The Working Group II ('WGII') of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ('IPCC') is tasked with evaluating the vulnerability of socio-economic and natural systems to climate change, its beneficial and detrimental effects, and adaptation strategies. As part of its work, the WGII published its contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report ('AR6'), titled 'Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability'¹, addressing the impact of climate change, by analysing ecosystems, biodiversity, and human communities both at the global and regional level. In its contribution to the AR6, the WGII places a particular focus on vulnerability assessment, capacity, and limits of the natural world and human societies in seeking to adapt to climate change and addressing the 'rapidly narrowing window of opportunity to enable climate resilient development' (p. 31).

This Insight article provides an overview over the drafting process of the WGII contribution to the AR6, its importance, and key findings.

Marketing is a fundamental part of a business, and encompasses a wide range of strategies and tactics designed to promote and sell products or services, and manage the brand reputation of the business. In part one of a two-part business function series, Joanna Kennedy, Director, Marketing & Communications and Data Protection Officer at the Performance Review Institute, discusses considerations and challenges in relation to marketing and data protection.

On 25 March 2022, the EU and the US announced that they had found an 'agreement in principle' for a new Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework ('TADPF'), which would seek to restore the seamless flow of personal data between the EU and the US. However, at least until such time as an agreement is reached and the US adequacy status approved, organisations remain subject to the requirements of Data Protection Commissioner v. Facebook Ireland Limited, Maximillian Schrems (C-311/18) ('the Schrems II Case') in respect of EU-US data transfers, including transfer impact assessments ('TIAs'). Precisely two months prior to the announcement, on 25 January 2022, the German Data Protection Conference ('DSK') published an expert opinion on the current state of US surveillance law and authorities, prepared under the initiative of the Berlin data protection authority ('Berlin Commissioner'), and authored by Professor Stephen I. Vladeck, one of the expert witnesses for Facebook in the Schrems II case. The expert opinion expresses Vladeck's views and is not binding on the DSK or other German data protection supervisory authorities.

The expert opinion outlines US surveillance laws and authorities that in some instances allow access to, and imposition of retention requirements on, data of non-US persons located outside the US. In this regard, the expert opinion focuses on Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act ('FISA') and analyses its scope, including which businesses/industries it may cover, its extraterritorial application, and the type of data Section 702 may capture. This Insight article aims to summarise the expert opinion and is accompanied by clarifications and comments on the impact of the expert opinion from Odia Kagan, Partner and Chair of GDPR Compliance & International Privacy at Fox Rothschild LLP, and Jimmy Orucevic, Data Protection Consultant at KPMG Switzerland.

Although Non-Fungible Tokens ('NFTs') existed long before, the first half of 2021 saw an increased interest in this type of digital assets. Vasilis Charalambous, Lawyer at George Z. Georgiou & Associates LLC, discusses NFTs, what they are, how they function, key-trends, the legal and regulatory landscape governing their use, as well as potential challenges lying ahead.