The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement has effectively brought an end to state aid and a new regime of subsidy control has come into effect ...
With the Royal Assent of the Subsidy Control Act 2022, Shoosmiths considers how the Act moves the UK away from the state aid regime. Summary The Act aims to create a less onerous regime for controlling subsidies while still preventing negative impacts on competition and investment. Public authorities must self-assess whether their subsidies or subsidy schemes meet the subsidy control principles. Subsidies or schemes of particular interest must be referred to the CMA for review ...
Amendments to the Corporate Income Tax Act which went into effect on 1 January 2014 provide an opportunity to revive the practice of subparticipation in lending in Poland. Regulations governing subparticipation have been in force since 2004. For tax reasons, however, subparticipation has remained much less popular in Poland than assignment of receivables, despite certain other advantages, particularly the greater ease of selling participation in loans backed by mortgages ...
The UK’s purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) sector remains resilient despite months of economic and political uncertainty. “The fundamentals of the operational market in PBSA are very strong. I don’t think anyone is sat there saying that we don’t have great universities, we’ve got great occupancy and we’ve got growing demand,” outlined Alex Pease, executive director at Watkin Jones Group, at a recent Shoosmiths’ roundtable ...
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) is at the forefront of everybody’s considerations when looking at property investment, development and management decisions. The Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) sector has always been naturally pre-disposed to considering such ESG issues from the sector’s early days ...
Disputes are the bane of all construction professionals lives, but unfortunately no matter how hard one tries to avoid them (partnering, mediation and the like) there are always some matters which require formal dispute resolution to resolve them. PFI is one area where efforts have been made in the last few years to streamline disputes and where appropriate to consolidate disputes. While such aims are to be applauded they can in themselves lead to difficulties ...
The first upscale exploration of oil and gas in Montenegro started in 1914, when King Nikola Petrovic approved the National Assembly's decision for oil exploration around Lake Skadar. The first well in the area of Crmnica dates back to 1922 - although it produced nothing of significance. In later researches of the Montenegrin offshore, the existence of geological structures with the potential for hiding hydrocarbon deposits was confirmed ...
The Planning (Agent of Change) Bill was a private member’s bill introduced in Westminster in 2018 by former government minister John Spellar to ‘require specified planning controls in relation to developments likely to be affected by existing noise sources’ ...
For a long time in Polish business practice it has been unclear whether clauses in construction work contracts that require one party to notify the other of circumstances being grounds for seeking additional remuneration are effective. Clauses of this kind can be found in contracts concluded according to FIDIC standard forms of contracts produced by the Fédération Internationale des Ingénieurs-Conseils ...
The UK government has recently proposed new regulations to strengthen security measures for data centres operating in the UK. The new regulations aim to protect data centre facilities against potential disruption, including cyber-attacks, physical threats, and extreme weather events ...
Law 7/2021 was published on 26 February and it amends the General Tax Law, the Tax Procedure and Process Code, the General Rules on Tax Infringements, and some other legislative acts. The aim of the new law is to strengthen taxpayers' guarantees and to simplify procedures in tax matters ...
New Law on Digital Security Digital systems and services are playing an increasingly crucial role in society, and attacks of these can have significant consequences. Consequently, digital security has become a national concern. The Norwegian National Security Authority’s report on security advisory for 2023 indicates that Norway’s preparedness in this context has long been insufficient ...
At Halloween, we look at whether data protection laws protect doorstep trick-or-treaters and how technologies such as CCTV and smart doorbells can be used lawfully under data protection law. Along with the ghosts and goblins, bands of happy revellers may be preparing to roam the streets this Halloween to get their seasonal sweet fix armed with nothing more than a pumpkin lantern and hopeful smile ...
As the summer season draws closer, a stream of news continues to come our way from the Adriatic coast of our region. Montenegro is the source of updates this time around, as there have been reports about the Stratex Group taking full control over Budvanska Rivijera Hotel Group – a company in which they already hold a 30% ownership stake. The deal would include all of Budvanska Rivijera's assets excluding the St ...
The much-anticipated levelling up white paper has finally been published, including 12 legally binding ‘missions’ to improve health, living standards, transport, crime and wellbeing by the end of the decade. When it comes to the devolution of powers to help to realise these outcomes, rather than marking a radical departure from earlier policy, the white paper advocates a continuation of the devolution process in England ...
Phasing is one of the key factors to consider and get right in planning for large scale, strategic development. A well-phased scheme divides the site into distinct parcels of land allowing reserved matters to be submitted and conditions discharged in relation to each parcel, individually, as it comes to be developed. It also allows planning obligations in section 106 Agreements to be apportioned between parcels and (in some cases) to be attached and limited to particular parcels ...
In a recent case, the Upper Tribunal decided that land benefitting from a restrictive covenant was greater than the land which had the legal benefit. An application to release the covenant was, accordingly, refused ...
Takeaways from webinar on 2 February 2021 hosted by Karen Howard, Matthew Stimson and Grace Mitchell from our planning & environmental team. What are public rights of way and why are they relevant? A public right of way (PROW) is a type of highway - a route across land over which the public at large has a right to pass/ repass without permission or interference ...
There are a plethora of issues that parties need to work through to make a strategic land project viable; not least, the UK tax system which has a number of potential pitfalls that can materially impact returns. At present, there is no single tax efficient model catered for in UK legislation to enable parties to come together ...
The Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Bill 2006 was published on 16 February 2006 (a pdf version of this Bill is available at the end of this article). The idea of creating a “fast track” planning procedure for major infrastructural projects had been mooted for over three years ...
The US judge who presided over the nation's only successful copyright infringement case for file-sharing by an individual, has declared it a mistrial. He said he had committed a "manifest error" in his instructions to the jury and the award of damages of $222,000 was "unprecedented and oppressive" ...
The presence of a small amount of undeclared sesame in a particular product may seem trivial but, for those who are allergic, it can provoke a major reaction. Such was the predicament faced by Pret a Manger in July 2016, following the death of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse that same month due to the undeclared presence of sesame in a Pret baguette ...
Earlier this year, right in a last minute attempt to win undecided voters for one of the political parties, the leaving members of parliament enacted a new tax law. While fundamental changes to the Austrian Tenancy Law had been vividly discussed between the socialist and the conservative parties in recent years, the new law on the abolition of stamp duty falls completely short of what could have been achieved ...
In a fascinating court case involving perhaps the best known players in the crytocurrency sector, old legal principles were used to try to solve a new problem. The claim relates to very substantial digital currency assets that Tulip Trading Limited (TTL) claimed it owned but is currently unable to control or use. Following what it says was a hack of computers at the home office of Dr Craig Wright, its primary owner, the company allegedly lost access to more than 111,000 bitcoins ...
When a company acquires a minority share in a competing company, legal issues concerning price-fixing, market sharing, exchange of information etc. may arise if the companies in question do not continue to regard each other as competitors. This situation has recently been tried in a judgment from the Stockholm District Court where the coach tour operators, Scandorama and Ölvemarks were ordered to pay fines of SEK 6.8 million and SEK 4.6 million respectively ...
