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.
On 16 March 2023, the EU Commission announced plans for the "Critical Raw Materials Act" (the "CRMA"): a "comprehensive set of actions" designed to ensure long-term access in the EU to a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials. The proposal forms part of the Green Deal Industrial Plan, adopted in February 2023, which aims to create a regulatory environment which supports the net-zero transition.
On 27 October 2023, the Takeover Panel released an amended version of its Practice Statement 5 ("PS5") on invocation of conditions to takeover offers.
Practice Statement 5 now provides guidance on how bidders can both retain a "No Phase 2" condition, yet still have the protection of a materiality condition if the parties choose/are forced to proceed to a Phase 2 review.
On 27 October 2023, the Takeover Panel published amendments to Rule 21 and the associated guidance that will take effect from 11 December 2023.
Our "Smart AI Regulation?" series of briefings looks at emerging regulatory frameworks for AI in the EU and the UK and AI's intellectual property and data protection implications.
The Supreme Court has provided welcome clarity for insolvency practitioners in confirming that administrators of a company appointed pursuant to the Insolvency Act 1986 ("IA 1986") will not be criminally liable for a failure by the company to comply with redundancy notification requirements.
This update provides a brief summary of some notable recent developments in the UK sanctions world, including interesting commentary from the Court of Appeal on a potentially wide interpretation of the "ownership and control" test, which was rapidly followed by a statement from the Government suggesting such an interpretation should be limited, and the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation's ("OFSI") first use of its public disclosure enforcement power.
On 1 October 2023, the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism ("CBAM") regulation officially entered into its transitional period, which will run until 31 December 2025. The CBAM is effectively an import tax on carbon-intensive products, such as cement, steel, iron, aluminium and electricity.
This Briefing sets out the headline changes that UK incorporated main market and AIM listed companies should be aware of from the past year and a timeline of key upcoming developments. This Briefing also covers, at a high level, some topics which are not specific to listed companies.
The law on workplace sexual harassment is changing. Below, we summarise what you need to know, and how to prepare for the changes.
A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry.
Read and listen to "What’s Happening in Pensions", our regular news briefing covering topical pensions law developments.
Many commercial contracts contain blanket exclusions of loss of profits – and sometimes the parties also agree that such clauses will be mutual (so both supplier and customer benefit from the same exclusion). But a recent dispute between EE and Virgin Mobile highlights the significant impact such provisions can have on a party's remedies for breach – especially where the clause is reciprocal. The judgment also contains some important lessons about exclusivity obligations.
The UK CMA has now (12 October) published its keenly awaited Green Agreements Guidance, explaining how collaborations between competitors to promote environmental sustainability will be treated under domestic competition laws prohibiting anticompetitive agreements.
There's a new way for UK businesses to transfer personal data compliantly to the US. A newly established data bridge, an extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (DPF) adopted in July 2023, enables organisations in the UK to transfer personal data to organisations in the US that have certified to the DPF, without putting in place further safeguards, such as standard contractual clauses (SCCs), or carrying out a transfer risk assessment.
In our new Talking. Secondaries. series, we will seek to demystify the secondaries and synthetic secondaries markets and provide insights into the variety of tools available to GPs when looking to provide liquidity to their limited partners and their portfolios.
A recent decision by Constable J of the High Court in a negligence claim has examined the scope of a valuer's duty of care. Applying the scope of duty test handed down by the Supreme Court in MBS v Grant Thornton UK LLP, Constable J has ruled that the purpose of the Defendant's valuation in this case, although critically important, was not to provide the only "green light" needed for a loan transaction to proceed.
In its judgment of 26 July 2023[1], the Competition Appeal Tribunal ("CAT") considered the applicability of the European Court of Justice's ("CJEU") decision on limitation in Volvo AB and DAF Trucks NV v RM[2] ("The Volvo Decision") to the claims brought in both the Umbrella Interchange Fee Litigation and the Merricks Collective Proceedings.
As many companies take the first steps towards understanding the impact of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive ("CSRD") on their organisations, a series of seemingly impactful changes to the regime, and corresponding alarming headlines, have emerged. However, while these changes and headlines might make businesses worry that they will need to pivot their plans and processes as a reaction, in practice, many of those currently preparing for CSRD reporting may find that recent developments do not move the dial significantly and they may well still be on the right path towards CSRD compliance.
The EU continues to pursue a rapid and ambitious legislative programme around environmental regulation. Its regulations in the product space have in many respects and for many years been viewed by multinational manufacturers as the "gold standard" and therefore the de facto rules to which all products destined for international sales must adhere.