Legal News

In this issue: Data Protection AML, CTF & counter-proliferation financing Other financial crime Daily and weekly news alerts Trackers New and updated content Data Protection EU and China begin discussions under Cross- Border Data Flow Communication Mechanism The European Commission confirmed that the EU and China have opened talks on the Cross- Border Data Flow Communication Mechanism. Arising from the 2023 EU– China dialogues, the mechanism is designed to streamline non-personal data flows for European companies and to support observance of Chinese data rules. In the first round of talks within this mechanism, the EU conveyed its......

In this issue Companies and corporation tax Employment taxes VAT Real estate tax Incentivised investment Taxes management and litigation Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Companies and corporation tax FTT reviews statutory construction of the loan relationship rules ( UK Care No1 Ltd v HMRC) In UK Care No1 Ltd, the First-tier Tax Tribunal ( FTT) considered an appeal concerning how the loan relationship rules in Part 5 of the Corporation Tax Act 2009 ( CTA 2009) should be read. The issue was whether losses arising from a loan relationship could be denied where they related to a period when the company intending to use the loss fell outside the UK tax net. The provision at stake was CTA 2009, s 327, on the...

In this issue Equity capital markets Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers New Q& As Useful information Equity capital markets Key points from UK prospectus regime reform consultation On 26 July 2024, the Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA) released a consultation paper outlining reforms to the UK prospectus regime. The proposals have notable consequences for initial public offerings and secondary equity issuances where securities are intended to be admitted to trading on a UK regulated market, such as the London Stock Exchange ( LSE) main market, or a UK multilateral trading facility ( MTF), such as AIM. Written by Vanessa Blackmore, partner, Ben Perry, partner, and Matthew Triggs, practice area associate, at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. See News Analysis: Key points from UK prospectus regime reform...

In this issue: Cross border criminal investigations Bribery, corruption, sanctions and export controls Consumer protection and cartels Environmental offences Financial services and pensions offences Fraud, forgery, tax and theft offences Health and safety and corporate manslaughter offences Local authority prosecutions Money laundering International Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Cross border criminal investigations Lynch’s death puts UK- US extradition under the microscope Following the death of tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, a parliamentarian has urged the tearing up of Britain’s extradition pact with the United States, alongside suggestions that UK nationals face trial domestically; however, practitioners argue the current approach is unlikely to shift. See News Analysis: Lynch’s death puts UK- US extradition under the microscope. Bribery, corruption, sanctions and export controls Former UK anti-corruption champions urge government to fill role vacant for two years Two former UK anti-corruption champions are pressing the government to move quickly promptly and name a new...

In this issue: Residential property Transferring property Property development Additional property updates this week Daily and weekly news alerts Trackers Residential property Failure to serve claim notice on intermediate landlord did not invalidate RTM claim In the earlier noted A1 Properties ( Sunderland) Ltd v Tudor Studios RTM Company Ltd [2024] UKSC 27, the Supreme Court confirmed that not serving a claim notice on a single landlord does not, of itself, defeat the transfer of the right to manage under the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 ( CLRA 2002). See News Analysis by David Jones (associate) & Mark Barley (partner) at Womble Bond Dickinson: Failure to serve claim notice on intermediate landlord did not invalidate RTM claim ( A1 Properties ( Sunderland) v Tudor Studios RTM Co)......

In this issue: Costs Clinical negligence Coroner's inquests Daily and weekly news alerts Costs In Worcester v Hopley, the King’s Bench Division issued targeted costs directions within a clinical negligence claim arising from the defendant’s care of the claimant’s mental health. A case management conference had taken place, leaving costs management to be addressed later. At the subsequent budgeting hearing, the claimant’s anticipated expenditure was markedly reduced. The claimant contended that costs should follow the event, asserting they were the ‘successful party’ since the approved figure exceeded the defendant’s offer, and seeking an order to that effect by the court......

In this issue: Tax treatment Q& As Weekly highlights from other practice areas Tax treatment Minor updates to HMRC factsheets on employee tax-advantaged share scheme penalties HMRC has made modest revisions to its factsheets on penalties that can arise where a scheme does not satisfy the conditions for tax-advantaged status, and where an annual share schemes return for a tax-advantaged scheme filed with HMRC includes a material inaccuracy. The updated materials now also provide extra detail on support available during compliance checks, rights relating to penalties, and the subsequent steps if there is disagreement with an HMRC decision. For further detail on these penalties and the procedures for each type of tax-advantaged employee share scheme, see Practice Notes: Self-certification, registration and filing requirements for SIPs and SAYE schemes; HMRC annual return filing requirements for SIPs and SAYE schemes; CSOP—self...

