Legal News

In this issue: New technologies Internet Data protection Telecommunications Advertising, marketing and sponsorship Lex Talk®TMT: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information New technologies Commission opens consultation on draft AI regulatory sandbox implementing regulation The European Commission has issued a draft implementing regulation setting out the rules for creating and running AI regulatory sandboxes. It has launched a public call for views on the text, intended to deliver a clear, structured basis for sandbox operations. The consultation window is open from 2 December 2025–30 December 2025. See: LNB News 03/12/2025 35... Internet Commission receives notifications from Apple on EU DMA threshold compliance for Apple Ads and Apple Maps Apple has notified the Commission that its core platform services, Apple Ads and Apple Maps, satisfy the thresholds under the EU Digital Markets Act ( EU...

In this issue: Confidential Information General IP Lex Talk®IP: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Confidential Information Court of Appeal—application of service gateways to misuse of trade secret claims ( Playtech Software Ltd v Realtime SIA) In Playtech Software Ltd v Realtime SIA [2025] EWCA Civ 1472, the Court of Appeal set aside the High Court’s permission for Playtech to serve its trade secrets and copyright claims on Latvian defendants Realtime SIA and Igors Veliks out of the jurisdiction. Playtech contended that, after leaving its Latvian affiliate, Veliks accessed confidential pre‑launch game material via the Horizon platform, which Realtime then exploited to create competing games. The court concluded that all the impugned conduct occurred in Latvia and any UK loss was merely a...

Budget 2025 The plan will be financed through £725m set aside for the government’s growth and skills levy over this Parliament. According to Budget papers, the package backs apprenticeships for young people and brings in a reform that fully covers the cost of apprenticeships at small and mid-sized enterprises ( SMEs) for eligible candidates under 25... The levy, introduced in 2017, requires large employers with an annual payroll above £3m to contribute 0.5% of their wages bill. These funds support 95% of training costs for organisations that do not pay the levy (including SMEs) but wish to take on apprentices, with SMEs contributing the remaining 5%... On 26 November 2025, Chancellor Rachel Reeves told Parliament that the decision to fully fund SME apprentice recruitment followed lobbying from the Federation of Small Businesses and Small Business Britain. She confirmed funding that will make training for under-25...

Restructuring & Insolvency weekly highlights—4 December 2025 In this issue: Corporate insolvency processes Personal insolvency Restructuring Directors and insolvency Insolvency litigation Financial institutions Tax and insolvency Daily and weekly news alerts Key dates for restructuring and insolvency professionals New content New content Corporate insolvency processes Judgment Alert: Blue Rock Capital Ltd v Miride Management Ltd [2025] EWHC 3126 ( Ch) The Chancery Division upheld the Applicant’s bid for an injunction, restraining the Respondent from issuing a winding-up petition. The dispute arose from a £53,876 liability said to be unpaid rent under a company let agreement. The Applicant maintained that oral arrangements existed which either excused the rent altogether or provided that the Respondent’s director would meet the sums via his own company, to set off personal liabilities he owed to the Applicant’s director. The court decided the...

In this issue: Pension Schemes Bill Finance ( No.2) Bill 2025–26 National Insurance Contributions ( Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill The Pensions Regulator Pension scams and liberation Dates for your diary Trackers Pension Schemes Bill Pension Schemes Bill Pension Schemes Bill Report Stage and Third Reading—government amendments agreed and statutory guidance on fiduciary duty promised On 3 December 2025, during Report Stage and the Third Reading of the Pension Schemes Bill, the government secured a series of amendments to the legislation. These changes include: Giving effect to the government’s decision to provide inflation protection for pre‑1997 pensions within the Pension Protection Fund ( PPF) and Financial Assistance Scheme ( FAS), as trailed in the Autumn Budget on 26 November 2025. From January 2027, members’ pre‑1997 accruals in the PPF and FAS will receive CPI‑linked increases each year, capped at 2.5%, where their original schemes offered this entitlement......

Insurance & Reinsurance weekly highlights—4 December 2025 In this issue: UK Regulation Cases tracker Dates for your diary New and updated content Daily and weekly news alerts Lex Talk®Insurance: a Lexis®Nexis community UK Regulation PRA publishes final policy on firms’ approach to managing climate-related risks The Prudential Regulation Authority ( PRA) has issued supervisory statement SS4/25, outlining its expectations for how firms manage climate-related risks. The objective is to ensure firms develop the capability and resilience required to address these exposures effectively. SS4/25 forms part of policy statement PS25/25, which reports on feedback to consultation paper CP10/25, Enhancing banks’ and insurers’ approaches to managing climate-related risks— Update to SS3/19. See: PS25/25— Enhancing banks’ and insurers’ approaches to managing climate-related risks— Update to SS3/19. See: SS4/25— Enhancing banks’ and insurers’ approaches to managing climate-related risks. Cases...

