On 1 September 2023, the legal framework for seed farming in Russia will take effect. At present, lawmakers are preparing highly controversial regulations, which essentially aim to limit foreign investments in the Russian seed farming sector. The central idea is to implement a set of rules that require Russian companies involved in the production of agricultural plant seed varieties and hybrids to localize their activities (“Localization Rules”) ...
ALRUD experts have prepared this material for HR directors, compliance officers and heads of legal departments, detailing the obligatory and recommended actions that should be taken in the event of an occupational accident. The purpose of this step plan is to provide high-level guidance on how to protect the interests of affected employees, investigate occupational accidents and thus mitigate risks of administrative and criminal liability for the employer and its officers ...
Starting from February 2022, the President of Russia has adopted several decrees restricting conclusion and performance of transactions involving foreign entities and individuals. In most cases such transactions now require approval from a special governmental commission. Today the Russian Ministry of Finance published draft law No ...
In an effort to support women to stay in or return to the workplace, the Labour Party have recently announced new plans aimed at supporting the wellbeing of women in the workplace, particularly surrounding menopause. According to The Fawcett Society, a membership charity which campaigns for women’s rights, a staggering eight in ten women receive no support from employers for the menopause, with one in ten women stating that they had left a job due to their menopausal symptoms ...
Tech Nation is a government-backed organisation which has supported digital-tech start-ups and scale-ups as well as offering global talent visa endorsement for over a decade. At the end of January, it announced its closure, effective from 31 March 2023. Tech Nation received its core grant funding from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), but this funding will now be awarded to Barclays Bank ...
Paul Carney and Craig Thomas explore the impact of the Chancellor's 2023 Spring Budget on the taxation of pensions in the UK. The Chancellor’s budget statement on 15 March caused many to be surprised and some to be perplexed ...
Law and regulation in this area are developing at pace and it’s no longer just those businesses looking for ESG linked products which need to be analysing their Environmental, Social & Governance (‘ESG’) behaviours. This article considers what businesses may wish to be doing voluntarily, either as good practice or in preparation for a financing, in terms of developing their ESG practices ...
This article looks at what ESG means, what we really mean when we talk about ‘ESG lending’, and the types of ESG lending available. When people talk about ‘ESG Lending’ they’re often talking about sustainable lending - encompassing social loans, green loans and sustainability linked loans. Potentially available to all businesses, now is a great time to get familiar with these types of products, as well as the corresponding jargon ...
The Regulation’s overall goal is to encourage Member States to carry out Strategic Mineral Projects involving minerals such as e.g. Copper, Titanium, Nickel – battery grade, Lithium – battery grade, and Rare Earth Elements for magnets. The aim for the EU’s extraction capacity is set to be at least 10 % of the Union’s consumption of strategic raw materials ...
Beneficiaries of UK, USA or other non-EU state subsidies will have to notify the European Commission under a new regime when engaged in certain mergers & acquisition (M&A) transactions or tendering for certain EU public contracts.This notification obligation commences on 12 October 2023. The transaction cannot be completed or the procurement contract entered into, until consent has been received from the European Commission following notification ...
Recent controversy arose after Gary Lineker criticised the Government’s immigration policy on Twitter causing the BBC to announce that he would step back from hosting Match of the Day until a clear position on his use of social media could be agreed. The decision saw presenters and pundits boycotting BBC football programmes in solidarity and in support of freedom of speech, plunging the BBC’s sport service into chaos ...
Derby has today (21 March 2023) been named as the national headquarters of Great British Railways (GBR) – a key moment in the government’s plan to reform the rail network. Commenting on the announcement, Michelle Craven-Faulkner, partner and rail lead at Shoosmiths, said: “The long-awaited headquarters of Great British Railways has finally been announced ...
On 17 January 2023, Getty Images brought copyright infringement claims in both the US district (Delaware) court and in the UK High Court against Stability AI, the company behind ‘Stable Diffusion’ which is one of the artificial intelligence-powered image generators which have emerged over recent months. AI generators are able to develop images in response to keywords or instructions entered by a user ...
With the rise of DALL-E 2, Midjourney and others, AI powered tools are becoming more capable and impressive. Brands have started to use these tools for marketing campaigns such as BMW’s advertising campaign for the 8 Series Gran Coupé, where the car became a canvas for an AI-powered robot artist ...
Amongst the pensions, childcare and other headline financial announcements in this week's Spring Budget, Jeremy Hunt signalled the Government's continued focus on Artificial intelligence (AI) as a targeted growth sector for the UK economy. The Chancellor pledged a £900m investment to support the development of supercomputing capabilities that can underpin the growth of the AI sector in the UK ...
Mamo TCV’s position as one of the leading Maltese law firms was recognised again in this year’s Chambers Guide for Europe, which ranked the firm as a “Band 1” law firm for “General Business Law” and “Band 2” for “Shipping”. Moreover, a number of our partners and associates were recognised as notable practitioners in their respective areas of practice ...
Crypto assets are assets that exist on a blockchain and are represented through a token, where the keys to the token are held in a crypto wallet. The characteristics of different crypto assets vary, depending on the code of the blockchain they operate on ...
Following on from the recent announcements regarding the India Young Professionals Scheme (India Young Professionals Scheme visa (shoosmiths.co.uk), the Home Office released (rather unexpectedly) changes to the immigration rules from 9 March 2023 ...
The government has published its response to a further section of the building safety regime consultation, focusing on occupied higher-risk buildings (HRBs). The questions considered in this part of the consultation related to registration requirements for HRBs. More information about what the registration will actually entail is now available, as well as confirmation of the fee for registration, which will be £251 ...
We are delighted that Lill Egeland, Halvor Klingenberg and Christian Reusch have strengthen their individual rankings with respectively Band 1 within Employment and Band 3 within Banking & Finance and Dispute Resolution ...
The immediate crisis caused by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (‘SVB’) in the US has been averted with US regulators stepping in to help customers there, and HSBC buying SVB’s UK subsidiary (‘SVB UK’). But the collapse of Silvergate Capital, SVB and Signature Bank in quick succession has somewhat sharpened focus on the potential risks in the finance industry (notwithstanding the increase in regulation, particularly over recent years) ...
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) are increasing their scrutiny and enforcement of ‘green claims’ to protect consumers from 'greenwashing'. What are green claims? Green claims (also known as ‘environmental claims’ or ‘eco-friendly claims’) are claims that a product, service, or business provides a benefit or is less harmful to the environment ...
Following a wave of recent prosecutions in relation to cash fraudulently obtained through the various Covid-19 support schemes, we consider the criminal and civil ramifications on a legitimate business which has received cash from someone who has been prosecuted and offer some helpful tips to reduce the risk of your business inadvertently laundering the proceeds of crime ...
More and more employers are introducing paid fertility leave and a fertility leave policy to their workforce. For employers considering doing something similar, we explain the requirements for fertility leave and points to ponder when preparing a policy. Are employers required to provide time off for fertility treatment? There is no statutory right to provide staff with time off (paid or otherwise) for fertility or related treatment ...
The UK Budget announcement on 15 March 2023 is foreseen to include the creation of 12 low tax zones. It is understood these will work in tandem with the 10 freeports the creation of which has already been announced (further free ports are foreseen to be created). Low tax zones and free ports are examples of special economic zones (SEZ). A business that establishes in a SEZ receives benefits, such as lower taxes, subsidies, government resources, pre-built relevant infrastructure et al ...
