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Global rules on foreign direct investment (FDI)
Cross-border acquisitions and investments increasingly trigger foreign direct investment (FDI) screening requirements.
United Kingdom | Publication | July 2024
The case before the CJEU concerned a director of several Luxembourg limited liability companies, who had received an ex officio VAT tax assessment for the financial year 2019, assessing that VAT was applicable on their director activities. The CJEU was asked the following questions:
On the first question, the CJEU confirmed that the activities of the member of the board directors would constitute economic activities where the member supplies services to that company for a consideration. There must also be a certain degree of continuity and the remuneration (whether fixed or variable), must remain reasonable in relation to the services supplied.
On the second question, the CJEU found that the member of the board of directors does not perform his or her activity independently, as the latter does not bear any personal economic risk associated with his or her mandate, in other words, no personal obligation arises on the part of directors for their commitments to the company, despite the fact that directors are entitled to arrange how he or she perform their duties and are not subject to an employer and employee relationship.
Therefore, although there is a degree of continuity and the remuneration associated with their roles, the CJEU found that board directors do not fulfil the independence criterion required for VAT liability so that their services are not subject to VAT.
The decision of the CJEU could imply that members of the board of directors of Luxembourg companies may not be considered as taxable persons for VAT purposes and therefore directors' fees should not be subject to VAT. While the applicability of this decision depends on a case-by-case analysis, it is worth mentioning that Circular N°781 has now been repealed.
Publication
Cross-border acquisitions and investments increasingly trigger foreign direct investment (FDI) screening requirements.
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On February 2, 2024, the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union confirmed that the Committee of Permanent Representatives had signed the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Regulation, referred to as the AI Act. Approval by the EU Parliament followed on 13 March 2024, and the AI Act is likely to appear in the EU’s Official Journal around May 2024. The AI Act aims to establish a stringent legal framework governing the development, marketing, and utilisation of artificial intelligence within the region, thereby marking a significant advancement in the regulation of this burgeoning domain.
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The private credit market and direct lending have grown and diversified immensely in the past decade, offering alternative sources and terms of debt compared to those historically provided by the syndicated leveraged loan and public issuance markets. Consequently, they are fast becoming pivotal components in the capital ecosystem, so much so that the Bank of England consider that the private credit market is currently responsible for approximately $1.8 trillion of debt issuance, which is four times its size in 2015. This growth has been particularly pronounced in Europe and the US but there has also been significant activity in Asia.
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