JD Supra United Kingdom

Publisher

Law Firm

Latest documents

• UK Online Safety Act 2023

  The Online Safety Act (the OSA) received Royal Assent on 26 October 2023 and is now in force. The OSA establishes an extensive regulatory framework for providers of online user-to-user services and search services with links to the UK (see applicability flowchart in Schedule 2). The OSA aims to protect children and adults online by imposing duties of care on such service providers to prevent the proliferation of illegal content and activity online and of content and activity that is harmful to children, and to protect against fraudulent advertising.

• The Pensions Brief - July 2024

  ESG – compliance review findings - The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has published the findings from its review of how trustees are complying with their wider ESG duties. The review concludes that while 99% of trustees of in-scope schemes provided weblinks to relevant ESG disclosures, too many smaller schemes opted for minimum compliance in relation to the content of those disclosures. TPR’s recommendations include trustees...

• Key developments in corporate governance - August 2024

  This briefing is the seventh in our series of briefings on corporate governance and is designed to provide a synopsis of topical corporate governance matters impacting companies in the United Kingdom. This briefing tracks developments identified in our previous briefings and outlines new matters of interest. This briefing focuses on key matters arising since January 2024. If you would like further details on a topic, please contact a member of our Public Company Advisory (PCA) team, whose details can be found at the end of this briefing.

• The First 100 Days: Labour’s Employment Agenda

  Following the Labour Party’s landslide victory in this month’s general election, employers are braced for the biggest employment law shake-up in a generation, with multiple significant reforms proposed

• Oops! . . I Grid It Again: [In]Coherency in UK Energy Transition and Security

  In this article, published in Pratt’s Energy Law Report, Miguel Colebrook and Iona Giby* argue for a new framework to understand energy security. This framework prioritizes investment in domestic infrastructure and secure international partnerships, while also incentivizing private investment. The authors discuss the need for significant investment in domestic infrastructure, secure international partnerships, and incentives for private investment to balance energy security and the transition to renewable energy. Originally published in Pratt’s Energy Law Report (LexisNexis), Vol. 24-7, July - August 2024.

• UK Real Estate and Planning: King’s Speech 17 July 2024

  Introducing the Planning and Infrastructure Bill aims to accelerate the delivery of high-quality infrastructure and housing. The government considers the current planning regime to be a major brake on economic growth – one of its key focusses. The Bill will streamline the delivery process for critical infrastructure. Crucially it will also increase local planning authorities’ capacity.

• The Legal 500’s Restructuring & Insolvency Comparative Guide

  Our London Financial Restructuring team authored the UK chapter of the 8th Edition of The Legal 500’s “Restructuring & Insolvency Comparative Guide". The guide provides information on the current issues affecting restructuring & insolvency across a variety of jurisdictions and addresses topics such as security & enforcement, local insolvency proceedings, local restructuring proceedings, existing contracts, liabilities of directors, foreign debtors as well as insight and opinion on reform proposals and challenges faced in their respective country.

• FCA Publishes Final Rules for Reformed Listing Regime

  The new regime modernises the listing framework while maintaining robust standards to protect investors and ensure market integrity. On 11 July 2024, the FCA released the final rules for the new UK listing regime, which will take effect from 29 July 2024.

• The Pensions Brief: June 2024

  Issues affecting all schemes - General Election – impact on pensions - The General Election resulted in a landslide victory for the Labour Party. While no pensions-related announcements have been made since the election by the new government, its election manifesto included the following pensions-related pledges: • Adoption of reforms to ensure that workplace pension schemes take advantage of consolidation and scale to deliver better returns for UK savers and greater productive investment in the UK economy. • A review of the pensions landscape to consider what further steps are needed to improve pension outcomes and increase investment in UK markets. • A requirement for UK-regulated financial institutions, including pension funds, and FTSE 100 companies to develop and implement credible transition plans that align with the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement. • A review of the surplus arrangements in the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme and transfer of the Scheme’s Investment Reserve Fund back to the members.

• Briefcase 2024 Quarter 2: Key Real Estate Cases and Updates

  Case 1: Patel and others v Spender and others - The applicants sought to modify a covenant against external alterations relying on the “limited benefit” ground in section 84 of the Law of Property Act 1925.

Featured documents

• Smells Like Trademark Protection: Copycat Perfumes Cannot Engage in Comparative Advertising, on Odor of the Court

  L’Oreal scored a major victory in trademark protection against smell-alike perfumes this past month in England's Court of Appeal. In L’Oréal v. Bellure, the court held that Bellure's use of lists in its advertising that compared its perfumes' scents to those of well-known L'Oréal perfumes...

• FSA Signals Fundamental Changes to Trading Activity Regulation

  On August 25, the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) published a discussion paper (The Prudential Regime for Trading Activities - a Fundamental Review DP10/4) proposing fundamental changes to the regulation of the trading activities of banks and investment firms. The FSA considers that its...

• FSA Fines JJB Sports PLC for Disclosure Failings

  On January 25, the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) issued a Final Notice to JJB Sports plc that detailed a fine of £455,000 (approximately $725,000). The FSA found that JJB had failed to disclose information to the market about the true cost of two acquisitions. These failings had led to a...

• Case Law Update: Misselling Financial Products

  In a recent case, Cassa di Risparmio della Repubblicca di San Marino SpA (“CRSM”) v Barclays Bank Ltd (“Barclays”), CRSM brought claims in fraud, negligent misrepresentation and breach of contract against Barclays arising out of a bespoke, synthetic CDO deal. In a careful judgment, the Court has ...

• FSA Issues Feedback Statement on Product Intervention

  In FS11/3, a feedback statement on product intervention issued on June 14, the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) announced that it will follow a new product intervention approach. It will actively regulate all aspects of the product life cycle and focus on the design, development and management ...

• Latest FSA Hedge Fund Surveys Published

  On July 27, the Financial Services Authority produced its latest biannual report Assessing Possible Sources of Systemic Risk from Hedge Funds. This report sets out the results of the FSA’s two regular hedge fund surveys – the Hedge Funds As Counterparties Survey (HFACS) and the Hedge Funds Survey (H...

• Office of Fair Trading Market Study on Off-grid Energy Says Consumer Law Enforcement Rather Than Regulation is Needed

  On October 18, 2011, the United Kingdom Office of Fair Trading (OFT) published the findings of its market study on off-grid energy. It found that, in the vast majority of cases, competition works well and that the off-grid energy sector does not need price regulation. However, it raises concerns...

• January 2012: London Litigation Update

  In This Issue: - Liquidator Ordered to Disclose Documents to Creditor for Use in Arbitration In Sunwing Vacation Inc v. E-Clear (UK) plc [2011] EWHC 1544 (Ch), 3 June 2011, the U.K. High Court of Justice Chancery Division considered whether Section 155(1) of the 1986 Insolvency Act,...

• UK Court of Appeal: Fixed-Share LLP Member Was Not an Employee

  This DechertOnPoint reports on the Court of Appeal’s recent decision confirming that, on the particular facts of the case, a member of a fixed share Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) was not an employee and was not therefore entitled to the statutory rights — such as to claim...

• UK Court Decision on Objective Justification for Age Discrimination Claims

  Long awaited judgment from the Court of Appeal focuses on the merits of the 'cost-alone' argument. The UK Court of Appeal released the much anticipated decision in Woodcock v. Cumbria Primary Care Trust this week. The decision centred on objective justification. Unlike other forms of...