Legal ESG1 MIN READ
EU negotiator proposes directing 75% of ETS revenue to industrial decarbonisation
Source: ReutersLegal RiskLegal ESGLegal Operations
The US sanctions regime against Iran reached a critical inflection point this week. General Licence X (GLX), issued by OFAC on 22 June 2026 to authorise the production, delivery, and sale of Iranian-origin crude oil and petrochemical products (including associated shipping, port operations, insurance underwriting, financing, and US dollar payments), was revoked on 7 July following Iranian attacks
The United States activated the second-stage statutory sanctions mechanism under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act (CBW Act) against Sudan's Armed Forces (SAF), effective 20 July 2026. The designation stems from a formal US government determination — made in April 2025 — that the SAF used chlorine barrel bombs north of Khartoum in 2024. The SAF's failure to ce
Colombia is undergoing a presidential transition with contested legitimacy: outgoing President Gustavo Petro alleges that tally-sheet metadata was manipulated by programmers after results were transmitted to the national registrar, that foreign entities influenced the election, and that the result is "illegitimate." The incoming conservative president, Abelardo de la Espriella, won the June electi
The IBA Global Insight August/September 2026 issue highlights a structural tension: the Iran War has directly tested the coherence of the Russia sanctions regime. The UK Parliament Research Library briefing updated on 4 August records 3,450 designations under the UK Russia regime as of 24 July 2026, including 620 shadow-fleet vessels — the largest category of designation. New UK measures include t
The EU adopted its 21st package of Russia sanctions on 23 July 2026 — the largest in terms of individual designations in four years. The package covers: 48 individuals and 170 entities subject to asset freeze and travel ban; 33 Russian banks newly subject to transaction bans; 94 Russian banks and financial institutions total (with prior transaction bans expanded to include asset freezes); new thir
The EU AI Act's high-risk AI system obligations — including Article 10 data governance requirements — became enforceable on 2 August 2026, creating a new layer of data-sovereignty obligations that operate simultaneously with existing GDPR Chapter V cross-border transfer requirements. For law firms and their enterprise clients deploying or procuring high-risk AI systems: Article 10 requires documen
The Trump administration's executive order restricting mail-in voting is generating multi-circuit litigation with direct implications for the November 2026 midterm elections. The Solicitor General has asked the Supreme Court to issue an administrative stay allowing full implementation; a district judge has blocked portions of the order in 23 states and Washington, DC; the First Circuit declined to
A coalition of 25 Democratic-led states filed a complaint in the US Court of International Trade on August 3 challenging tariffs of 10% or 12.5% imposed on goods from 60 US trading partners — economies collectively accounting for 99.4% of US imports. The tariffs were announced on July 23, one day before temporary Section 122 tariffs expired; the states allege this timing demonstrates the administr
A significant commercial litigation has been filed in the English High Court that may define how index-linked contracts respond to geopolitical disruption of benchmark routes. Mercuria Energy Trading S.A. sued Baltic Exchange Information Services Limited, claiming that the TD3C benchmark — which tracks freight rates for Very Large Crude Carriers transporting crude oil from the Gulf to China — no l
The ceasefire periods in June and late July 2026, followed by resumed hostilities, have created a litigation-accelerant dynamic in which parties that paused commercial disputes during ceasefire negotiations are now converting those positions into formal proceedings. Mishcon de Reya's August 3 analysis identifies the primary dispute categories: (1) force majeure and war-risk clause invocations for
CARB issued a 15-day notice proposing to defer California's first SB 253 (Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act) reporting deadline from August 10 to November 10, 2026, and simultaneously announced targeted proposed revisions to the initial regulation — changes it intends to finalise before the new deadline. The November 10 deadline applies to Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions only; Scope 3 report
TotalEnergies formally appealed (July 27) the landmark Paris Judicial Court ruling that ordered it to revise its climate vigilance plan to include Scope 3 emissions — upstream and downstream from its own operations. The appeal does not suspend the lower court's decision: TotalEnergies must still submit a revised climate vigilance plan before the end of December 2026, with judicial review scheduled
CMS Law (July 30) reports that two Commission Delegated Regulations implementing the EU ESG Ratings Regulation were published in the Official Journal on July 29: Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/871 (specifying elements of ESG rating products to be disclosed to the public, to users, rated items, and issuers of rated items) and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/872 (specifying meas
Morgan Lewis's Summer 2026 ESG Investing Update (July 30) documents the full scope of the US regulatory reversal on ESG. The SEC has proposed rescission of its 2024 climate-related disclosure rules, citing cost concerns and statutory authority questions — the rule was already stayed in April 2024 pending judicial review and the administration withdrew its defense after the 2024 elections. Separate
