Regulations Listing: Corporate Citizenship

With the growing threat of cyber-attacks on the U.S. financial infrastructure, the state of New York is taking proactive steps to ensure that consumers remain protected through a new proposal for cybersecurity regulations.

The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) issued new guidance for companies seeking for the first time to comply with Regulation S-K of the Dodd-Frank Act. Under the regulation, companies must begin to report executive pay ratios for the fiscal year beginning on or after January 1, 2017.

Australian lawmakers released in September a draft bill which would provide the most significant update to the country’s competition policies in many years. The new bill is a response to finding in the Harper Competition Policy Review, which suggested that the country’s legal framework was no longer adequate in preventing and addressing anti-competitive conduct.

The Department of Labor has finalized rules mandating that all employees working on federal contracts have access to paid sick leave, enforcing Executive Order 13706 issued last year by President Obama. The President issued the order for all companies contracting with the federal government, which should affect—at minimum—1.15 million workers.

The U.K. government introduced new legislation in October that gives law enforcement authorities greater power to reduce corruption and money laundering by seizing property tied to illegal activity.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced final rules to regulate the rapidly growing market for prepaid cards and other forms of electronic payments.

The National People’s Congress has passed a Cyber Security Law that codifies many of the measures the government has long taken to exert control over internet users within the country and over foreign companies doing business there.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) published a first-of-its-kind international standard to help organizations in creating anti-bribery management systems.

With the passage of the Sapin II Bill, France seeks to bring its anti-corruption legislation in line with that of its economic peers.

New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) published a revised cybersecurity regulation (23 NYCRR 500) on December 28, 2016, and delayed its implementation for two months to March 1, 2017.

Singapore passed changes to the Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act (CMCA) on April 3, 2017. The changes focus on criminalizing the use of personal data obtained from a breach, and aim to enhance the country’s ability to stop cyberattacks.

The Decree-Law 5/2017, passed on January 6, 2017, changed the legal framework of advertising of medicines and medical devices in Portugal. The law went into effect on February 5, 2017.