive by lowering the thresholds.

3. Obligations

Member States shall ensure that obliged companies integrate due diligence into all their policies and that they implement a due diligence policy.

4. Implementation

Following the approval, on 1 June 2023, of the amendments presented by the European Parliament to the European Commission's proposal for a Directive, the legislative procedure for its definitive approval now continues with the informal tripartite dialogue, where the different points of view are debated in search of a consensus and compromises are obtained to ensure the effectiveness of the legislative process, culminating in the adoption of a final text by the Parliament and the Council. 

At RocaJunyent, our ESG department analyses the proposed Due Diligence Directive in the following document which can be downloaded here.

The new Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2022 on the digital operational resilience of the financial sector, better known as "DORA", updates and manages the information and communication technology risk requirements across the EU financial sector in a consistent manner, so that it is able to maintain its resilience in the event of an operational disruption.

Access to the full briefing note.

In this information alert we are going to deal with two of the recently approved legislative novelties, specifically, we are going to focus on Royal Decree 249/2023, of 4 April (RD 249/2023), which contains  various tax modifications to tax regulations, most of which came into force on 25 April; and on the other hand, in the Draft Law on the Right to Housing (BOCG 24 April 2023), which modifies the taxation of income from real estate capital of properties destined for housing (regulations not yet in force but expected to enter into force soon).

Access to the complete information alert.

On 1 June 2023, the European Commission adopted new antitrust rules applicable to commercial cooperation agreements between competitors (so-called "horizontal" agreements) at European level.

Our Competition Law Department has prepared an information note with the main novelties of this reform. 

Access to the complete information alert.

In April 2021, the Constitutional Court admitted the appeal of unconstitutionality filed by Partido Popular against the regulation of the Wealth Tax introduced in the General State Budget Law for 2021.

This fact has opened the debate on the situation in which the taxpayers of this tax would find themselves from the financial year 2021 onwards in the event that the aforementioned appeal is successful.

Our Tax Law Department has prepared an informative note on the current situation.

Access to the complete informative note.

(This alert is related to the report prepared by RocaJunyent in February 2021 analysing the possible confiscatory nature of the Wealth Tax).

The Council of Ministers has approved the draft Organic Law on Equal Representation of Women and Men in Decision-Making Bodies. The draft aims to incorporate the "principle of balanced representation" in the business sector. This means that the companies concerned will have to guarantee at least 40% of the under-represented sex on their boards of directors and in senior management positions.

All the details in the information note prepared by our Employment Law team. 

Access to the full alert.

David Vegara, Chairman of the Advisory Board of RocaJunyent, invites us to read his Economic Note. In it, he analyses in detail the financial death of Silicon Valley Bank and the possible consequences of this event, as well as the current geopolitical tensions and the specific economic situation in Spain.

Access to the full Economic Note.

The Government and its partners have announced that they have reached an agreement to introduce a series of amendments.

The Committee on Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda has approved the which includes the Report containing the amendments to the Draft Bill on Housing Rights agreed by the Government and its partners, as well as the text of the agreed Bill. Our Real Estate Law Department provides a summary below. 

Access to the full alert.