Legal News

The EU may have assembled one of the globe’s most sweeping and robust digital regulatory rulebooks, yet it is currently under fire from critics for allegedly failing to curb the use of X’s Grok chatbot to produce sexualised deepfakes of individuals without consent. In reply, the EU’s digital chief, Henna Virkkunen, said the European Commission is weighing fresh prohibitions on AI-generated material within its flagship AI legislation. Specialists and European legislators argue that, although the EU could supplement its content‑moderation statute and related rules, the priority should be to make current provisions operate together much more swiftly and coherently and effectively when AI-fuelled harm unfolds in real time. X disclosed last week that it will prevent Grok from generating non‑consensual sexualised pictures of people, after widespread public fury and regulatory moves worldwide that included bans in Malaysia and Indonesia, a probe by the UK’s...

Original news Source: Hansard: Pension Schemes Bill, Volume 852: debated on Monday 26 January 2026 News summary Day 5 of the House of Lords Grand Committee’s line-by-line review of the Pension Schemes Bill on 26 January 2026 centred on an intensive interrogation of Clause 40. This provision sets out scale conditions, shapes default arrangement design and confers reserve powers over asset allocation for defined contribution workplace pensions. At its heart—and the focus of exchanges—was a duty on large schemes to run a single main scale default arrangement ( MSDA) under one shared investment strategy. Members from all benches pressed ministers on the drive for scale, the suggested £25bn asset threshold, the contraction of default choices into a single approach, and how far reserve powers might compel investment in private markets. For the government, the Minister of State for Work and Pensions, Baroness Sherlock,...

For further insight on forthcoming key developments, see Practice Note: Commercial—horizon scanner. For details of earlier developments relevant to commercial law and practice, consult the following Practice Notes: Commercial tracker Commercial tracker 2025 [ Archived] Additional updates and commentary are available via our current awareness alerts and highlights. Click ‘ Create Alert’ in your ‘ Alerts’ tab and refine your personal settings to subscribe. Advertising, marketing and sponsorship Note—several shifts within the consumer protection landscape have influenced the regulation of advertising and marketing in 2025. These are discussed in the section: ‘ Consumer protection’ below. What were the key developments in 2025? Advertising less healthy food and drinks In 2025, the much-anticipated framework governing promotion of less healthy food and drink moved from policy design to practical readiness for enforcement. The Health and Care Act 2022 ( HCA 2022) received Royal Assent on 28 April 2022, introducing a 9 pm TV...

Market studies CMA publishes its response to reforms to the statutory consultee system The CMA has set out its reply to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s ( MHCLG) consultation on proposals to reshape the statutory consultation system within the planning regime. This consultation followed the CMA’s 2024 housebuilding market study, which highlighted that complexity and unpredictability in the planning process— including delays arising from statutory consultations— are key drivers of the under-delivery of new homes. In its response, the CMA voiced support for MHCLG’s plans to: Remove statutory consultee status from selected bodies; Cut the volume of statutory consultation and subsequent follow-up requests; Clarify the limits and scope of advice that consultees are able to provide; and Strengthen performance management across statutory consultees. These measures are welcomed as steps towards a more streamlined and predictable planning system that can better...

EU financial services developments Eurosystem to accept DLT-based assets as eligible collateral The European Central Bank ( ECB) has confirmed that, from 30 March 2026, the Eurosystem will treat as eligible collateral for its credit operations marketable assets issued via central securities depositories ( CSDs) that provide distributed ledger technology ( DLT)-based services. The ECB also indicated that additional work is in progress to consider how eligibility could be extended to instruments that are issued and settled wholly on DLT networks......

Andrew Scott KC of Blackstone Chambers, counsel for BHP Andrew Scott KC said the planned appeal poses the issue of whether seeking anti‑suit relief in a foreign court, linked to proceedings in England, could amount to criminal contempt. Scott told the Court of Appeal that no English authority indicates that it could. BHP has lodged an appeal against a decision by Judge Adam Constable. In June 2025, sitting in the High Court, he held that BHP must confront allegations that it attempted to impede the municipalities’ access to justice in England by supporting proceedings in Brazil’s highest court that might frustrate compensation claims. The municipalities argue that BHP is in contempt of court for agreeing to finance a claim initiated by Ibram, a Brazilian mining association, before the South American country’s Federal Supreme Court in 2024......