Jones Day's analysis (July 28) of the European Commission's June 26 Forced Labor Regulation guidelines is the week's most operationally significant compliance document for supply chain counsel. The EU FLR imposes what the Guidelines describe as an "obligation of result" — an unconditional and absolute duty that no product placed on the EU market has been produced with forced labor at any stage of
Texas AG Ken Paxton filed suit (July 29) against proxy advisory firms ISS and Glass Lewis, alleging deceptive trade practices in connection with ESG-related voting recommendations — joined by AGs from Iowa, Nebraska, and West Virginia. The lawsuits allege that the firms' ESG-oriented recommendations violate consumer protection laws and improperly influence corporate governance decisions. This is t
The European Commission finalised the revised ESRS (European Sustainability Reporting Standards) on July 3, 2026, and they are now in a two-month parliamentary scrutiny period (extendable to four months) before entering into force. The key changes from the Omnibus package: mandatory datapoints reduced by more than 61%; total datapoints reduced by more than 70%; scope threshold raised to at least 1
Oxford Law Blogs' Business Law Blog published analysis (July 30) making the critical legal point that the EU Omnibus package's weakening of statutory CSRD obligations does not neutralise the surrounding legal landscape. Tort litigation, human rights jurisprudence, sector-specific financial regulation, and national due diligence regimes continue to shape corporate climate obligations independently
The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) — which requires operators to ensure commodities are produced without link to newly cleared forests — has been postponed again, with the European Commission citing that "businesses and partner countries need more time to prepare the new supply chain traceability system." The Commission has also proposed exempting some beef products from the regulation's scope
The Oxford Law Blog analysis (July 30) has direct implications for how ESG practice groups should be advising clients on voluntary commitments. The thesis is that companies that published climate transition plans under CSRD Wave 1, TCFD, or investor engagement — even voluntarily — have created published commitments that plaintiffs are now testing as legally binding in tort, vigilance, and human ri
AFS Law's July 2026 customs and trade roundup documents two significant enforcement-adjacent actions. OFAC revoked its Iranian oil general license after just two weeks, following renewed attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, leaving only a short wind-down window — illustrating how rapidly sanctions authorizations can reverse in the US-Iran military conflict context. Separately, BIS revised its licensin
The European Commission reported on July 30 that the third round of EU-Canada digital trade agreement negotiations made substantial progress on cross-border data flows, privacy and personal data protection, bans on prior authorization requirements, and e-contracts. A fourth negotiating round is now being arranged. The development is significant in context: the EU's digital trade negotiation with C
Mondaq's analysis (July 29) provides the most useful structural map of where US tariffs now stand. The current architecture has three layers: Section 301 forced-labor duties (10–12.5%, effective July 24, covering 60 economies); Section 232 national security duties on steel, aluminum, autos, and semiconductors (sector-specific, pre-existing); and active Section 301 investigations into EU digital se
Effective July 24, 2026, the Trump administration imposed 10% tariffs on approximately 60 economies that have adopted forced-labor import prohibitions, and 12.5% on those that have not, under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 — covering roughly 99.4% of US imports. The duties replaced the expiring 10% Section 122 across-the-board surcharge, itself a replacement for the IEEPA "Liberation Day" re
A July 24 analysis by Sheppard Mullin documents the downstream legal risk from the Supreme Court's Trump v. Slaughter decision: by creating uncertainty about the independence of the Federal Trade Commission — which is the enforcement backbone of the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (DPF) — the ruling has prompted Max Schrems and NOYB to formally ask the European Commission to review the adequacy decis
A federal appeals court (First Circuit) blocked key provisions of Trump's executive order restricting mail-in voting on July 25, with judges from both Biden and George W. Bush appointees voting to uphold the block. The administration then filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court on July 27, seeking to lift the injunction ahead of November's midterm elections. The legal argument from t
The Liberty Justice Center filed suit in the US Court of International Trade on July 24, 2026, within hours of the Section 301 forced-labor tariffs taking effect — the same organization whose litigation produced the Supreme Court's February 2026 IEEPA ruling. The lawsuit argues Trump's 10–12.5% duties are an unlawful attempt to restore the global tariff policy the Supreme Court already struck down
