Legal News

The European Commission has released the third version of the Code of Practice for GPAI models, intended as a key voluntary instrument enabling firms such as Google and Open AI to show alignment with the EU AI Act. Stakeholders in the talks have until 30 March 2025 to submit written comments, before a fourth and final draft that is anticipated to carry only relatively modest adjustments. See: LNB News 11/03/2025 62. Independent experts steering the Code have altered course from the previous edition, removing the key performance indicators that were designed to evidence compliance with the various commitments. The updated draft acknowledges that the Code should be read alongside guidance to be issued by the Commission’s AI Office, and also states that signatories will be expected to provide regular reports to the Commission on how the Code is being...

What is the failure to prevent fraud offence? The FTPF offence arises where a large organisation gains from fraud carried out by its associated persons. The entity may incur liability if an associated person commits a specified fraud offence intending to benefit the organisation, whether that benefit is obtained directly or indirectly. A 'large organisation' is defined by reference to three size tests; it qualifies if at least two are met: (1) more than 250 employees (2) more than £36m turnover (3) more than £18m in total assets An 'associated person' broadly includes anyone who provides services for or on behalf of the relevant organisation, such as officers, directors, employees and agents, together with subsidiaries and employees of subsidiaries. Under the new offence, an organisation can be liable—and face an unlimited fine—for a wide range of fraud offences, including fraudulent...

The High Court, in a preliminary judgment delivered on 7 March 2025, held that it remains premature to decide with any certainty whether the behaviour of the French police during the episode triggers the rule that English courts refrain from scrutinising the lawfulness of acts by foreign states. Judge Mark Turner indicated he was willing to accept that at least some elements of the French response, via senior officials, could constitute acts of state. However, he dismissed European football’s governing body’s contention that every deed carried out by an operative under state authority necessarily falls within that doctrine. The ruling states that, given the current, incomplete pleadings and evidence, it is not possible with confidence at this time to fully determine which, if any, of these acts are caught by the doctrine......

See Q& A: A deceased person prepared a codicil that does not mention the date of the Will. Is the codicil valid even though it does not state the Will’s date? Codicils A codicil serves to amend or add to an existing valid Will, usually to make modest alterations. Commonly, these involve: changing the executors adding or revoking a gift or clause In essence, a codicil is supplementary and treated as attached to the earlier Will. That said, a codicil can also operate as a separate document, meaning that revoking a Will does not, by itself, revoke the codicil: Re Savage’s Goods. A codicil must meet the same formal requirements as a Will......

Hastings Insurance Services Ltd v HMRC [2025] UKFTT 275 ( TC) Article 169(c) permits suppliers to reclaim VAT on costs linked to specified exempt supplies of services where those services are provided to a customer established outside the EU. It was agreed that, for VAT purposes, Gibraltar was not an EU member state (see Hastings Insurance Services Ltd v HMRC [2018] UKFTT 27 ( TC) (the 2018 decision)). In that 2018 decision, the tribunal determined that the appellant was entitled to recover input tax attributable to supplies made to Advantage, because Advantage belonged outside the EU and did not have a fixed establishment in the UK for VAT purposes. Following the 2018 decision, the relevant UK legislation — the Value Added Tax ( Input Tax) ( Specified Supplies) Order 1999, SI 1999/3121 — was amended......

Antitrust CAT issues ruling in connection with objections raised by Mr Mc Auley regarding the competition of the Tribunal constituted to hear claim alleging breach of the Chapter I and II prohibitions The CAT has delivered a decision addressing objections raised by Mr Mc Auley about the constitution of the Tribunal convened to hear his claim alleging breaches of the Chapter I and II prohibitions in question. In Mr Patrick Mc Auley v Faculty of Advocates Services Ltd, the CAT determined issues concerning the tribunal’s composition in the proceedings brought, under section 47A of the Competition Act 1998, by Mr Mc Auley against the Faculty of Advocates Services Ltd (the Faculty) in relation to that claim. The action concerns alleged infringements of the Chapter I and II prohibitions of the Competition Act. Mr Mc Auley is a solicitor and has been granted a Law...

R (on the application of GB News Ltd) v The Office of Communications ( OFCOM) [2025] EWHC 460 ( Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? The rising incidence of politicians stepping into atypical media slots will inevitably require OFCOM to address due impartiality and accuracy in news and current affairs more often. Achieving the appropriate balance is notoriously difficult: upholding freedom of expression whilst maintaining impartial and accurate reporting, all against a backdrop of numerous alternative, unregulated online sources, including social media and podcasts. The judgment supplies useful guidance and clearer contours to the existing framework. On the footing of the current Broadcasting Code, the court stated that OFCOM’s effort to stretch the Code so as to forbid politicians from presenting hybrid news and current affairs programmes was unsound. As a result, broadcasters enjoy wider editorial discretion when appointing...