Private actions CAT grants CPO in PC games class action The CAT has delivered its judgment in Vicki Shotbolt Class Representative v Valve Corporation, a claim for damages issued by Vicki Shotbolt Class Representative ( PCR), under section 47B of the Competition Act 1998, against Valve Corporation ( Valve), asserting that Valve abused its dominant position, in breach of Article 101 TFEU (up to 31 December 2020) and the Chapter II prohibition of the Competition Act 1998. Background The claim revolves around Valve’s running of Steam, a prominent digital distribution platform for PC video games, via which titles are almost exclusively supplied in digital form......

Background and consultation On 26 March 2025, the government opened a consultation to shape a new service intended to give major investment projects in the UK greater certainty over their tax outcomes. It was viewed as a pragmatic, pro-business initiative, aligned with the wider objective of nurturing long-term economic growth and promoting the UK as a prime location for large-scale capital deployment. At Budget 2025, the authorities released a summary of responses, together with draft legislation and accompanying guidance. Those draft measures appeared in the Finance Bill ( Finance Bill 2026, clauses 263-271 (as introduced)), and draft technical guidance was subsequently issued on 10 December 2025. The tone of the official response is positive, reflecting that a number of material points raised during engagement have been accepted. The government will also keep specific elements of the service under review for a 12-month period,...

2026 international arbitration trends M& A and securities disputes Settling M& A and securities conflicts is becoming ever more intricate, notably in cross-border deals and joint ventures that bring multiple stakeholders to the table. Global M& A volumes rose by 10% in the first nine months of 2025 versus the same period in 2024, underscoring the continued rise of high-profile mergers and acquisitions. As transaction values and strategic stakes climb, so too does the scope for contention around contractual terms, including rights of first refusal ( ROFR) and change of control clauses. High-profile arbitration among Exxon Mobil Corp, Hess Corp, Chevron Corp and China National Offshore Oil Corp ( CNOOC) concerning a joint operating agreement Adjustments by the US Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC) to its long-standing opposition to mandatory arbitration clauses in public company registration...

EU financial services developments EBA publishes RTS on resolution plans and the functioning of resolution colleges The European Banking Authority ( EBA) has issued an updated final draft of its regulatory technical standards ( RTS) on resolution plans and on the functioning of resolution colleges, publishing a version of these RTS covering resolution planning and how resolution colleges function......

Mergers The Commission cleared: Hartree Partners Holdings, LP’s acquisition of exclusive control of Touton S. A. ( M.12189), following a phase I investigation—see further in Midday Express the establishment of a joint venture by EVH Grüne Energie – Beteiligung Gmb H & Co. KG and HSBC Alternative Investments S. C. A. SICAV- RAIF ( M.12240), following a phase I investigation—see further in Midday Express the setting up of a joint venture by RCL Cruises Ltd.......

Holden v HMRC; and HMRC v The Boston Consulting Group UK LLP and Others [2026] UKUT 25 ( TCC) The appeals related to arrangements introduced by The Boston Consulting Group from 2011, under which senior individuals (managing directors and partners, or MDPs) received so‑called ‘capital interests’ in The Boston Consulting Group UK LLP (the LLP). On retirement and other specified trigger events, those interests had to be transferred to the corporate member, BCG Ltd, for consideration determined by the uplift in the value of shares in the US parent, BCG Inc. The LLP and the MDPs reported the sums arising as chargeable gains and claimed entrepreneurs’ relief. The FTT concluded that the capital interests did not amount to interests in the LLP’s capital and that the amounts paid were properly characterised as income......

Re Lehman Brothers International ( Europe) and others [2025] EWHC 2871 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? This decision confirms that the routes for bringing a company out of administration extend beyond the two statutory paths in IA 1986, Sch B1, paras 83 (creditors’ voluntary liquidation) and 84 (dissolution). Those provisions do not preclude a members’ voluntary liquidation ( MVL), and accordingly an MVL remains available where appropriate. Here, an MVL was apt: every creditor had been satisfied, there was an asset surplus, the sole member supported the MVL resolution, and moving to MVL would be more straightforward and cost‑effective than leaving the company in administration. Practitioners should, in light of this, consider whether comparable features are present in their matters and whether an MVL is the more fitting way to conclude the...

Abraaj Investment Management Ltd (in liquidation) and other companies v Kes Power Ltd and others [2026] EWHC 65 ( Comm) What are the practical implications of this case? The recent High Court judgment in Abraaj Investment Management v Kes Power closely analyses assignment principles within secured lending. In particular, the court considers when estoppel can aid a lender confronted with defective or uncertain security. The ruling also explores several adjacent issues: the potential for assignments to be implied, whether ‘no assignment’ clauses are tempered by a reasonableness qualification, and matters of consideration in acknowledgements of notice. While estoppel provided the lender with a solution on the facts, the decision emphatically reinforces a fundamental point: only the entity to which the debt is actually owed should be the assignor. The realities of group operations can obscure the true creditor, meaning it is not always obvious which...