Federal Law No. 265-FZ was published and entered force on July 26, 2026, amending Article 12 of Russia's Federal Law on Personal Data (152-FZ). The law removes all references to the Council of Europe Convention 108 from Russian data protection legislation, eliminating the presumption that European servers provide adequate protection for Russian personal data. Roskomnadzor now has explicit authorit
JURIST reported July 24 that UN special rapporteurs have formally decried resumed US-Iran strikes, citing the Geneva Conventions' civilian protection obligations and customary international humanitarian law principles — specifically the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution articulated in Additional Protocol I (which the US has not ratified but acknowledges as customary in its
The UK government endorsed ISSB standards IFRS S1 and S2 and issued the UK Sustainability Reporting Standards with limited modifications. The FCA simultaneously proposed two significant changes: CP26/5 would realign listed issuers' TCFD disclosures with the new UK SRS from January 1, 2027 on a "comply or explain" basis; CP26/17 would remove TCFD product-level reporting requirements for asset manag
The EU ESG ratings regime went live on July 2, 2026, with ESMA supervising methodology transparency, governance, and conflicts of interest. Most ratings providers must apply for authorisation by November 2, 2026; ESMA's endorsement guidelines for third-country ratings providers apply from August 2, 2026. Separately, the SFDR overhaul remains in trilogue, with final text unlikely before end of 2026
The Paris Judicial Court's June 25, 2026 judgment in a climate-related duty of vigilance case against a major oil and gas company is the week's most consequential climate litigation development for corporate counsel. The court held that climate risks fall within the scope of France's 2017 duty of vigilance law and that Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions — approximately 90% of the company's total at
The Seventh Circuit's July 16, 2026 ruling keeping Chicago's climate-deception lawsuit against fossil fuel companies in state court is a significant procedural win for municipal climate plaintiffs. The fossil fuel accountability litigation strategy has consistently sought federal removal as a defense tactic; keeping these cases in state court typically favors plaintiff-friendly procedural rules an
A UK House of Lords Private Members' Bill introduced June 17, 2026 would impose mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence on commercial organisations with annual turnover of £36 million or more. Modelled on the Bribery Act 2010's "failure to prevent" structure and broadly mirroring the EU CSDDD, the bill includes civil liability for value-chain harms, financial penalties of up to 10%
The Higher Regional Court of Cologne (Case No. 6 U 68/25) prohibited an airline on July 8, 2026 from advertising that customers can "reduce flight-related CO2 emissions directly during the booking process" by paying a surcharge for sustainable aviation fuel. The court held that the claim constituted unfair advertising under the German Act against Unfair Competition (UWG) because it withheld materi
Two new US class actions filed the week of July 13 illustrate the expanding scope of greenwashing litigation beyond climate-specific claims. Driscoll's faces a class action over alleged PFAS-related pesticides and sustainability claims; AriZona beverages faces a class action over "All Natural" labeling. Both cases reflect the same enforcement logic: a company's public sustainability or naturalness
The European Commission published detailed implementation guidelines for the EU Forced Labour Regulation (FLR) on June 26, 2026. The headline rule is unambiguous: products made using forced labour at any point in the supply chain — any tier, any jurisdiction — cannot be placed on the EU market. There are no country exemptions, no industry exemptions, and no minimum threshold. The guidelines flag t
The 10% global blanket tariff under Section 122 expires at 12:01 AM July 24, 2026 — the statutory 150-day limit. The replacement mechanism is USTR's Section 301 forced-labor duties, finding all 60 nations deficient as of June 2. Proposed rates: 10% on 15 countries with existing forced-labor frameworks (Canada, Mexico, UK, EU, Switzerland, Norway, and others); 12.5% on 46 countries including China,
USTR concluded its 12-month Section 301 investigation on July 15 and announced a 25% tariff on most Brazilian imports (HTSUS 9903.05.01) effective July 22, 2026. Covered categories span digital trade, electronic payment services, IP protection, ethanol market access, anti-corruption enforcement, and illegal deforestation. Carve-outs include Section 232 goods (steel, aluminum, copper, autos), civil
Three presidential proclamations under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 — a near-century-old statute — target Canadian motor vehicles, wine/beer, dairy, hockey sticks, cement, furniture, and refrigeration machinery with 50% tariffs effective August 19. Critically, these tariffs are NOT blocked by USMCA qualification, unlike USMCA-compliant goods that were exempt from Section 122. Canadian 25%
Following a Section 232 investigation citing 54% of US patented pharmaceuticals manufactured abroad, a 100% baseline tariff on pharmaceuticals takes effect for Annex III companies on July 31, with remaining companies following September 29. Company/country-specific exclusions and rate reductions exist for approved onshoring commitments; EU/Switzerland/UK/Japan rates are aligned with trade agreemen
