Governments and authorities worldwide are placing increased emphasis on stricter financial controls tackling money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation of weapons trafficking. As a leading global financial hub, the Cayman Islands is at the forefront of this arduous challenge. An example of its success is the introduction of a rigorous beneficial ownership regime (BOR) ...
Following the Court of Justice of the European Union (the "CJEU") ruling which invalidated the "public access" feature of the Luxembourg Register of Beneficial Owners (the "RBE"), the Ministry of Justice required Luxembourg Business Registers (the "LBR") to immediately suspend all public access to the RBE pending the introduction of access rights more in line with the conclusions of the CJEU’s ruling ...
2023 is set to be a landmark year for the real estate industry, with major legal developments expected and new legislation coming into force. These changes are analysed below, with Shoosmiths’ experts examining the legislation and its implications on developers, investors, occupiers and others operating across the real estate sector ...
2022 was a record year for the UK’s living sector. Investment into the sector exceeded £10bn in Q3, fuelled by growth across build to rent, student accommodation and healthcare. While the data for Q4 is yet to be revealed, JLL predicts that the total investment for the year could surpass the £13.8bn recorded in 2021 ...
In the second part in this series, we take a look at the possible changes that could be made to improve the Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR) and the Agency Worker Regulations 2010. Working Time Regulations - 48-hour week The WTR derive from the EU Council’s Directive on working time (1993) and the Council Directive on the protection of young people (1994) ...
Cyber criminals, the twenty-first century equivalent to the highwaymen of yesteryear, don’t offer charities the stark alternative of “their money or their life”, but instead their money or their data, the lifeblood of many charities. Ransomware attacks present a critical risk of their services grinding to a halt for weeks if not months – even if data is restored - as well as swingeing fines for personal data breaches in multiple jurisdictions ...
It has been some time since there has been talk about bonfires in Parliament but the continued debate (albeit largely outside of the Chamber thus far) as to when we should finally say 'farewell' to 'retained' EU legislation is one that many of us are watching with interest. When originally introduced, the suggestion that some 4,000 pieces of legislation would essentially evaporate by the end of this year caused something veering between confusion, concern and, let's be honest, disbelief ...
It is with great pleasure that we announce the promotion of Thitawan Thanasombatpaisarn and Kongwat Akaramanee to partners of Kudun and Partners. Thitawan, our new capital markets partner, and Kongwat, our new dispute resolution partner, have been valued members of our team for many years, and has consistently demonstrated exceptional legal acumen and a deep commitment to our clients ...
After lengthy debates in the Parliament, the new Social Dialogue Law, i.e. Law no. 367/2022 was published in the Official Gazette no. 1238/2022 on December 22, 2022, the lawmakers opting to expressly repeal the “famous” Law no. 62/2011 with the entry into force of the new legislative framework, which is not at all surprising considering the many changes brought on by the new law. Law no ...
A new type of leave was approved by Parliament on 6 December 2022, along with three other bills dedicated to putting culture back at the heart of Luxembourg society. On 13 December 2022, Bill of law no. 7948 was exempted from the need for a second constitutional vote and on 12 January 2023, the law of 6 January 2023 introducing cultural leave [1] was published. The law comes into force on 1 February 2023 ...
Overview On 4 November 2022, the Ministry of Commerce of Cambodia issued two new regulations, namely, Prakas 226 on the Formalities and Procedures of Inspection and Investigation under the Law on Competition (“Prakas 226”) and Prakas 227 on the Conditions and Procedures of Negotiated Settlement under the Law on Competition (“Prakas 227”) ...
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel recently released an advisory opinion[i] regarding Section 1461 of title 18 of the U.S. Code. In it, they write the “Comstock Act”[ii] does not prohibit the mailing of certain medications used to perform abortions where the sender does not believe the medications will be used unlawfully. This opinion comes in the wake of the U.S ...
Much has been written about this Bill and the potential impact that it could have on UK law. Most of this has been directed towards the potential negative consequences, including how numerous protections provided to employees by EU law might be removed. If you are not already aware, the Bill, if passed in its original form, means that all law that is derived from the UKs membership of the EU will cease to have legal effect on 31 December 2023 – the sunset date ...
Sheelagh Cooley, real estate partner at Shoosmiths, comments on the successful Scottish green freeport bids - Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport and Forth Green Freeport. The Scottish and UK governments have announced Scotland’s first Green Freeports ...
A recent Employment Tribunal (tribunal) decision provides employers with peace of mind when deciding to implement workplace policies that emerge in response to previously unforeseen workplace risks. We examine Shields v Alliance Healthcare Management Services (Alliance), a case successfully defended by Shoosmiths, and outline the key steps that employers can take to confidently implement reactionary workplace policies ...
This briefing sets out the key requirements of PIPA and the steps that your organisation can take to prepare for its implementation. PIPA coming into force PIPA was enacted in 2016 to regulate the use of personal information in Bermuda by individuals, companies, public authorities and other organisations ...
As the ‘permacrisis’ of the last few years follows us into 2023, the construction industry is likely to experience further instability and economic uncertainty – driven by labour shortages, material and price fluctuations and the geopolitical landscape. Economic conditions It’s not all bad news, however. In December, the Office of National Statistics published its Construction output in Great Britain: October 2022 ...
The recent decision of an Inspector to reject confirmation of a compulsory purchase order (CPO) sought by the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead Council is a key reminder of the need to use CPO powers only as a matter of last resort and to be mindful of the impact of a proposed scheme on the human rights of affected landowners ...
Determining the correct rate of rent in a 1954 Act renewal can be a sticky subject at the best of times, not least when a rent-free period is thrown into the mix. Section 34 of the Act allows the Court to determine the level of rent due under the new lease, taking into account comparable evidence and applying certain disregards. Whilst s ...
As the Covid-19 Inquiry reaches Module 2 of its timeline and it turns its attention to the political and administrative decisions made at the height of the pandemic, Shoosmiths looks at the history of public inquiries to reflect on their purpose and effectiveness in preventing future mistakes of the same kind. Reviewing previous public inquiries may inform us about the likely trajectory of the Covid-19 Inquiry ...
Ukraine is an EU candidate: Can we soon file patent applications for Ukraine at the European Patent Office? The European Council granted Ukraine EU candidate status on 23 June 2022. Will patents granted by the European Patent Office soon also apply in Ukraine? Not immediately, because on the one hand the candidate status legally creates neither rights nor obligations ...
It is a sad fact that the current economic crisis is causing many employers to consider cost saving measures like redundancies. But it can be difficult to know what amounts to a redundancy situation. We consider the legal definition and how it applies. What the law says Redundancy is a mechanism used by employers when a company needs to reduce the number of its employees. It is one of the five potentially fair reasons for which an employer can dismiss an employee ...