On 27 November 2025, the European Court of Justice ( ECJ) ruled that Portugal may apply stricter conditions to non-resident pension schemes when an exemption is sought in advance. The court said the Portuguese tax administration ought to accept other forms of proof for future claims. Santander’s pension scheme in Spain pursued a refund of tax arising from cross-border dealings. However, it could not obtain a certificate from the Spanish authorities to support its Portuguese claim, the ECJ formally recorded......

Two recent instances where claims breached the CAP code concern: (i) assertions about the health benefits of sunbeds; and (ii) whether you can state you are the number one recommended skincare brand. Together, they highlight the dangers of making health claims without substantiation and of not clearly signposting proof for comparative statements. Case 1: Sun Retail Ltd t/a Indigo Sun The ASA upheld a complaint from an NHS doctor that Indigo Sun’s advertising was misleading and irresponsible, and that it cited research out of context. On its website, Indigo Sun hosted a video titled ‘ The Health Benefits of Tanning’ which asserted that moderate, responsible sunbed use delivers significant health advantages, such as vitamin D generation and lower mortality than in people who had never used sunbeds. To support its mortality claims, the ad referred to a University of Edinburgh study. The ruling found the ad...

Lockwood v Cheshire and Wirral NHS Foundation Trust and Others ( ET case numbers: 2401211/2024, 2407178/2024) In the employment tribunal, Judge Nicky Benson found that Haech Lockwood, a Cheshire and Wirral NHS Foundation Trust employee, does not possess the protected characteristic of gender reassignment under the Equality Act 2010 ( Eq A 2010), thereby rejecting a harassment claim. While Lockwood has changed their name and pronouns, they have not reassigned their sex from female to male, in a decision dated 6 October 2025 and published on 27 November 2025. Section 7 of the Eq A 2010 provides protection for gender reassignment only where a person is undertaking a process 'for the purpose of reassigning' their sex. Judge Benson stated that 'reassigning' denotes 'a move from one thing to another'......

See Flowcharts: Extortionate credit transactions under section 244 of the Insolvency Act 1986—flowchart Extortionate credit transactions under section 343 of the Insolvency Act 1986—flowchart For a concise outline of claims by an insolvent estate or its insolvency office-holder, refer to: Claims by an insolvent estate or its insolvency office-holder—overview......

South Square Digest In this issue, David Alexander KC and the Ogier BVI team examine how negative declaratory relief can be deployed to terminate a long-running threat once and for all of......

What was the background to the consultation? Work on the CDC legislative framework began with a consultation in 2018; over time this process ultimately resulted in the measures set out within the Pension Schemes Act 2021. During 2022, secondary legislation, alongside the Pensions Regulator’s CDC Code of Practice, followed and thereby completed Phase 1 of CDC development in the UK. The first operational CDC arrangement—the Royal Mail Collective Pension Plan—then received authorisation in 2023 and subsequently launched in October 2024. The 2021 Act, together with the 2022 regulations ( SI 2022/255), had been drafted specifically with the Royal Mail’s particular scheme design in mind. Hence, only single- or connected-employer arrangements, offering a very defined package of scheme benefits, could legally be created and, to date, the Royal Mail scheme alone has obtained authorisation. From the very outset, however, the pensions industry and large schemes have...

See Precedents: Application notice by an office-holder to set the basis of their remuneration Witness statement supporting an application by an office-holder to set the basis of their remuneration Draft order concerning an application by an office-holder to set the basis of their remuneration For an overview of an insolvency office-holder’s remuneration and fees, see: Remuneration and fees of an insolvency office-holder—overview......

See Q& A: A Will leaves a legacy to a named individual upon them reaching the age of 25. If the legatee is aged 20 when the testator dies, can the legatee disclaim the legacy? Upon the testator’s death, the legatee is 20 years of age; nevertheless, the Will provides that the bequest is conditional on the legatee reaching the age of......