OFAC issued General License X1 on July 7, superseding GL X and terminating the sanctions waiver for Iranian oil exports structured to run through August 21. In the 16 authorized days (June 22–July 7), approximately 20 Iranian tankers moved ~70 million barrels generating an estimated $5–6bn in export revenue before the ceasefire talks collapsed. Cargoes loaded before July 7 face payment and clearan
The bipartisan Sanctioning Russia Act (S. 1241, July 10) would impose up to 100% tariffs on the top five purchasers of Russian crude oil or natural gas, with an exception for countries importing less than 15% of Russia's natural gas and taking "significant steps" to reduce. Mandatory sanctions on Putin, senior military/political leaders, oligarchs, state-owned enterprises, banks, the shadow fleet,
The US declined to extend USMCA at the first joint review (effective July 1, 2026). The agreement remains fully operational but now enters a 10-year annual review cycle until 2036, with a 6-month withdrawal notice required for actual termination. This increases policy uncertainty for over $1.6 trillion in annual North American trade. A subsequent 6-month withdrawal notice could be triggered at any
Singapore, Philippines, and Thailand privacy regulators speaking at a July 23 privacy forum called for targeted rather than broad data localization mandates, advocating interoperable transfer mechanisms, accountability frameworks, and privacy-enhancing technologies. The position contrasts with the EU's regulatory direction and reflects a deliberate policy choice by ASEAN members to compete for dat
EU Council Regulation 2026/382 abolished the €150 customs exemption for low-value shipments effective July 1, 2026, replacing it with a €3 flat customs duty per item category — a direct targeting of the Temu/Shein/AliExpress direct-shipping model. The EU simultaneously cut steel import quotas 47% (from ~33M to 18.3M tonnes), doubled penalty duties to 50% through 2031, and introduced "melt and pour
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) removed the UAE from Country Groups D:3 and D:4 on July 10, adding it to Country Group A:5 (close US allies). UAE government and approved entities now gain license-free access to advanced computing items for AI development and eligibility for License Exception STA. The upgrade is a significant geopolitical signal — positioning the UAE as the Gulf's preferr
Secretary Rubio announced on July 8 that President Trump has informed Congress of his intention to rescind Syria's State Sponsor of Terrorism designation — in place since 1979. The 45-day pre-notification process has begun, with rescission expected around August 22, 2026. Rescission will remove Syria from Country Group E:1 under the Export Administration Regulations, opening significantly broader
The World AI Cooperation Organization (WAICO), launched at a Shanghai summit on July 16 with 29 nations (no EU members), formalized a third incompatible AI governance architecture alongside the EU AI Act and US industry self-regulation. EU AI Act Article 50 transparency obligations apply from August 2, 2026. The tripartite governance split — EU (mandatory, risk-based, Article 50 August 2), US (ind
A Jipyong law firm seminar (July 20) in Seoul highlighted the dual compliance risk now embedded in Chinese supply chains: complying with US sanctions on China may violate China's Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law. China's State Council Decree No. 839 (Mineral Resources Law, June 15) authorizes "countermeasures" against "discriminatory" foreign restrictions on critical minerals. Korean manufacturers face
FATF's July 16 update found 83% of surveyed jurisdictions have now passed Travel Rule legislation for crypto asset transfers, up from 73% a year earlier. Stablecoin activity is emerging as the next enforcement focus. DPRK and Iran countermeasures are maintained; Myanmar requires enhanced due diligence. The Travel Rule's near-global adoption marks the maturation of crypto AML compliance as a standa
The AI OVERWATCH Act, MATCH Act, and Chip Security Act all advanced through the House Foreign Affairs Committee, pushing for inclusion in the FY2027 NDAA. The Chip Security Act would mandate location verification and geotracking for exported chips. The AI OVERWATCH Act would tighten oversight of AI chip exports to prevent training of foreign military and intelligence AI. The MATCH Act would align
On July 3, 2026, the European Commission adopted the revised European Sustainability Reporting Standards and a parallel voluntary standard for companies outside the CSRD's scope. The revised ESRS reduces mandatory data points by over 60%, total data points (including voluntary) by over 70%, and is projected to reduce per-company reporting costs by over 30%. Wave 1 companies — those with more than
The California Air Resources Board announced on June 24 a three-month delay to the initial reporting deadline under SB 253, the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act. The deadline for in-scope entities to report Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions relating to 2025 shifts from August 10, 2026 to November 10, 2026, with CARB stating that limited regulatory changes are intended. Scope 3 reporting r
Two Paris Judicial Court decisions issued in the same week represent the sharpest European climate litigation signal of 2026. In the first, the Paris Judicial Court found Volvic liable for "misleading commercial practices" and ordered the company to pay €75,000 in damages and €10,000 in legal costs to a consumer protection association, holding that the claims "carbon neutral" and "100% recycled" w
