On 30 June 2023, The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (Exchange) published conclusions to its consultation launched last December on its proposals to expand the paperless listing regime and other Listing Rule amendments. The Exchange will adopt all the proposals with a few minor modifications ...
On 23 June 2023, the Council of the European Union adopted its eleventh package of restrictive measures against Russia, which supplements those discussed in our previous newsflashes_. This latest package aims to tackle the circumvention of previously adopted sanctions and also adds additional restrictions ...
The transitional period linked to the Covid-19 pandemic ends on 30 June 2023. As a result, the social security thresholds for teleworking come into effect again, with all the obligations and administrative formalities that this entails. However, some cross-border teleworkers and their employers will be subject to new rules under the new European telework framework agreement_ signed by Luxembourg on 5 June 2023. 1 ...
On June 29, 2023, the Supreme Court ruled in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc., v. President and Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc., v. University of North Carolina (collectively “SFFA”) that Harvard and the University of North Carolina (“UNC”) violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by impermissibly considering race when making undergraduate admissions decisions ...
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has published an update to its guidance on misleading green claims that demonstrates its collaboration with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and their joint commitment to protect consumers from 'greenwashing'. What are green claims? We discussed green claims and the ASA’s and CMA’s guidance in our previous article “Are your green claims compliant?” ...
The key issue before the formal body of advisers to the UK sovereign was whether the trustee of a settlement “exercised for a proper purpose” an express power contained in the trust deed to add and exclude discretionary objects, having added a purpose trust as an object and removed all family members comprising the entire class of objects. The Background The trust settlors were two brothers who founded Formosa Plastics Group, one of the largest business conglomerates in Taiwan ...
Legal service providers (LSPs) in Bermuda are encouraged to contribute to the development and implementation of new and existing legislation in response to the ever-evolving needs of their clients ...
The recently released Rose Review progress report 2023 found that female founders defied a challenging economic climate to build more new businesses last year than ever before. The data insight and tracking that built on the inaugural findings of 2019, discovered that women-led companies had used ‘innovation and entrepreneurialism’ to tackle higher inflation and macroeconomic uncertainty to launch over 150,000 new companies in 2022 – more than twice as many as in 2018 ...
‘Flexibility becomes the norm as businesses look to build resilience in their real estate portfolio and workplace strategy.’ That is the key takeaway from Colliers’ recently released Global Occupier Outlook 2023 report, which found that two-thirds of corporate occupiers active in EMEA anticipate that up to 20% of their commercial real estate portfolio will move from traditional leases to flex leases within the next five years ...
Labour party donor and entrepreneur, Dale Vince, has put the spotlight back on the controversy surrounding the tax treatment of carried interest received by private equity fund managers, by instructing The Good Law Project to serve a “pre-action protocol” letter on HMRC seeking judicial review of its practice of taxing such carried interest as capital gains as opposed to income ...
The economic landscape continues to place mortgage customers under significant pressure. Following discussions between the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and some of the largest mortgage lenders in the UK, the Mortgage Charter was signed to address measures aimed at helping customers who may be struggling to meet their mortgage repayments amid the cost-of-living crisis ...
Following the submission of the first Draft of the Artificial Intelligence Act (”AI Act”) on April 21, 2021 by the European Commission for regulating artificial intelligence (AI) (we reported here), the European Parliament also published its final position on June 14, 2023. Thus, the next step now is the trilogue between the Parliament, the Council and the Commission ...
At the end of its 2023 term, the United States Supreme Court handed down several buzz-worthy decisions. Two opinions may have substantial and lasting impacts on employers and their efforts to promote diversity and inclusion. In Groff v. DeJoy, Postmaster General, the Court addressed religious accommodation and clarified the parameters of its “undue burden” standard set forth in its prior decision in Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Hardison, 432 U. S. 63 (1977). 2023 U.S. LEXIS 2790 ...
In Industrial Tribunal case number 3642/CCG, the applicant claimed that he had been subjected to discrimination, lack of equal pay, a breach of the grievance procedure under the collective agreement, lack of payment of a performance bonus and constructive dismissal. Firstly considering discrimination, the applicant argued that he was not allowed to avail himself of a career break to work with a company operating in the financial services industry ...
On June 15, 2023, Law No. 21,577 (hereinafter, the "New Law") was enacted, which strengthens the prosecution of organized crime offenses, establishes special techniques for their investigation, and reinforces the confiscation of profits. The New Law modernizes the current criminal offenses related to organized crime and, at the same time, incorporates and improves the specialized techniques of investigation ...
Who qualifies as a Politically Exposed Person? Politically exposed persons (or “PEPs”) are individuals who have been entrusted with a prominent public function ...
While it may be arguable whether the announcement of the next phase of the UK’s open banking programme was as highly anticipated as the grand finale to HBO’s Succession, for the payment services industry a clear route to the future is much needed ...
Zoltan Balazs Kovacs prepared a summary to the key questions regarding the EU Whistleblowing Directive and the related change of legislation in Hungary with the act entering into force on 24 July 2023. 1 ...
Introduction The sphere of asset tracing and recovery, particularly the extent of tools available around the world, is rightly attracting more attention in cross-border fraud and investigations. This includes projects at the international level, such as UNCITRAL's ongoing efforts (for which the author acts as an expert), as well as attention being given in national legislatures around the world ...
‘Quiet quitting’ is a trend that has emerged in recent years where people stop going above and beyond in their daily work. They do not actually quit their job, but simply perform the bare minimum in favour of a better work-life balance. There are several reasons which might motivate an individual to start this process and experiencing menopausal symptoms is, understandably, fast becoming one of them ...
On Monday, June 26, 2023, the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) issued the first two global sustainability standards: IFRS S1, General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information, and IFRS S2, Climate-related Disclosures. These standards are intended to improve confidence in the sustainability disclosures made by companies to guide investment decisions ...
On June 14, 2023, the National Congress approved the bill that creates the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Service and the National System of Protected Areas (the "Bill"). The purpose of the Bill is the conservation of biological diversity and the protection of the national natural heritage through the preservation, restoration and sustainable use of genes, species, and ecosystems ...
As part of Rail Safety Week 2023, Health and Safety specialist Hayley Saunders looks at personal liability and how employees across all levels of a business can make a difference by positive individual contribution to workplace culture. Below is a summary of key takeaways from the webinar. Responsibility for workplace safety rests with employers and employees alike ...
