Legal News

Mergers The Commission approved the acquisition conferring sole control of the Aenova group of companies by Kühne Holding AG ( M.11571) following a phase I review—see further, Midday Express. NOTE— For all current merger investigations before the Commission, see further, EU mergers—ongoing cases tracker. Upcoming dates For dates of forthcoming EU competition developments, see further, EU Competition calendar......

The consultation on the draft legislation runs until 15 September 2024. FB 2025 is anticipated to be brought before Parliament after the Autumn Budget and is therefore expected to obtain Royal Assent in spring 2025. The complete set of measures for FB 2025 is available here, and the written ministerial statement by James Murray, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, summarising these measures is here. Draft legislation Three draft FB 2025 provisions have been issued, one of which is the Pillar Two anti-arbitrage rule designed to counter arrangements that exploit differences between tax and accounting rules, first announced in a written ministerial statement on 14 March 2024. For further details on that publication, see below. the abolition of the furnished holiday lettings regime, as announced at Spring Budget 2024 (see News Analysis: Spring Budget 2024— Tax analysis— Real estate taxes), and the removal of the VAT...

AGA Rangemaster Group Ltd v UK Innovations Group Ltd and another [2024] EWHC 1727 ( IPEC) What are the practical implications of this case? Marketing of re-sale goods Sellers of second-hand goods should act carefully when promoting such items and when referring to the original seller’s brand name. Re-sellers should take measures to avoid suggesting any commercial association with the original trade mark proprietor, thereby limiting the scope for potential third party enforcement actions. References to the original brand on websites, and even on invoices, could be treated as part of the branding of the item being offered, rather than merely descriptive, innocuous marketing language. Joint tortfeasance As set out in Lifestyle Equities v Ahmed [2024] UKSC 17 (at para [137]), there are two distinct bases for accessory liability: (i) procuring an infringement; and (ii) assisting another to infringe pursuant to a common design. In either case, the...

Understanding NFTs and their Impact on Art NFTs are blockchain-verified digital tokens that guarantee the authenticity and singularity of an asset, whether tied to a digital file or a physical item. Each NFT contains unique cryptographic data that sets it apart from every other token, making it well suited to signal ownership of distinctive items such as digital art. Holding an NFT grants rights in the token itself, but does not, on its own, confer rights in the underlying digital or tangible asset. The NFT market is an important arena for art and luxury goods and is expected to keep expanding, though likely not at the transaction levels seen in 2021. In essence, the token and the item it references are separate. Legal Challenges regarding NFTs Intellectual Property Rights A principal legal concern in Europe is the safeguarding of intellectual property rights. Artists and creators...

The European Court of Justice concluded that there was no breach of the principles of equal treatment and non-discrimination merely because the statute does not confine the reporting duty to corporation tax. The court stated that compliance with equal treatment must be assessed by reference to the risk of aggressive tax planning, avoidance and evasion, and it found no proof ‘to justify the view that aggressive tax‑planning measures arise solely in the area of corporation tax’. It added that the directive’s wording is sufficiently clear and precise, which underpins its lawfulness and confirms the directive’s soundness overall......

On 14 June, the Council of the EU adopted its position on the proposal, representing a notable advance in the legislative process. The draft directive pursues a fundamental objective: to harmonise and modernise the current EU rules governing definitions and penalties for corruption offences. It adopts a comprehensive reach across both private and public spheres, would make the UN Convention against corruption binding within EU law, and in certain respects would exceed those standards. As an instrument of minimum harmonisation at EU level, it permits Member States to deviate from the common baseline where they choose to put in place stricter national rules. This article offers an overview and commentary on the most significant novelties introduced by the draft, as refined by the Council’s position, and concludes with an examination of the key practical implications for companies, outlining the anticipated next...

For the principal business tax measures, see News Analysis: Legislation Day: Draft Finance Bill 2025— Tax analysis. Also see: 2024: Non- UK domiciled individuals—policy summary Collection: Finance Bill 2024–25 — draft legislation and technical tax documents Initial reactions from the market Jeremy Woolf, Pump Court Tax Chambers: The most notable document among the technical tax papers issued on 29 July for Private Client practitioners is the one concerning the non-domiciled. It broadly reflects the last Budget’s proposals. It outlines a regime under which new residents would not be charged for four years on overseas income and gains, describing it as ‘internationally competitive’ and aimed at attracting top talent and investment to the UK. I worry that jurisdictions offering longer relief periods may appear more appealing. The paper also confirms the government’s rejection of the earlier idea of a specific transitional relief that would have given those who...

