Grace period meaning

Background The complainant, a Brazilian citizen who has lived in Ireland since 2018, began working as a fashion buyer for the respondent, a Galway-based clothing retailer, on 2 August 2022. She held an Irish Residence Permit (IRP) that authorised her to work lawfully and was subject to annual renewal. On 20 November 2023, well ahead of the 23 January 2024 expiry, she applied to the Department of Justice to renew the IRP. The respondent’s payroll administrator stated that, in November 2023, the complainant advised her that the IRP was nearing expiry and that she had already submitted the renewal application. Subsequently, on 23 January 2024, the respondent’s office manager identified that the complainant’s IRP was due to lapse that very day...

In a judgment issued on 12 March 2025, the court found that the EU Intellectual Property Office was correct to reject evidence submitted by Lidl Vertriebs-GmbH & Co KG concerning the prior public disclosure of one of its lightbulb designs, and it dismissed the appeal in full. Lidl Vertriebs-GmbH had asked the EUIPO to invalidate the design owned by Taiwanese company LiquidLeds, arguing the German company’s case that it lacked the 'individual character' required for IP protection. Lidl specifically maintained that the Taiwanese firm’s bulb was essentially the same as earlier designs that had already been made public before the Taiwanese company filed its application. The EUIPO rejected Lidl’s claim, prompting the company to appeal. However, the Board of Appeal dismissed the challenge after officials determined that the earlier designs...

In this issue: New technologies Information technology Internet Data protection Media Advertising, marketing and sponsorship Telecommunications Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information New technologies MLex: OpenAI, Microsoft, Google and other major AI players noted today’s release of the EU AI Act’s code of practice for general‑purpose AI models, yet accompanying guidance and a data disclosure template are still outstanding, leaving uncertainty over whether providers will commit without the complete picture. With guidance and the template still awaited, it is unclear if firms will sign up before seeing the entire package. The European Commission is informally considering a grace period to ease early compliance, though timeframe has not yet been determined and confirmation is pending. A handful of last‑minute edits also entered the concluding text, yielding mixed outcomes on a pivotal copyright element. See: AI developers view the final iteration of the EU...

A risk with employment cessation events is that they can be set off unintentionally, for example because the last remaining active member of an employer in a multi-employer defined benefit scheme has left. The Employer Debt Regulations, SI 2005/678 were amended with effect from 6 April 2008 to introduce grace periods, a device intended to help employers deal with accidental employment cessation events. For further information on employment cessation events and other section 75 triggers, see Practice Note: When is a section 75 debt triggered? When can a grace period be used? When can a grace period be used? An employer in a multi-employer defined benefit scheme may notify the trustees that it wishes to enter a grace period (by giving a grace period notice) if: that employer ceases to employ active members at a time when at least one other employer still employs active members, thereby creating an employment cessation event, and it intends to employ at least one individual who is an...

This practice note applies to defined benefit occupational pension schemes The importance of identifying a scheme’s statutory employer(s) A fundamental element of the law governing occupational pension schemes, particularly defined benefit (DB) schemes, is that the main burden of supporting the scheme lies with its sponsoring employers, as a matter of law alone indeed. An employer might have exited the scheme previously without settling all liabilities owed to it; in such circumstances they may still be a ‘statutory employer’ even though they no longer participate. They may therefore continue to bear obligations in relation to the scheme. Under the registered pension scheme regime, various specific obligations fall upon those who qualify as ‘statutory employers’, a notion carried over from the earlier tax-exempt approval regime in force before A-day (for further information on the pre A-day regime, see The pre A-day pensions tax regime [Archived]). These duties will typically extend beyond those that a participating employer assumes under the scheme’s trust deed and rules. For...

Business asset Capital gains tax (CGT) may fall due when you realise a gain on the disposal of all or part of a business asset. A business asset is any asset connected to a trade or business, owned by an individual or the business. Examples include: a factory farm buildings agricultural land plant and machinery a furnished holiday letting (FHL) shares registered trade marks Business assets may benefit from CGT reliefs; investment assets do not. Reliefs can apply where the asset has been used for business purposes. Furnished holiday accommodation For a property to qualify as an FHL and benefit from CGT relief, it must be: in the UK or the European Economic Area (EEA) furnished with sufficient furniture for use as holiday accommodation available to the public for commercial holiday letting for at least 210 days (the availability condition) commercially let as holiday accommodation for at least 105...