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R (Greyhound Board of Great Britain Ltd) v Welsh Ministers [2026] EWHC 670 (Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? The ruling reinforces the constitutional divide between the courts and the legislature. It explains that the scheme and framework of the Government of Wales Act 2006 (GWA 2006) embody that separation of powers, and that any judicial attempt to recognise and enforce a common law obligation on Welsh Ministers to consult prior to introducing legislation in the Senedd would trespass upon that boundary. This is not a departure from established principle; case law has already upheld comparable rules for lawmakers in Scotland and at Westminster. However, this is the first express confirmation of the position for Welsh lawmakers, and the first time this dimension of the GWA 2006 has been analysed in such depth. The court examined earlier
The solution arrived through the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC), a quasi‑judicial body handling mass claims, created under UN Security Council Resolution 687. By addressing environmental harm—most notably via its ‘F4’ claim class—the UNCC set a seminal benchmark shaping how international law and contemporary arbitral panels allocate financial responsibility for wartime ecological devastation. With present-day wars in areas such as Eastern Europe and the Middle East bringing dam breaches, strikes on chemical facilities, and the burning of farmland, the UNCC’s legacy endures as an essential reference point for states, global investors, and companies engaged in post‑conflict arbitration. The F4 claims: Quantifying the unquantifiable Prior to the 1990s, mechanisms in international law for war reparations overwhelmingly favoured property loss, foregone earnings, and bodily injury. The natural world was commonly treated as a mute, non-compensable victim of armed hostilities...
Understanding the farming business as a business Many farms still use long-standing structures that arose by habit, not strategy. Sole traders, informal partnerships and outdated partnership deeds are common. While once effective, such setups can cause major issues around succession, tax planning and involving the next generation. A corporate team can take a fresh, business-led view of the farm, asking: Who owns the land and other critical assets? Who manages daily operations? Who carries the risk and who enjoys the return? What is the enduring plan for succession? From this review, the team can confirm whether the current setup is fit for purpose or if an alternative — for example an updated partnership agreement, a company, a limited liability partnership, or a blended model — would better meet the family’s aims. Tax efficiency through joined-up advice Tax sits at the centre of most
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What is the background leading up to this consultation? Energy Performance Certificates ( EPCs) evaluate the energy efficiency of dwellings in England and Wales using a letter-based rating. Since 2018, the Energy Efficiency ( Private Rented Property) ( England and Wales) Regulations 2015 (‘the 2015 Regulations’), SI 2015/962, have required privately rented properties in England and Wales to hold a valid EPC with a rating of E or above, unless a valid exemption applies. In 2020, the previous government consulted on raising the minimum standard to an EPC C, proposing it would apply to new tenancies from 1 April 2025 and to all tenancies by 1 April 2028. No official response followed, and the proposals were subsequently shelved. The current consultation aims to advance the 2020 proposals, acknowledging the time that has passed and the altered context. There are multiple ways to enhance a...
Organised under the ten pillars of the statutory Environmental Improvement Plan 2023 ( EIP 2023), the report outlines multilateral progress alongside notable and key regional and domestic shifts in environmental protection law. It emphasises major regional and national developments in environmental protection legislation. Its publication aims to keep post- Brexit UK attentive to its international environmental law obligations and to keep domestic regulation at the forefront of global best practice as intended. This approach should guard against a parochial stance and stop UK environmental law lagging behind other nations and regions as new global norms emerge, rather than narrowing in outlook. Who has published this report and why published now? Defra issued the International Environmental Protection Report under section 21 of the Environment Act 2021, which obliges the Secretary of State (‘ So S’) to provide a report every two years on...
In this issue: Access to environmental justice Air pollution and climate change Product energy efficiency Environmental disputes and proceedings Environmental enforcement and prosecutions Environmental information Hazardous substances and chemicals Nature, biodiversity and habitat conservation Free webinar: ‘ The Future of Environmental Law’ Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Access to environmental justice Judgment Alert: HM Treasury v Global Feedback Ltd ( WWF UK intervening) [2025] EWCA Civ 624. This appeal was before the Court of Appeal. The key question concerned the meaning of Article 9(3) of the Aarhus Convention, addressing public access to justice in environmental matters. Article 9 obliges each Party to ensure the public can use administrative or judicial routes to challenge acts or omissions by private persons and public bodies that breach provisions of its national law relating to the environment. The court concluded that Article 9(3) applies only where the alleged breach is of a national legal rule...