According to a ministry news release, journalists, researchers and 'civil society actors committed to financial transparency' will need to set up a free account with the National Institute of Industrial Property in order to gain access. This decision came after consulting members of those three groups, so as to devise a system that would enable them to continue to carry out their work, the ministry said. Any person......

Manchester Securities LLP v Republic of Poland ECLI: BE: CASS:2024: ARR.20240412.1F.5 What are the practical implications of this case? Modern arbitration frameworks make clear that annulment is not a merits appeal. A well-known, though limited, deviation concerns public policy, where certain legal systems accept broader scrutiny. In this judgment, the Belgian Supreme Court confirmed that, under Belgian law, even when public policy is at stake, the annulment court must not re-examine the dispute, freshly apply the public policy rule, or test whether it would reach the arbitral tribunal’s conclusion. Instead, the court must take the award as delivered and determine whether the solution adopted by the tribunal—recognising that a dispute can legitimately yield several outcomes—contravenes public policy. It follows that simply asserting that the tribunal failed to apply a public policy provision, or applied it incorrectly, is not enough to justify setting aside the...

South Square South Square Digest In this issue, International Judge Jim Peck sets out arguments for adopting US-style mediation across UK restructurings......

In July 2023, the highest UK court sprang a surprise, contrary to earlier assumptions, by determining that numerous funding arrangements used by litigation financiers amounted to damages-based agreements ( DBAs) and would be unenforceable unless they complied fully with the DBA regulations. The ruling created a hurdle for claimants and funders seeking to make use of Britain’s growing collective action regime, as DBAs cannot bankroll opt-out claims before the Competition Appeal Tribunal ( CAT). A period of intense lobbying followed, and the previous Conservative government moved to push through legislation intended to reverse the judgment’s effect, before politics got in the way. In the months following the Supreme Court’s decision in R v Competition Appeal Tribunal, known as PACCAR, defendants to collective proceedings — including Apple, Master Card and Visa, as well as Sony — sought to challenge the agreements struck by class...

A Mother v A Local Authority and others [2024] EWHC 1658 ( Fam) What are the practical implications of this case? The decision underlines that, even where the gateway in section 100(4) and (5) of the Children Act 1989 is satisfied, that does not of itself justify invoking the court’s inherent jurisdiction. The court stressed that questions of jurisdiction must be identified at the very start of proceedings, managed through proper procedure, and actively raised by judges even where the parties have not done so. In A Mother v A Local Authority and others, the court concluded the father posed a risk to the child, and the mother could not protect the child from him; accordingly, at the time of the application, the court had reasonable grounds to believe that, absent the exercise of the inherent jurisdiction, the child was likely to suffer...

Lycamobile UK Ltd v HMRC [2024] UKFTT 638 ( TC) The case concerned Lycamobile UK Ltd (the Appellant)’s provision of plan bundles to UK customers, comprising calls, text messages and data. The FTT concluded that the predominant component was a supply of telecommunication services, and that any further services customers were entitled to access were merely ancillary parts of a single, overall supply of telecommunication services. In support of that conclusion, the FTT referred to the rulings in Card Protection Plan Ltd v HMRC ( C-349/96) and Purple Parking Ltd and Airport Services Ltd v HMRC ( C-117/11). The tribunal also rejected the Appellant’s submission that, at the point consideration was received, there was such uncertainty about the extent of a customer’s usage, the specific nature of the services that might be used, and the applicable VAT treatment, that VAT could not properly be...

In another notable matter, an Osborne Clarke LLP partner is set to appear before a tribunal over allegations of issuing threatening correspondence on behalf of former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi. Law360 surveys these and other corporate crime cases to watch over the next six months. Glencore bribery charges Following repeated postponements, the SFO told a London court in June that it will seek the Attorney General’s permission to bring charges against individuals as it advances its bribery probe into Glencore, the trading and mining company at the centre of the investigation. Opting to pursue individuals is SFO director Nick Ephgrave’s most consequential move since joining the agency in September 2023, signalling his willingness to prosecute international bribery amid an early focus on domestic fraud cases that has fuelled criticism that the office does not have the resources to bring the toughest cases. The...

