Legal Practice Notes

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note is archived and is not maintained. More recent versions of the WADA Code are available on the WADA website. Purpose of the WADA Code The World Anti- Doping Code (the Code) applies to every sport and harmonises anti-doping regulation across sport. The Code sets out a framework for anti-doping policies, rules and regulations for sports organisations and public authorities. Key features of the Code adoption of the Code by the Olympic Movement is required (see Practice Note: Sports arbitration—an introduction) only sports that adopt and implement the Code can be included in the programme of the Olympic Games members of professional leagues and sports organisations outside the Olympic Movement must follow the Code when participating in events or tournaments run by organisations that have implemented the Code The Code was significantly revised following resolutions passed by the World Anti- Doping Agency in...

Receiver’s duty to take reasonable care to obtain the best price reasonably obtainable This Practice Note examines the receiver’s obligation to exercise reasonable care to secure the best price that can reasonably be achieved. We explain how this operates in practice, covering the use of selling agents, when to bring the asset to market, enhancements to the property, and the measures a receiver ought to adopt during the disposal process. This Practice Note does not address the wider array of obligations that receivers may owe. For guidance on a receiver’s duties generally, see Practice Note: Roles, powers, functions and duties of an LPA or fixed charge receiver......

Time limits for bringing a judicial review claim On receipt of a judicial review claim form, a public body should first carefully assess whether it has in fact been brought within time. For more detailed guidance, see Practice Note: Judicial review—time limits and the pre-action protocol. Different time limits apply for particular categories of judicial review claim: Challenges to an Upper Tribunal decision must be filed within 16 days of the Tribunal’s decision notice being sent Public procurement claims must be issued within 30 days of when a claimant knew, or ought to have known, of the alleged breach of the public procurement rules The Administrative Court Judicial Review Guide, para 6.4.3.3, states: ‘ Where the claim concerns a decision under [ PA 2023], it must be commenced within the period specified by [ PA 2023, s 106]: 30 days from the date when the claimant first knew or ought to...

General rule on costs in judicial review The default position on costs in judicial review, as in other litigation, is that costs follow the event. That said, parties may apply for pre-emptive costs orders. The costs of, and incidental to, all proceedings in the High Court are within the court’s discretion. By statute, the High Court has discretion to award costs on a judicial review application. Taking into account every relevant circumstance, including the overriding objective, the court may make a costs decision that departs from the default rule. The scope of the court’s discretion includes: whether one party must pay another’s costs the quantum of those costs the timing of payment Ordinarily, costs follow the event unless, on the particular facts, the court considers that a different order on costs, such as a pre-emptive costs order, should be made, for example to enable the claimant to continue the case. An...

Where to Notify What is the Where to Notify tool? The Where to Notify tool streamlines determining where a merger may require notification, performing all currency conversions and cross-checking against every live notification threshold applicable across relevant regimes, consistently and automatically. It forms part of our multi-jurisdictional merger offering, which also features local merger guides (spanning more than 150 jurisdictions), a notification service (see below), an MJ merger control news feed, a grid setting out jurisdictional issues, as well as a separate grid setting out procedural issues. How does Where to Notify work? Where to Notify takes the data you enter and applies algorithms built for each country around the world with notification thresholds, then identifies jurisdictions where those thresholds are satisfied in full. Currency conversions rely on official European Central Bank ( ECB) rates, with Open Exchange rates used for currencies the ECB does not track. All...

There is no single, catch-all answer to whether a given organisation is, in law, a public authority. Instead, the courts have built up case law identifying which entities fall within administrative law through the judicial review route; and Parliament, for its part, has variously specified the public bodies it intends to cover for particular statutes, including the Human Rights Act 1998 ( HRA 1998) and the Freedom of Information Act 2000 ( FIA 2000). Judicial review Judicial review is the principal court process by which individuals and businesses can obtain a remedy for abuses of power by public authorities. It is a public law remedy, concerned solely with policing the exercise of powers of a public nature. Most judicial review claims target those plainly engaged in public power: ministers, government departments and agencies, devolved administrations and legislatures, local authorities, health and education...

Introduction Regulation of water spans the supply of safe, high quality drinking water for consumption, the abstraction of water from a range of sources, the treatment and disposal of wastewater, including sewage, and the control and management of floodwater. In the UK, oversight began with the Public Health Act 1848, which obliged the delivery of clean water in towns and cities. Although 19th century sewer networks expanded, encouraged by the framework in the Public Health Act 1848, comprehensive regulation of that part of the sector only arrived on privatisation under the Water Act 1989. Today’s regime sits in the Water Industry Act 1991 (as variously amended from time to time) ( WIA 1991) and the Water Resources Act 1991 (as variously amended) ( WRA 1991), empowering regulators to act to protect the environment and the needs of water users, as well as to oversee water...

