Commercial Law

Section 6 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 supersedes VPA 2024, s 17, scrapping the prior constraint that protected disclosures had to be made to particular recipients for specified purposes. Any term in any agreement, including commercial non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), is void to the extent it seeks to stop a victim, or someone who reasonably believes they are a victim, from revealing relevant criminal conduct-or the counterparty’s reaction to it-to anyone, for any purpose. The new provision binds the Crown, subject only to a tightly drawn national security exception. This analysis examines how these reforms align with existing common law limits on confidentiality and their consequences for standard commercial NDA templates. It is written by Richard Hanstock, a barrister at Cornerstone Barristers and the founder of Deeptech Legal, an SRA-authorised firm specialising in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, defence technology and national security...

In this issue: Advertising, marketing and sponsorship Contracts Sale and supply of goods Supply of services LexTalk®Commercial: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Horizon Scanner and Trackers Advertising, marketing and sponsorship ASA Rulings – 27 May 2026 Two complaints were reviewed by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) on whether gambling-related Instagram ads breached the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) Code by including individuals likely to be of strong appeal to under-18s. The ASA upheld the complaint against Oddschecker, but did not uphold the complaint against Betway. See: LNB News 27/05/2026 6. Contracts The Winros Partnership v Global Energy Horizons Corporation [2026] EWCA Civ 654 The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed both appeals brought by the Winros Partnership (formerly Rosenblatt Solicitors) against decisions of Marcus Smith J. The matters...

Following missed deadlines, the European Commission has moved against a number of EU Member States for not notifying full transposition of EU Directives into domestic law. It has issued letters of formal notice, allowing Member States two months to reply and finalise legal transposition, after which......

Practice Note This Practice Note offers practical guidance on the current border controls between the United Kingdom and the European Union, along with the changes scheduled to commence on 1 January 2022. It covers customs declarations, the payment of customs duty and VAT, and sanitary and phytosanitary checks. Introduction In November 2021, the UK released its updated border operating model, explaining how the UK border functions in relation to the EU. The model was originally brought in on 1 January 2021 following the UK’s departure from the EU customs union. From that date, certain border controls were introduced. These were phased in to allow time to build and prepare the necessary infrastructure to support those controls. In December 2021, the UK further updated the border operating model to temporarily prolong staged customs controls for goods moving from the island of Ireland into Great Britain. This interim step was taken...

STOP PRESS: On 19 June 2025, the Data (Use and Access) Bill obtained Royal Assent, becoming the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (DUAA 2025), with parts commencing that day. Provisions dealing with responses to data subject access requests, and the conferral of power to make further regulations, took immediate effect on 19 June 2025. Other measures-covering notices issued by the Information Commissioner and certain aspects of law enforcement processing-commenced on 19 August 2025, two months after Royal Assent. The majority of DUAA 2025’s remaining provisions will only begin once additional regulations are made in the form of statutory instruments. Part 5 of DUAA 2025 updates elements of UK data protection and ePrivacy legislation, including the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation, Assimilated Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, SI...

Introduction This Practice Note provides an overview of the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) guidance on how the Chapter I prohibition in the Competition Act 1998 (CA 1998) applies to horizontal agreements (the Horizontal Guidance). The Horizontal Guidance supersedes the European Commission Guidelines on Horizontal Cooperation Agreements, which no longer have effect in the UK. Where relevant, this Practice Note also signposts the Competition Act 1998 (Vertical Agreements Block Exemption) Order 2022 (VABEO) and the CMA’s guidance on that regime (VABEO Guidance). NOTE-The Horizontal Guidance contains a high-level outline of the block exemptions for research and development (R&D) and specialisation agreements, which took effect on 1 January 2023. These exemptions are only summarised in this Practice Note. Sustainability is excluded from the Horizontal Guidance; it is addressed in separate guidance and is not covered here. What is a horizontal agreement? A ‘horizontal agreement’ is a pact between...

STOP PRESS: On 19 June 2025, the Data (Use and Access) Bill obtained Royal Assent, becoming the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (DUAA 2025), with provisions also coming into force in part on that day. Certain DUAA 2025 provisions, addressing matters such as handling data subject access requests and the conferral of powers to make further regulations, commenced straightaway on 19 June 2025. Other provisions, relating to notices issued by the Information Commissioner and specific aspects of law enforcement processing, took effect on 19 August 2025 (being two months from the date of Royal Assent). The majority of DUAA 2025’s provisions will only commence once additional regulations are made, in the form of statutory instruments, to bring them into effect. Parts 5 and 6 of DUAA 2025 serve to amend aspects of data protection and ePrivacy law in the UK, including the United...

Please carefully review these important terms and conditions before purchasing from our catalogue and ensure they include everything you expect and nothing you would refuse to accept. Summary of some of your key rights: The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 state that, in most situations, you have 14 days from the day you receive your items to change your mind and obtain a full refund. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires goods to match their description, be suitable for their intended use and be of satisfactory quality. Across the anticipated lifespan of your purchase, you are entitled to: up to 30 days: if your goods are faulty, you can claim a refund; up to six months: if repair or replacement is not possible, in most cases you are due a full refund; up to six years: if the goods do not last a...

Please review these important terms and conditions before purchasing anything from us, and ensure they contain everything you require and nothing you are unwilling to accept. Summary of some of your key rights: The Consumer Rights Act 2015 provides that: you may ask us to redo or repair a service if it is not carried out with reasonable care and skill, or receive some money back if we cannot resolve it; if a price was not agreed in advance, the amount you are asked to pay must be reasonable; if no time was agreed beforehand, the service must be completed within a reasonable time. This is a brief outline of some of your key rights. For detailed guidance from Citizens Advice please visit www.citizensadvice.org.uk or call 0808 223 1133. The information in this summary box highlights some of your key rights. It does not replace the contract below, which you should read...

This Q&A concerns a contract for land and vehicles―a mixed contract. Not every land transaction must follow a public procurement process publicised in the Official Journal of the European Union. Whether such a procedure is needed depends on the character of the arrangement and the contracting authority’s involvement, though land can still comprise a procurable component within a contract. The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015), SI 2015/102, do not apply where a contract contains inseparable mixed elements and the procurable aspects are not the contract’s principal object. The key point here is to determine whether the dominant element is the vehicles or the land. Under PCR 2015, SI 2015/102, reg 4(2), there are provisions guiding a contracting authority when dealing with a contract that includes some, but not exclusively, procurable elements......

This Q&A proceeds on the basis that: the question relates to a business-to-business transaction the question relates to a contract drafted and negotiated in the conventional manner and is not an e-commerce transaction entered into between the parties via website terms and conditions the question relates to the execution of a simple contract the question relates to the law of England and Wales Contract formation General contract law principles apply to agreements formed virtually......

For this Q&A, our review is confined to how lotteries, competitions and prize draws differ. Our analysis has focused specifically on distinguishing among these three mechanisms. Definitions The meaning of 'prize competition' Under the Gambling Act 2005 (GA 2005), a ‘prize competition’ means any contest or arrangement in which a participant may secure a prize, so long as it does not fall within the statutory concept of gambling. The meaning of 'gambling' English law recognises three principal forms of gambling: betting, gaming and lotteries. While the statutory tests are intricate, they can be outlined in broad terms as follows: Betting involves making or accepting a wager on the result of a race, competition or other event or process, on the likelihood of something occurring or not occurring, or on whether a proposition is true or false (even where one party knows the facts). Although ‘bet’ is not...