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In the fourth episode of this series, Tax Partner Hannah Manning, Knowledge Counsel Kulsoom Hadi and Trainee Solicitors Josh Channon and Amar Degon discuss the possible reforms to capital gains tax to be announced in the Autumn Budget on 30 October 2024. The team reviews speculation from recent commentary and delves into past budget announcements, as well as discussing comparisons with CGT rates in other countries.

In the third episode of series, Head of Tax, Russell Warren, Associate Ross McGregor and Trainee Nadia Ashbridge discuss the possible reforms to key business taxes including Corporation Tax, VAT and Employer NICs expected to be announced in the Autumn Budget on 30 October 2024. The team also consider Labour's manifesto pledge promising a Business Taxes Roadmap and what this might mean for businesses in the longer term.

Welcome to the third edition of the Travers Smith Outsourcing Spotlight. In this issue, we look at the impact on outsourcing of the new Labour Government's employment reforms and the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024.  We also discuss a range of other topics including artificial intelligence, smart contracts and a recent Supreme Court decision on force majeure clauses.

This article was first published in the October 2024 issue of Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law.

Background to the referral

On 19 September, the Court of Justice ("CJEU") handed down its judgment in Booking.com BV and Booking.com (Deutschland) GmbH v 25hours Hotel Company Berlin GmbH and Others. This case made its way to the CJEU as a reference for preliminary ruling from the Amsterdam District Court connected to a private dispute between Booking.com and a number of providers of accommodation services in Germany.

Our round-up of recent and forthcoming developments in UK law and practice for our international stakeholders.

A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry. 

The Advertising Standard Agency's (ASA's) use of AI-assisted collective advert monitoring is having a clear effect; with a 30-fold increase in the number of adverts analysed by the ASA in the period 2022 – 2023, and the ASA's new strategy to proactively pursue so-called "greenwashing" claims, businesses across many sectors are falling foul of the regulator.  

Introduction

In our Dispute Resolution Yearbook article Anti-suit injunctions for foreign seated arbitrations – a closing door?, we discussed the Court of Appeal's decision in UniCredit -v- RusChemAlliance^[1] in which the Court of Appeal granted a final anti-suit injunction (ASI) restraining RusChemAlliance LLA (RCA) from pursuing court proceedings in Russia, in breach of a Paris-seated arbitration agreement. The Court of Appeal's judgment was the first time that the English Courts had ordered, on a contested basis, that England was the proper place to bring a claim for an ASI in respect of a foreign-seated arbitration clause.

Welcome to the fifth episode in our Sustainability Insights ... in conversation series.

HMRC has today updated its guidance on the UK's employment-related securities (ERS) rules which can tax, as employment income, benefits arising to employees from securities deriving from their employment.  For these purposes, directorships count as employment and, broadly, securities derive from employment if the right or opportunity to acquire them is, actually, available by reason of the employee's employment. On top of this factual causation test, there is a long-standing deeming provision which, essentially, says that if a security is made available by a person's employer or a person connected with the employer, it will be an ERS (unless awarded due to domestic, family or personal relationships).  

Following its pledge to introduce legislation within its first 100 days, the Government has now published the Employment Rights Bill. Once implemented, this legislation will make a number of significant changes to UK employment law.

Partner and Head of Pensions Susie Daykin and Technology and Commercial Transactions Partner James Longster discuss what AI can and can't do. How might trustees and regulators use it and approach its use by others?

A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry. 

In this briefing, we focus on four areas of law and practice which have seen interesting recent changes: landlord and tenant; nuisance; real estate development; and protest. Our briefing explores some of the ways in which the real estate sector continues to be impacted by, and to respond to, challenges around energy efficiency; housing rights and safety; water management; environmental protection; and the right to protest.

Our regular round-up of recent and forthcoming developments in law and practice for in-house counsel.

Earlier this year, the European Court of Human Rights (the "ECtHR") delivered three judgments on the application of the European Convention on Human Rights ("Convention") in the climate change context. Whilst two of these cases (Agostinho^[1] and Carême^[2]) were ruled inadmissible on procedural grounds, in the case of KlimaSeniorinnen^[3], the ECtHR found a violation of Convention rights in relation to climate change and outlined positive obligations on all State Parties to the Convention, including the UK, to mitigate climate change.

Private Equity & Financial Sponsors Partner Tom Hartwright has featured in Financier Worldwide's special report on private equity-backed M&A.

Gearing up for exit or making a strategic acquisition can be a daunting task, and it is important to be prepared. This briefing highlights the key legal due diligence issues to arise in relation to software businesses in the UK and EU, focussing on intellectual property and trading arrangement aspects.