The material issue of the case, in which the procedural question arose, was whether two decisions by the Alver Municipality regarding property tax for «Mongstad kraftvarmeverk» and «Mongstad raffineri» owned by Equinor were lawful. In order to value the properties, the municipality had engaged an appraiser. Now, before the case is to be decided by the High Court, the parties disagreed about whether the appraiser should be considered an expert witness or not ...
It is well-known that happier employees are harder to poach and, as a result, it is crucial that employers create a culture that drives staff loyalty and retention so as to mitigate the impact of the ongoing war for talent. Our future of work series previously examined top tips for recruiting a diverse workforce. However, in order to successfully retain staff, organisations must go further and look beyond their initial recruitment processes to evaluate the overall culture of the business ...
On 21 July 2022, the Chair of the COVID-19 Inquiry ('the Inquiry'), Baroness Heather Hallett, issued an opening statement. As part of her commitment to streamlining the process, the Chair has invited applicants to group themselves together with others with a similar interest, wherever possible, to help manage the potentially large number of people and organisations seeking Core Participant status ...
Mamo TCV Advocates shall be organising a series of webinars spanning over one week to provide insights on sustainable finance and related regulatory compliance obligations. The scope of these webinars is to highlight how the sustainability-related requirements are impacting the financial services sector from a regulatory standpoint. During the week, Mamo TCV Advocates will also be discussing employment and corporate social responsibility matters ...
On 23 February 2022, the EU Commission proposed measures regulating the use and access of data, not being ‘personal data’ as understood by the GDPR, within the European Union across all economic sectors. The regulation of the use of data is essential given that data continues to be generated yet underutilised. The draft Regulation is to be read in conjunction with the EU’s Data Governance Act ...
The EU GDPR (Regulation 2016/679/EU) came into effect across the EU on 25 May 2018. Many organisations in the EU, including Malta, have now implemented measures to comply with this important law. However, there are many questions that are asked on a regular basis. This webinar will: 1 ...
On the 12 August 2022, the MFSA has issued a Circular to inform the financial services industry of the launch of a new standardised template (“Annex AX26: Source of Wealth and Source of funds self-declaration form”) to be used with immediate effect when submitting a statement of source of wealth and source of funds ...
In July, the Antimonopoly Committee asked the Ministry of Strategic Industries to update the conditions for providing state aid to companies that develop, manufacture, repair, and service aviation equipment and engines. What to update and how, the committee wrote in recently adopted recommendations . Asters lawyer Olena Gadomska told Mind what the latter envisage, why AMCU is resorting to such changes and who they will affect ...
Platform work entails the use of an online platform, serving as an intermediary between the clients and the workers for the performance of particular services or to carry out particular jobs in return for payment. In this way, division of work into specific jobs is favoured over a long-standing employment relationship ...
The draft diploma on the simplification of licenses and procedures for companies in the environmental area was submitted to public consultation on the 3rd of August (the “Proposal”). The Proposal contains measures mainly in the environmental area, but also measures with a transversal impact, applicable to the administrative activity and public authorities (e.g., the certification mechanism for tacit approvals) ...
On the 8th August 2022, the Malta Financial Services Authority (hereinafter referred to as “the MFSA”) issued a Circular on Adopting the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (hereinafter referred to as “EIOPA”) Revised Guidelines on the Legal Entity Identifier (hereinafter referred to as “the Guidelines”) which became applicable on the 1st July 2022 and which repealed the Guidelines on the use of the Legal Entity Identif
With regulations imposing mandatory vaccination for certain workers in the care sector being implemented to those same regulations being revoked some four months later, employers in this sector may well be confused as to what options are available to them ...
On the 5th August 2022, the Malta Financial Services Authority (hereinafter referred to as “the MFSA”) issued a Circular on the amendments to: the Glossary of Terms, Chapter 5 of the Insurance Rules and the Insurance Business (Exemptions) Regulations ...
Introduction In order to enforce a claim that is in default and overdue, there must be either a so-called general basis for enforcement (judgment, in-court settlement, etc.) or a special basis for enforcement. Special bases for enforcement will vary depending on the asset that needs to be realised ...
The Court of Appeal's judgment in Tesco v USDAW and others, handed down a few weeks ago, has confirmed that 'fire and rehire' is still an option available to employers, which will come as a relief to many organisations ...
Summer 2022 has been an incredible season for women’s sport. In the UK, the English women’s football team won the UEFA Women’s Euros and there has been a brilliant run of British winners at the Commonwealth Games, including gold medals for Eilish McColgan in the 10,000 metres, Pauline Wilson and 72-year-old Rosemary Lenton in the Para lawn bowls, and Katarina Johnson-Thompson in the heptathlon, to name a few ...
Nelfo is a national trade association for electro, IT, electronic communications, system integrators, and lift companies in Norway. The main point addressed in the complaint to ESA was the allegation that the municipality had overcompensated companies within the BKK Group for maintaining and operating street lights along municipal public roads ...
Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on standards of quality and safety Current regulatory framework and scope of application The EU regulatory framework on substances of human origin (“SoHO”) is reflected in Directives 2002/98/EC for blood and 2004/23/EC for tissues and cells ...
Our latest article provides a useful checklist to help in-house legal teams consider potential implications when dealing with employment claims arising from the pandemic, which are linked to civil and/or criminal claims and the COVID-19 public inquiry. Companies have been receiving Employment Tribunal claims arising from the pandemic – ranging from unfair dismissal (no jab, no job) to whistleblowing and bullying claims relating to alleged employer breaches during the multiple lockdowns ...
Pensions dashboards have been a long time in the making, but we can be certain now that they are coming, and soon. Trustees of schemes with more than 100 members (excluding pensioner members) will need to ensure that they connect to the dashboard by their statutory connection date - but there’s a lot of preparatory work needed to make that possible ...
The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 (the Act) came into force on 30 June 2022. Headlined as one of the ‘most significant changes to property law in a generation’, the Act restricts ground rents on newly created long residential leases. Ground rents have been replaced by a token one peppercorn per year – effectively zero in monetary value. By restricting ground rent, the government is aiming to make leasehold ownership more affordable ...
Introduction On 30 June 2022, the Council of the European Union (EU) announced1 that the Council presidency and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on the proposed markets in crypto-assets regulation (MiCA). More details here. The aim behind the proposed regulatory framework is to bring legal and regulatory certainty for crypto-asset operators across the EU ...
The Feedback Statement on the final Corporate Governance Code (hereinafter referred to as the “CGC” or the “Code”), accompanying the publication of the final CGC dated 5th August 2022 outlines the feedback received from stakeholders and provides the MFSA’s way forward in response to the feedback it received. The CGC is a code issued by the MFSA intended to enhance the governance, culture and conduct of MFSA Authorised Entities ...
The inaugural Commonwealth Esports Championships and Commonwealth Esports Forum will be staged at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham on 6-7 August 2022. The championships are a result of the strategic partnership between the Global Esports Federation and the Commonwealth Games Federation, which was announced in May 2020 ...
The National Security and Investment Act 2021 (NSIA) came into force on 4 January 2022. The UK’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) published last month its first Annual Report on the NSIA in its first three months of operation. More on this can be found here ...
