Clifford Chance
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Artificial intelligence
President Trump's first 7 days in office: what's out, what's in and what's still in
The first week of Donald Trump's second Presidency was nothing short of extraordinary in many respects, including its implications for the tech sector. January 20, 2025, Trump's first day in office, saw a whirlwind of activity: the President issued a Presidential Statement, revoked 78 Executive Orders and Presidential Memoranda and issued 26 Executive Orders and an America First Trade Policy. During the remainder of the week, Trump signed seven additional Executive Orders and announced a US$500 billion joint venture for infrastructure tied to AI. These activities occurred in the context of key global developments, including the World Economic Forum in Davos and breaking news about a Chinese AI developer, DeepSeek. This article provides an overview of key tech-related developments during the second Trump administration's first seven days: what's out, what's in and what's still in. We will provide in-depth analyses and updates as these developments continue to evolve.
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Tech
Mexico’s plans to develop its semiconductor industry: challenges and opportunities
Recent global developments accelerating the push for geographical diversification of semiconductor production include positioning Mexico as a primary destination for the chip manufacturing industry over the next decade. Companies will seek to take advantage of recently announced tax incentives, an abundance of low labor costs and proximity to the U.S. as they advance nearshoring agendas. In January 2025, the Sheinbaum Administration introduced a presidential decree which outlines preliminary incentives for local and foreign companies aiming to nearshore their semiconductor manufacturing operations.
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Data
DOJ Final Rule on National-Security Risks Posed by Countries’ of Concern and Covered Persons’ Access to U.S. Sensitive Data
On December 27, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued the Final Rule setting up a national-security program within the DOJ's National Security Division. The Rule implements President Biden's February 28, 2024 Executive Order 14117 "Preventing Access to Americans’ Bulk Sensitive Personal Data and United States Government-Related Data by Countries of Concern" The Rule regulates certain data transactions with "countries of concern" and covered persons involving U.S. bulk sensitive data or government-related data
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Fintech
The Financial Conduct Authority - Crypto Roadmap timeline
On 26 November 2024, the FCA published a series of pieces on crypto regulation, including its anticipated Crypto Roadmap. In this article we highlightsome of the key developments contained within the FCA's Crypto Roadmap.
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Healthcare & life sciences
U.S. Healthcare AI Developments: California's New Healthcare-focused genAI Law
As the healthcare industry develops novel uses for artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI (genAI), various U.S. state regulators have responded. In particular, California, Colorado, Illinois, New York, and Utah have each introduced laws regulating AI in healthcare, ranging in scope. Of particular note is a new law in California, AB 3030, regulating genAI use in patient communications and set to take effect on January 1, 2025. This new CA law requires health facilities, clinics, physician's offices, and offices at a group practice to provide certain disclosures when using genAI to generate written or verbal patient communications pertaining to patient clinical information. "Patient clinical information" is "information relating to the health status of a patient" and does not include administrative matters.
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Artificial intelligence
Facing a reckoning: Australian privacy regulator comments on facial recognition tech in recent ruling
Between 2018 and 2021, Bunnings, an Australian retailer, secretly used facial recognition technology on customers to identify potential shoplifters by comparing their faces to a database of known offenders. This practice was deemed unlawful by the Australian Privacy Commissioner following a two-year investigation.
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Artificial intelligence
Inclusive AI for people with disabilities: Key considerations
To mark International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) 2024 we will look at how AI is empowering inclusivity and improving accessibility for disabled individuals generally before providing an overview of the global legal landscape looking at the US (federal and State levels); Europe (the EU and the UK), and APAC (Australia, Singapore and China).
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Tech
Forecasting the impact of Trump's second administration on the tech sector
This briefing provides an overview of how President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign promises may translate into policy reform and the potential impact on the tech sector and the many businesses that rely on it. We look at: AI and Data Centres; Cryptocurrency and Digital Assets; Antitrust; Semi-conductors; Electric Vehicles; Connectivity; Social Media Content Moderation and Space. Please note that this analysis forecasts potential changes based on public statements by Trump and other officials and is subject to change
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Keeping Pace: The First Tranche of Australian Privacy Reforms versus the GDPR Regimes
This article addresses the reforms proposed in the Privacy Bill, and how and to what extent the changes will align the Privacy Act more closely with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) and its essentially similar UK equivalent (UK GDPR, and together with the EU GDPR, GDPR).
