Press review – Week of 2 January 2023

This week in the press review, two Members of the European Parliament have been subjected to immunity waiver proceedings in the Qatargate scandal and the Court of Cassation has extended the powers of seizure of equipment of the Financial Markets Authority (AMF). In addition, a deferred prosecution agreement was signed by a laboratory for 13.8 million euros and a fine of 60 million euros was inflicted upon Microsoft by the Data Protection Authority (CNIL).

Home visits: the Court of Cassation confirms the powers of the FMA

On December 16, 2022, the Plenary Assembly of the Court of Cassation confirmed that the Financial Markets Authority could, during home visits, seize equipment belonging to non-residents, under two conditions: a prior authorization from the Judge of Liberties and Detention allowing for the home visit on the specific site and a link between the offenses under investigation and the equipment seized. > Read article

#Anti-Bribery and Corruption: Qatargate: two Members of the European Parliament targeted by an immunity waiver procedure

In the case of Qatar’s suspected corruption of Members of the European Parliament, the Belgian judicial authorities requested that the immunity of two new parliamentarians be lifted. These procedures follow those against Eva Kaili, Vice-President of the European Parliament, and her partner, a parliamentary assistant. In the case of Eva Kaili, the lifting of immunity was not necessary because of the flagrant facts. > Read article

The French DPA imposes a fine of 60 million euros on Microsoft for not allowing users to refuse “cookies”

The authority in charge of personal data regulation imposed a fine of 60 million euros on Microsoft Ireland Operations Ltd for infringing European regulation on cookies. Upon using the Bing search engine, advertising cookies were deposited automatically without consent and the procedure for refusing cookies followed a complex procedure. This fine is part of a list of previous sanctions imposed on other GAFAMs: Google (150 million euros) and Facebook (60 million euros). > Read article

# Criminal tax law: R&D tax credit: the misappropriation of several Unilabs laboratories

The National Financial Prosecutor Office and the Unilabs France group signed a new deferred prosecution agreement on 15 December. The laboratory came forward and disclosed to the prosecutor the suspected fraud in research tax credits, a system intended to finance Research and Development (R&D). > Read article