POLITICAL AGREEMENT WITH THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ON THE PROPOSED DIRECTIVE ON THE DISCLOSURE OF INCOME TAX INFORMATION BY CERTAIN UNDERTAKINGS AND BRANCHES _____________________________________ On 1 June 2021, the Council of the European Union (the “Council”) reached a political agreement with the European Parliament on the proposed directive on the disclosure of income tax information by certain undertakings and branches, commonly referred to as the public country-by-count
According to the Russian Government Order, dated 18th May 2021, the list of foreign citizens, who may enter Russia, has been expanded (the 'Order'). The text of the Order is available in Russian here. From 19th May 2021, the following persons are allowed to enter Russia: owners or heads of companies operating in Russia; foreign citizens entering to participate in negotiations on investment projects’ implementation ...
This case concerns an adjudicator’s decision issued on 7 December 2020. The adjudicator found in favour of Faithdean plc, ordering Bedford House Ltd, the employer, to repay deductions of around £1.5 million. No payment was made to Faithdean and enforcement proceedings were issued in January 2021. Bedford did not put forward a defence. Instead, it argued it could not pay as it wished to know the exact amount in order to make a single payment to Faithdean ...
An adjudicator’s jurisdiction is central to their ability to determine a dispute between two parties; without it, their decision will be invalid and unenforceable by a court. Conversely, if an adjudicator has jurisdiction, then, as the Court of Appeal has repeatedly emphasised, that adjudicator’s decision must be enforced, even if it results from errors of procedure, fact or law ...
It is a well-established rule of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (the ‘Act’) that an adjudicator will only have jurisdiction to determine one dispute under a construction contract at any one time, unless their jurisdiction has been extended by consent of the parties ...
Our latest article in the series looking at the impact of the pandemic on different groups focuses on how COVID-19 has affected those within ethnic minorities, what this has meant for the BLM movement and what employers can do to better support employees. Impact of COVID-19 The latest statistics all point to the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected those within ethnic minorities ...
According to the Court Service, around 80% of cases presently in the family courts of England and Wales involve at least one of the parties acting as an unrepresented litigant in person. Since 2013, when public funding for almost all family court cases was stopped, numbers have been steadily rising. The reasons are simple; many people decide to represent themselves in an attempt to avoid expensive legal bills ...
Whilst we all live in a much more progressive society than we ever have before, there is still a danger of misgendering someone’s identity. The use of gender pronouns in the workplace can therefore help and is an important part of LGBT+ inclusion. Background The Oxford Dictionary defines a pronoun as ‘a word that is used instead of a noun or noun phrase, for example ‘he, it, hers, me, them, etc.’ ...
Introduction The Covid-19 vaccine is currently being rolled out, and according to the authorities’ vaccination-plan, a large part of the population will receive their first dose during the summer months. As a rule, one must take the vaccine in one’s own home municipality, and not in the municipality where one has a summer house etc. In addition, the authorities are working on a corona certificate ...
Electronic registration The Norwegian Maritime Authority («NMA«) has developed a new system for electronic ship registration and has proposed certain amendments to the Norwegian Maritime Code and appurtenant regulations. The amendments are currently circulated in a memo subject to public hearing ...
The ethical consumer market in the UK has increased four-fold since 1999, and now is conservatively estimated at over £40bn per annum. Consumers are actively changing their behaviours in favour of more sustainable and ethical choices. As a result, companies are increasingly creating or adapting their offerings to appeal to these consumer preferences ...
For parents, the child maintenance system can seem a vast and complicated system of ropes and pulleys for something they expect should be straightforward. But remember, the Child Maintenance Service (“CMS”), formerly known as the Child Support Agency, is a huge machine with a vast caseload. This unfortunately means that the system does not always work as it should. To help parents, we have set out our top tips for dealing with child maintenance below. 1 ...
