Notified value meaning

Enhance When unveiling the Review, OFSI led with the headline, ‘UK sanctions freeze £25bn of Russian assets’, adding that ‘over £25 billion of Russian assets [has been] reported frozen since Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine’. That total derives from OFSI’s Russian Frozen Assets In‑Year Reporting, which records the most recent known value of frozen assets said to be held at the moment of designation, as reported to the authority by those required to make such notifications. By December 2024, £25bn in assets linked to the Russia regime had been notified to OFSI as frozen since February 2022. In 2023, frozen funds reported to OFSI across every sanctions regime came to £24.5bn, with £10bn attributable to the Russia regime. The updated number appears in OFSI’s latest Annual Frozen Asset Review, which obliges anyone holding or controlling assets frozen under UK financial sanctions to disclose to OFSI the type and value of those assets. There is some uncertainty around precision, as both totals rest on the reliability of the frozen asset...

Project One London Ltd v VMA Services Ltd [2025] EWHC 3304 (TCC) What was the background? The parties contracted for the design and installation of mechanical services under their sub-contract, adopting the JCT Design and Build Sub-Contract Agreement Conditions 2016. The agreement included standard interim payment mechanisms, operating in the usual way. VMA lodged Application for Payment No. 8, stating £106,434.88 as the amount due (the Notified Sum). POL failed to issue either a payment notice or a pay less notice at any point. Project One Limited (POL) initiated a TVA. VMA relied on POL’s non-payment of the Notified Sum as a defence, contending on jurisdictional and/or substantive grounds that the TVA could not proceed in the face of that non-payment, and asking the adjudicator to require POL to pay the Notified Sum without delay. The adjudicator determined that VMA had made a valid Application for Payment and that POL had not served a valid Payment Notice and/or Pay Less Notice; it therefore followed that the Notified Sum...

VMA Services Limited v Project One London Limited [2025] EWHC 1815 (TCC) What are the practical implications of this case? The decision underscores that where an employer (or main contractor) does not issue a compliant Payment or Pay Less Notice, the contractor (or sub‑contractor) becomes entitled to the notified sum — namely the figure stated in the payee’s default payment notice — and the adjudicator may direct immediate payment of that amount, without need for a further adjudication. Paying the notified sum is a mandatory, immediate legal obligation of payment. A true valuation adjudication cannot be used by the employer (or main contractor) to challenge liability or quantum until the notified sum has first been paid in full. Accordingly, serving valid Payment or Pay Less Notices is essential to preserve the right to contest payment figures through the adjudication process and to avoid surrendering the opportunity. It also confirms an adjudicator’s jurisdiction to make a monetary award in favour of a responding party where, within the scope of...

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...

This month has brought updated merger control thresholds across Argentina, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Columbia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Peru, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and the USA. New thresholds have also taken effect in China, Ukraine and Uruguay. In addition, COMESA has opened a consultation on its draft Competition and Consumer Protection Regulations. Argentina—annual revision to notification thresholds Argentina has implemented revised notification thresholds following the yearly uplift in the value of adjustable units, the metric underpinning the filing triggers. A deal must now be notified where the parties’ combined turnover in Argentina surpasses ARS 50.6bn (approximately EUR 59.9m/US$ 172.9m), increased from ARS 16.2bn, unless: the aggregate value of assets transferred in Argentina is no more than ARS 10.1bn (approximately EUR 31.9m/US$ 34.5m) the overall price payable for the transaction in Argentina does not exceed ARS 10.1bn (approximately EUR 1.9m/US$ 34.5m) the acquiring group has not completed any other deal in the same market in the prior 12 or 36 months exceeding ARS 10.1bn (approximately EUR...

Protected areas and protected sites Under section 55(1) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (TCPA 1990), development is taken to include carrying out building, engineering, mining or other works in, on, over or beneath land, as well as any material change to the use of buildings or other land. Anyone who has acquired, or is considering acquiring, land for development, or who plans to undertake development activity, must first assess whether the land is a protected site or supports protected species. It is the developer’s duty to establish whether proposed works could impact a protected area or site. They should check, in advance, whether their proposals are likely to affect any such areas or sites at all. Protected areas and protected sites include: national parks—areas designated for their natural beauty and for the opportunities they provide for open-air recreation, with regard to their character and their relationship to centres of population. See Practice Note: Biodiversity and nature—protected sites Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty—tracts...

FORTHCOMING CHANGE: On 26 November 2025, as part of Budget 2025, it was confirmed that, with effect from 6 April 2026, the following EMI parameters will be uplifted: The gross assets limit will rise from £30 million to £120 million. The maximum number of full-time equivalent employees will increase from 250 to 500. The overall limit on the value of unexercised EMI options that a company or group can have in existence at any given time will go from £3 million to £6 million. The permitted exercise period will extend from 10 years to 15 years. It will also be possible to amend existing EMI options to reflect this longer exercise period without losing tax advantages, provided the changes are consistent with the legislation (which will form part of Finance Bill 2025–26). Furthermore, it was announced that, from April 2027, the requirement for the grant of EMI options to be notified to HMRC in order for them to take...

1 Definitions In this Agreement, these terms have the following meanings: AA 2020 – Agriculture Act 2020. Actual Completion Date – the date on which the Transfer is finalised. Agreement – this Agreement together with any collateral or supplemental document. Buyer’s Solicitors – [name] of [address] (ref [details]) or any firm later notified by the Buyer. Completion Date – [date] or [20] working days from today. Deposit – [£[amount] or [10]% of the Price]. Interest Rate – [4]% above the [bank] base rate from time to time. LRA 2002 – Land Registration Act 2002. Price – [amount in words] pounds (£[figures]). Property – the freehold known as [description] ([title number]) shown [edged/coloured/hatched] [colour] on [Plan]. Seller’s Solicitors – [name] of [address] (ref [details]) or any firm later notified by the Seller or the Buyer. Standard Conditions – the Standard Commercial Property Conditions (Third Edition—2018 Revision). Transfer – the transfer of the Property from the...