On July 14, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed an executive order imposing the nation's first statewide moratorium on large-scale data center construction. The order takes effect immediately and directs the Department of Environmental Conservation not to issue discretionary permits for new data centers with a power demand of 50 megawatts or more for up to one year, while state regulators develo
U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued comprehensive Forced Labor Enforcement Operational Guidance for Importers on June 12, superseding the prior 2022 UFLPA guidance. The 79-page document consolidates CBP's enforcement framework under three legal authorities — the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, and the general forced labor import
The European Commission launched a consultation on draft implementation guidance for the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive this week, following the Omnibus I amendments that fundamentally reshaped the directive's scope and obligations. The Omnibus I package, which entered into force on March 18, 2026, reduced the CSDDD's scope by approximately 70% — to companies with over 5,000 empl
The EU Pay Transparency Directive (EU 2023/970) entered into force on June 6, 2026, with transposition required by all Member States by June 7, 2026, and first gender pay gap reports due in 2027 covering calendar year 2026. Companies with more than 250 employees must report annually; companies with 100–250 employees must report every three years. Employers must disclose salary ranges in all job ad
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission voted on June 30, 2026 to rescind its Affirmative Action Interpretive Guidelines and the related Compliance Manual on Affirmative Action — guidance established in 1979 that provided the framework for evaluating voluntary affirmative action plans and a good-faith compliance safe harbor for employers implementing such plans. The EEOC stated that the g
Senken's July 13 analysis of corporate greenwashing risk in carbon credit markets — citing Max Planck Institute research — found that more than 68% of DAX40 companies that purchased carbon credits ended up supporting projects with no real climate impact. The Max Planck Institute separately found that 84% of carbon credits across the broader market are high-risk. The enforcement consequence is alre
FTI Strategic Communications' July 16 ESG+ Newsletter synthesized three developments with direct ESG practice implications. First, the SEC issued new guidance requiring activist investors to disclose the identities of their clients in regulatory filings — a governance transparency measure that will affect the ESG activist engagement strategies clients use to engage portfolio companies on climate a
Holland & Knight announced on July 16 the addition of Jeff Salinger as a partner in its New York office — a leading environmental transactions partner focused on project finance, M&A, and regulatory matters in the energy transition, renewable energy, and environmental remediation sectors. The lateral hire follows Holland & Knight's July announcement of the Colorado HB26-1421 guidance covering ABS
On June 29, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6–3 in *Trump v. Slaughter* that the FTC's for-cause removal protection — which since *Humphrey's Executor* (1935) had prohibited presidents from removing commissioners without cause — is unconstitutional, and that officers exercising executive power must be removable by the president at will. The DPF adequacy decision (Commission Implementing Decisio
On July 13, 2026, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a "sweeping campaign to dismantle the threat posed by the International Criminal Court to US sovereignty" — a whole-of-government effort to "systematically disable the ICC's ability to operate, target American servicemen or officials, or otherwise threaten American sovereignty." The campaign's tools include: increased sanctions against the
The Trump administration this week escalated its campaign to assert federal control over the 2026 midterm elections, directing the DOJ to demand comprehensive voter files from all states, pursuing a national voter database, and issuing executive orders on election administration — at least two of which have been blocked by federal courts. The administration fired both Democratic members of the Ele
The July 1, 2026 USMCA joint review concluded without renewal: the United States declined to extend the agreement in its current form, triggering the annual review mechanism under Article 34.7 that keeps the agreement in force but subjects it to annual renegotiation until 2036. The first annual review session began July 20, 2026, with Mexico immediately signaling it would target auto and steel tar
The UK–India Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement Chapter 12 on Digital Trade entered into force on July 15, 2026. The chapter reduces barriers to digital trade, supports legal recognition of electronic contracts and authentication, includes source code protections (firms cannot be required to transfer or disclose source code), and safeguards consumers against harmful commercial practices in
Amnesty International, the European Union, and a coalition of international actors this week publicly rejected the US ICC dismantlement campaign, with Amnesty calling it "reprehensible" and urging states to "push back against" it, and with EU officials affirming continued financial and political support for the court. The collision between the US campaign and the ICC's allied-state support base cr
