Our knowledge resources reflect the breadth and depth of our expertise, our insight into the issues which matter to your business, and our understanding of the markets in which you operate.
As the 3 December 2018 deadline for online traders to comply with the new EU Geo-blocking Regulation has just passed, we look at what exactly it will mean for UK based businesses, and whether Brexit changes the picture for them.
Prime Minister Theresa May has delayed Parliament's vote on the proposed Withdrawal Agreement which would govern the terms of the UK's departure from the EU. It remains to be seen whether there will be sufficient support for the deal when Parliament comes to vote on it in January 2019.
On 15 November 2018, the European Court of Justice ("ECJ") found in favour of a challenge to the European Commission’s 2014 decision to give state aid approval to the scheme establishing a Capacity Market in the UK. As a result, the Capacity Market has entered into a 'standstill period' - preventing the Government from holding any capacity auctions or making any capacity payments, until such time as it successfully obtains state aid clearance.
The European Medicines Agency (the EMA) is set to relocate to Amsterdam after Brexit and want to exit their London-based lease on the basis of the principle of legal 'frustration'. Its landlords, Canary Wharf Group, argue that they should still be liable for their leasehold obligations for the rest of the 25 year term, ending in 2039.
On 21 September, the Scottish Court of Session – the highest court in Scotland – overturned an earlier decision and permitted a group of cross-party politicians to refer a question to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) as to the revocability of an Article 50 notification (Wightman v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union). The poor reaction to Theresa May's proposed Chequers plan, from the public and from EU leaders at the Salzburg Summit, make the full hearing to answer this question, scheduled for 27 November, all the more relevant.
HM Treasury and the FCA have published draft regulations and rules which contain their respective Brexit proposals for investment funds. These are designed to facilitate the "onshoring" of EU legislation relating to investment funds, including AIFs and UCITS funds, and to establish a temporary permissions regime following the UK's withdrawal from the European Union.
In recent years, mid-market borrowers/sponsors have been striving to incorporate terms more commonly seen in large-cap financings and high yield issuances into mid-market leveraged finance transactions (up to €300m). This briefing provides an overview of the key current documentary battlegrounds between borrowers/sponsors and their lenders and examines how what is seen in today's large-cap finance documents frequently makes its way into tomorrow's mid-market term sheets.
The Network and Information Systems Regulations came into effect with little fanfare on 10 May 2018, when most businesses were in the throes of grappling with GDPR compliance. For this reason they seem to have passed largely under the radar.
Two new regulations have been published amending existing Level 2 requirements on depositaries of AIFs and UCITS with effect from 1 April 2020. They impose stricter obligations on them when they delegate their safekeeping obligations to a third party custodian.
A new EU regulation is due to enter into force aimed at removing barriers to crossborder e-commerce in the EU.
It has been exactly twelve months since the UK submitted its notification of withdrawal from the EU under Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. In twelve months' time, assuming that there has been no agreed extension of the negotiating period or permitted revocation of the withdrawal notification, the UK will officially leave the EU and become a "third country".
The UK’s real estate market attracts significant levels of investment from across the world, and many global corporate occupiers. It is not unusual for one or more of the landlord, tenant or guarantor in a commercial letting to be an entity based outside England and Wales.
The European Commission has recently issued a communication setting out the effect that Brexit will have on European Union intellectual property rights.
On 10 January 2018, the Government published its plan to improve the environment over a 25 year period. It discusses a wide range of ideas, including planting one million urban trees, regulating farms and fisheries after the UK leaves the EU, and establishing a new national forest.
Businesses need to progress their approaches to, and governance of, human rights. In particular, organisations should track current developments relating to corporate transparency and benchmarking initiatives.
Battery storage is the way ahead for renewable energy. However, there are various practical, legal and technological hurdles to overcome before this solution can be fully implemented.
SANGS can be taken into account by local authorities considering development proposals, but they must be real and deliverable, not hypothetical.
Article 50 has been triggered and in March 2019 the UK will formally exit the European Union (EU). The status of EU nationals has been identified as an early priority for negotiations on the UK's exit. It is widely anticipated that controls will be introduced to limit the rights of EU nationals to live and work in the UK post Brexit.