<p>Filter Knowledge</p>

Andrew Ross and Sarah Quy discuss a case where the court emphasised the public interest in honouring private rights.

If the UK departs the EU on 29 March 2019 without an agreement in place, manufacturers and importers of industrial and consumer goods selling into the UK and/or EU will face a range of compliance and market access challenges. With fewer than five weeks remaining, 'no-deal' contingency plans should be implemented.

The question of which use class applies to a care-home for the elderly or others in need of care has been addressed once more in a recent Cornish appeal decision, in which dwellings for over-55s were classified as C3 rather than C2, despite being intended for occupiers needing a minimum of two hours of care per week. This is subtly distinguished on its facts from a case in Devon last year, and highlights the need for national planning policy to classify care-homes as either a flexible C3-C2 use, or within a use class of its own.

This article provides a comparison between the French and English systems for competition law dawn raids. It sets out the practical differences concerning the authorization regimes, the investigation and the applicable appeals procedures.

In the briefing below, we consider the Supreme Court's recent decision on contractual interpretation and implication of terms in Wells v Devani [2019] UKSC 4, which provides a timely reminder of the way in which the courts will approach oral contracts and the need where possible to commit such contracts to writing.

The government's Brexit advice urges businesses trading with the EU to review their contracts for the supply of goods – particularly those based on Incoterms – to ensure that they remain appropriate in the event of "no deal". What are Incoterms, why do they matter and what changes should you make in the light of Brexit?

The EU Revised Shareholder Rights Directive (SRD II) is currently required to be implemented by 10 June 2019. It seeks to encourage long-term shareholder involvement through increased transparency and engagement between asset managers and asset owners.

As if 2018 wasn’t eventful enough in terms of data protection, 2019 has certainly started with a bang. On 21 January, Google was issued with a €55 million fine by CNIL, the French data protection regulator - the first major fine to be imposed under the General Data Protection Regulation.

Using a traffic light approach, we consider the sorts of amendments which might impact on "day one" security.

There is now at least some prospect of the UK leaving the EU on 29 March 2019 without either transitional arrangements or a long term comprehensive reciprocal regime being agreed as to how English courts and those of the r.EU should co-operate in a post-Brexit world, including in relation to allocating jurisdiction between them and recognising and enforcing each other's judgments in commercial cases.

As you will be aware, changes were announced in the October 2018 Budget to the qualifying conditions for Entrepreneurs' Relief (ER) requiring that, as well as holding 5% of share capital (by nominal value) and 5% of voting rights, an ER shareholder should be entitled to 5% of dividends and proceeds on a winding-up at all times during the relevant holding period (one year until 5 April 2019, two years thereafter).

Welcome to our 2019 newsletter, in which we share news of our planned events and other resources for in-house counsel this coming year, as well as a brief overview of the topics that we anticipate will dominate the legal agenda in 2019.

2018: the year of the CVA

2018 has seen a wave of company voluntary arrangements ("CVAs") hit the market, with high profile companies such as House of Fraser, Carpetright, New Look and Homebase (to name a few) all making use of this restructuring tool. This briefing note explains how a CVA works, provides an overview of current "market" themes, and makes some predictions on the future of CVAs.

• The government has confirmed that it will extend the "off-payroll" working rules to the private sector from April 2020.
• Companies may need to rethink the basis on which they engage contractors and should start to prepare for the change in law.
• We can guide you through the new rules and the steps you should take.

The "off-payroll" working rules typically apply to individuals supplying their services through an intermediary (commonly a personal service company) and were introduced for public sector contractors in April 2017. Legislation to extend the rules to the private sector from April 2020 will be published this summer but, in the meantime, there is action that those engaging workers through personal service companies (PSCs) can take.

"In this briefing we summarise some of those key known knowns and known unknowns which should be the focus of attention for firms in the coming year and beyond. As for the unknown unknowns, who knows?

Following the result of Parliament's vote on the Government's proposed Brexit deal on Tuesday 15 January 2019, it looks increasingly likely that the UK may leave the European Union ("EU") on 29 March 2019 ("Brexit Day") without a negotiated deal in place.

Key employment and business immigration developments for employers