Flexible working is not a new concept in the UK, and it exists in a number of forms, both formal and informal. However, in the UK as with the rest of Europe, the sudden emergence of the coronavirus pandemic flipped the way many people worked across the EU as governments put in place social distancing and isolation measures ...
Tech London Advocates (TLA) Scale Up Group hosted a virtual event with expert speakers, UK Tech on the World Stage, as a partner event for Scaleup Week: The Business Plan held on 18-20 May 2021. A panel of international tech leaders shared insights and opinions regarding UK technology on the world stage, exploring the growth of UK digital businesses and what it takes for them to expand into overseas markets ...
Net zero targets now cover in excess of two thirds of global GDP and over a fifth of the world's largest public companies, according to the latest report published by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit and Oxford Net Zero. This global shift towards net zero has reshaped the development landscape with demand for sustainable buildings being driven not only by regulators, but by investors and occupiers ...
There is a growing consensus among business stakeholders and society at large that mere compliance with legal rules is not enough tolive up to the requirements of business integrity. Moreover, legal rules often use vague concepts and ethics are also useful to give concrete expression to the required practices ...
Legal due diligence processes are widely known in the context ofmergers and acquisitions (M&A) and corporate reorganisation projects. Their aim is to analyse the operations and organisation ofcompanies to identify their degree of compliance with applicable legal and contractual regulations, the level of risk of non-compliance, and the potential sources of legal and contractual liability ...
Decree-Law 36/2021, which amends Decree-Law 176/2006 of 30 August ("Medicines Statute"), was published on 19 May. The new Decree-Law introduces a ban on the advertising of discounts on the price of medicines subject to medical prescription that are reimbursed by the National Health Service ("NHS") or that contain narcotic or psychotropic substances ...
In a judgment of 22 April 2021, the European Court of Justice found that a lease contract entered into between an Austrian authority and a real estate company before the construction of the building did not constitute a contractual building contract, as the authority had not had a decisive influence on the design. The authority's requirements thus did not exceed the requirements that a tenant usually places on a building of a similar nature ...
We would like to inform you that the Russian President has signed amendments to Article 1360 the Civil Code of the Russian Federation ('Russian Civil Code'), in terms of providing compulsory licenses to use an invention, utility model or industrial design ('patent rights') on 30 April, 2021. The amendments came into force on 11 May, 2021 ...
The health crisis has not eased the tensions between the management and the trade unions of the Belgian National Orchestra (“BNO”). The pandemic has even caused an additional outbreak of ‘fever’, which even a Brussels Court of Appeal ruling on 7 May 2021 will probably not be enough to ‘cure’... At issue is the fate of musicians' rights to reproductions and broadcasts of their performances ...
On 3 May 2021, the EU Member states approved “dried yellow mealworms” as a novel food under EU Regulation 2015/2283. According to the applicant, mealworms can be used in a broad range of food products, such as bread, cookies, or pasta. A Commission implementing regulation will follow soon, which marks the final step and formally authorises the novel food. Mealworms are the first insect species to secure clearance as a novel food but more are likely to follow ...
The Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on markets in cryptoassets, which amends Directive (EU) 2019/1937, ("Regulation on Markets in Crypto-assets", or the "MiCA Regulation" for short) was published on 24 September 20201. The Proposal is part of the Digital Finance Package adopted on the same date by the European Commission as part of the Digital Finance Strategy for the EU financial sector2 ...
Ownership of mines and minerals separately to surface land poses a risk for developers that must be assessed and mitigated as appropriate. It is not uncommon for mines and minerals to be owned separately to the land at the surface and in certain areas of the country, particularly the north, it is frequently encountered ...
Since the UK left the EU there have been monumental changes to immigration law that employers should consider while planning future recruitment and team structures. The free movement of people has ended and with it comes the need for EU workers to register under the European Settlement Scheme by 30 June 2021, the Skilled Worker visa and changes to other existing routes under the points-based system and even new routes ...