Dyson’s bid to contest a Court of Appeal ruling “does not raise a point of law of general public importance”, states an order dated 1 May 2025 and approved by the UK Supreme Court on 6 May 2025. On 13 December 2024, the Court of Appeal determined that England was plainly the proper forum to hear the claim brought by 24 migrant labourers. That decision reversed the High Court’s view, where a judge had found the dispute bore strong connections to Malaysia and ought to proceed there. The workers, originating from Nepal and Bangladesh, allege they were trafficked from their homelands. They report having endured exploitative and abusive working and living conditions while engaged by a third‑party supplier providing products and components to the Dyson Group, most widely recognised for its vacuum cleaners. The succinct Supreme Court order records that...
LNB News 12/05/2025 14 What is the background to the publication of the Law Society Practice Note on climate change and property transactions? In April 2023, the Law Society of England and Wales released guidance on solicitors’ duties when advising on climate change. At that point, it was signalled that additional materials would follow for distinct areas of practice. The first of these has now been issued as a Practice Note on climate change and property (the Note), dated 12 May 2025. From the outset, it should be emphasised that the Note does not suggest that lawyers must, or ought to, become experts on the prospective effects of climate change. Instead, it alerts real estate professionals to categories of climate-related risk that may influence the property sector, and indicates how such risks may intersect with the advice they give and the deals they conduct for...
The UK Supreme Court has unanimously confirmed findings that Tradition Financial Services is liable to administrators seeking to recover tax debts due to HMRC, stemming from its part in arranging carbon credit trades over fifteen years ago. The justices determined that by sourcing purchasers for the credits, the firm came within section 213 of the Insolvency Act 1986 ( IA 1986), which permits liquidators to ask the court to order contributions from ‘any persons’ who knowingly take part in conduct intended to defraud creditors. Tradition Financial Services — the London arm of broking heavyweight Compagnie Financière Tradition SA — acted as a third party to the trades and neither directed nor controlled the companies executing them. The deals formed part of a wider €5bn carbon trading fraud that jolted global markets nearly twenty years back. Nonetheless, the court held that, in...
In this issue: Key developments Air emissions and climate change Energy for environmental lawyers Environmental disputes and proceedings Environmental enforcement and prosecutions Environmental information ESG and sustainability Hazardous substances and chemicals Nature, biodiversity and habitat conservation Waste Waste producer responsibility regimes Water, flooding and drainage Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Key developments OEP submits advice to UK government on strengthening Planning and Infrastructure Bill The Office for Environmental Protection ( OEP) has provided guidance to the UK government aimed at reinforcing environmental safeguards in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. While acknowledging the intention to deliver better outcomes for development and the natural environment, the OEP cautions that the Bill, as presently framed, may erode protections embedded in existing environmental law. Its advice highlights priority...
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs v R (on the application of Pickering Fishery Association by Martin Smith) and another ( Office for Environmental Protection, intervening) [2025] EWCA Civ 378 What are the practical implications of this case? The ruling underlines the continuing significance of EU law when construing directives embedded within the law of England and Wales. The court made plain that the WFD’s aims and principles must steer the reading and application of the WFDR 2017, SI 2017/407, and it too drew on EU decisions on interpretation. The Court of Appeal dismissed SSEFRA’s contention that the WFDR 2017, SI 2017/407 should be read so as to harmonise it with other domestic measures, including the Environmental Permitting ( England and Wales) Regulations 2016 ( EPR 2016), 2016/1154 and the Water Industry Act 1991 ( WIA 2019). Those domestic schemes do not...
Fresh guidance for UK banks and insurers, outlining what the central bank expects as they bolster preparedness for climate-related risks, arrived amid mounting criticism of the government’s own mitigation plans. The government’s advisory body, the Climate Change Committee, cautioned that adaptation efforts are either too slow, have stalled, or are heading the wrong way, while former prime minister Tony Blair urged a reset of climate policy in a report emphasising that adapting to climate change must move up the agenda. As both warnings were delivered on 30 April 2025, the Bo E’s PRA guidance felt timely—yet it notably avoided any binding enforcement tools, prompting doubts about how much real-world effect it will achieve. Expectations, not rules In a 51-page communication, the PRA said it expects bank boards to be kept informed about climate-related risks. Boards should then set a business strategy that also...
In this issue: Air emissions and climate change Energy efficiency and buildings Energy efficiency of products Energy for environmental lawyers Environmental assessment Environmental enforcement and prosecutions Environmental issues in transactions Environmental taxes, reliefs and incentives ESG and sustainability Hazardous substances and chemicals Nature, biodiversity and habitat conservation Sources of environmental law Waste Water, flooding and drainage UKELA Annual Conference Daily and weekly news alerts Air emissions and climate change HMRC has opened a technical consultation on draft primary legislation for the carbon border adjustment mechanism ( CBAM), due to take effect from 1 January 2027. Running until 3 July 2025, the exercise addresses practical implementation rather than policy design. The regime would levy a carbon price on specified imports at risk of carbon leakage across the...
