On 18 January 2019, the Electronic Invoicing (Public Contracts etc.) Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2019 (the Regulations) were laid before the Scottish Parliament. They come into force on 18 April 2019 for central government authorities and bodies established under the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978, and on 18 April 2020 in relation to all other contracting authorities and contracting entities ...
On 10 May 2022 the UK Government announced, through the Queen’s Speech, that the United Kingdom's data protection regime is to be reformed. What is the bill? The Data Reform Bill (“the Bill”) will reform the UK’s current data protection framework. As a result of Brexit, the UK incorporated the EU data protection regime (the EU GDPR) into domestic law as the “UK GDPR” ...
The Supreme Court has ruled that any worker or employee who works for part of the year but has been employed on a continuing contract must receive 5.6 weeks’ leave at full pay. This means they will likely receive proportionately more annual leave and pay than their full-year counterparts. Employers cannot pro-rate a worker’s statutory holiday allowance to reflect the number of weeks they actually work ...
On 1 January 2020, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) will introduce its revised rules and trade terms governing global freight transport. The Incoterms rules were first introduced by the ICC in 1936 to “establish commonly accepted definitions and rules related to the sale of goods between trading partners worldwide”, and now facilitate international trade valued in the trillions of dollars each year ...
Executive Summary For organisations transferring personal data from the EEA, the new form of model clauses must now be used for any new transfers agreed as of 27 September 2021. Existing arrangements using the “old” European model clauses have until December 2022 to be replaced with one of the new versions ...
In May 2021, the UK Government commissioned an independent, fan-led review of football governance in England following three “crisis events”. The report has thus far received a varied reception. Some have welcomed its recommendations, and believe that they will bring about much needed reform of the current model of football governance ...
Last month the Scottish Government published “Land Reform in a Net Zero Nation”, a consultation paper on a new Land Reform Bill. The paper sets out the proposals for the bill and seeks views on various related issues, including measures aimed at “large-scale holdings”, changes to subsidies, the introduction of a new type of agricultural tenancy, and transparency of land ownership ...
Public bodies in the UK (government departments, regulators, local authorities etc.) are legally accountable for the decisions that they make. But what does that mean in practical terms to someone looking to raise a legal challenge to a particular decision? This short blog post provides some very high level guidance in FAQ form. Q. If I think a decision is wrong, am I able to raise a legal challenge against it? A. Maybe ...
Prescription (Scotland) Act 2018 Prescription is the rule of law in Scotland that extinguishes certain rights and obligations after a period of time. This includes a right to recover damages for breach of contract. In Scotland, a contractual claim prescribes after five years; therefore formal proceedings, either court or arbitration, must be raised and served in order to stop the five-year period running. On 1 June 2022, important changes to prescription become law in Scotland ...
Prescription is the legal rule in Scotland that prevents a person from pursuing their legal rights to a claim after a certain time period has elapsed (the equivalent in England is limitation). A claim ‘prescribes’ when the relevant time period runs out (known as the ‘prescriptive period’). For contractual claims, the prescriptive period is five years ...
(Update following the Scottish Government announcement on 8 October 2021) As discussed in our previous article, the Scottish Government is to provide powers for local authorities to address concerns surrounding the unregulated short-term let market. The Scottish Government proposes to do so by way of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2021 ...
The Technology and Construction Court (TCC) in Eco World - Ballymore Embassy Gardens Company Ltd v Dobler UK Ltd [2021] EWHC 2207 (TCC) enforced a liquidated damages (LDs) clause that did not allow for a proportionate reduction following partial possession of sections of a development. The TCC rejected that the clause was a penalty, and considered the argument that an invalid liquidated damages clause could still operate as a valid cap of liability ...
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 ...
There has been concern within the agricultural industry for some time the race to achieve carbon net-zero is leading to the loss of productive agricultural land to forestry purchasers. Another perceived threat is from investors, both private and institutional, looking to invest in natural carbon, for example, by way of peatland restoration and rewilding projects ...
The built environment contributes 20% of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions, making it a key player in tackling the ambitious challenges we face on the journey to a low or net zero society. How we heat (and cool) our buildings is a crucial element in reducing carbon emissions. But there is no single answer that will deliver the required emissions reductions to achieve government targets ...
Thursday 16 July 2020 saw the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) issue its decision on the validity of two international data transfer mechanisms - the “Privacy Shield” mechanism, which allowed for transfers between the EU and the US, and the Standard Contractual Clauses (“SCCs”) which are of more general application. Both of these mechanisms were confirmed by decisions of the European Commission ...
Banks were cast as the villain of the piece in the so-called ‘Great Recession’ of 2007–2009, the last downturn to hit our economy before the coronavirus pandemic. Their role in the subprime mortgage debacle led directly to a global financial crisis and the deepest UK recession since the Second World War. By contrast, in the economic downturn triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the banking industry played a crucial role in stabilising our economy ...
Agricultural and rural settings present significant health and safety risks, which must be carefully managed and mitigated by employers and landowners operating in the sector. This was brought into sharp focus after two fatalities led to prosecutions following investigations by The Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Prosecution one In February, a farmer was prosecuted after a tragic fatal incident on farmland in Leeds ...
On Tuesday 19 July 2022 parts of the UK set new record temperatures. Charterhall in the Scottish borders recorded a temperature of 34.8 degrees Celsius, the highest ever recorded in Scotland. Whereas Coningsby in Lincolnshire reported a new UK high of 40.3 degrees Celsius. This has caused fires to break out in parts of the UK and resulted in the UK’s first ever red travel warning due to extreme heat ...
It will be news to few that the construction industry is experiencing a serious shortage of key materials. The Construction Leadership Council first warned of shortages (in timber, steel, pitched roofing, plastics, paints/coatings, some electronic components and cement – among other materials) early this year, and has reiterated its concerns since ...
Increased public awareness of data protection regulations has sparked a rise in claims for damages associated with distress caused by data breaches. Many claims are made in response to serious breaches that have caused financial loss or significant distress, however organisations are increasingly receiving significant financial claims for relatively minor breaches ...
The UK Government’s consultation on mandatory climate-related disclosures As the old saying goes – ‘knowledge is power’, and businesses caught in the net of proposed mandatory climate-related disclosures will need to empower themselves quickly in order to get up to speed by the proposed April 2022 rollout ...
The Scottish Government, SEPA and industry have identified significant opportunities for the growth of the finfish aquaculture sector in Scotland. This expansion is an express policy objective of the Scottish Government, and was confirmed through the National Marine Plan published in 2015. Nevertheless, whilst there has been some growth in the sector since the plan’s publication, the sector has yet to realise its full potential ...
In a landmark decision, the European Union Intellectual Property Office (‘EUIPO’) has ruled that McDonald’s, one of the world’s largest fast food chains, will lose its EU trade mark for “Big Mac” ...
Today, World Menopause Day, I got up at 5.30 am to get the train to the office. This early start brought into sharp focus the impact that menopause can have on the working lives of women. Three years ago I would have taken an early start in my stride, I rarely had a bad night’s sleep. However, although in my early 40s, treatment for breast cancer caused early menopause, and among the symptoms I experience is frequently disturbed sleep ...
