Ireland - Commercial Law

Roughly 70% of notifications used the CCPC’s simplified procedure (63 cases), indicating ongoing extensive reliance on a fast-track route for unproblematic transactions. Overall, in total, average clearance periods were around 40 calendar days; simplified reviews averaged about 16 calendar days, and the longest case, concluded in 2025, required 344 calendar days......

EU Member States are facing a challenge to ensure smooth cross-sectoral and cross-border co-operation between the regulators tasked with enforcing the bloc EU's AI law, with no easy solution to navigate the complexity. Timetables for crucial elements of the EU AI Act have already slipped. Most EU countries failed to meet August 2025’s deadline to establish national authorities to oversee rules for high-risk AI systems. Setbacks in creating compliance tools, including technical standards, have led the European Commission to suggest postponing the high-risk regime, thereby granting Member States additional time to ready their governance arrangements. The EU AI Act leaves it to national governments to decide how to organise AI oversight, resulting in enforcement duties being spread across a mix of data protection authorities, telecom regulators, cybersecurity agencies and other regulatory bodies. “The institutional structures vary in each country, and we need to respect them,” said...

Meta Platforms, TikTok, X and Amazon are now well used to the steady rhythm of enforcement under the EU's content-moderation law, but are increasingly encountering private actions that seek remedies for alleged shortcomings. Such claims were always envisaged by the EU's Digital Services Act (EU DSA), operating alongside public oversight by the European Commission and national regulators, and they are now emerging as a growing exposure for Big Tech platforms. Most of the EU DSA lawsuits disclosed to date have been brought by advocacy groups and consumer organisations in Germany and the Netherlands, and have been filed in national courts (see here, here and here). As a result, these first decisions take effect only at the national level. One example is a recent Dutch ruling in summary proceedings that compelled Meta to offer Facebook and Instagram users a...

This Practice Note sets out a high-level guide to Regulation (EU) 2022/1925, the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA), viewed from an Irish standpoint. It addresses the DMA’s effects on the Irish marketplace, outlines the suite of rules the DMA introduces, explains how gatekeepers are designated, and describes the European Commission’s enforcement toolkit under the regime. It also considers worldwide compliance expectations, the forthcoming steps towards rolling out the DMA, and the key dates for meeting the obligations it imposes. The Digital Markets Act On 15 December 2020, the European Commission (the Commission) unveiled proposals for two EU-wide measures to govern digital services-the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act. On 27 October 2022, the Commission completed adoption of the DMA by publishing its text in the EU Official Journal, triggering a six‑month transition period before the DMA became enforceable on 2 May 2023. The DMA aims to...

This Practice Note provides an overview of the law, guidance and practice on executing simple contracts and deeds in Ireland. It sets out the principal distinctions between simple contracts and deeds and the formalities for execution. It also addresses counterparts and virtual closings, electronic signatures, powers of attorney, deed of variation, Irish Collective Asset-management Vehicles (IVACs) and property transactions. Creating a contract A contract is a legally binding agreement conferring rights and imposing obligations between two or more parties. In essence, four core requirements must be met before a contract arises: an offer has been made that offer has been accepted valuable consideration is provided for performance of the contract the parties intend to be legally bound Contracts can be: oral written a mixture of oral and written by deed The general rule is that writing is not...

This resource kit This resource kit brings together the principal practical guidance available across Lexis+® UK on artificial intelligence (AI). Organised by practice area, it is refreshed as new material appears. The rapid growth of AI technologies has led lawmakers, businesses and the public to focus more closely on the potential advantages and the risks that accompany AI use. AI gives rise to a range of legal and regulatory considerations across numerous disciplines, including: intellectual property (IP) data protection and cybersecurity transactional work such as corporate and commercial employment healthcare and life sciences finance The UK government is developing an AI regulatory strategy that will determine how AI is governed here in future. In the EU, a legislative framework is being built to regulate AI, primarily via Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 laying down harmonised rules on artificial...

This precedent sets out an assignment of intellectual property rights, prepared to be broadly even‑handed for both sides. It includes optional or alternative clauses that may favour the assignor or the assignee. Use this document to transfer expressly identified intellectual property rights, or a category of rights specified for a defined work. This DEED is dated [ insert date ] Parties Confirm the accuracy of the names stated in the contract. Where a corporate group is involved, ensure the correct group company is the entity entering into the agreement. [ insert name ] [ of OR a company incorporated under the laws of [ Ireland ] with company number [ insert registered number ] whose registered office is at ] [ insert address ] ( Assignor ); and [ insert name ] [ of OR a company incorporated under the laws of [...

This template Contract review/request form is provided for staff to request a draft contract, or a contract review, from the legal department as part of your contract management process. It offers the legal team an initial basis from which to begin reviewing or drafting any contract. Inevitably, additional questions will arise depending on the contract type. Raise such questions with the requester as you carry out your review or commence the draft. Please tick: ☐ Contract for review by the legal department attached ☐ Draft contract required 1 General information Requesting This information is intended to guide the legal team at the outset......

Module four of the EU Standard Contractual Clauses This Precedent provides a template for ‘module four’ of the EU Standard Contractual Clauses (also referred to as the Model Clauses or SCCs) introduced by Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/914 (the 2021 EU SCCs). It is tailored for the transfer of personal data: from a data processor subject to the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (EU GDPR) whose only or main establishment in the EU, for EU GDPR purposes, is in Ireland to a data controller based outside the EEA that is not subject to the EU GDPR both where the EEA processor merges personal data received from the third country controller with personal data it collects in the EEA, and where the EEA processor does not The terms of this 2021 EU SCCs module differ slightly depending on which of these scenarios applies, and this...