UK developments FCA updates webpage on sustainable finance discussion paper DP23/1 The FCA has refreshed its webpage to summarise views submitted on discussion paper ‘ DP23/1: Finance for Positive Sustainable Change’, which it originally issued in February 2023. The regulator reports that respondents were broadly supportive of the significance of sustainability issues and of themes set out in DP23/1. Since releasing DP23/1, however, the FCA notes it has already brought in measures touching several themes, including the Consumer Duty, Sustainable Disclosure Requirements ( SDR) and associated labelling, plus the Anti‑ Greenwashing Rule, and is therefore not presently minded to propose further rules on DP23/1’s themes at the present time. Instead, the FCA will keep advancing the DP23/1 themes via other initiatives, operating within the UK and through international work too. See: LNB News 02/04/2025 49. Source: DP23/1: Finance for positive sustainable change | FCA [...
Key changes DMCCA 2024, Part 3 confers fresh, direct enforcement powers on the CMA in respect of specified consumer regulations. Those powers will apply under the new framework introduced by Part 4 of DMCCA 2024 (effective from 6 April 2025), while the predecessor Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 ( CPUTR 2008), SI 2008/1277, will continue to govern relevant actions—such as misleading statements and omissions—that took place before that date. The CMA may investigate suspected breaches of consumer protection law and, where a contravention is identified, direct companies to comply with remedial steps (for example, removing offending statements from public materials or communications) and/or levy a penalty of up to 10% of a company’s worldwide turnover, including the turnover of any parent company and subsidiaries. In addition, throughout an investigation, the CMA can require undertakings from a business, such as...
In this issue: Air emissions and climate change Environmental permits and consents Environmental taxes, reliefs and incentives ESG and sustainability Hazardous substances and chemicals Nature, biodiversity and habitat conservation Sources of environmental law ( UK, EU, international) Water, flooding and drainage Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content No Weekly Highlights on 24 April 2025 Air emissions and climate change Commission launches three ETS-related consultations for 2026 review The European Commission has opened public consultations on the European Union Emissions Trading System ( EU ETS) and the Market Stability Reserve, together with separate consultations on the Innovation Fund and the Modernisation Fund. These reviews consider how the ETS Directive has operated since the 2018 revisions and will inform the 2026 review, with particular attention to aviation, maritime transport and stationary...
What does the Guidance cover? The Guidance covers the following topic: Core principles of anonymisation and pseudonymisation The Guidance opens by affirming the core legal position: anonymised information lies beyond the reach of the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation, Assimilated Regulation ( EU) 2016/679 ( UK GDPR), whereas pseudonymised information does not. The ICO then explains how this plays out in practice and the advantages linked to each category of data. It frames anonymisation as a personal data minimisation exercise, and pseudonymisation as a means of mitigating risk. Anonymisation involves transforming data so that the individuals to whom it pertains are not, or are no longer, identifiable. Under the UK GDPR, the standard is ‘effective’ anonymisation—reducing the chance of a person being identified to a sufficiently remote level, thereby severing any link between the information and the individual. Merely removing direct...
Late last year, the Home Office issued a policy paper. It was triggered by a House of Lords committee review into the effect of MSA 2015. While the committee hailed MSA 2015 as pioneering, it emphasised that ‘the world has changed and best practice has moved on’. It urged government to introduce ‘proportionate sanctions’ for organisations that fail to comply with the Act’s obligations; most notably the annual requirement for companies to report on measures to identify and prevent modern slavery. The report also portrays a ‘current approach of no enforcement’ in relation to MSA 2015. Under the Act, businesses with turnover exceeding £36m must publish a yearly slavery and human trafficking statement. However, it does not set out what that statement must contain. The policy paper further notes that, although the Home Secretary can seek an injunction to enforce...
In this issue: Key developments and materials Air emissions and climate change Energy efficiency and buildings Energy for environmental lawyers Environmental information Environmental permits and consents Environmental taxes, reliefs and incentives ESG and sustainability Hazardous substances and chemicals Nature, biodiversity and habitat conservation Waste Water, flooding and drainage Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Key developments and materials Major reforms to environmental regulation to boost growth and protect nature A fresh review, commissioned by Steve Reed and chaired by Dan Corry, reports that today’s environmental regulatory framework is out of date, patchy and overly complicated—failing both nature and economic expansion. It rejects a wholesale ‘bonfire’ of rules. Instead, it sets out 29 proposals to simplify the regime, which the government is actively examining. Under the Plan for Change, it...