European Commission v Hungary ( C-155/23), European Commission v Republic of Estonia ( C-154/23), European Commission v Grand Duchy of Luxembourg ( C-150/23), European Commission v Czech Republic ( C-152/23), and European Commission v Federal Republic of Germany ( C-149/23), all in the Court of Justice of the EU ( CJEU). Through rulings dated 6 March 2025, the CJEU found that Germany, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Estonia had unlawfully postponed implementing measures meeting Directive ( EU) 2019/1937, the Whistleblowing Directive. Germany received the heaviest sanction—€34m—while the remaining states were ordered to pay sums ranging from €375,000 to €2.3m. As Estonia had still not transposed the Directive by the time of the decision, it will incur a continuing charge of €1,500 per day until it brings its laws into line......

The latest contracts in the JCT 2024 suite were published on 5 March 2025. Fresh publications cover the 2024 versions of key JCT documents: Construction Management Contract and Management Building Contract families, with their guides Framework Agreement and Framework Agreement Guide Dispute Adjudication Board Documentation Adjudication Agreement Project Bank Account Documentation This article sets out the principal changes to the Construction Management Contract 2024 ( CM 2024) family, contrasted with its 2016 counterparts and other forms in the JCT 2024 suite. Particular attention is given to the Construction Manager Appointment 2024 and the Construction Management Trade Contract 2024. Reference copies of every document issued by the JCT on 5 March 2025 are available on Lexis+® Construction—see the ‘ Forms’ tab on the sub-topic ‘ JCT contracts 2024’ within ‘ Standard form construction contracts’, and Practice Note: JCT contracts 2024—reference copies. For details of other contracts in the suite, see Practice Note: JCT...

The summary appeal follows. Proceedings lodged on 13 December 2024 — Ryanair v Commission ( Case T-649/24) ( C/2025/1231) Language of the case English Parties Applicant: Ryanair DAC ( Swords, Ireland) (acting through: F.- C. Laprévote, E. Vahida, D. Pérez de Lamo, S. Rating and C. Cozzani, lawyers) Defendant: European Commission Form of order sought The applicant requests that the Court should: set aside the European Commission’s decision ( EU) of 28 June 2024 C(2024) 4623 final regarding the State aid SA. 110687/ SA.110688 ((2024/ N) Sweden) Denmark, Restructuring of SAS Group (1); and direct the European Commission to pay the costs Pleas in law and main......

Duty of fair presentation at without notice hearings ( J& J Snack Foods v Ralph Peters & Sons) J& J Snack Foods Corp and another company v Ralph Peters & Sons Ltd and another [2025] EWHC 436 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? The consequences of this decision are substantial for legal practitioners and for parties seeking orders or injunctive relief by way of ex-parte court applications. The judgment reaffirms the obligation of full and frank disclosure on without notice applications. Applicants must place before the court all material facts, including matters that do not assist their position. Information that the attending party can reasonably anticipate would have been advanced by the absent opponent, had they attended, must also be revealed to the judge. A failure to comply can result in the injunction being discharged, even where the relief, or a...

The Central Bank of Ireland ( CBI) has released its Regulatory & Supervisory Outlook Report 2025. Within the new supervisory approach launched in January 2025, Insurance is designated as one of three overarching industry groupings, covering domestic life and non-life business, reinsurance, and international insurance. The Report observes that the majority of Irish (re)insurers operate as subsidiaries of large international groups and that the market remains strongly international in focus, with around 70% of gross premiums in the 12 months to September 2024 sourced from over 70 countries... Key risks Financial risks and resilience — The CBI records that the (re)insurance sector has remained robust through recent geopolitical shocks and the continuing impact of elevated inflation and interest rates, underpinned by disciplined pricing and underwriting, prudent reserving and solid capital strength. It cautions, however, that liquidity pressures could emerge where severe events...

The SRP The SRP is a thorough evaluation of a scheme’s adherence to the governance and risk management obligations set by the Pensions Act (the Act), as amended by the IORP II directive. It applies to all occupational pension schemes, irrespective of size, nature, scale, or complexity. The Authority plans to examine every scheme over the coming years, with larger schemes expected to be chosen in 2025. This is a proactive, risk‑based supervisory approach designed to safeguard members’ and beneficiaries’ rights and to maintain the stability and resilience of schemes... The Authority holds wide‑ranging powers to seek information, documentation, and explanations from trustees, employers, registered administrators, and their agents; to enter premises, inspect records, and remove and retain documents; and to appoint an independent expert to produce a report on a scheme’s compliance with the Act’s general governance...