The European Commission on July 8, 2026 referred Ireland, Spain, France, and the Netherlands to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failing to notify the Commission of full NIS2 Directive transposition into national law. The referral is a CJEU Article 258 infringement proceeding — available remedies include financial penalties against member states and a binding order to complete transp
The European Commission presented an Action Plan on Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence on July 7, 2026, aimed at supporting safe and responsible AI use while strengthening cyber resilience across the EU. The following day, July 8, it also presented the proposed Cloud and AI Development Act as part of the AI Continent Action Plan — a framework intended to address cloud concentration risk, pr
OFAC recorded eight separate sanction actions in the seven-day window ending July 16, across Iran, Cuba, Russia, cyber-related, counter-terrorism, non-proliferation, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Iran led volume: designations and a designation update on July 14, designations and a new general license on July 10, and an amended general license on July 8. Russia saw an amended general li
The European Commission opened a targeted consultation on safeguarding EU data sovereignty on July 8, 2026, running through September 8, 2026. The consultation covers four areas: data-related dependencies, barriers to accessing or using data in third countries, obstacles to transferring data back into the EU, and risks linked to third-country access to sensitive data. The exercise connects the Clo
The Paris Judicial Court ruled on June 25 that TotalEnergies must disclose the climate risks tied to emissions from its oil and gas products — including Scope 3 emissions from end users' combustion of its fuels — and revise its statutory vigilance plan within six months to address them, applying France's 2017 duty of vigilance law to climate risk for the first time. The court stopped short of orde
The SEC's proposal to rescind its 2024 climate-related disclosure rules, published in the Federal Register on June 3, keeps its formal comment window open through August 3, 2026, with a final rescission vote unlikely before late 2026 or early 2027. Crucially, the rescission does not eliminate existing materiality-based obligations: Regulation S-K Items 101, 103, and 105, along with MD&A requiremen
Regulation (EU) 2024/3005 became fully applicable on July 2, 2026, placing every ESG rating provider operating in the EU — regardless of where headquartered — under direct ESMA authorization and supervision for the first time in any jurisdiction. Existing providers such as MSCI, Morningstar Sustainalytics, ISS, and S&P Global must notify ESMA of intent to continue operating by August 2 and file fu
Oregon state court judge Adele Ridenour heard two full days of arguments this week in Multnomah County's roughly $52 billion lawsuit against Chevron and other fossil fuel companies over the 2021 Pacific Northwest heat dome, which killed 69 people. Defense counsel Theodore Boutrous argued federal law preempts the claims and that defendants' Oregon contacts are insufficient for the case to proceed t
The European Commission's required Article 11 guidance packages — covering investigation procedures for competent authorities, due diligence expectations for economic operators, and complaint procedures for civil society — along with a public forced-labour risk database, were due June 14, 2026, but had not appeared as of late June, with no official explanation offered by the Commission. Enforcemen
The Commission opened a stakeholder consultation on June 14 seeking input to shape the implementation guidelines for the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, covering due diligence processes, stakeholder engagement, and penalties, with a response deadline of July 24, 2026, ahead of planned guideline adoption in Q1 2027. The questionnaire specifically invites comment on which scoping t
A federal judge in the Southern District of Indiana granted a preliminary injunction on June 26 blocking a state law that would have required proxy advisers ISS and Glass Lewis to disclose a "written financial analysis" whenever recommending votes against company management, finding the law amounted to unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination. The ruling marks the third such injunction — followin
While the standalone Green Claims Directive proposal remains dormant amid political backlash, the already-adopted Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (ECGT, Directive 2024/825) becomes directly enforceable across all 27 member states on September 27, 2026, banning unsubstantiated generic claims like "eco-friendly" or "sustainable," prohibiting offset-based "carbon neutral" prod
Following an April 2026 legal information-demand letter under new Dutch disclosure-access legislation, Greenpeace Netherlands is preparing what it describes as a precedent-setting climate and human rights lawsuit against JBS N.V. in Dutch courts, arguing the meat producer's methane emissions — estimated to exceed those of Shell and ExxonMobil combined in 2023 — and its planned $2.5 billion Nigeria
On July 1, 2026, the USMCA Free Trade Commission held its mandatory six-year joint review under Article 34.7, and the United States declined to confirm a 16-year extension, with USTR Ambassador Jamieson Greer stating the US "did not agree to renew the USMCA in its current form," even as Mexico and Canada both confirmed support for renewal. For law firms advising North American supply chain clients
