On Friday 15th September 2017 Studio Corno Avvocati will hold the 14th General Assembly of Connexx, the European collection & enforcement Network of which our firm is the sole Italian representative. The morning session of the assembly will let the delegates deal with issues related to the Network’s regular ongoing affairs. In the afternoon Studio Corno Avvocati organized a short conference on enforcement proceedings in Italy with specific reference to enforcement on real estate.
The employer’s right to control over the employee’s usage of the information systems is a subject on which different opinions of jurisprudence and interpretation constantly confronted each other and that involves both labour law and privacy regulation.
With the Legislative Decree 14th September 2015 n. 151, one of the decrees of the so-called Jobs Act, the regulation of the employer’s control over his employees and the art. 4 of the Worker’s Statute have been reformed.
The systems designed to control entries and presences, namely the company badge, and the systems that the employees use for the execution of their job (for example the company computer or the company phone) do not need to be authorized or previously agreed with the trade union and can be monitored by the employer, even if the information stored in the systems could entail disciplinary consequences. Essential requirement for the proper use of the power of the employer is the respect of the Privacy Code rules and the regulations of the Authority, which imposes on the employer to provide the employees with a prearranged and adequate report about the use of the systems and the ways in which the controls are conducted. Moreover, the employee needs to give his free and expressed consent to the data processing.
A “prearranged and adequate report” is an understandable, transparent and written report, regarding: the data controller, the data managers, the – if existing – possibility of transmitting the data to third parties, the rights of the interested parties as stated in art. 7 of the Privacy Code, but also the ways and the purposes of the data processing. If the company intends to use the data collected for disciplinary purposes, it needs to be made clear in the report.
It is important to respect the principles of correctness, relevance and non-excess, therefore, the data could be collected and recorded only for specific, explicit and licit purposes, and could be stored only for the amount of time necessary to the achievement of the purposes themselves.
To this end the Authority, in his guidelines about e-mails and internet dated 1st March 2007, states that could be appropriate for the employers to adopt and make public among their employees, an internal policy containing the rules regarding the proper use of the company systems and the information concerning controls. As an example the internal policy could include: the forbidden behaviours relating to internet surfing or store of specific files in the internal network, whether and how it is allowed to use the company e-mail or internet for personal purposes, which information are temporarily – or for a longer period – saved and who could access them, which kind of controls could be implemented by the employer and the ways in which they are conducted, the consequences – even the disciplinary ones – that could arise from the violation of such policy.
In the event of lack or unsuitability of a “prearranged and adequate report”, the Worker’s Statute states that the data collected are unusable for all business relationship-linked purposes, and the Privacy Code prescribes the payment of an administrative sanction.
Coface has published a new report which suggests that, despite uncertainties caused by Brexit, UK businesses are showing resilience. In the last quarter of 2016, companies’ profits totalled over £105 billion pounds – an all-time high – and confidence rose significantly, especially amongst SMEs. In addition, Sterling’s sharp drop – the most visible sign of Brexit so far – explained the strength of exports, even if the benefits of price competitiveness remain slight. However, looking ahead Coface also warns that the forthcoming negotiation phase will test the current buoyancy of businesses, and business profits are expected to show a gradual decline. Coface estimates that UK business failures could rise by 8.7% in 2017 and 8% in 2018.
Giorgio Corno and Ruggero Castoldi from our law firm flew to Barcelona last week. They attended the Special General Meeting of ACQUES Law Network Limited on 1st May focusing on the development of the network and the 21st LAWorld Annual Conference from 2nd to 5th May 2017. During this meeting the attendees discussed about new possible marketing activities and business opportunities. The guest speaker Pedro Videla, professor in the Economics Department at IESE Business School, presented the global economic situation.
The test phase of the “Web Portal for public sales”, set up with the Law Decree 27th June 2015, n. 83, is now beginning, as communicated by the Italian Minister of Justice on 13th January 2017.
The Web Portal will represent the only marketplace for the publication and the sale of movables and immovable of every pending insolvency proceedings in the Italian soil. The marketplace, together with the “Web Portal for public sales”, are two of the mainstays of the “Com. Mon.” (Competition Money) system, which aims to unfreeze the qualified part of the huge part of credits (estimated to be around 200 billion) that slows down the economic recovery of many companies.
Such system is also aimed to give an additional instrument to enhance non-performing loans and may revitalize the market.
Once the above-mentioned system is fully effective, it will allow to a creditor with reasonable and certified expectation to be fulfilled in an insolvency proceeding to purchase goods on the marketplace not only in cash, but even with special bonds, called Com. Mon.
The Web Portal is composed by:
- a public area, accessible without specific credentials, identification systems and / or legitimation requirements. The common user log in the Web Portal in order to:
- look for and view the information with regard to the sale advertisements published;
- require to the official receiver to visit an immovable subjected to force sales proceedings;
- fill out a telematic bid to purchase;
- sign up to an application for the reception of the sale advertisements which may be of his interest, through the function called “Newsletter inscription”;
- examine the rules, view the sale advertisements published by each Court, read the news and the notices.
- a restricted area, accessible with a prior web identification. The authorized user log into the restricted area to:
- use the back-office functions according to the profile assigned to him (i.e.: to insert a sale advertisement, to consult statistic data and to supervise advertisement web sites).
In addition to the main menu and to the newsletter section, the Web Portal provides also the section related to the advertisements search. Such search can be done by category or type, with the possibility of choosing the scope, the geographic area, the Court, the proceeding or according to the base price of the bid.
Attention is driven to the section in which are listed the updated published advertisements, the expiring advertisements, as well as the section dedicated to the last news published on the Web portal.
Once the “Advertisement Details” page has been logged, goods purchase method information, goods description, data of the proceedings are available and the user may be readdressed to the sales manager web site in order to fill out a telematic bid, as well as to the advertising web sites with the same advertisement.
The gradual increasing of the civil justice computerization is therefore not only aimed to cost saving or to benefit the overall effectiveness of the system, but its aim is also to provide innovative services, which may bring benefits both to the general public and to traders.
Mario Palma Busnelli from our law firm, as President of LNG –Lawyers New Generation- attended the LAWorld European and Middle East Regional Meeting hosted by Ban-Karika law firm in Budapest on 16 and 17 September 2016. It was a fruitful occasion where the attendees discussed about the project to broaden the young lawyers network outside Europe and about the marketing activity aimed to promote the network.