Jun282017

ESMA updates co-legislators on MiFID II implementation

EU

ESMA will deliver a specific IT infrastructure for the implementation of MiFID II on 3 January 2018. This will include pan-European IT systems, which will allow:

  • The reception and publication of reference data;
  • The computation and publication of various liquidity assessments and thresholds to be used for the new transparency and tick size regimes;
  • The implementation of the double volume cap mechanism;
  • The coordination of suspensions from trading; and
  • The exchange of transaction reports

The ESMA letter also provides a timeline for the implementation of the different elements of its MiFID II IT infrastructure. In addition, ESMA will also publish in the coming days, market size calculations for MiFID II’s ancillary test as well as transitional transparency calculations.

Jun282017

ESMA updates co-legislators on MiFID II implementation

EU

ESMA will deliver a specific IT infrastructure for the implementation of MiFID II on 3 January 2018. This will include pan-European IT systems, which will allow:

  • The reception and publication of reference data;
  • The computation and publication of various liquidity assessments and thresholds to be used for the new transparency and tick size regimes;
  • The implementation of the double volume cap mechanism;
  • The coordination of suspensions from trading; and
  • The exchange of transaction reports

The ESMA letter also provides a timeline for the implementation of the different elements of its MiFID II IT infrastructure. In addition, ESMA will also publish in the coming days, market size calculations for MiFID II’s ancillary test as well as transitional transparency calculations.

Jun282017

Civilians must not be sacrificed for military victories – UN rights chief, as thousands trapped in Raqqa

United Nations

28 June 2017 – Voicing grave concern over the fate of as many as 100,000 civilians &#8220effectively trapped&#8221 in Syria’s Raqqa governorate amid the ongoing offensive against Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) fighters, the top United Nations rights official urged all parties to the conflict to enact measures to allow civilians who wish to flee the fighting to do so in safety.

&#8220The intense bombardment of Al-Raqqa over the past three weeks has reportedly left civilians terrified and confused about where they can seek refuge as they are caught between ISIL’s monstrosities and the fierce battle to defeat it,&#8221 the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, said today in a news release issued by his Office (OHCHR).

&#8220Civilians must not be sacrificed for the sake of rapid military victories,&#8221 he underscored, calling on all forces battling ISIL in the city, including international forces, to review their operations to ensure full compliance with international law and taking all feasible precautions to save civilian lives.

High Commissioner Zeid also underscored the need to promptly and effectively investigate reports of civilian casualties.

According to OHCHR data, conservative estimates indicate that at least 173 civilians have been killed in air and ground strikes since 1 June. Furthermore, reports of civilian deaths continue to mount and escape routes are increasingly sealed off.

The news release also noted that while some did manage to leave after paying large sums of money to smugglers, including traffickers affiliated with ISIL, allegations continue to emerge of ISIL preventing civilians from fleeing.

There are also worrying reports of violations and abuses by the armed group, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in areas under its control, such as Tabqa city &#8211 located west of Raqqa city &#8211 including of looting, abductions, arbitrary detentions during screening processes as well as the recruitment of children, the release added.

Jun282017

News story: GC team take a lead role in EU workshop

HM Government

Malcom Burns, Principal Scientist and Special Advisor to the Government Chemist, helped develop, organise, co-chair and deliver a DNA extraction workshop with the EU Reference Laboratory (EURL) for GMOs in feed and food. This workshop was organised by the European Commission and held at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra (Italy) in June 2017. The three day event was attended by over 30 experts representing 19 EU member states and other countries as far afield as Mexico, Ecuador and Brazil.

The workshop consisted of a number of seminars and interactive discussion sessions on different approaches and quality control criteria for DNA extracted from food and feed samples. The workshop was designed to bring together the knowledge and collective expertise and experiences of scientists working in the topical area of extracting DNA from challenging matrices.

As well as co-chairing sessions, Malcolm chaired the interactive session on the second day of the workshop. Each of the participants was asked to present their experiences in relation to DNA extraction, promoting further valuable discussions, comments, suggestions and solutions from the group.

Feedback from the workshop as a whole was very positive, and included how useful the participants found the interactive session which was led by Malcolm using an innovative new format. The workshop will result in a summary document being produced detailing issues commonly encountered when extracting DNA from food and feed samples, as well as associated potential solutions for these issues.

The three-day event provided a forum to discuss and agree best measurement practice in the area of DNA extraction from food and feed, and an EU Guidance Document is in preparation to capture the key principles in this area as a direct result of the workshop.

For more information about the work the Government Chemist does, contact us:

Jun282017

Press release: Five Eye countries join Britain’s call to remove terror content online

HM Government

The Home Secretary has today, Tuesday 27 June, secured the support of the ‘Five Eyes’ members in urging communication service providers to do more in removing terrorist and violent extremist content online.

In a two day trip 26 to 27 June to Ottawa, Canada as part of a Five Country Ministerial, she joined her counter-parts from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the US to take a united stand against international threats.

Ministers from the five countries put their name to a joint letter, tackling terrorist use of the internet (PDF, 72.7KB, 1 page) welcoming an announcement from Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and Google to begin forming a new global industry body but stressing that it is critical progress is made quickly.

The letter makes clear there should be no safe space for terrorists and extremists to communicate online their unlawful goals. Hateful content used to recruit and radicalise people should be removed faster as much of it is still freely accessible.

The cross country support for the letter comes after the Home Secretary held a roundtable in March with major internet providers to encourage them to prevent the dissemination of high quality propaganda. Now, these companies are working on an industry wide form that will share information, provide technical solutions and give support to small companies.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said:

The issue of terrorism transcends borders and a truly global effort is needed to end the spread of hateful propaganda. The commitment from my fellow Five Eyes members to a shared approach to Communication Service Providers and their backing of the new industry forum is a vital step forward.

In our darkest hours, the international community has stood together. The ties between our countries give us a strong foundation to end the spread of the poisonous propaganda used to recruit and radicalise people across the world. Today’s letter is a statement that our countries will never let terrorists win.