What were the key findings of the Corry review The review points to multiple weaknesses across the current regulatory set-up. It cites inefficiency, uncertainty, and a framework failing to secure good outcomes for the natural environment or to enable sustainable expansion. It portrays the regime as mired in dated, uneven and excessively intricate rules, many derived from the EU, which tend to be enforced in a highly risk-averse fashion. A central message is the importance of regulators having sufficient autonomy and judgement. They should be capable of aligning with government priorities whilst ensuring their decisions remain predictable and consistent. The review also notes that the sheer scale and intricacy of environmental rules, together with the volume of guidance, complicate day-to-day practice and hinder compliance. The regulatory architecture must safeguard and improve the environment without rendering new infrastructure prohibitively costly or unduly hard to...
In this issue: Air emissions and climate change Energy for environmental lawyers Environmental enforcement and prosecutions Environmental permits and consents ESG and sustainability Hazardous substances and chemicals Key developments and materials Marine Nature, biodiversity and habitat conservation Waste Water, flooding and drainage Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Air emissions and climate change DESNZ releases provisional 2024 UK greenhouse gas emissions statistics The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero ( DESNZ) has issued early estimates for the UK’s 2024 greenhouse gas output. Total emissions are put at 371 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, down 4% on 2023 and 54% below 1990. The electricity supply sector recorded the sharpest fall (15%), reflecting greater electricity imports and higher renewable generation, which cut gas and coal use at power stations. Domestic transport continued to be the largest source, contributing 30% of all emissions in 2024. UK-based international aviation bunker emissions rose by 9%. Industrial emissions declined by 9%,...
The public prosecutor’s office has levied sanctions following a joint, coordinated probe, conducted with Germany’s federal criminal police office, into deceptive environmental assertions—labelled ‘greenwashing’ by German regulators and authorities—against the firms in question ( DWS Group Gmb H & Co KGa A and DWS Investment Gmb H). Fines, the prosecutor’s office said, relate to breaches of the German Capital Investment Code. These provisions forbid businesses from misrepresenting their holdings as being greener than they actually are. The German authority added that DWS’s asset managers promoted products that......
Da Silva v Brazil Iron Ltd [2025] EWHC 606 ( KB) What are the practical implications of this case? This judgment is noteworthy, as the High Court examined whether obstacles in securing funding overseas could make England and Wales the proper forum for hearing the claim, even though Brazil bore the closer, real and substantial connection with the action. The court concluded that this was an exceptional case: not simply a disparity in the availability of funding between two jurisdictions, but a genuine risk that substantial justice would not be achieved in the foreign forum. The conclusion was supported by several factors, notably: the probable value of the claim (comparatively low) the anticipated number of claimants (comparatively few) Both had to be weighed against the comparatively high complexity of such claims. In Brazil, although CFAs existed, the conditional fee model used in this...
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This Practice Note This Practice Note reviews mechanisms used in settling litigation. A Tomlin order consists of a consent order paired with a schedule. It operates to stay proceedings on terms that have been agreed. The provisions contained in the schedule may remain confidential. This Practice Note describes the scope of confidentiality attaching to the schedule and sets out how it differs from a standard consent order. Sample wording for a Tomlin order is included, alongside links to precedents, as well as guidance on court approval. It also addresses varying, setting aside and enforcing a Tomlin order, including the considerations the court will take into account when handling applications for each. Further guidance is provided on interpreting and applying the relevant provisions of the CPR; however, some courts and divisions impose very specific requirements for both drafting and approval, and for approaching the schedule and confidentiality issues. Accordingly, you must consider the particular rules and court guide provisions in the forum where your claim is proceeding when drawing up the Tomlin order...
Date [ date ] Parties [ name of Landlord ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Landlord) [ name of Tenant ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Tenant) [ [ name of Guarantor ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Guarantor) ] [ [ name of Mortgagee ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Mortgagee) ] Definitions Within this Deed, the terms below shall be interpreted as follows: [ Annual Rent • the annual sum reserved under the Lease; ] [ Insurance Rent • the Tenant’s share of the Landlord’s costs of insuring the Property (as set out in the Lease); ] Lease • the lease of the Property dated [ date ], entered into between (1) [ the Landlord OR [ name ...
I, [ name ], of [ address ], solemnly and sincerely state that: [ Matters to be verified, set out in numbered paragraphs ] I make this solemn statement in good conscience, believing it to be true, and pursuant to the provisions of the Statutory Declarations Act 1835. DECLARED at [ details ] this [ day ] day of [ month and year ] Before me ................................................................................ [ signature of the person before whom the declaration is made ] A [ commissioner for oaths OR [ solicitor OR [ insert other qualification ] ] authorised to administer oaths ]...
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