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Data
The test for "personal data" in the context of data breaches under UK data protection law
In whose hands – the data controller's or the hacker's – should hacked data be assessed to determine if it is "personal data" under UK data protection law? On 4 November 2024, the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) filed an application seeking permission to appeal the Upper Tribunal's recent decision relating to a personal data breach involving DSG Retail Ltd (DSG). The appeal focuses on the definition of "personal data" in UK data protection law and argues that the Upper Tribunal interpreted the term too narrowly in the context of this breach.
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Tech
Impact of US ICTS supply chain focus on the automotive sector
Foreign threats to the US information and communications technology and services (ICTS) supply chain constitute a national emergency. Executive Order 13873, titled "Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain," issued on May 15, 2019 (EO), first declared the emergency and granted the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) the authority to regulate ICTS transactions involving "foreign adversaries" that may pose undue or unacceptable risk to the United States or US persons. Following publication of an Interim Final Rule on January 19, 2021, the Department of Commerce (Department) implemented the EO in the Final Rule on December 6, 2024 (Final Rule). The Final Rule goes into effect on February 3, 2025. This briefing provides an overview of the Final Rule introduced by the Department of Commerce, other regulatory efforts focused on safeguarding ICTS for national security reasons and ICTS-related developments impacting the automative sector
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Artificial intelligence
Africa's AI future – governance, strategy, and essential business considerations
In October 2024, Clifford Chance were the platinum sponsors of the African Corporate & Government Counsel Forum (ACGC) annual conference in Accra, Ghana. Participants at the conference included Microsoft, MTN, Citi and Standard Chartered. At our opening plenary session, we explored some of these issues in depth alongside in-house counsel. We have laid out our key insights for businesses developing, deploying and using AI in Africa. While taking advantage of the transformative opportunities posed by AI in Africa, it will be crucial to understand the distinct cultural and linguistic context of each country in which a business operates.
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UK data protection reform resurrected: Data (Use and Access) Bill hits the House of Lords
The UK Government introduced the Data (Use and Access) Bill (DUA Bill) to the House of Lords on 23 October 2024. Most of its content carries over from the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (DPDI Bill) introduced by the Conservative Government in 2022, which fell when Parliament was dissolved before the 2024 general election, with some minor additions and a few notable omissions.
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Data
Advocate General's opinion on administrative fines under the GDPR
On 12 September 2024, Advocate-General Leila Medina (AG) delivered her opinion to the ECJ in Case C-383/23 Anklagemyndighenden v ILVA A/S (ILVA) which clarifies the relationship between the basis on which the level of an administrative fine is to be set under articles 83(1) to (3) of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the maximum level of such a fine under articles 83(4) and (5).
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Real estate
Explain: an introduction to the use of Artificial Intelligence in real estate
The use of AI is still a relatively new and complex concept for many organisations and not knowing how to get started with AI can hold organisations back from taking action. This paper from REvolve aims to bring some context to how AI might apply specifically to real estate organisations. Clifford Chance is a member of REvolve and contributed an Expert View to the Report.
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On Exclusivity Clauses and Effects: the EU General Court judgment annuls the Google Adsense decision including its €1.49 billion fine
On 18 September 2024, the EU General Court (GC) annulled the European Commission's (EC) decision finding that Google had abused its dominant position in the market for online search advertising intermediation by imposing exclusivity, privileged placement, and authorisation clauses on third-party website publishers who used Google's intermediation services to offer search ads. The GC chiefly found that the EC had insufficiently established for the period of the alleged infringements that the three clauses in the Google Services Agreements were capable of preventing Google's competitors from accessing a significant part of the market for online search advertising intermediation. The judgment's main takeaway is that where the EC alleges an infringement based on exclusivity clauses, and where the dominant company disputes the specific capacity of those clauses to exclude as efficient competitors from the market, or raises an objective justification (as Google had), the EC must ensure that those clauses were, taking into account all the circumstances of the case, actually capable of excluding as efficient competitors.