In this issue: Immigration Benefits Tax Equality of terms (equal pay) Whistleblowing Industrial action Dates for your diary New Practice Notes New Q& As Employment resources on Lexis+® Daily and weekly news alerts Immigration Home office reports on rogue employers targeted in illegal working crackdown The Home Office has revealed that hundreds of rogue employers across the UK were targeted during a nationwide, week-long intensive operation focused on illegal working. The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, stated last month that the government will step up action against businesses unlawfully hiring migrants and exploiting vulnerable people, together with broad measures to dismantle the criminal networks that bring these workers to the UK. See: LNB News 27/08/2024 31. Benefits Company cars: advisory fuel rates from 1 September 2024 HMRC has issued updated advisory fuel rates for company cars with effect from 1...

Erhard- Jensen Ontological/ Phenomenological Initiative Ltd v Rogerson [2024] EAT 135 The Employment Appeal Tribunal ( EAT) held that the arbitration commenced in Singapore by the self-help charity, Erhard- Jensen Ontological/ Phenomenological Initiative Ltd, against its London-based employee, Daniel Rogerson, attracted judicial proceedings immunity. That immunity shields participants in legal processes from suits alleging their evidence was fabricated, spiteful or negligent, principally so courts may adjudicate free from external influence. In this case, the proceedings before a quasi-judicial body in the Southeast Asian city-state fell within that protection. As Mrs Justice Heather Williams explained, there is a 'strong public interest in ensuring harmony between English law and foreign jurisdictions in the context of foreign-seated arbitrations'. Accordingly, the EAT concluded the protection applied notwithstanding the overseas seat of the arbitration. It applies even where the seat is Singapore, as the EAT found......

Workers ( Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023 The Department for Business and Trade ( DBT) has said it has 'no plans' to commence the Workers ( Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023 in the autumn as previously anticipated. A DBT spokesperson said it will instead bring forward 'a new right to a contract that mirrors the number of hours regularly worked, as part of our significant and ambitious agenda to ensure workplace rights are fit for a modern economy'. ' We do not wish to confuse employers and workers with two different models', the spokesperson added, explaining the choice not to bring the law into effect; the Act received Royal Assent in September 2023. The 'number of hours regularly worked' will rely on a 12-week reference period. But it remains unclear whether this is a fixed or a rolling period, whether there is also a...

There has traditionally been a misconception that gilt stewardship is not possible On 27 August 2024, the consultancy noted that LDI managers, as significant investors in UK government debt (often via bonds known as gilts), ought to actively engage with policymakers to address environmental breakdown. These managers deploy hedging techniques designed to protect pension schemes from swings in interest rates and rising or falling inflation. LCP also said that gilts now play an expanding role in defined benefit pension portfolios, and that trustees should press their LDI managers to set out and develop a stronger, more robust approach to engaging with government climate policy......

In this issue: Environmental disputes and proceedings Environmental information Environmental issues in transactions Waste producer responsibility regimes Water Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Trackers Useful information Environmental disputes and proceedings R (on the application of Fighting Dirty Limited) v Environment Agency The Administrative Court rejected the claimant company’s ( FDL) bid for judicial review concerning how sludge is environmentally regulated when spread on farmland. The claimant was a private company limited by guarantee with no share capital (that is, not-for-profit), founded by its three directors as a campaign group dedicated to finding and contesting legal and policy routes that enable pollution to reach the natural environment. Across all three versions, the sludge strategy set out a regulatory shift, regarded by the Agency as appropriate. That shift would transfer oversight of sludge used on...

In this issue: Private children International children Public children Lex Talk®Family: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts Latest Q& A Useful information Private children Fact finding ( AA v ZZ) In AA v ZZ [2024] EWHC 2008 ( Fam), the court addressed the applicant father’s claims concerning the existence of his alleged twin sons (‘the children’) at a fact-finding hearing triggered by his bid for a child arrangements order to enable contact. He relied on recordings of discussions in which the respondent mother, together with several witnesses, spoke to him about ‘the children’. The respondent contended she had not been pregnant and that no twins had ever been born. She further asserted the applicant both knew, and had long known, that no twins existed, and that his pursuit of her amounted to an ongoing pattern of...

In this issue: Taxation Funding and investment De-risking, buy-outs and mergers Trustees, governance and administration Daily and weekly news alerts Dates for your diary Trackers Taxation Think tank report urges the government to reform pension tax relief to plug the ‘black hole’ in public finances The Labour administration is being urged to revise £66 billion of pension tax relief to generate additional receipts and raise extra revenue in order to help close the gap in the public finances. In a report released on 26 August 2024, the Fabian Society pressed the new government to revamp pension tax relief, with the potential to raise £10 billion per annum. Titled ‘ Expensive and Unequal: The Case For Reforming Pension Tax Relief’, the paper set out ideas including a single flat rate for pension tax relief. The report noted that relief on pension contributions hit £66 billion in 2022/23, a 55% rise since 2016/17. However, £22...

