The Prime Minister has approved, and government has published the long-awaited final terms of reference for the COVID-19 Inquiry. The inquiry, chaired by the Rt Hon Baroness Heather Hallett DBE, is two-fold and will: 1. Examine the COVID-19 response and the impact of the pandemic in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and produce a factual narrative. 2. Identify the lessons to be learned from the above, to inform preparations for future pandemics across the UK ...
Hidden among its flurry of end-of-term blockbusters, on June 27, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a long-awaited opinion inRuan v. United States. InRuan,the Supreme Court addressed the issue of whatmens reaa physician must possess to be guilty of illegally distributing controlled substances through the use of allegedly improper prescriptions ...
On June 15, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States released its long-awaited decision in American Hospital Association v. Becerra in which it unanimously held that the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) overstepped its statutory authority by cutting 340B-related reimbursement to hospitals ...
On 28 May 2022, the Belgian law transposing EU Directive 2019/2161 into the Code of Economic Law (CEL) entered into force (the “Omnibus Act”). The Omnibus Act aims to modernise consumer protection given the increasing development of e-commerce. In addition to new transparency obligations for online marketplaces, the Omnibus Act has new general information obligations, and new unfair commercial practices and obligations for price reduction announcements that apply to all retailers ...
The London Court of International Arbitration recently published its caseload statistics for 2021, which can be found here. The LCIA is one of the world’s leading international institutions for commercial dispute resolution and administers arbitrations and other alternative dispute resolution proceedings, regardless of location and under any system of law ...
INTRODUCTION In a previous issue of Decoded, we discussed the alarming fact that many medical devices, including those implanted in patients' bodies, are leaving the manufacturers with known cybersecurity flaws. Due to these known flaws, these devices are vulnerable to being hacked, and patients’ personal/protected health information ("PHI") stolen; or worse, the device being held hostage in a ransomware attack ...
1. Introduction After a long consultation period, the European Commission recently published the new Block Exemption Regulation for Vertical Agreements (Regulation (EU) 2022/720 "VBER"). The regulation will enter into force on 1 June 2022. New Guidelines on vertical restraints ("Guidelines") will accompany the new VBER. Both replace the previous set of rules from 2010 ...
Using evidence given at the UK COVID-19 Inquiry in later criminal or other proceedings The Chair of the UK COVID-19 Inquiry, the Rt Hon Baroness Heather Hallett DBE ...
A key feature of Undertakings for the Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (“UCITS” fund) is the Key Investor Information Document (“KIID”), which provides the retail investor with simplified information from the prospectus. UCITS also qualify as Packaged Retail Investment and Insurance Products (“PRIIPS”) ...
Recent reports indicate that mental health and well-being have dropped back down the business agenda, despite levels of workplace stress remaining high in the wake of the pandemic. A recent report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) found that many employers are failing to keep mental health and well-being at the forefront of their business agenda despite the lingering impact of the pandemic ...
One of the objectives of Product Oversight and Governance requirements is for manufacturers and distributors of an insurance or investment product to take into consideration the interests of customers when designing and /or distributing the relevant product ...
Following the launch of a real estate investment trust with buy-back condition (the “REIT buy-back”), which we extensively covered in our last article, “Overview of REITs with buy-back conditions: The new mechanisms to help real estate owners survive in the midst of Covid-19”, aiming to alleviate the woes that business operators, particularly the hospitality sector, have endured during the Covid-19 era, on May 10, 2022, according to information revealed by the Director of
On May 16, 2022, the Colorado Supreme Court issued an opinion that serves as a cautionary tale for health care providers hoping to bill patients at chargemaster rates. The court’s decision in French v. Centura Health turned on the meaning of the phrase “all charges of the Hospital,” as set forth in the hospital service agreement (HSA) signed by Ms. French. Centura argued that the phrase “unambiguously refers to a hospital’s chargemaster rates.” Ms ...
Governor Mike DeWine signed Ohio House Bill 81 on June 16, 2021, codifying a significant change regarding eligibility for temporary total disability benefits (TTD) under Ohio Revised Code §4123.56(F). By enacting R.C. §4123.56(F), the legislature intended to leave behind decades of case law concerning the doctrine of voluntary abandonment ...
Aaron Harlow and Ian Hardman examine the tough new measures that are being taken to force the real estate industry to pay to remove cladding - protecting leaseholders from costs. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has requested that residential property developers fund and undertake all necessary remediation of buildings over 11m that they have had a role in developing. This includes buildings both 11-18m and 18m+ ...
Charles Arrand considers the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, with a focus on both the potential business and human costs of failing to discharge obligations under the Order. Fire safety is regulated by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (the Order), which applies to almost all buildings, places and structures other than individual private homes ...
SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan (SyCipLaw) has received Tier 1 rankings in “Patents” and “Copyrights/Trademarks” categories in the Philippines on Thomson Reuters’ Asian Legal Business (ALB) IP Rankings for 2022. ALB is a publication that provides insights on legal professionals throughout Asia and identifies and ranks top firms for intellectual property practice in Asia ...
On May 23, 2022, the Oregon Medical Board (OMB) is hosting a public hearing on rules that propose major changes to the way physician assistants (PAs) practice in Oregon. The rules were written in response to House Bill 3036, which supporters have dubbed the “Physician Assistant Modernization Bill.” More broadly, the rules were written in response to mounting concerns about health care access and equity, especially for rural and minority populations ...
On May 9, 2022, National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) issued for public comments a draft revision (the “Draft Revision”) to the Regulations for the Implementation of the Drug Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China (the “Regulations”). The public comment period ends on June 6, 2022. The Regulations were last revised and became effective in March 2019 ...
The recent COVID-19 Inquiry's public consultation on its draft terms of reference has captured a substantial amount of public engagement; balancing the representation of all affected groups and avoiding lengthy delays looks like a real challenge. Baroness Hallett’s draft terms of reference (draft terms), published on 11 March, requested the views of individuals and organisations by 7 April on the scope of the COVID-19 Inquiry ...
The COVID-19 Public Inquiry presents a key growth area for litigation in the medium to long term. Here, Matthew MacLachlan considers key litigation risks, potential parties and emerging themes ...
May 12, 2022 By: Mikhail Parnes and Devan McCarty Health plans routinely assert that contracted providers must appeal underpayments or claim denials according to the health plans’ internal dispute process. The payer/provider agreement itself, or provider manuals that health plans contend are incorporated by reference, are the basis for the appeal requirement. Health plans oftentimes analogize this process to the legal principle of exhaustion of administrative remedies ...
SmartAir, a social enterprise that educates the public about air pollution, has been shortlisted for the “Powered by Pro Bono Award” at this year’s TrustLaw Awards. This award highlights NGOs or social enterprises that have used pro bono legal advice to scale up their operations, improve the delivery of their social mission or pivot their activities to make a greater impact on the businesses and people they support ...