On June 29, 2026, the US Supreme Court issued Trump v. Slaughter, a separation-of-powers ruling holding that restrictions on presidential authority to remove executive officials — including at the Federal Trade Commission — are unconstitutional; while the opinion never mentions the GDPR or the Data Privacy Framework, privacy advocates including Max Schrems and noyb argue it undermines the FTC's in
Three ICC judges — Kimberly Prost, Solomy Balungi Bossa, and Reine Sophie Alini-Gou — filed suit in federal court in Manhattan on June 25, arguing that US sanctions imposed on them under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act are unlawful, exceed IEEPA's scope, and function as a "financial death penalty" by cutting off banking, credit, and online services. The Trump administration respond
Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated a Kigali-based gold refinery, its executives, and affiliated Rwandan mining companies on June 25 for laundering gold mined in M23/Rwanda Defence Force-occupied territory in eastern Congo, followed on June 26 by sanctions on eight individuals and entities tied to procurement and recruitment networks sustaining Sudan's civil war. For sanctions a
The Supreme Court issued two major election-law rulings in the final days of June: on June 29, it upheld state grace periods allowing mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day but received afterward (a loss for the Trump administration, authored by Justice Amy Coney Barrett over a four-justice dissent), and on June 30, in National Republican Senatorial Committee v. FEC, it struck down FECA's coor
The European Union's regulatory filing confirming its side of the EU-US trade agreement took effect July 1, 2026, removing import duties on a range of US goods and applying through December 31, 2029, with built-in safeguards allowing the EU to suspend concessions if Washington breaches the deal's terms. Trade counsel should flag the sunset date and snap-back mechanism to clients now, since the fou
The Irish Data Protection Commission opened an inquiry this month into an online fashion retailer's transfers of EU and EEA personal data from its Irish entity to China, examining compliance with GDPR Article 5, Article 13, and Chapter V, with particular scrutiny on whether the arrangement guarantees protection "essentially equivalent" to EU standards. Separately, the Dutch data protection authori
Following months of delay, the European Commission finalized membership of the AI Act's Advisory Forum (172 members) and Scientific Panel (60 independent experts) this month and published the final Code of Practice on marking and labelling AI-generated content, with OpenAI the first major provider to commit to signing it; in parallel, the Commission's Tech Sovereignty Package — including the Cloud
California's Air Resources Board announced on June 24 that the initial GHG emissions reporting deadline under SB 253 (the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act) would shift from August 10 to November 10, 2026, giving large companies additional time to prepare their first Scope 1 and 2 submissions. CARB simultaneously withdrew its current rulemaking text and announced a forthcoming updated regu
The Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics published its Global Trends in Climate Change Litigation: 2026 Snapshot on June 25, documenting 249 new cases filed in 2025 and a total corpus of more than 3,600 cases across 62 countries — up from 17 countries a decade ago. Twenty percent of U.S. cases filed in 2025 constitute "protective litigation" resisting Trump administration
On May 22, the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission filed a joint Statement of Interest in the Texas Attorney General's case against BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard — becoming, for the first time in a U.S. court filing, the federal government's explicit position that industry-wide ESG coordination can violate the antitrust laws. The agencies advanced two theories: under Section
The Paris Judicial Court ruled on June 25 that TotalEnergies' Scope 3 emissions — those generated when customers burn its oil and gas products, representing roughly 90% of the company's carbon footprint — fall within the scope of France's 2017 corporate duty of vigilance law. The court did not impose binding production cuts or a fine; instead, it ordered TotalEnergies to publish a revised vigilanc
The European Commission launched a consultation running to July 24, 2026, seeking stakeholder input on implementation guidelines for the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive following its modification by Omnibus I. The guidelines are intended to address voluntary model contract clauses, due diligence processes and risk factors, digital tools, data sources, third-party verification, and
On June 29, ArentFox Schiff published a compliance alert flagging that California's SB 343 applies to all products manufactured after October 4, 2026: companies must either verify their products meet quantitative recyclability criteria (including 60% consumer access to recycling collection and 60% of California recycling systems sorting the material) or remove recyclability claims — including the
On June 24, the Council of the European Union agreed its official negotiating position on SFDR 2.0, overhauling the sustainable finance disclosure framework around a new three-tier product classification system: Sustainable (highest standards), Transition (credible decarbonization pathway), and ESG Basics (general integration). The Council's position includes a significant concession: fossil fuel
