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Discover thought leadership and legal insights by our legal experts from across CMS. In our Expert Guides, written by CMS lawyers from across the jurisdictions where we operate, we provide you with in-depth legal research and insights that can be read both online and offline. You can also find Law-Now articles with focused legal analysis, commentary and insights to help you anticipate future challenges and much more.



Media type
Expertise
25/01/2024
Emerging Europe M&A Report 2023/2024
Despite geopolitical tensions, fears of recession and strong inflationary pressures across the EU, as well as the fiscal tightening needed to contain them, M&A in the CEE region has remained reasonably buoyant. Findings from the CMS Emer­ging Europe M&A 2023/24 report, published in cooperation with EMIS, demonstrate the resilience of the Emerging Europe deals market as activity holds firm against a backdrop of geopolitical tensions and strong inflationary pressures. Welcome to the 2023/24 edition of the Emerging Europe report.
22/01/2024
Whistleblowing
This course has been prepared to help employees understand what whistleblowing is and how whistleblowers are protected.
28/11/2023
International Digital Regulation Hub
Following the EU Commission plan “A Europe fit for the digital age”, we have witnessed a lot of digital regulations in the EU including DMA and DSA, AI Act, Data Act and there is still more to come. Whilst presenting companies with a tumultuous landscape to navigate, the legal obligations imposed also present opportunities to develop their business in a new digital framework safeguarding responsible business practices, fair competition and personal data. The CMS Digital Regulation Hub is home to our Digital Regulation Tracker Tool, providing an overview of the key regulatory instruments for area of law, sectors and business activities which are critical for decision makers as they adapt to the increasingly digital landscape. In addition to this unique tool, we explore the impact this tsunami of regulation is having for businesses across a variety of industries and how GCs can ride the waves to stay ahead of the curve. Our latest re­port il­lus­trates the key findings across Platforms, Content providers, Life Sciences & Healthcare, Energy & Infrastructure, Banking & Finance and Automotive industries. To discuss how to cope with the challenges of Digital Regulations and to explore the opportunities for your business, please contact one of our International experts.
06/11/2023
News in Sustainability Claims
Return to CMS Green Globe
26/10/2023
Global Life Sciences & Healthcare Forum 2023 – recordings & presentations
We were delighted to bring you this year’s Forum, “Blurring Boundaries - Exploring the convergence of life sciences and law”, from Amsterdam. The theme “Blurring Boundaries - Exploring the convergence of life sciences and law” aimed to:Uncover the latest breakthroughs: Dive into the forefront of life sciences advances, including biotechnology, genetics, pharmaceuticals, and medical devicesAddress the regulatory gap: Engage in interactive workshops to bridge the divide between rapid innovation and the development of legal frame­work­sNav­ig­ate global challenges: Explore the impact of globalisation, ethical considerations, privacy concerns, and societal implications on the life sciences sectorFoster collaboration: Connect with legal and scientific minds, exchange ideas, and build valuable re­la­tion­shipsP­resent­a­tions were delivered by fantastic industry speakers, including Annemiek Verkamman (Managing Director, Hollandbio), Charida Dorder (Member of the Dutch AI Coalition), Wouter Boon (Associate Professor, Utrecht University) and Marc Kaptein (Medical Director, Pfizer), as they shared their expertise, thoughts and insights on how the sector is “Blurring Boundaries”. We were also joined by Simon Neill (Senior Legal Director) at Johnson & John­son and Joep Rijnierse (Senior Medical Director) at Amgen in our workshops. This webpage has been designed to keep you updated on the Forum, our speakers, as well as provide you with the useful resources complementing the theme “Blurring Boundaries - Exploring the convergence of life sciences and law”. You will also find on this page details on how to stay connected with CMS through our upcoming webinar series, On the Pulse Webinar Series 2023 - Autumn (cms. law); free eAlert service, Law-Now; and social media channels.
