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2021 has seen the UK Government and regulators engage in a blizzard of consultations and draft legislation, proposing reforms across a wide range of areas. The sheer volume makes it difficult for businesses to keep on top of changes that might affect them.
A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry.
On 7 September, the UK Government announced the introduction of a new 1.25% levy which is intended to pay for adult social care reforms and enable the country's National Health Service to tackle the COVID-19 backlog. In this briefing we consider the implications this might have for overseas employers.
In the last few weeks there have been a number of stories relating to COP26 in the international press; from alarmist headlines of hotel room shortages in Glasgow to calls to reschedule the conference again as a result of COVID-19 restrictions. With COP 26 only 45 days away, we have selected two of the most significant talking points from recent days.
Welcome to the second in our series of podcasts focusing on international employment law.
The ICO has launched a consultation on its international data transfer agreement (IDTA). This is the agreement that would be used as a safeguarding mechanism for restricted transfers of data covered by the UK GDPR.
As part of a raft of proposals to overhaul the current competition and consumer law regimes, the UK Government has set out for consultation a number of wide-ranging proposals concerning competition law enforcement in the UK. Competition Act enforcement is the focus of this briefing.
The UK Government has launched a wide-ranging consultation proposing far reaching reforms to the competition and consumer law enforcement regimes.
The UK Government published its long-awaited draft Online Safety Bill in May 2021. The Bill creates a new legal framework for identifying and removing illegal and harmful content from the internet. The aim is to prevent harm to individuals in the UK. Those covered will face fines and other sanctions for non-compliance.
The UK Government is consulting on plans to reform consumer law, including giving regulators powers to impose fines of up to 10% of global turnover for breach of consumer legislation. If implemented, these changes are likely to result in a significantly tougher regulatory environment for consumer-facing businesses.
On 22 July 2021, the House of Commons International Trade Committee ("ITC") launched an inquiry targeting the international trade aspects of COP26 ("Trade Inquiry").
Alongside a raft of other recent proposals, the UK Government is consulting on plans to introduce tougher competition oversight over major players in the digital technology sector.
On 9 August 2021, Working Group I of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ("IPCC") presented its report on the physical science basis of climate change (the "Report"), the first of three parts that will together form the IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report ("AR6"), due to be released in full in spring 2022.
In this session from the PLSA's inaugural ESG Conference (July 2021), Pensions Partner Andy Lewis, Partner and Head of Financial Services and Markets Tim Lewis and Senior Consultant Simon Witney discuss key questions that can arise for pension schemes looking develop their ESG policies and beliefs and translate these into practical action. How can schemes fit these specific regulations into the bigger picture of their overall duties and operations without getting lost in the detail?
This consultation is on the second "tax measure" announced by the Treasury ("HMT") in the March Budget – a new Gateway 2 Levy on high rise residential developments during the pre-construction stage. This is part of a package of measures intended to help pay for the remediation of certain buildings impacted by the cladding crisis, following the Grenfell Tower tragedy (the "Building Safety Levy").
While in recent months the approaching COP26 has been occupying the bulk of government and media attention, the 15th meeting of the UN Conference of the Parties ("COP15") to the Convention on Biological Diversity ("CBD") is also due to take place in 2021, which is seen by many as being just as critical to the future of the planet.
A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry.
Last week, the EU unveiled its 'Fit for 55' proposals, which if adopted would substantively revise the EU's climate and energy policies in order to enable a net greenhouse gas emissions reduction by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.