The Cyberspace Administration of China published the Guidelines for the filing of Standard Contracts for Exporting Personal Information on 30 May 2023 – a mere two days before the Chinese Standard Contract for the Export of Personal Information was set to become effective on 1 June 2023.

To retain the best global talent, many employers leverage the annual H-1B visa lottery to secure work authorization for new employees. The nature of a lottery, however, leads some employers to search for ways to improve their chances of securing that “winning ticket”—and a pathway to retaining key talent in the United States. Recently, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) noted that some employers had developed schemes with other entities to submit multiple submissions on behalf of the same prospective employee. In this Legal Update, we discuss some details of the H-1B visa lottery process, which business practices are being targeted in the DHS probe, and what employers – and prospective employees – should be aware of in light of the investigations.

The European Union has agreed on the final version of its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (“CBAM”). The CBAM will apply to a limited set of products (cement, aluminium, fertilisers, electric energy production, hydrogen, iron and steel, as well as some “precursors” such as cathode active materials and a limited number of downstream products) which are vulnerable to carbon leakage. Initially, beginning in October 2023, a reporting obligation will apply, following which—in 2027—imports of covered products will be subject to the requirement to surrender of “CBAM certificates” (over calendar year 2026). For more details, see our Legal Update.