Ways to change a DCO Development consent orders ( DCOs) authorise nationally significant infrastructure projects under the Planning Act 2008 ( PA 2008). After a DCO has been made, changes to the order, or to the underlying project, can be progressed by means of a: correction order non-material change order material change order new application Different procedures apply to applications for each form of change. The government has published guidance that sets out the powers available and the procedures for making a change to a DCO. In addition, there is scope to amend an application for a DCO after it has been accepted for examination but before it is determined. The Planning Inspectorate ( PINS) has issued separate advice notes on the process for handling changes at the pre-examination and at the examination stage......

Undertakings—often referred to as covenants—are commitments made by both the borrower(s) and any obligors in favour of the lender (or the finance parties in a syndicated arrangement) to carry out, or refrain from, specified acts. The borrower can also promise to ensure its subsidiaries comply with these requirements. Unlike representations, undertakings endure for the entire term of the facility, and a breach will typically constitute an event of default. Following an event of default, the lender has a contractual right to accelerate the facility, ie require repayment. In practice, however, the possibility of acceleration is frequently used as leverage so that any breaches—and the business issues giving rise to them—are addressed without delay. For further detail on events of default and acceleration, see Practice Note: Events of default. Many of the standard undertakings found in a typical syndicated loan facility will also be relevant (in some...

This Practice Note examines the principal features of qualified investor schemes ( QIS), a UK‑authorised fund framework, covering investment powers, eligibility requirements and possible tax consequences. What is a QIS? A QIS is a UK‑authorised fund first launched in 2004 to satisfy the fund management sector’s call for a Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA) regulated investment vehicle operating under a comparatively light‑touch rulebook. It is aimed mainly at professional, institutional and sophisticated investors, including those within wealth management, and sits alongside the UK UCITS, non‑ UCITS retail schemes ( NURS) and long‑term asset fund ( LTAF) regimes. For additional detail on UCITS, NURS and LTAFs, see Practice Notes: UK Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities ( UCITS)—essentials, Non‑ UCITS retail schemes ( NURS) and The UK Long‑ Term Asset Fund ( LTAF). A QIS can be structured as an authorised unit trust ( AUT), an...

This Practice Note summarises the UK provisions that oblige payers to withhold, and pay over to HMRC, an amount equal to UK basic rate income tax (currently 20%) from consideration for the use of, or the right to use, intellectual property ( IP), including royalties and similar consideration payable under comparable contractual arrangements sets out the notions of IP and UK source, which underpin the requirement to deduct income tax at the basic rate from IP-related payments, in practice across common scenarios describes the reliefs that can be claimed from UK withholding tax on IP-related payments; and examines the anti-abuse measures that may curtail the application of double tax treaty ( DTT) relief to the relevant IP-related payment, including: the principal purpose test; and the anti-treaty shopping rule for connected parties This Practice Note also briefly touches on the subject to tax rule. In this Practice Note,...

The qualifying asset holding company ( QAHC) regime The QAHC is an optional, tax‑favoured framework for specified holding companies—known as asset holding companies ( AHCs)—used within collective and institutional investment structures to own investment assets. Its primary emphasis is on so‑called alternative fund structures, which the OECD labels non‑ CIV funds. These are typically vehicles that: are closed‑ended are non‑retail hold portfolios spanning private market strategies—principally credit, private equity and real estate—ie less liquid, higher‑risk assets Launched on 1 April 2022, the QAHC regime aims to encourage funds to situate their AHCs in the UK where that is otherwise sensible (for example, where the investment manager is UK‑based). Historically, even with the UK’s strong concentration of deal specialists and asset management expertise, Luxembourg has been the preferred domicile for asset holding companies in such structures, reflecting its wide treaty network and suite of tax reliefs. Ireland has also...

A long-term incentive plan ( LTIP) Within listed companies, the term LTIP typically refers to executive share arrangements whereby senior staff receive share-based awards that vest over no less than three years, usually followed by a further two-year holding requirement. For an introduction to LTIPs, see Practice Note: What is a long-term incentive plan? Using LTIPs to drive senior executive performance has become accepted market practice among listed companies. Yet, in July 2016, the Executive Remuneration Working Group—an independent body formed by the Investment Association—issued its final report on the design of executive pay, urging every company to assess whether the conventional LTIP model remained suitable for its business or if it should depart from that approach. In the Working Group’s view, rather than defaulting to an LTIP, companies must identify the structure that best fits their organisation and engage with...

