Legal & Regulatory

Here you will find coverage of legal and regulatory policy news across a broad range of topics including banking, biotech, data privacy, energy, environment, health care, immigration, insurance, patents, securities, trade, and worker rights.


Russian attack on Ukraine flouts U.N. grain deal
By Arete News - July 23, 2022

Russia struck Ukraine’s port of Odesa, violating the deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations that Moscow and Kyiv signed less than a day earlier.

Nations approve first guidelines for valuing nature
By Arete News - July 9, 2022

The IPBES guidelines could prod decision-making beyond just politics and economics to deal with our massive loss of species and rising temperatures.

U.N. audit shows staff dodged virus disclosures
By Arete News - July 4, 2022

More than 40% of U.N. Geneva staff didn’t report their vaccination status despite having to do so, and most of those that did weren’t fully vaccinated.

Global outcry to protect women after U.S. ruling
By John Heilprin - June 24, 2022

Global leaders broadly condemned the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and other precedents protecting access to abortion.

BIS says future is digital currency, not crypto
By John Heilprin - June 21, 2022

The global financial institution that supports central banks has a new blueprint for the world’s monetary system, and it’s not crypto-based.

WTO clinches trade deals deep into overtime
By Arete News - June 17, 2022

WTO’s first ministerial conference in four and a half years overcame bitter divisions to reach consensus on an ‘unprecedented’ six-item package deal.

WHO readies monkeypox emergency reponses
By John Heilprin - June 15, 2022

The U.N. health agency is seeking global access to vaccines against monkeypox and calling a meeting to decide if the virus outbreak is a global emergency.

WTO tackles food, vaccines, fishing subsidies
By John Heilprin - June 12, 2022

Hunger, vaccine patents and fishing subsidies top the agenda as the global trade body holds its first ministerial conference in four and a half years.

20 nations sign on to Americas migration plan
By John Heilprin - June 10, 2022

Biden wrapped up the Summit of the Americas unveiling a migration plan that comes at a pivotal moment for cohesion and democracy’s future in the region.

Treaties link pollution to broader harm
By John Heilprin - June 1, 2022

A group of nations is looking at how they can use regulations for hazardous chemicals and wastes to tackle pollution, global warming and species losses.

New talks set for U.N. high seas treaty proposal
By Arete News - May 30, 2022

Proponents of a U.N. global high seas treaty for protecting biodiversity are set to resume talks in August with the goal of approving it as soon as possible.

Health leaders bow to conservative nations
By John Heilprin - May 28, 2022

Nations appeased conservatives with a new strategy for HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections that omits a glossary of sexual health terms.

WHO chief: ‘Pandemic will not magically disappear’
By John Heilprin - May 22, 2022

The World Health Organization’s governing body opened its weeklong annual meeting against a backdrop of financial tumoil and war in Europe.

G-7 finance leaders united for Ukraine
By Arete News - May 20, 2022

G-7 finance ministers said they agreed to take concrete steps to deepen economic cooperation and respond together against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

U.N. pushes renewables with new warming records
By Arete News - May 18, 2022

The U.N. weather agency confirmed the past seven years were the hottest on record in a new report that will serve as the basis for global climate negotiations.

Experts urge more pandemic cooperation
By John Heilprin - May 17, 2022

More than two years into the pandemic, scientists say its global impacts will not be finished with us anytime soon, particularly in developing nations.

UNOPS chief resigns over lost millions
By Arete News - May 8, 2022

The head of a U.N. agency that last year oversaw US$3.4 billion in projects resigned over questions into tens of millions of dollars in agency spending.

IPCC finds climate options dwindling
By John Heilprin - April 4, 2022

Nations have just a few years left to achieve the 2015 Paris Agreement’s goals of limiting global warming to a rise of 1.5 or 2 degrees C., climate experts say.

Unbreaking the US$100 billion climate vow
By Arete News - March 9, 2022

A U.N. Security Council debate drew attention to the peace dividends of preparing for a warmer world and rich nations’ broken climate promise.

Nations to draft plastic waste treaty
By Arete News - March 2, 2022

Delegates from 175 nations to the U.N. Environment Assembly voted unanimously to devise a treaty that tries to cleanse the world of plastic pollution.

Climate report reveals ‘atlas of human suffering’
By John Heilprin - February 28, 2022

The world’s top climate experts sounded the alarm over the consequences of inaction in an exhaustive new report that details the hell of a warming world.