PUBLISHED: 11 June 2020 | Merger control deadline proposed to be extended due to Coronavirus pandemic

The Finnish Government has proposed that the Phase II deadline in merger control should be extended by 23 working days from the current 69 working days due to the difficulties that the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority has experienced in merger control proceedings during the Covid-19 pandemic. Read more >>

PUBLISHED: 3 June 2020 | The temporary changes in labour legislation will be extended to be in force until the end of year 2020

The temporary changes in labour legislation that came into force due to COVID-19 on 1 April 2020 will be extended to be in force until 31 December 2020.
Read more >>

PUBLISHED: 27 May 2020 | COVID-19 outbreak through a health tech lens

Health tech innovations such as contact tracing applications have been amongst possible solutions to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Read more >>

PUBLISHED: 27 May 2020 | ’Will never happen’ clauses in contracts

What did we learn from the Corona lesson? Read more >>

PUBLISHED: 27 May 2020 | Layoffs have followed the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, many employers have been forced to take rapid measures to safeguard the continuity of their businesses. Temporary layoffs, in particular, have become customary. At the beginning of May 2020, more than 160,000 employees were fully laid off and cooperation consultations regarding layoffs concerning some 467,000 employees had been initiated. Read more >>

PUBLISHED: 27 May 2020 | Tax implications arising from the Corona situation

While the corona situation is causing severe issues on various fronts, the economic downturn and decrease in valuation levels are triggering a variety of tax questions relating not only to the realisation of losses, but also tax opportunities for new investments and intra-group restructurings. In day-to-day operations cash is king. As many companies are facing liquidity issues, we will also look into the possibilities provided by Finnish Tax legislation for optimising cash positions.
Read more >>

PUBLISHED: 27 May 2020 | Guidelines on the EU FDI Screening Regulation issued by the Commission (updated)

Commission urges Member States to protect critical assets and technology during the COVID-19 crisis. Read more >>

PUBLISHED: 16 April 2020 | Government proposes temporary legislation enabling remote participation in AGM 2020

The Finnish Government has submitted a legislative proposal (the “Act”) allowing annual general meetings, AGMs, held in 2020 to be postponed until 30 September 2020. In addition, listed companies could allow shareholders to participate in AGM 2020 only by way of representation or technical means.

The Act has been prepared in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, and its purpose is to give listed companies sufficient time to adopt technical measures required to arrange fully remote meetings. The Act will also apply to companies listed on the First North market. The Act will enter into force as soon as the Parliament passes it and will apply to AGMs convened at the earliest on 30 April 2020 and held at the latest on 30 September 2020. Read more >>

The world is facing a public health crisis due to the global spread of COVID-19 with severe consequences also for the global economy. The European Commission has issued guidelines to ensure a strong EU-wide approach to foreign direct investment screening in order to protect security and public order and, thus, the European economy. Read more >>

The changes constitute a part of the measures proposed by the labour market parties and accepted by the government to ease the position of employers suffering from the COVID-19 crisis. Read more >>

PUBLISHED: 26 March 2020 | D&I Quarterly Q1/2020 – Finnish Act to be aligned with the EU regulation on the screening of foreign direct investments

The EU-wide framework for the screening of foreign direct investments entered into force in April 2019, and as of October 2020 it will be applied in its full scope. Consequently, certain amendments are expected to the Act on the Monitoring of Foreign Corporate Acquisitions in Finland. Read more >>

PUBLISHED: 26 March 2020 | D&I Quarterly Q1/2020 – MAC & Corona – Could the coronavirus trigger MAC’s in M&A transactions?

The COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak is already affecting many aspects of M&A transactions, including due diligence, W&I insurance, negotiations and financing. Will the outbreak provide buyers an out from agreed M&A transactions by constituting a material adverse change? Read more >>

To soften the negative impacts of COVID-19 on the Finnish economy and to prevent bankruptcies of otherwise healthy companies, the Finnish Government and financial institutions have introduced a number of measures to provide additional liquidity and ease the companies’ financial situations. Read more >>

PUBLISHED: 26 March 2020 | Coronavirus, employment relationships and daily working life

The coronavirus outbreak has taken the Finnish society and workplaces by storm. Our ways of working and daily routines have dramatically changed during just a week.

Business activities have already dramatically dropped, and such drop threatens many companies in the near future. Some of us work from home which puts our remote working facilities (and abilities) to the test. Most of us have had to adapt to new daily routines at the workplace and at home. It appears that we are approaching the new normal, at least for a couple of months. Read more >>

PUBLISHED: 26 March 2020 | D&I Quarterly Q1/2020 – Coronavirus and Force Majeure in commercial contracts and disputes

The COVID-19 coronavirus has quickly developed into a worldwide pandemic. The question is no longer whether there will be a coronavirus epidemic in Finland but instead what will be the financial, societal and human losses caused by the outbreak.

The losses resulting from the pandemic are causing a significant increase in discussions around the possibility to invoke the force majeure doctrine as a consequence of payment default and other contractual breaches as well as a ground for suspension of contractual performance. Read more >>

On 18 March 2020, the labour market parties published a list of concrete and substantial proposals for temporary legislation aimed at easing the situation for companies suffering from the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. Read more >>

PUBLISHED 17 March 2020 | Impacts of coronavirus on employment relationships and the daily working life

We have collected a list of most important aspects which the Finnish employers should take into consideration when contemplating measures to be taken in these unexpected circumstances. Read more >>

In this Alert, we discuss the possibilities to invoke the force majeure doctrine in Finnish law governed commercial contracts and suspend performance based on the doctrine. Read more >>