Effective June 29, 2026, Section 250 of the UK's Crime and Policing Act 2026 (CPA) replaced the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023's senior manager provisions with a far broader regime: companies incorporated anywhere in the world are now criminally liable for any UK criminal offence committed by a "senior manager" acting within the actual or apparent scope of their authority. Crit
On June 29, U.S. District Judge Matthew Brookman for the Southern District of Indiana granted a preliminary injunction blocking an Indiana law — set to take effect July 1 — that required proxy advisers to attach a "written financial analysis" to any voting recommendation against company management, or disclose that no such analysis had been conducted. The court found the law constituted "viewpoint
Stinson LLP partners published an article in the *New York Law Journal* this week examining how ESG considerations are reshaping risk allocation and deal structuring in mergers and acquisitions. The analysis arrives as the regulatory environment creates genuine asymmetry between U.S. and European ESG regimes — California GHG reporting obligations, EU CSDDD supply chain liability, and potential U.S
China escalated its counter-measures this week, sanctioning 56 U.S. companies — including rare-earth miners, defense-linked firms, and Alibaba's U.S.-facing entities — in direct retaliation for a Pentagon "CMC List" designation. The sanctions impose asset freezes within China and prohibit any Chinese entity or individual from conducting business with the listed firms, effective June 30. Alibaba se
The European Parliament on June 16 adopted its plenary position on the Digital Omnibus on AI, provisionally deferring the AI Act's Annex III high-risk AI system obligations from August 2, 2026 to December 2, 2027, and Annex I embedded systems to August 2, 2028. The deferral follows the political agreement reached on May 7 and is not yet formally adopted — formal Council adoption and Official Journ
Two drone incidents in May–June 2026 — a Russian aerial drone striking civilians in Romania's Galați and a Ukrainian naval drone detonating at Romania's Constanța port — have produced the most significant international law dispute on NATO territory since the war began. Romania's Foreign Ministry formally characterized the Galați strike as a serious violation of international law. Jurist analysis c
Clyde & Co's June 25 global risk research finds that 86% of business leaders now rate technological risk as high impact (up from 46% last year); 72% say geopolitical risk is having direct commercial impact (up from 49%); and 85% cite regulatory/compliance burden as high impact (up from 54%). Four in five organizations say geopolitical shifts are influencing where and how they operate globally. The
U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued two new Withhold Release Orders on June 23 targeting garment producers Needle Craft Ltd. and Casual Wear Apparel LLC in Jordan, and confirmed a separate WRO against Serbia Zijin Copper — the second Serbian operation targeted in six months. WROs immediately trigger detention of all shipments at U.S. ports of entry, requiring importers to either re-export go
Armenia's June 7, 2026 parliamentary election returned Nikol Pashinyan's Civil Contract Party with a majority — but not the supermajority needed for constitutional reform, leaving the final Nagorno-Karabakh peace accord with Azerbaijan legally blocked. The result deepens Armenia's strategic pivot away from Russian security dependence toward EU institutional integration, but Russian energy and econ
A UN independent commission released findings on June 23, 2026, concluding that Israeli security forces' actions in Gaza since October 7, 2023 meet the legal criteria for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes — including intentional targeting of Palestinian children. The commission cited multiple acts that were "widespread and systematic," satisfying the Rome Statute threshold for crim
The EU gave final Council approval on June 25 to legislation implementing the July 2025 EU-US tariff framework, meeting Trump's July 4 deadline by days. Under the deal, the EU removes import duties on all U.S. industrial goods and grants preferential access to U.S. seafood and agricultural products; the U.S. caps tariffs on most EU exports at 15%, covering autos, pharmaceuticals, and semiconductor
On June 3, the European Commission published the Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA), the centerpiece of its Technological Sovereignty Package. CADA introduces a four-level sovereignty assurance framework for cloud procurements by EU public authorities: Level 1 requires EU-hosted servers; Level 2 prohibits third-country data access or kill-switch authority; Level 3 requires the provider not be sub
The U.S. Supreme Court this week issued three immigration decisions with sweeping legal implications. In *Mullin v. Al Otro Lado*, the Court upheld CBP "metering" — stationing agents at the borderline to exclude asylum seekers from ports of entry — as lawful. A second 6-3 ruling allows DHS to terminate Temporary Protected Status for Haitian and Syrian nationals without judicial review. A third dec
The Association of Corporate Counsel released a June 25 flash poll of 168 GCs and deputy GCs finding that 41% of manufacturing in-house counsel face geopolitical crisis-driven legal pivots at least weekly — nearly three times the overall rate. Key structural findings: over half of organizations rely on informal or ad hoc approaches to geopolitical risk governance; 52% have not revised standard con