State aid Commission consults on draft State aid Framework supporting the Clean Industrial Deal The Commission has opened a consultation on its draft State aid Framework accompanying the Clean Industrial Deal (draft CISAF), released on 26 February 2025. The draft CISAF sets the circumstances in which State aid for targeted investments and goals is regarded as consistent with the internal market. It urges Member States to design aid schemes enabling swift delivery of individual aid awards, helping to further streamline State aid rules for key projects that speed up Clean Industrial Deal aims, including competitiveness and decarbonisation. The draft CISAF will apply in place of the Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework and will apply until 31 December 2030......

These revisions form part of the government’s bid to remove changes inserted into the Bill by peers in the House of Lords, Parliament’s upper revising chamber. Addressing the issue of public authorities, the Minister of State for Media, Tourism and Creative Industries, Chris Bryant, explained that the Bill is meant to establish a trust framework setting rules for the nation’s digital verification services, rather than dictating how public bodies handle data. He added that existing data protection law already obliges public authorities to ensure personal data they process is accurate and, where necessary, kept current. Consequently, the government could not proceed with the amendment, Bryant told MPs on a House of Commons committee examining the Bill. The Bill began its parliamentary examination in the House of Lords, where changes were made in late 2024 and early 2025 by...

See Q& A: Is it possible for a firm supervised for anti-money laundering purposes to share information with another professional who is supervised for AML purposes, in the context of potentially submitting a suspicious activity report to the National Crime Agency? Sections 339ZB to 339ZG of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 ( POCA 2002) address how suspicious activity is handled within the regulated sector as follows: POCA 2002, s 339ZB permits voluntary disclosures and disclosures made by an individual working in a regulated sector business to another person in a regulated sector business, or to the National Crime Agency ( NCA), where requested by the NCA or by that other regulated sector person POCA 2002, s 339ZC describes the type of information a disclosure request must include and provides for the necessary...

The secondary legal Act sets out a series of alterations when compared with the draft that was published for public consultation in October 2024 (see: LNB News 21/10/2024 6), notably concerning the way the panel will operate, the manner in which tasks are undertaken, and the level of support afforded to national authorities. Panel operation The condition for the Commission to appoint scientific experts—previously framed as an absence of any conflict of interest—has been narrowed to a focused requirement of independence from any general‑purpose AI model provider, rather than a blanket prohibition on any potential interest. As the Act states, ‘the expert shall be neither an employee nor party to a contractual arrangement with such a provider for the duration of the term’. Accordingly, activity for entities outside the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence ( GPAI) market, as well as for right holders or think tanks, is not...

The European Commission has outlined a programme to boost sustainable, resilient European production and to advance competitiveness and decarbonisation, through a Clean Industrial Deal alongside an Action Plan for Affordable Energy. Among the targets for reform is the regime governing public procurement. It intends to table a proposal to amend the Public Procurement Framework. The measure is described as a 'revision of Public Procurement Directives to mainstream the use of non-price criteria', scheduled for completion by Q4 2026. The purpose is to permit sustainability, resilience, and European preference criteria within EU public tenders for strategic sectors. A further objective is to consolidate the existing public procurement provisions......

The Outlook Report details the Central Bank’s supervisory priorities and principal regulatory plans for the year, and shares its view of the main trends and threats influencing the financial services industry. It further includes three ‘ Spotlight’ chapters on consumer protection, artificial intelligence and geopolitical risk, topics of particular importance for the sector. Governor Makhlouf’s correspondence sets out the Central Bank’s financial regulation priorities, while the Dear CEO Letter outlines the Central Bank’s refreshed supervisory model and condenses the cross‑industry supervisory priorities and key regulatory initiatives examined in the Outlook Report. In the recent matter of Mary Tracy v. Smurfit Kappa Ireland Limited t/a the Educational Company of Ireland (decisions available here and here), the Workplace Relations Commission (the WRC) directed the employer to pay €64,000 in total for: (i) failing to consider or investigate any reasonable...

Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care v General Pharmaceutical Council and another [2024] EWHC 3005 ( Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? The practical consequences for those working in professional discipline are three-fold: There is a stringent threshold for granting and upholding stays of proceedings before FTP Committees and, on review, by the courts in healthcare regulation. This reflects regulators’ primary duty to protect public safety, serve the public interest, and uphold professional standards. In this judgment, Mrs Justice Lang emphasised that alternative steps to correct a fundamental factual error could, and should, have been considered by the Committee instead of ordering a stay. For prosecution discipline practitioners in particular, it is a warning that the Courts will readily pinpoint, confront, and censure poor practice and failings. In this matter, Lang J was forthright in identifying individual staff...