Clearance meaning

This Checklist highlights the principal points to review when signing off advertising copy. It is designed to assist advertisers and their legal advisers in ensuring print ads adhere to statutory and self-regulatory requirements, including the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing (CAP Code), Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) help notes, and the unfair commercial practices provisions of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA 2024). For broader guidance on advertising controls, see Practice Note: Advertising law and regulation. A third column is available to capture remarks or observations as you progress through the Checklist... Checklist Further information Notes (if any) Introductory considerations Have you reviewed the CAP Code and CAP’s Formal Guidance, along with relevant guidance from trading standards bodies and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)? Non-broadcast advertising is governed by legislation as well as the CAP Code. For more detail, see Practice Note: Advertising law and regulation... Have you taken account of relevant consumer legislation? When...

This Checklist supports planning for a print marketing campaign. It concentrates on marketing-specific needs, excluding wider transactional matters (eg contract formation, distance selling). Scope includes targeting and placement, agency agreements, data protection, advertising compliance, and prize or price promotions. It also addresses conformity with the UK’s legislative and self-regulatory framework, notably the unfair commercial practices rules in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA 2024) and the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing (CAP Code). Print ads remain pivotal to big-brand activity, across billboards, posters, brochures, leaflets, newspapers and magazines. In the UK, print advertising is overseen through a blend of industry self-regulation and statute. For a wider briefing on the UK advertising environment, see Practice Note: Advertising law and regulation. See also: Advertising copy approval—checklist; Planning a digital marketing campaign—checklist. A third column is available to capture observations or remarks while working through the Checklist... Checklist Further information Notes (if any) Targeting and placement ...

STOP PRESS: A major, wide-ranging overhaul of the UK listing framework took effect on 29 July 2024, abolishing the premium and standard listing segments and introducing a unified category for equity shares of commercial companies. That commercial companies category is strongly disclosure-led and sits alongside other listing categories, including the shell companies, secondary listing and closed ended investment fund categories. A new UK Listing Rules sourcebook commenced to deliver these reforms, and the previous Listing Rules sourcebook was withdrawn at the same time. For more detail, see Practice Note: Reform of the UK listing regime—fundamentals for guidance. This Checklist represents the listing regime as it existed before 29 July 2024. A limited company may acquire its own shares if certain conditions set out in the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006) are satisfied under that statute. This is commonly referred to as a share buyback or a purchase of own shares. In addition to the provisions of the CA 2006, further rules and guidelines are relevant to a listed company...

Flowchart This flowchart summarises the UK trade mark application journey. Initially, it addresses pre-application actions, such as conducting clearance searches and assessing potential obstacles to registration. It then describes the pathway, starting with filing a trade mark application at the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and concluding with the registration of the trade mark as the culmination...

Mergers The Commission approved the purchase granting joint control over X2O group to Vendis Capital Management NV and Waterland Private Equity Investments B.V....

Mergers AG advises Court of Justice to reject appeal against conditional Phase II clearance of the PKN/Gupto Lotos merger Advocate General Medina has delivered his opinion in Case C-541/23 P, Polwax v Commission, an appeal against the General Court’s judgment in Case T-585/20 that upheld the Commission’s 14 July 2020 decision conditionally clearing the acquisition of PKN Orlen after a Phase II investigation (M.9104). He recommends that the Court of Justice dismiss the first ground of appeal, which concerns the definition of the upstream market. Background On 14 July 2020, the Commission approved, subject to conditions, the proposed acquisition of Lotos by PKN Orlen (the Commission’s 2020 decision). Lotos and LKN Orlen were two large Polish integrated oil and gas companies. Following its Phase II review, the Commission concluded that the merger would harm competition, notably in the following areas: the wholesale and retail supply of motor fuels in Poland; the supply of jet fuel in Poland and the Czech Republic; and ...

Mergers The Commission approved the takeover giving exclusive control of Gimv by WorkxInvest NV (M.11450) following a phase I review—see further Midday Express. The Commission was notified of Hydro Energi/Miracl/Rein JV (M.11388) under the simplified merger procedure. Note—For all live merger investigations before the Commission, see further the EU mergers—ongoing cases tracker...

The Pensions Regulator (the Regulator) The Regulator is an arm’s-length public body set up under the Pensions Act 2004 (PeA 2004). Its authority to impose contribution notices and financial support directions appears in PeA 2004, ss 38–50. Although the Act does not use the label, these provisions are widely known as the Regulator’s ‘moral hazard’ powers. Their purpose is to counter the ‘moral hazard’ arising from the Pension Protection Fund (PPF): the possibility that corporate groups might organise their structures so as to heighten exposure within their pension schemes, comfortable that the PPF would intervene if the employer entered insolvency. The principal moral hazard tools—and the only ones exercised so far—are the power to issue a contribution notice (CN) and the power to issue a financial support direction (FSD). A CN compels the recipient to pay a specified amount into a defined benefit occupational pension scheme. A CN can be issued where the criteria in PeA 2004, s 38 are satisfied. These mechanisms exist to deter behaviour that would...