24/10/2023
CMS European Energy Sector M&A and Investment Outlook 2024
As the world economy increasingly embraces the push towards decarbonisation, Europe has actively sought to place itself at the vanguard of the discussion on energy trans­ition. Op­por­tun­it­ies to deploy capital abound as power sources switch further towards offshore and onshore wind, solar, heat, hydrogen, battery storage, new networks, carbon capture, and industrial decarbonisation. The latter brings an interface with other sectors such as technology companies (with power hungry data centres a particular focus), real estate, low carbon transport and decarbonisation of industrial processes such as cement, glass and steel production. As much as it is difficult, complex and highly political, the energy transition is also a huge business opportunity. To reach net zero by 2050, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that global investment in clean energy alone will need to increase from the USD390bn in the first half of 2023, to USD 1.3tn in 2030. Many commentators worried that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would put back the transition and shift Europe back towards fossil fuels. While it appears to have resulted in a renewed political focus on energy security it has also laid bare the financial and political consequences of relying on oil & gas imports, giving further impetus to renewables as a secure form of energy. Europe has also sought to be a leading light on the concept of “reaching net zero”, with the European Union (EU) having set out its ambition, back in 2019, to become the world’s first major economic bloc to be climate-neutral by 2050. This has added momentum to energy investment and M&A over recent years – 2021 and 2022 saw the second and third highest annual aggregate values of Western European M&A in the sector on record, at USD 59.8bn and USD 53.7bn, respectively, bested only by the anomalously high total of USD 89.4bn logged in 2018. Energy M&A in the region has been more subdued in 2023, but our survey demonstrates that energy executives are gearing up for a more active dealmaking period, with most expecting more opportunities and anticipating increased levels of investment in the year ahead. Capital looks set to continue to flow primarily to renewable energy projects and related assets, with solar and batteries topping the list of attractive subsectors among our respondents. Consistent with this, South West Europe takes pole position as the most promising region for investment opportunities. But there are thorns among the roses. Our respondents are cognizant of the challenges in the energy market, with supply-chain volatility and commodity price increases emerging as a prominent concern. This is unsurprising after a period of dislocation following the pandemic and amid a time of rising global demand for renewable products and commodities. Persistent inflation and elevated interest rates, combined with an uncertain macroeconomic outlook, are raising investors’ concerns, with financing risk (including the increased cost of financing) also coming to the fore for respondents. Overall, while some sense a recent softening of the market due to these fundamentals, our survey paints a picture of steadily improving investor sentiment in Europe’s energy sector, laying the foundations for a busier period ahead for M&A activity.
11/10/2023
CMS DTx Legal Navigator
Assisting companies scale their digital therapeutics (DTx) internationally
14/09/2023
Energy Transition 2023
As the world seeks to balance energy security and affordability with the broadly agreed imperative to address carbon emissions, this report seeks to provide a timely update on how major oil and gas companies are navigating the energy transition based on an analysis of their published data.
13/09/2023
Turning the Corner? CMS European M&A Outlook 2024
We are pleased to share with you the 2024 edition of the European M&A Outlook, published by CMS in association with Mergermarket.
12/09/2023
CMS European Class Actions Report 2023
Data-driven insights into class action risk across Europe, a key concern for major corporates
22/05/2023
Technology Transformation - Life Sciences & Healthcare
The Life Sciences and Healthcare Sector is highly tech­no­logy-driv­en and an increasingly dynamic approach is taken when adopting busi­ness-crit­ic­al technologies. This sector’s above-average uptake in technology is reflected in its prioritisation of measures against IT failure. However, the sector is often underprepared for technology risks, with many businesses still not having processes in place to manage key risks despite current and future concerns around disputes arising from this area. This report is a deep dive into data first produced for the report Technology Transformation: Managing Risks in a Changing Landscape. This saw over 500 people surveyed from multiple industries across the world. Here we look in detail at the 75 respondents from the Life Sciences and Healthcare sector, and their perspectives on the risks associated with busi­ness-crit­ic­al technologies, including emerging technologies. Download the Technology Transformation Life Sciences and Healthcare report now to read about:Drivers of technology adoption in the Life Sciences and Healthcare sectorNew risks emerging and traditional barriers to risk man­age­ment­Cur­rent technology risks in the Life Sciences and Healthcare sectorFuture risks, including IP concerns and AIPreferred approaches to technology dispute resolution for the Life Sciences and Healthcare sector
21/05/2023
GDPR Enforcement Tracker Report
A warm welcome... ... to the fourth edition of the GDPR Enforcement Tracker Report – the anniversary edition celebrating five years of GDPR. In the five years since the GDPR became applicable its powerful framework for imposing fines has certainly helped to raise awareness and encourage compliance efforts – just as the European legislator intended. At the same time, the risk of fines of up to EUR 20 million or 4% of a company’s global annual turnover can also lead to fear and reluctance or ignorance about compliance issues. We still believe that facts are better than fear. This is why we continuously update our list of publicly known fines in the GDPR  Enforcement Tracker and started the GDPR Enforcement Tracker Report as an annual deep dive approach to provide you with more insights into the world of GDPR fines. As in the three previous editions, the GDPR Enforcement Tracker Report starts with the Executive Summary (also available as a PDF version), followed by the “Numbers and Figures” section and the “Enforcement Insights per business sector” (also including the overarching employment category. The “Enforcement Insights per country” provide background on the specific enforcement framework under national law. Some remarks on our methodology can be found at the very end of the report.