Wardle v HMRC [2024] UKFTT 543 ( TC) What are the practical implications of this case? The long-standing issue of when a trade has begun has occupied the courts for over a century, albeit across differing statutory settings. In this dispute, the governing provisions were Chapter 3 of Part V, sections 169H to 169SA, of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 ( TCGA 1992), together with section 989 of the Income Tax Act 2007 ( ITA 2007). The FTT adopted Mansell, which concluded that a trade does not commence until it has been properly set up, to the extent required for it to operate (emphasis added). This outcome is pertinent whenever a factual determination is needed on the question of commencement of trade, yet the evidence shows that, at the relevant point of testing, the preparatory steps for that trade were not...

On 25 July 2024, the sports tribunal reported that a CAS panel of arbitrators had thrown out appeals submitted by the Russian Olympic Committee ( ROC), the Figure Skating Federation of Russia, and skaters Aleksandr Galliamov, Nikita Katsalapov, Mark Kondratiuk, Anastasia Mishina, Victoria Sinitsina, and Kamila Valieva. Those filings contested the International Skating Union’s January re-ranking and sought to have the team event gold medals handed to the ROC. The panel determined Valieva’s score was rightly nullified owing to a four-year ban imposed for an anti-doping violation. The ban was backdated to December 2021, so every competition result after that point was void—covering not only the Olympic Games but also the ISU European Figure Skating Championships 2022. This outcome upholds the ISU’s January statement awarding the gold medal to the US team, more than two years after the squad left the Beijing Games. The...

CCLA Investment Management Ltd v HMRC [2024] UKFTT 636 ( TC) CCLA supplied management services to investment funds whose investors included charities, Church of England bodies, and local authorities. These supplies had historically been treated as taxable, but the taxpayer later concluded they ought to have been exempt and submitted several claims for over-declared output VAT. The appeal covered thirteen funds, grouped into three categories: six COIFs six Church of England Central Board of Finance ( CBF) Funds one Local Authorities’ Property Fund ( LAPF) The applicable rules were those in force before the end of the Brexit transition period, and it was accepted that EU law had direct effect during that time. Consequently, the arguments concentrated on the EU provisions exempting the management of SIFs as defined by member states, rather than on UK domestic legislation. It was common ground that, prior to the end of...

Henry Construction Projects Limited v Pro MEP Ltd [2024] EWHC 1825 ( TCC) What are the practical implications of this case? This judgment grappled with several intricate legal and procedural questions, notably the effect of a company voluntary arrangement ( CVA) on claims taken to adjudication, and assertions that an adjudicator’s decision was secured through fraud. It serves as a useful prompt of the principles the court will apply when a party involved in adjudication is insolvent, and where it is alleged the adjudicator was misled by a fraudulent misrepresentation. The principal points for construction practitioners include: Insolvency set-off does not engage automatically upon entry into a CVA. The consequences of a CVA hinge on its wording, interpreted according to the orthodox principles of contractual construction If a purportedly fraudulent act could have been advanced as a defence within the adjudication but was not, it will...

The Court of Appeal, sitting as a panel, unanimously threw out the telecoms group’s appeal on 25 July 2024, holding that the High Court correctly decided that, without a scheme actuary’s confirmation, any changes to benefits in contracted‑out, salary‑related pension schemes were of no effect. The appellate court determined that the prerequisites for altering the ‘rights to payment of pensions and accrued rights to pensions’—the so‑called section 9(2B) rights—cover pension rights for both past and future service and demand confirmation from the scheme actuary to satisfy the rules. Justice Christopher Nugee reasoned that, viewed through the purpose of the rules, it is hard to accept that the 1997 amending regulations’ revised definition of ‘ Section 9(2B) rights’ was intended to narrow the reach of the regulation so that it would cease to apply to forward‑looking reductions in the overall benefits package. From 1997 until 2016,...

On 25 July 2024, the City of London Police announced that Wahidullah Usmani profited by £17,600 in total while posing as an insurance broker, touting motor insurance cover quotes with reductions of up to 60% yet supplying policies 'worth less than the paper they were printed on'. Usmani, from north-west London, admitted at Inner London Crown Court on 6 June 2024 to fraud by false representation, conducting a regulated activity without authorisation, and money laundering. The 22-year-old received a 24-month prison term, suspended for 24 months, at the very same court on 24 July 2024. He was further handed a compulsory 15-day rehabilitation activity requirement and ordered to contribute £1,000 towards costs. Detective Sergeant Phil Corcoran, of the City Police insurance fraud enforcement unit, stated that Usmani also lured targets by offering......