On 25 November 2025, High Court judge Andrew Henshaw determined that the English court lacks a sufficient stake in FH Holding Moscow Ltd’s bid for an anti‑suit injunction aimed at restraining AO Uni Credit Bank from advancing its claim over real‑estate assets. The bank says those properties were pledged as collateral for facilities on which FH Holding has now fallen into default. Henshaw noted that granting relief would bar AO Uni Credit, a Russian entity, from continuing proceedings against FH Holding — a Russian property owner that is a Cypriot tax resident but conducts business solely in Russia. The court considered the nexus with the Russian courts to be compelling, while any legitimate English interest was slight, and concluded it would not be just or convenient to issue the injunction. The dispute arises from borrowing under a November 2018 loan...

EU financial services developments EBA consults on prudential requirements for CSDs The EBA has launched a consultation on draft changes to the RTS covering prudential requirements for CSDs and designated credit institutions providing ‘banking-type ancillary services’. The proposals implement elements of the CSDR Refit, notably enabling banking CSDs to deliver such services to other CSDs. The RTS revisions address situations where a banking CSD offers cash accounts directly to participants of another CSD (the ‘designating CSD’) to settle payments in currencies other than that of the designating CSD’s home jurisdiction. The focus is on the limited effect of this set-up on the banking CSD’s risk profile. The EBA also plans updates to reflect recent amendments to the Capital Requirements Regulation and to align references with the revised CSDR. Responses are sought by 3 March 2026. A public hearing will take place on 12 January 2026 from 14:00 to...

Places for People Homes Ltd v HMRC [2025] UKFTT 1417 ( TC) The appeal centred on the VAT treatment of supplies delivered by a number of maintenance trust companies ( MTCs) in relation to 25 blocks of flats (the ‘properties’). It was common ground that the MTCs bore obligations to maintain the structure and common parts of the properties, and that they made supplies in carrying out those obligations (the ‘maintenance services’). The lessees of the flats within the properties made periodic payments to the MTCs to cover the cost of maintenance services. Each MTC retained a fee for its role, paying the balance into a trust, which it then managed in its capacity as trustee. The costs that each MTC incurred in maintaining the properties were drawn from the trust fund, and included fees charged by the management company, the direct salary costs of staff...

What is the background? On 3 July 2025, the Code Committee issued consultation paper PCP 2025/1. It sought views on: a fresh framework for how the Code applies to companies with a dual class share structure ( DCSS); new IPO disclosure obligations; and substantial revisions to the rules on share buybacks. The consultation period ended on 26 September 2025. For more detail on the proposals, see News Analysis: Takeover Panel proposes reforms to address dual class share structures, IPO disclosures and share buybacks. What did the Code Committee decide? The Panel received submissions from seven parties, spanning professional bodies, investors and academics. Respondents were firmly in favour of the package of reforms. Accordingly, the Panel approved the amendments from PCP 2025/1, while making limited drafting tweaks to the new Note 4 on Rule 16.1, the new Rule 37.1 (and the Notes thereon) and the new Rule 37.3,...

Under the settlement, TIGO acknowledged taking part in a broad, methodical corruption plan that involved paying cash to Guatemalan lawmakers in exchange for backing laws that advantaged TIGO. It marks the first criminal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ( FCPA) corporate disposition since the halt on FCPA matters ended and the DOJ rolled out revised FCPA enforcement guidance in June 2025. The outcome confirms ongoing FCPA enforcement and spotlights core priorities distilled in the refreshed guidance and the DOJ Criminal Division’s white-collar policy pronouncements, such as prioritising probes of grave misconduct, connections to cartels and organised crime, and voluntary self-disclosure. In particular, emphasis falls on egregious conduct, cartel or organised-crime links, and timely voluntary self-reporting by companies and individuals alike. The bribery scheme Per the statement of facts, selected TIGO staff and senior figures orchestrated bribes to Guatemalan legislators to obtain beneficial...

On 1 December 2025, the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland announced it had lodged charges against Credit Suisse and two UBS subsidiaries— UBS SA and UBS Group SA—linked to the transaction. The transfer was reportedly executed by Credit Suisse, which was taken over by UBS in 2023. The attorney general’s office stated that UBS is accountable for Credit Suisse’s alleged failure to properly scrutinise money laundering risks and for not reporting the purportedly suspicious transfer until 2019. According to the indictment, the related money‑laundering inquiry was handled without due care, and the bank delayed submitting a suspicious activity report to the Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland—the nation’s central office for anti‑money laundering ( AML) reporting—the attorney general said......