Traduction de «law and corporate affairs adviser » (Anglais → Français) :

Michael Eisen, Canadian Director, Law and Corporate Affairs.

Mr. Michael Eisen, Canadian Director, Law and Corporate Affairs, Microsoft: Honourable senators, Microsoft recognizes the importance of privacy protection to the continued growth of electronic commerce.

33. Stresses the crucial role of large accounting firms, including the ‘Big Four’, in the design and marketing of rulings and tax avoidance schemes that exploit mismatches between national legislations; stresses that those firms, which seem to derive a considerable amount of their revenue from tax services, to dominate most Member States’ auditing markets and to prevail in global tax advising services, constitute a narrow oligopoly; considers that such a situation cannot continue without damaging the functioning of the single market in the fields of activity of the ‘Big Four’; draws attention to the conflict of interest resulting from the juxtaposition, within the same firms, of tax advice ...[+++] and consulting activities intended, on the one hand, for tax administrations and, on the other, for MNCs’ tax planning services, which exploit the weaknesses of national tax laws; takes the view that good practices in this respect must be promoted and that existing codes of conduct should be improved; questions, nevertheless, the effectiveness of corporate codes of conduct and corporate social responsibility policies in tackling this issue; underlines the fact that tax rulings have become, in the EU and worldwide, a common business practice, not only in order to obtain legal certainty or advantageous tax deals, but also in cases where legislative provisions do not allow any room for interpretation; is concerned by estimations from the tax advice industry that a mere 50 % chance of being lawful is sufficient for a tax planning scheme to be recommended to clients ;

Bill S-15 has received critical praise from experts in the information technology sector, namely, Professor Michael Geist, a law professor at the University of Ottawa and the Canadian Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law; Philippa Lawson, Director of the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic; Richard Simpson, Director General of Industry Canada's Electronic Commerce Branch; and Mr. Michael Eisen, Vice-President of Law and Corporate Affairs with Microsoft Canada, and m ...[+++]any others.