Regulatory Radar

In May of 2016, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published a final rule requiring effected employers to report injury and illness information electronically, as well as to provide clear notification to employees of their right to report such incidents.

In March 2015, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued new rules to regulate hydraulic fracturing in operation on roughly 700 acres federal and Indian lands, which were set to go into effect on June 24, 2016. A federal judge has ruled that BLM, which is part of the Department of the Interior, does not have the authority to regulate fracking.

The Department of Commerce has recently released a report that serves as an initial attempt to define and measure the rapidly growing “sharing” economy. The report focuses on a very specific portion of the economy, which it calls “digital matching firms.”

To combat a stubbornly high unemployment rate, French President Francois Hollande and Prime Minister Manuel Valls are pushing forward with reforms to the country’s labor code, even invoking executive power to force the measures through the National Assembly, despite widespread anger and unrest among French citizens and labor unions.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) finalized an update in June that will affect the way companies recognize losses on credit instruments such as loans going forward.

A new government bill passed on May 12, 2016 increases the stakes for employees working illegally in the UK, and for the employers who hire them. The Immigration Act 2016 creates a new office for the Director of Labour Market Enforcement, who will be charged with centralizing and monitoring the enforcement of labor laws throughout all sectors of the economy.

Following stalled efforts by the Mexican federal government to implement anti-corruption reform, a group of experts and civil society organizations drafted the National Anti-Corruption System (NAS).

The United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS), in cooperation with the Treasury Department, has issued final rules to increase profit transparency for large multinational corporations.

Foods comprised of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are estimated to be a billion dollar industry, but—despite their prevalence—there is still a lot of debate surrounding their use and regulation.

A federal judge in Texas has issued an injunction against the Department of Labor’s (DOL) “persuader rule”, stopping enforcement of the regulation just days before it was set to take effect on July 1, 2016.

Despite being one of the world’s largest and fastest growing economies in recent years, China ranked next to last in the World Giving Index, according to a report by the Charities Aid Foundation, which measures charitable giving behavior across 146 different countries.

The Global Food Security Act of 2016 commits more than $7 billion to projects designed to boost agricultural productivity, economic activity, and food security, especially among women and children around the globe.