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The Government has confirmed that it will legislate in this Parliament to reform key aspects of UK competition and consumer protection law. There are reports that it is looking to bring these changes into force late next year – so businesses affected by it should start considering the implications now.
On 17 November 2022, the ICO revised its guidance on international transfers, created a new section on transfer risk assessments (TRA) and released a new TRA tool. The new TRA tool can be used to undertake a transfer risk assessment, which is required where there's a restricted transfer of data outside the UK (not covered by UK "adequacy regulations") that relies upon an "appropriate safeguards" mechanism in Article 46 of the UK GDPR, such as standard contractual clauses.
Against a background of high inflation and a challenging economic environment, many businesses are looking at whether they can raise prices. However, as we explain below, even where a contract appears to allow for this, much depends on the precise wording and what constraints the courts may decide to impose.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is consulting on guidance that would require mid-contract price rises in consumer contracts to be more prominently stated in telecoms advertising. As we explain below, this may also be of interest to other B2C businesses outside the telecoms sector.
Most businesses would agree that better regulation is a desirable goal – but how do you actually achieve it? In the first of a series of briefings on regulatory reform across a range of different sectors, we look at the implications for business of the UK Government's approach to regulation and how far it is likely to succeed.
On 7 October 2022, President Biden issued an Executive Order (EO) that seeks to address the concerns set out in the Schrems II decision about US intelligence agencies’ access to EU individuals’ personal data. The EO is a significant step towards an EU-U.S. adequacy decision (expected in Spring 2023, if approved by member states) but, if granted, will that adequacy decision be sufficiently robust to withstand a likely legal challenge?
The UK Government is proposing greater regulatory oversight of financial services outsourcings involving "Critical Third Parties" (CTPs). If implemented, these changes will result in CTPs – some of which may not regard themselves as part of the finance sector - being regulated directly by financial services supervisory authorities. This would represent a major shift in approach.
The High Court has ruled in favour of a spread betting firm that exercised its sole discretion in closing out a client's trading position during a period of significant market volatility.
The Government has published legislation giving it wide-ranging powers to revoke or reform retained EU law. Among other things, it includes a proposal for the majority of retained EU legislation to expire at the end of 2023, unless expressly preserved in some form.
Travers Smith LLP has advised an investment vehicle backed by Burger King UK ("BKUK"), a Bridgepoint investee company, on its acquisition of Karali Limited and Teresina Limited (the "Karali Group"). The acquisition of the Karali Group, being the second largest portfolio of Burger King franchise restaurants in the UK, will result in 74 Burger King restaurants being added to the BKUK portfolio.
Whether it's the Northern Ireland Protocol or what to do about retained EU law, numerous Brexit-related issues continue to lurk in the new Prime Minister's in-tray. A key challenge will be how and where to strike the balance between the urgent need for measures to tackle the cost of living crisis and political pressure for action on Brexit-related issues raised during the leadership campaign.
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In 28 October 2021 Facebook rebranded as Meta, with the aspiration "to be seen as a metaverse company". Since then, there's been a significant buzz about the metaverse – the "next chapter of the internet", according to Mark Zuckerberg.
The challenge for a business when drafting a restrictive covenant is that if it seeks to constrain the other party's freedom to operate too much or for too long in the interests of protecting its own business, the courts may refuse to enforce the restriction. Two recent Court of Appeal rulings highlight some of the hazards in relation to post-termination non-compete obligations in B2B agreements.
This decision considers the somewhat ambiguous test in English law regarding unilateral mistake.
The High Court recently considered whether the delay to the Premier League season caused by the first COVID-19 lockdown triggered a material adverse change clause (commonly known as a MAC clause) in contracts for broadcasting rights. In this briefing we look at how this compares with previous cases on MAC clauses and what the lessons are when drafting such provisions.
Further to our previous article here, the SFO has now secured a conviction against Glencore on seven counts of international bribery. The successful prosecution makes Glencore the first company to admit to bribing a person under the Bribery Act and is the SFO’s third corporate conviction under these rules.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has recently published its response to the consultation on data protection reform (which we previously wrote about here). For those disappointed by the lack of detail in the Queen's Speech on the Data Reform Bill, this response provides a clearer picture of UK data protection reforms to come – which measures the UK Government is taking forward, which it is dropping and which it needs to consider further. For the detail, we'll need to wait for the text of the draft Bill itself.
Travers Smith LLP has advised longstanding client Equistone Partners Europe Limited ("Equistone") and other selling shareholders on the sale of OneOcean Group Limited ("OneOcean"), one of the largest global suppliers of voyage solutions in the maritime industry, to Lloyd's Register.