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Survey of Cybersecurity Disclosures in Annual Reports on Form 20-F Filed by Selected Well-Known Seasoned Issuers
We have developed a survey to provide information to our clients and other interested parties about cybersecurity related disclosures included in annual reports on Form 20-F. Our survey focuses on foreign private issuers registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that have disclosed that they qualify as well-known seasoned issuers and that we understand have a market-cap of more than $25 billion. The cybersecurity related disclosures in the annual reports on Form 20-F covered by this survey varied more widely than equivalent disclosures in the annual reports on Form 10-K that we had previously surveyed, which could reflect regional market practices as well as different home country governance approaches.
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Financial Investors Circle US Professional Sports Leagues
For many years, the ownership of US professional sports franchises was the preserve of wealthy individuals. However, that began to change in 2019, when Major League Baseball (MLB) eased its ownership and investment rules to permit financial investors to invest in its teams. Major League Soccer (MLS), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Hockey Association (NHL) and the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) soon followed suit and by early 2024, over 30 sports teams across these leagues had received some degree of financial investor backing. Given that the influx of financial investor money into US professional sports looks set to continue at pace, it is important that prospective sports investors understand the investment guardrails that each league has in place. We have compiled a table which does just this – comparing and contrasting the rules on financial investor ownership across each of the US professional sports leagues that have attracted financial investors.
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Artificial intelligence
Webinar: Regulating AI examining global developments
In this webinar our expert panel looked at the global development of regulatory frameworks for AI, including emerging trends and diverging approaches being taken in different jurisdictions. This included the EU’s AI Act, US developments at federal and state level, the UK perspective and the measures being taken in China to tackle regulation of generative AI and deepfakes.
WatchHealthcare & life sciences
Webinar: Healthcare Innovations Shaping the Global Future
AI, next-gen robotics, novel drugs, healthcare without healthcare professionals, personalised medicine and big data are just some of the ways the healthcare sector is being transformed. What does this mean for you and your organisation? In this webinar our expert panel looked at the key legal issues and explored how to leverage these for your own transformation and growth.
WatchCyber
Webinar: Navigating Cyber Security and Resilience
The global trend towards increased cybersecurity and resilience regulation will tighten existing requirements and affect a broader range of businesses than ever before. From updates in SEC and NYDFS cyber requirements, to Singapore’s proposed Cybersecurity Amendment Bill, our global panel examined developments in the US, APAC, Europe and the Middle East
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US State Privacy Laws
U.S. data privacy has entered a new era. Historically, the data privacy legal landscape has been dominated by sector-specific legislation, such as the Graham-Leach-Bliley Act and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, often with a focus on cybersecurity or preventing misuse of certain types of personal information. The California Consumer Privacy Act was the first comprehensive (i.e., broad sweeping) state data privacy law added to this U.S. regulatory framework that focused on consumer protection. Since its adoption, various state-level regulatory and legislative activity has been building momentum. Today, several states have enacted or are continuing to develop comprehensive data privacy laws with requirements that apply across nearly all business sectors. Understanding the scope, applicability, and requirements of these state data privacy laws are more crucial than ever for companies operating in the U.S. Read our individual overviews of currently enacted comprehensive state data privacy laws to learn more.
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Responsible AI in Practice
Public awareness of AI is increasing and, with it, questions on how AI will be used and the impact it will have on our lives. To help identify the pressures faced by policymakers and demands from stakeholders, our report, in partnership with Milltown Partners – Responsible AI in Practice – analyses the results of focus groups of policy-informed individuals conducted in the US, the UK and Germany. Groups were asked about issues such as bias, consent, copyright, transparency, content moderation and AI governance. We found that people's attitudes towards AI are developed and nuanced. They are optimistic about the potential of AI, but there is work to do to demonstrate that it will be used responsibly and safely.
Read the Report
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The New US Administration and the Impact on the DLT Sector and Regulatory Environment for Crypto (online, 29 January 2025):
In this 30-minute webinar, Clifford Chance fintech experts in New York, Washington DC, and London - Jesse Overall, Steve Gatti, Cliff Cone and Paul Landless - will discuss the new US administration and the outlook for the DLT sector and the regulatory environment for crypto, together with potential opportunities. This webinar is particularly relevant to banks, asset managers, and professionals within the fintech space. | To register, please complete the online RSVP form