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International Regulatory Update 14 – 18 April 2025

Tue, 22 Apr 2025 08:26:25 GMT

Clifford Chance's International Regulatory Update is a weekly digest of significant regulatory developments affecting banking and investment banking business, drawing on our daily content from our Alerter: Finance Industry service.

Energy Transition: Meeting the demands of EV globalisation – What role can geothermal lithium from brine extraction play?

Wed, 16 Apr 2025 10:27:00 GMT

The challenges of securing lithium, extracting it and converting it to battery grade products for the EV battery industry remain at the forefront of the auto industry's concerns as EV globalisation continues.

Lithium from geothermal brine extraction projects are a small but important part of the battery metals value chain and in this briefing we look to outline a few important considerations for financiers, investors and developers looking at these projects.

International Regulatory Update 7 – 11 April 2025

Tue, 15 Apr 2025 08:50:04 GMT

Jurisdictional Asymmetry Approved

Mon, 14 Apr 2025 08:27:00 GMT

The initial flurry after the CJEU's Lastre judgment on asymmetric jurisdiction clauses may have abated somewhat, but uncertainties remain.

How should you navigate through?

Our briefing takes a practical slant. As well as commenting on the case, it analyses seven scenarios, with different types of jurisdiction clauses, and highlights implications arising from the CJEU ruling, the EU Brussels Regulation, and Hague 2005 and 2019 Conventions.

US tariffs: responses across the G20 so far

Sun, 13 Apr 2025 13:41:00 GMT

On 2 April 2025, President Trump announced a sweeping tariff regime, imposing a 10% global tariff which came into effect on 5 April 2025, and higher “reciprocal tariffs” on specific countries, aimed at rebalancing trade deficits between those countries and the US. These “reciprocal tariffs” were set to come into effect on 9 April 2025.

On 9 April 2025, President Trump announced a 90-day suspension on reciprocal tariffs, during which period the 10% tariff would continue to apply. However, he maintained and subsequently increased the reciprocal tariffs on China.

This briefing provides a high-level overview of the response by the G20 countries to these tariffs as at 13 April 2025.

International Regulatory Update 31 March – 4 April 2025

Tue, 08 Apr 2025 06:24:57 GMT

International Regulatory Update 24 – 28 March 2025

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 06:39:00 GMT

International Regulatory Update 17 – 21 March 2025

Tue, 25 Mar 2025 15:53:19 GMT

International Regulatory Update 10 – 14 March 2025

Tue, 18 Mar 2025 09:58:43 GMT

International Regulatory Update 3 – 7 March 2025

Tue, 11 Mar 2025 09:49:42 GMT

International Regulatory Update 24 – 28 February 2025

Tue, 04 Mar 2025 09:20:17 GMT

Focus on hydrogen: State of the market 2025

Mon, 03 Mar 2025 14:30:00 GMT

Much has been said about clean hydrogen and its derivatives over the past 12 months. Often it concerns whether excessive hype of the recent past has been replaced with a new reality. Market conditions are dynamic, and structuring sustainable deals remains a complex exercise. But, amongst the ups, the downs and the volatility, we have seen real progress. In this note, we consider the market trends that will impact pathfinder projects seeking commercial operations before 2030.

The activity of recent years has resulted in price and market discovery data. It has provided know-how on what can, and what probably won't, work over the short to medium term. Most notably, with the recent change of administration in the US, we see the impact of policy on the market. As developers and investors look ahead to the end of the decade and plan their investments accordingly, this early experience is invaluable.

For those first mover projects pursuing commercial operations before 2030, we would expect to see further ups and downs. Clean hydrogen deals and associated market conditions differ greatly between geographies, the types of end user(s) involved and the extent of the value chain between the production "well" and delivery "gate".

Clean hydrogen's contribution to the energy transition is becoming clearer, and 2025 could be a hugely important year: we hope to see incremental growth for deal activity and an increasing number of positive final investment decisions.

Ukraine: The Latest Global Sanctions and Export Controls

Fri, 28 Feb 2025 09:41:00 GMT

The following briefing provides an overview of the sanctions and export controls imposed by the US, UK, EU, Poland, Japan, Singapore, Australia, and Ukraine; as well as measures adopted in response by Russia, as at 6:30pm GMT, 27 February 2025.

These sanctions are complex, multilateral and continue to change incrementally in real time in response to the situation on the ground in Ukraine. Our team of sanctions experts is monitoring the situation closely and we will endeavour to keep our briefings up to date.

International Regulatory Update 17 – 21 February 2025

Tue, 25 Feb 2025 08:51:00 GMT

International Regulatory Update 10 – 14 February 2025

Tue, 18 Feb 2025 08:50:55 GMT

The FSRA publishes guidance on ESG funds and model portfolios

Wed, 12 Feb 2025 09:11:21 GMT

The Financial Services Regulatory Authority ("FSRA") has issued guidance on 14 November 2024 concerning funds domiciled in or marketed into or from the ADGM which claim ESG characteristics (the "ESG Guidance"). The ESG Guidance aims to clarify FSRA expectations for the management and marketing of such vehicles, mitigate the risk of greenwashing, and encourage transparent disclosure of ESG-related information in line with global best practices.

In this briefing, we cover the main points from the ESG Guidance with respect to the FSRA's expectations of funds holding themselves out as having ESG characteristics and the implications for fund managers.

Significant changes in UAE competition law: Publication of long-awaited thresholds for Merger control filings

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 14:25:00 GMT

UAE Cabinet Resolution No. (3) of 2025 clarifies the current thresholds for the purposes of merger control filings including for the first time, a turnover based test coming into force on 31 March 2025.

International Regulatory Update 3 – 7 February 2025

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 10:23:00 GMT

Managing your bond liabilities under US securities law: a guide for non-US issuers

Thu, 06 Feb 2025 11:13:00 GMT

Approximately $55.3 trillion of fixed income securities are outstanding in the United States, including debt securities offered by non-US sovereign, investment grade and sub-investment grade corporate issuers pursuant to Rule 144A or another exemption from registration under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act).

These issuers are expected to continue tapping the debt markets in the United States for funding. While it is relatively straightforward simply to repay debt with new money, issuers often want to explore options that may achieve the goals of extending their maturity profile and/or reducing costs or interest expense in a more creative way in so-called "liability management" transactions, including, among others:

tender offers: a "public" offer made by an issuer to repurchase all or a portion of its outstanding bonds from investors for cash; and
exchange offers: an offer made by an issuer to repurchase its outstanding bonds in exchange for new bonds with different terms.

If US investors are approached in connection with these transactions, the US securities laws come into play. This article provides a brief overview of these US securities laws and explores how transaction structures have evolved over time in response to these laws.

Ukraine: The Latest Global Sanctions and Export Controls

Thu, 06 Feb 2025 09:41:00 GMT

The following briefing provides an overview of the sanctions and export controls imposed by the US, UK, EU, Poland, Japan, Singapore, Australia, and Ukraine; as well as measures adopted in response by Russia, as at 2:30am GMT, February 06, 2025.