This Practice Note focuses solely on the structure of UK legislation enacted by, or processed through, the UK’s four legislatures. It falls into two groups—primary legislation and, with a single exception, secondary (also termed subordinate) legislation. The exception is byelaws, whose place in the legislative hierarchy is outlined below but not treated in detail. Regnal years Acts are now cited by reference to years (see below), but before 1963 citations used regnal years, ie the year of the sovereign’s reign for the parliamentary session in which the Act was passed. How to find legislation—principal types of legislation The principal types of primary and secondary legislation are set out in the table below. In terms of the legislative framework and locating legislation, the key point is that each type employs a distinct numbering series and style of citation. The various citations are shown in the table. The nature of any item of...

A ‘loan relationship’ broadly denotes a monetary debt that stems from the lending of funds. Yet that definition does not capture every arrangement or transaction taxed within the loan relationships regime. The regime’s scope is expressly widened to include particular arrangements and transactions treated as akin to debt finance. These are often described as ‘deemed loan relationships’ and cover arrangements which, although outside the literal definition of a ‘loan relationship’, generate a return that is economically the same as interest (frequently called an interest-like return). For further detail on the definition of loan relationship and the different types of ‘deemed loan relationships’ within the regime, see Practice Note: Loan relationships—what are they? For the computational rules on how profits and losses from loan relationships are computed and recognised for corporation tax, see Practice Note: Loan...

More UK trustees now hold overseas assets within trust property. This may occur because: the original settlor transferred them into the trust they were included in the testator’s estate the trustees subsequently acquired them Reasons why foreign assets may be held in trust An individual with a large worldwide portfolio might place non‑ UK assets into trust during life in order to: reduce complications on death protect property from external claims avoid the impact of forced heirship rules Investing in foreign assets Where UK trustees are contemplating overseas investment, they should consider: whether they have power to invest abroad—the general investment powers under the Trustee Act 2000 ( Tr A 2000) permit investment in foreign assets, subject to any express terms in the trust instrument. Note that the Tr A 2000 provisions on investing in land apply only to land located in the UK. If the current powers do not allow the...

This practice note applies to registered occupational pension schemes in wind-up (excluding those entering the Pension Protection Fund) A central feature of the winding‑up of occupational pension schemes is ensuring that, so far as practicable, the process enables the trustees of the scheme to be released from ongoing responsibility for the scheme, its assets and its liabilities. There are several actions trustees can take to facilitate this. These steps assist trustees in concluding their role once winding‑up is completed. and reduce residual exposure where practicable. For guidance on measures to protect trustees from liability in a continuing scheme, see Practice Note: Trustee liability and protection in pensions. Statutory discharge Where a pension scheme is being wound up and falls within s 73 of the Pensions Act 1995 ( PA 1995) (eg a registered defined benefit occupational scheme), a statutory discharge may be available to the...

This Practice Note addresses the compilation of bundles for trial. For guidance on preparing: bundles for an interim application—see Practice Note: Preparing for an application hearing— Application bundles bundles for an appeal—see Practice Notes: Appeals to the County Court or the High Court—the appeal bundle, Appeals to the Court of Appeal—bundles and Supreme Court—documents for appeal hearing—on or after 2 December 2024 electronic bundles—see Practice Notes: Electronic bundles in civil proceedings and Preparing electronic PDF bundles Importance and purpose of trial bundles The role of a trial bundle is to assemble the documents that are fundamental to the parties’ cases and to which any party’s counsel will need to refer at trial. It is not intended to replicate every disclosed document and should avoid material that is irrelevant or unnecessary. This was highlighted in Innovate...

Once a rolling stock lessor has accepted delivery of units from the manufacturer, suitable maintenance frameworks are put in place to keep the fleet in good order. The selected approach will hinge on various factors; however, for newly built rolling stock in UK passenger operations, a Train Services Agreement ( TSA) is a common choice. For further detail on maintenance options, see Practice Note: Rail finance—leasing and maintenance arrangements, which summarises the key provisions of a typical TSA. Parties to a TSA A TSA is typically a bilateral arrangement between a maintenance provider (usually the rolling stock manufacturer or one of its affiliates) and the operator. On occasion, the lessor also joins, resulting in a tripartite TSA. The core provisions of a TSA Services The maintenance provider will be required to deliver a range of services, and a TSA commonly differentiates between ‘standard services’ and...

Contract ( Right of Third Parties) Act 1999 and arbitration This Practice Note examines the effect of the Contract ( Right of Third Parties) Act 1999 ( C( RTP) A 1999) on arbitration, in particular, and more generally, with emphasis on the settled rule that only signatories to an arbitration agreement can be bound, take part in the proceedings, and be subject to any arbitral award. It also addresses the conditional benefit principle. The Note surveys the leading authorities Nisshin Shipping Co Ltd v Cleaves and Fortress Value Recovery Fund v Blue Sky Special Opportunities Fund. The subject is also described as privity of contract in international arbitration, the interaction between C( RTP) A 1999 and arbitration, and third parties and arbitration. Under English common law, the orthodox privity doctrine provides, broadly, that only those party to a contract have rights under it and only those...