Financial services developments Report calls for financial services reform to promote UK growth The City UK and Pw C UK have released a report urging ‘bolder ambition and faster, more decisive action’ to safeguard the UK’s competitiveness in financial and related professional services over the next decade, and to spur investment and growth. Entitled No time to lose: Reasserting UK leadership in financial and related professional services, the publication captures perspectives from more than 300 senior leaders across industry, government, regulators and academia, and is supported by new economic modelling alongside international benchmarking undertaken by Pw C......

Introduction PIA 2025 unveils pivotal adjustments for the energy industry, intended to accelerate the delivery of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects ( NSIPs) across England and Wales. The package seeks to clear barriers that have for years stalled economic expansion and delayed the roll‑out of clean power. At its heart sits a commitment to fast‑track 150 major planning determinations within the life of the current Parliament. For the energy sector specifically, PIA 2025 reshapes the NSIP framework, requires routine revisions to National Policy Statements ( NPSs), empowers Ofgem and ministers to hasten grid connection changes, and offers backing for long‑duration electricity storage ( LDES) and renewable deployment. Developers should see gains from simpler, more streamlined pre‑application processes, improved land‑access powers, and tighter, more targeted examinations, whilst funders are expected to benefit from increased certainty through Ofgem’s strengthened duties. Despite these advances, further change may still be...

Lillystone v Bradgate Education Partnership [2025] EWHC 3341 ( KB) What are the practical implications of this case? Accidents caused by balls escaping play ( Bolton v Stone [1951] AC 850) are not unusual. Incidents involving people climbing fences ( Phillips v South East Education and Library Board [2015] NIQB 91; Wray v Derry City and Strabane District Council [2020] NIQB 39) also arise. More broadly, the decision reinforces that OLA 1957, s 1(1) limits the duty of care owed by owners/occupiers to dangers stemming from the state of the premises and to acts or omissions in relation to that state. Relying on Tomlinson v Congleton Borough Council [2004] 1 AC 46, the appeal court drew a distinction between hazards attributable to the condition of the premises where what was done, or not done, formed part of that...

The ten statements are wide-ranging and address shared priorities for regulators in the fast-moving AI arena, yet taken together they show both agencies are receptive to AI, able to collaborate, and are getting ready for its broader application in drug research, clinical trials, manufacturing and monitoring, observers said. Industry consistently seeks greater predictability, noted Elizabeth Mulkey, a partner in the technology and life sciences groups at Goodwin Procter LLP, who added that the joint publication signals that regulators globally are aiming to approach the issue in a similar way. On 14 January 2016, the US Food and Drug Administration ( FDA) and the European Medicines Agency ( EMA) issued common principles, describing them as the bedrock for more detailed guidance that each jurisdiction will produce independently. The statements emphasise ethical use of AI, clear explanations of what the technology does and for what...

According to a High Court order issued in January 2026 and newly disclosed, BOC Aviation reached a confidential settlement with Cathedral Capital on 31 December 2025. The agreement arrives almost two years after BOC Aviation struck a deal with Convex Insurance UK Ltd within the same proceedings concerning aircraft left in limbo after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. BOC Aviation continues to pursue its action against the remaining insurers named in the case. Lancashire Holdings Ltd revealed in November 2013 that it had purchased Cathedral. The Lancashire Group, a provider of speciality insurance and reinsurance products, declined to comment on 21 January 2026. The settlement follows the court’s landmark ruling in March 2024 requiring major insurers, among them Allianz, AXA and Liberty Mutual, to face claims valued at US$9.7bn related to aircraft still stranded in Russia......

The High Court said it could not quash a November 2024 order by the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, which made it law that US performers are not entitled to 'equitable remuneration' when their sound recordings are broadcast to the public in the UK. The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada and SAG- AFTRA contended the order breached the UK's obligations under international law and ought to be set aside. The court disagreed, stressing that treaties do not form part of English law unless and until Parliament incorporates them through legislation. Justice Stephen Males warned that, if the position were otherwise, the executive could effectively legislate by entering treaties, eroding parliamentary sovereignty. On that basis, the unions' challenge was held to be non-justiciable, as success would require the court to construe and give domestic effect to...