European Commission imposes fines of €302m on participants What does this mean for you? The decision The European Commission has imposed fines totalling just over €300 million on the participants in a cartel involving the supply of underground and submarine high voltage power cables for important high voltage power cable projects in the EEA (including large infrastructure and renewable energy projects such as offshore wind farms) ...
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has commenced consultation on the reviewed UK Corporate Governance Code. The Code, which sets out good practice for UK listed companies across a range of issues, is routinely reviewed every two years ...
The government announced radical changes to the existing rules regarding the way in which people access and use their pension savings in the UK as part of the 2014 Budget. It is proposed that from April 2015 DC pension savers will no longer have to buy an annuity and will be able to access their full fund on retirement and invest it as they wish. In addition, the existing rules around lump sums on retirement and drawdown have been relaxed with effect from 27 March 2014 ...
Judges sitting in the Inner House of Scotland’s supreme civil court, the Court of Session, will no longer wear wigs and judicial robes when hearing civil appeals. Where this is the case the court will not insist that counsel should appear with wig and gown or that solicitors with rights of audience should appear with gowns. Where the court intends to wear wigs and judicial robes, for example at ceremonial sittings, practitioners will be informed accordingly ...
The High Court, County Court and the Magistrates Court have jurisdiction to hear civil matters in England and Wales, with the High Court dealing with the most complex and high value disputes. The County Court hears lower value debt, personal injury and contract claims as well as some technology, construction and patent cases. Until 22 April a claimant could choose to bring their claim in the High Court providing the figure claimed for was over £25,000 ...
On March 28 2014 Law 642/2013 - a milestone of the government's anti-corporate raider policy - entered into force. Revival of the bill, which had previously gathered dust in parliamentary committees for several years, was a response to numerous calls from the international community to take measures to counter illegal takeovers and acquisitions of businesses ...
The New Year brought good news for Romanian intellectual property counselors. The Romanian State Office for Inventions and Trademarks (SOIT) introduced the trademark E-filing system ...
Following the Supreme Court’s decision in Bridge Trustees in 2011 (see further here), the Government announced that it would legislate to directly counteract the effect of the judgement and make it clear that benefits under a pension scheme cannot be regarded as money purchase benefits if it is possible for a funding deficit to arise in respect of any of those benefits ...
CCTV surveillance is becoming increasingly prevalent in every aspect of our lives. Recognizable images of people captured by CCTV cameras constitute "personal data" as defined in the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003 ("the DPAs"). Accordingly, all use of CCTV by employers must be undertaken in compliance with the DPAs ...
On 6 April 2014, the historic remedy of distress ceased to exist. The tool that landlords have used for centuries has been replaced by the Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery (‘CRAR’) regime.Tenants have welcomed this development as CRAR prevents bailiffs from simply turning up unannounced at the tenant’s address in order to seize goods. Landlords on the other hand are now faced with a more complex process and the loss of the element of surprise ...
The latest tribunal statistics published by the Ministry of Justice this month indicate a significant fall in the number of employment tribunal claims following the introduction of tribunal fees in July of last year.The number of claims brought in October to December 2013 was down to only 9,801, a whopping 79% fewer than the same period in 2012, and 75% fewer than the previous quarter ...
On Sunday 6 April 2014 a number of changes will be made to employment law. We have put together this list of 5 changes we think you need to know about: Discrimination questionnaires abolished. Section 138 of the Equality Act 2010 allowed employees to serve a formal questionnaire on employers about discrimination matters. If an employer failed to answer fully, the tribunal could draw an adverse inference from such failure. From 6 April 2014 this formal process will be abolished ...
“Desperate times call for desperate measures”. We are all aware that the global crisis is impacting employers worldwide. Companies have been forced to close production lines, non-core activities have been transferred to outsourced service providers and numerous workplaces have been forced to close all together. It has become a struggle to merely hold onto one’s job. Such circumstances have facilitated the increase of workplace harassment (i.e. mobbing) ...
From Sunday 6 April 2014 anyone wanting to raise an employment tribunal claim will be directed to Acas first to try early conciliation. ere are the key things to be aware of:While early conciliation will be launched on 6 April, it will only be from 6 May that the scheme becomes mandatory for most claims and the tribunals will reject an ET1 if the Claimant hasn’t contacted Acas first.Parties do not need to actively engage in conciliation ...
The Government has announced radical changes which are likely to significantly affect the way in which people access and use their pension savings in the UK ...
The new EU Procurement directive was published in the Official Journal of the EU today (28 March 2014) and will come into force on 17 April 2014. This article summarises some of the key changes from the new Directive which are likely to be of interest to both the public and private sector. The UK will have 2 years to implement the Directive but the government has suggested that it will be implemented in a shorter timescale ...
If all’s fair in love and war, and business is war, it must follow that all is fair in business. We should therefore not concern ourselves with fairness in our business dealings, but focus on maximising our personal gain, irrespective of the impact of our decisions on others. Adopting the above approach is not only likely to harm you but also your business. People are social beings and have evolved to reward cooperation and punish avarice. Take two individuals - Mr Smith and Mr Jones ...
Comments on the consequences of failure to observe the required form when selling shares in a limited-liability company and the possibility of correcting this defect. The current Commercial Companies Code went into effect in Poland in 2001, stiffening the requirements with respect to the form for transfer of title to shares in a limited-liability company (sp. z o.o ...
SerbiaIncreased number of applications for industrial property protection It seems that the promotional efforts of the Intellectual Property Office of Serbia have been effective. According to statistics from the IP Office for 2013, the number of trademark applications increased by 40%, the number of patent applications increased by 5% and industrial design applications increased by 42% compared to last year ...
A New Collective Bargaining Agreement (“GCBA”) was signed last week in Montenegro. The new GCBA introduces a broader scope of existing labour rights and has also included several additional rights. Subsequently, many questions have come up and are expected to be answered through their application in the upcoming period. The GCBA comes into force on 30 March 2014 and Montenegrin employers must take care of the entire set of new employment rights and employers obligations ...
A decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in 2011 appeared to limit the options for large television companies seeking to prevent unlicensed viewing. It was held in that case, involving the Football Association Premier League Ltd, that the use of foreign decoders to broadcast Sky television in public places could not be prevented because of EU competition rules ...
The rapid expansion of brands in the Chinese foreign market has problems relating to the protection of these arise and hence of their owners. The last amendment to the Trademark Law of China reflects one of the main problems that foreign companies often face in China which is "brand hijacking." The records of "bad faith" requested by the opportunists of fashion brands block applications for registration of trademarks by their rightful owners ...
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has issued its response to the consultation on the exemption of certain categories of worker from the scope of automatic enrolment. While the DWP considered a range of potential exemptions, it has decided that exemptions are only appropriate in a limited number of situations ...
Westshield Limited v David and Lisa Whitehouse [2013] 3576 EWHC (TCC); Akenhead J, 18 November 2013Executive SummaryIn this decision the TCC considered the impact of a CVA ("Company Voluntary Arrangement") on an adjudication decision and confirmed that challenges to the enforcement of adjudicators' decisions are not necessarily limited to jurisdictional or breach of natural justice arguments ...