Over the course of the past month, annual adjustments have been made to merger control thresholds in Canada, Italy and the Philippines, while Montenegro has revamped its regime, introducing swifter timetables and more adaptable filing provisions. Canada—thresholds remain the same in 2026 On 2 March 2026, the Canadian Competition Bureau (CCB) confirmed, after its yearly review, that Canadian merger notification thresholds will stay exactly as they are for 2026. The thresholds remain (in brief): size of transaction test: the target must be, or control, an operating business in Canada with more than CDN$93m (approximately €58.9m/US$66.6m) in Canadian assets (book value) or gross revenue produced by those assets from sales in, from or into Canada (ie domestic plus export sales), and size of parties test: all parties and their affiliates (in aggregate) must together hold over CDN$400m (approximately €253.4m/US$286.3m) in Canadian assets or gross revenues derived from sales in, from or into Canada (ie domestic sales, exports and imports) (this threshold is unchanged and...

NOTE—to check whether notification thresholds in Vietnam and worldwide are triggered, please consult: Where to Notify. 1. Have there been any recent developments regarding the Vietnamese merger control regime and are any updates/developments expected in the coming year? Are there any other ‘hot’ merger control issues in Vietnam? In 2020, Vietnam promulgated Decree 35 on Detailed Regulations for Implementation of the Law on Competition dated 24 March 2020 (Decree 35), which became effective on 15 May 2020. This marked a pivotal step in putting into operation the competition framework envisaged under the Law on Competition dated 12 June 2018 (Competition Law). The body designated under the Competition Law, the Vietnam Competition Committee (VCC), was established on 1 April 2023 and from that date assumed responsibility for the merger control regime. Decree 35 introduced the following clarifications to merger control: Notification thresholds, under which a transaction must be notified where: the total assets or turnover in Vietnam of...

[ Insert your current residential address ] Entry Clearance Officer, [ Insert address of decision-making centre to which the application is being sent ] [ Insert date ] Dear [ insert organisation name ] Application for entry clearance as a [ spouse OR civil partner OR unmarried partner ] under Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules I am a national of [ insert nationality ] and the [ spouse OR civil partner OR unmarried partner ] of [ insert name of sponsoring partner ]. My birth date is [ insert date of birth ] and my age is currently [ insert age ]. I confirm that I am not related to [ insert name of sponsoring partner ] in any manner that is barred for [ marriage OR civil partnership ] in the UK...

Dear [ Applicant ], Skilled Worker entry clearance visa We are instructed [ by [ Sponsor ] ] to support you [ and your dependants ] with an application for UK entry clearance (a visa) under the Skilled Worker route. This route permits non‑British or Irish citizens who have a job offer from a UK employer holding a valid sponsor licence to work in the UK. Eligibility I understand you have been offered a post by [ Sponsor ] as a [ role ], with annual pay of £[ salary ] and a working week of [ number of weekly hours ] hours. Your sponsor confirms the role is within Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) 2020 code [ SOC 2020 code ], listed in Table [ Table number ] of Appendix Skilled Occupations of the Immigration Rules. For you, the applicable general salary threshold is [ general threshold amount ] and the going rate is [ going rate amount ]...

[ To be produced on the official letterheaded paper of the overseas business ] [ Address to either: Chief Immigration Officer [ insert port of entry ] (non-visa nationals) or Entry Clearance Officer [ insert entry clearance post ] (visa nationals) ] [ Add date ] Dear [ insert organisation’s name ] [ Provide the visitor’s full name, date of birth, and nationality exactly as stated in the passport ] Request for entry to the UK for a business visit This correspondence is submitted to back the request of the person named above for permission to enter the UK as a visitor within the standard visitor category for a duration of [ insert number of days/weeks/months ]...

Such works may fall under section 105(1)(b) of the HGCRA 1996 Such works may fall within section 105(1)(b), which treats road maintenance as a construction operation covering the construction, alteration, repair, maintenance, extension, demolition or dismantling of works forming, or to form, part of land, including walls, roadworks, power lines, electronic communications apparatus, runways, docks, harbours, railways, inland waterways, pipelines, reservoirs, water mains, wells, sewers, industrial plant, and installations for land drainage, coast protection or defence. Alternatively, section 105(1)(e) catches operations integral to, preparatory for, or rendering complete those works, including site clearance, earth-moving, excavation, tunnelling, laying foundations, erecting, maintaining or dismantling scaffolding, site restoration, landscaping, and providing roadways and other access. No specific authority concerns these works, yet courts have often held that less orthodox activities are construction operations, for example: Baldwins Industrial Services plc v Barr: crane with driver hire held integral, preparatory to, or completing works under sections 105(1)(a) and (e). Some contracts are excluded from being a ‘construction...

Practice Note: Applying under the Representative of an Overseas Business category Please see Practice Note: Applying under the Representative of an Overseas Business category, which sets out the eligibility criteria and process (including application form and fee details) for submitting an initial application or seeking an extension under the UK immigration route for Representatives of an Overseas Business. The note explains the eligibility criteria for Sole Representatives of an Overseas Business...