A recent UK Supreme Court Judgment, the Financial Conduct Authority v Arch Insurance (UK Ltd) & Ors [2021] UKSC 1, clarified whether a variety of insurance policy wordings cover business interruption losses resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and public health measures taken by UK authorities in response to the pandemic from March 2020 ...
The recent judgment from the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom on Halliburton Company v Chubb Bermuda Insurance Ltd [2020] UKSC 48, raised important questions about the requirement that there can not only be no actual bias, but also no apparent bias on the part of arbitrators in favour of or against any party in arbitration and also about the obligation of arbitrators in international arbitrations to make disclosure of multiple appointments concerning the same or overlapping subje
The UK now has one publicly accessible charge point for every 11.2 Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) on the road, having seen a remarkable 70% jump in charge points over the past year. The figures, utilised in the calculation of the Electric Vehicle Country Attractiveness (EVCA) Index developed by Cornwall Insight and law firm Shoosmiths, demonstrate the substantial impact of the government's ongoing efforts to expand the charging infrastructure network ...
On November 20, 2012, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) published “Anonymisation: Managing Data Protection Risk Code of Practice” (the “Code”). The purpose of the Code is to provide organizations with a framework for assessing the risks of anonymization ...
The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) recently published a questionnaire to gather feedback on how privacy seals might be used to improve data protection compliance and customer privacy awareness. The questionnaire is available online until November 30, 2012 ...
On November 28, 2012, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) issued monetary penalties totaling £440,000 to two owners of a marketing company that sent millions of unlawful spam SMS text messages over a period of three years.Following an 18 month investigation, Christopher Niebal and Gary McNeish, the owners of Tetrus Telecoms (“Tetrus”), have been ordered to pay £300,000 and £140,000, respectively ...
The parties to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) have agreed to formally commence an accession process with the UK. Ahead of the start of formal negotiations, the UK Government has set out its strategic approach to accession ...
As global regulators continue to grapple with the challenges of developing and implementing effective Artificial Intelligence (AI) regulation, and with AI sitting high on the agenda for Rishi Sunak’s meeting this week with President Biden, the UK Government has announced that it will be hosting a global AI Summit later this year ...
HM Treasury has recently published the outcome of its UK Prospectus Regime Review. The Review Outcome sets out important reforms to the UK prospectus regime for the public issuance of securities and admission to trading on capital markets, outlining the policy approach the UK Government will take following last year's Prospectus Regime Review consultation. This briefing note sets out the key measures confirmed by the UK Government in the Review Outcome ...
HM Treasury has recently published the outcome of its UK Prospectus Regime Review. The Review Outcome sets out important reforms to the UK prospectus regime for the public issuance of securities and admission to trading on capital markets, outlining the policy approach the UK Government will take following last year's Prospectus Regime Review consultation. This briefing note sets out the key measures confirmed by the UK Government in the Review Outcome ...
As we gear up for the UK Covid-19 Inquiry’s first full public hearing on 13 June, here is a reminder of what has been covered to date, followed by a list of issues to be covered within the scope of the first (Module 1) investigation. Inquiry to date the Inquiry was formally established by the Chair (Baroness Heather Hallett) on 28 June 2022, at which time the final Terms of Reference were published by the Government (UK COVID-19 Inquiry: terms of reference - GOV.UK (www.gov ...
Shock to UK employment world The UK employment model was turned on its head by COVID-19 and the restrictions brought in by the Government. The seismic effects of the restrictions and the speed with which they were introduced tested the adaptability and resilience of employers and employees in a way not seen previously in the UK ...
As the Covid-19 Inquiry reaches Module 2 of its timeline and it turns its attention to the political and administrative decisions made at the height of the pandemic, Shoosmiths looks at the history of public inquiries to reflect on their purpose and effectiveness in preventing future mistakes of the same kind. Reviewing previous public inquiries may inform us about the likely trajectory of the Covid-19 Inquiry ...
The first hearings for the official UK Covid-19 Inquiry are fast approaching – though less quickly than originally anticipated, with the start date now delayed to Tuesday 13 June. Although public hearings are yet to get under way, the Inquiry has nonetheless had a busy February and March, with preliminary hearings for Modules 1 (pandemic preparedness and resilience), 2 (political and administrative decision-making) and 3 (impact on the healthcare sector) all taking place ...
On 31 August 2022, the UK COVID-19 Inquiry (“the Inquiry”) opened its second Module. Module 2 will examine the political and administrative decision making of the UK and devolved governments, with a particular focus on early 2020 ...
We look at the legal framework within which the dispute between the UK Covid-19 Inquiry and the Cabinet Office over the former Prime Minister’s WhatsApp messages and diaries has developed, and possible consequences for the Inquiry depending on the outcome. What has the Cabinet Office been asked to provide? On 21 April 2023, Baroness Heather Hallett, Chair of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry (‘the Inquiry’) issued a Section 21 Notice to the Cabinet Office (‘the Notice’) ...
The UK Corporate Governance Code (the Code) is undergoing a review by the Financial Regulatory Council (FRC) in the UK. A consultation process was announced by the FRC earlier this year, with a view to making changes to the Code to reflect the changing business environment in the UK ...
On November 22, 2012, the UK Ministry of Justice released a written ministerial statement (“Statement”) announcing the publication of its Government Impact Assessment on the European Commission’s legislative reform package on the EU data protection framework. The European Commission has claimed that a regulation implementing a single set of data protection rules across the European Union would save businesses around €2.3 billion a year ...
The UK Government has this week announced what would be the biggest shake-up of the competition and consumer protection policy landscape for the last 20 years. On 20 July 2021 the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) published a consultation document setting out its proposals for sweeping reforms of the UK’s competition and consumer protection law regimes and inviting responses by 1 October 2021 ...
The UK Cabinet Office has just announced, in a brief statement that the date for the Procurement Act 2023 to enter into force has been postponed. At less than 2 months from the planned “go live” date which was slated for 28 October 2024, in a surprise announcement, the new Government has decided to push this back. The reasoning for the decision stems directly from the change in administration following this year’s General Election ...
March 16, 2022 By Braeden Mansouri and Alicia Guerra On February 15, California’s preeminent institution of higher education, UC Berkeley (“UCB”), began emailing student applicants that UCB may be forced to withdraw admissions offers as a result of a recent California Court of Appeal decision ...
The Federal Tax Authority (the FTA) has started to impose penalties on businesses that have failed to submit their economic substance notifications by the set deadline of 30 June 2020 for the financial period ended on 31 December 2019, and the economic substance reports by the set deadline of 31 December 2020 for the financial period ended on 31 December 2019 ...
The UAE commercial agency regime has been a central pillar of commerce since the issuance of UAE Federal Law 18 of 1981 (the 1981 Law). While piecemeal amendments to the 1981 Law have been introduced from time to time, the UAE government has now issued UAE Federal Law 3 of 2022 concerning commercial agencies (the New Agencies Law) which repeals and replaces the 1981 Law in its entirety ...
The Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act of 2012 (IFCPA), enacted this week by Congress as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013, further ratchets up U.S. economic sanctions against Iran. U.S. persons or entities (hereafter "persons"), including their foreign subsidiaries, or persons in the U.S., are already prohibited from virtually all transactions involving Iran. Under IFCPA, U.S ...