Antitrust CMA closes Chapter II investigation following developments in the MIS market The CMA stated it has terminated its probe into whether Education Software Solutions Limited ( ESS) contravened the Chapter II prohibition within the management information systems ( MIS) sector (51427), following developments in the MIS market. MIS are databases that manage pupil records, including attendance and safeguarding, and the majority of UK schools must operate such systems. By way of background, in February 2024 the CMA received complaints alleging that ESS cautioned schools against providing a copy of their database to an alternative supplier, on the basis that this would infringe ESS’s intellectual property ( IP) rights. The CMA was concerned that, without a workable means of sharing data to enable transfers, schools’ ability to migrate to a different provider would be restricted, thereby hampering moves to a new...

Appointment of EU leaders The outcome of European Parliament elections is closely bound to the choice of who leads the EU’s executive arm, the European Commission. That is because the Commission President generally comes from the political family that wins the largest share of seats in those elections, aligning the executive’s leadership with the parliamentary result. The newly constituted Parliament then has the role of either approving or rejecting the Commission President, who is put forward by the European Council following a qualified majority vote. In addition, the Parliament examines and confirms the entire College of Commissioners—26 Commissioners in total, one nominated by each EU Member State—who are responsible for core policy domains for the Union, including trade, health, industry, environment and competition. These Commissioners are political appointees, with candidates proposed by national...

OAO Tyumenneftegaz v First National Petroleum Corporation Case No T 2082-23 What are the practical implications of this case? The practical implications of this decision are as follows: The court confirmed that the mere fact a party is sanctioned does not automatically make a dispute non-arbitrable. As a result, arbitrations involving sanctioned entities, including Russian state-owned companies, can continue under Swedish law, even where EU sanctions regulations are engaged. The court also emphasised that an inability to obtain legal counsel due to sanctions does not, in itself, prevent a party from presenting its case in arbitration. The ruling indicates that parties are expected to address such issues proactively during the proceedings. In this case, the court observed that the respondent could have raised its difficulties in securing legal counsel with the tribunal but chose not to participate, highlighting the importance of active engagement despite...

In this issue: Disputes and remedies Enfranchisement and right to manage Repairing obligations and dilapidations Lex Talk®Property Disputes: a Lexis®Nexis community Additional Property disputes updates Daily and weekly news alerts Dates for your diary Trackers Latest Q& A Disputes and remedies Application for an injunction to restrain the sale of properties failed ( Matthews v Matthews (a protected party, by his deputy Anne Minihane)) In Matthews v Matthews (a protected party, by his deputy Anne Minihane) [2024] EWHC 2182 ( Ch), the Chancery Division refused the claimant’s ( R’s) bid for an injunction preventing the disposal of the defendant’s ( F’s) properties. F, an elderly individual lacking capacity to manage his property and financial affairs, was represented by an interim deputy ( M). R and F were second cousins with a long-standing connection through their farming interests. R had also previously served as F’s health and welfare attorney. To discharge F’s...

Kingdom of Spain v Foresight Luxembourg Solar and others, Case T-1626-19 What are the practical implications of this case The Svea Court of Appeal reaffirmed the principles expressed by the CJEU in Achmea, Komstroy and PL Holdings, together with Swedish Supreme Court authority, concluding that arbitral awards between an EU Member State and an investor from another EU Member State, grounded in an arbitration clause within an international agreement, must be regarded as invalid because they are incompatible with fundamental principles of EU law. The invalidity mechanism in section 33(2) of the Swedish Arbitration Act applies without any time limit, so challenges to intra‑ EU investment awards are not time‑barred. This creates scope for any intra‑ EU investment award to be invalidated. As a result, annulments may become more common where awards are found to infringe core EU principles. The ruling...

In this issue: International arbitration Institutional and ad hoc arbitration Sector-and industry-specific arbitration Daily and weekly news alerts International arbitration USA— New York Convention and vacatation of arbitration awards On 23 July 2024, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (the ‘ Court’), in Molecular Dynamics, Ltd v Spectrum Dynamics Med, concluded it had no subject-matter jurisdiction to set aside international arbitration awards when the arbitration seat was Geneva, Switzerland. The Court also held that the parties to the arbitration could not, through their agreement, broaden the Court’s powers beyond the limits prescribed by the New York Convention. See News Analysis: Secondary jurisdiction courts under the New York Convention cannot be empowered to vacate arbitration awards, written by David L Earnest, partner at Diamond Mc Carthy LLP......