To improve access to digital and assistive technologies for Persons with disabilities, Ireland’s Minister for Disabilities, Ms. Anne Rabbitte, announced the call for projects under a new once-off €2 million Digital and Assistive Technology Fund. The call went out in December, 2021. After a rigorous selection process, 11 projects out of 79 submissions were selected, under the Health Service Executive’s (HSE) CREATE initiative. The Cooperative Real Engagement for Assistive Technology Enhancement (CREATE) initiative seeks to ensure that service users and providers work together to identify what will make a real difference to individual users of digital and assistive technology (DAT).These projects demonstrated the extent to which they were person-centered, willingness to work collaboratively across different service providers and to really engage with digital and assistive technology users through a clear process of co-design.
The Minister secured €2 million for the initiative in Budget 2022. Announcing the allocation of the funding, Ms. Rabbitte said: “I am delighted to see this funding supporting a range of innovative projects which will greatly assist people with disabilities. Digital and Assistive Technologies are a crucial tool to allow people with disabilities to live a more independent life of their own choosing.”
Brazil’s top electoral authority, the TSE, is pondering a ban on the messaging app Telegram during the run-up to the next elections because it has not responded to requests to help combat the spread of misinformation. Luis Roberto Barroso, head of the TSE electoral court, explained that the TSE has already entered into partnerships with almost all the main social media platforms operating in the country to combat misinformation about the legitimacy of Brazil’s electoral system. However, Telegram has not yet responded. Telegram’s development team is based in Dubai and has no representative office in Brazil, where it represents the second-most popular messaging service. Current President Jair Bolsonaro has 1 million subscribers on Telegram, where many of his supporters resorted after other platforms, such as WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram, removed some of his postings. Barroso said that since mid-December he has sought to meet with Telegram executive director and founder Pavel Durov to discuss ways to combat the spread of false information before the upcoming election and warned that it will discuss measures to be taken in early February given the lack of response.
Speaking during an Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) meeting, the foreign ministers of the four countries expressed concerns with the process and speed for adopting the directive, even though they showed support for the global minimum tax rules:
Hungary and Poland said that the implementation of Pillar One and Pillar Two has to be done in parallel; otherwise, the EU loses leverage in negotiations with third countries over Pillar One.
Malta said it had concerns of its own, which so far went unanswered.
Estonia said it had issues with the mandatory application of the rules for national companies (which it said was not part of the deal; with the progress with Pillar One (which it also thinks should be implemented with Pillar Two); with other technical matters.
China is launching a final push in the adoption of the central bank digital currency. The Central Bank of China issued a mobile app for handling the e-yuan (e-CNY), the digitalised version of its currency. The app can be downloaded on Chinese Android and Apple app stores on Tuesday in Shanghai (China). China is conducting a two years long pilot programme on launching the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
China reported significant progress towards full implementation of the CBDC, and the Peoples Bank of China’s Governor Yi Gang said in late 2020 that China would continue to advance the development of its CBDC and improve its design and usage.
The European Commission has proposed a directive to implement the OECD’s new global tax rules, including the 15% minimum tax rate for corporations. The directive ‘reflects the global OECD agreement, with some necessary adjustments, to guarantee conformity with EU law’, the text states.
The proposal is based on the OECD’s Model Rules, released in December 2021, for the introduction of Global anti-Base Erosion (GloBE) rules into national domestic tax laws, as part of the OECD’s Two-Pillar solution. Domestic laws need to be operational by 1 January 2023.
Tax rules in the EU must be agreed to unanimously. Some countries, however, have already expressed concern that the timeline to implement the rules is too short.
The OECD’s Two-Pillar Solution, agreed to in July 2021 by over 131 countries, addresses the global taxation issues arising from the digitalisation of the economy. The finalised framework, including details on how to implement the rules, was agreed to in October 2021.
Pillar Two consists of two rules intended for introduction in national domestic tax laws – together known as the Global anti-Base Erosion (GloBE) rules – as well as a treaty-based rule. The OECD Model Rules contain provisions in respect of the GloBE Model Rules only.
The second UN Open Ended Working Group (OEWG 2021-2025) on developments in the field of ICTs in the context of international security held its first substantive session 13–17 December in New York. The group discussed substantive issues under its mandate: study of existing and potential threats to information security, applicability of international law to cyberspace, implementation and further development of rules, norms, and principles of responsible behaviour of states, and confidence-building measures and capacity building, as well as exploring the possibility of establishing regular open-ended institutional dialogue under the auspices of the UN. A detailed report is available in our report from the session.
Canada’s Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has proposed a digital tax: if enacted, the draft law would impose a 3% digital sales tax as of 1 January 2024, on revenues earned from 2022 onwards, but only if the OECD global tax rules are not yet in force by that time.
In the statement, the spokesperson of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), Adam Hodge, said that Canada’s proposed tax rules ‘would create the possibility of significant retroactive tax liabilities with immediate consequences for US companies. If Canada adopts a DST, USTR would examine all options, including under our trade agreements and domestic statutes.’
