The letters ask senior management to prioritise implementing the Duty. By David Berman, Nicola Higgs, Rob Moulton, Becky Critchley, Ella McGinn, Jaime O’Connell, and Dianne Bell On 3 February 2023, the FCA published Dear CEO/Director letters underscoring the immediate (i.e., during the implementation period up until 31 July 2023) and longer-term expectations, priorities, and demands … Continue Reading
The FCA has reviewed firms’ progress to embed the Duty into their businesses, providing good and poor practice examples for firms to improve and direct their implementation work. By Nicola Higgs, Becky Critchley, Jaime O’Connell, and Dianne Bell The Consumer Duty (Duty) rules (as set out under the FCA’s Policy Paper (PS22/9) and guidance document … Continue Reading
The UFLPA aims to clamp down on the import of items produced by alleged forced labor in and relating to the XUAR. By Erin Brown Jones, Les P. Carnegie, Paul A. Davies, Nathan H. Seltzer, James Bee, and Allison Hugi On 16 December 2021, the US Senate unanimously passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act … Continue Reading
Importantly for commercial parties, the decision indicates that parties are assumed to be aware of this approach. By Daniel Smith and Rebecca Angelini Liquidated damages clauses provide pre-agreed remedies for contracting parties in the event of particular breaches of contract. This allows the innocent party to avoid the time and effort of quantifying its loss, … Continue Reading
The decision highlights a potential tactical advantage of late acceptance in certain circumstances. By Jon Holland and Anna James In Roxanne Pallett v. MGN Limited,[1] the High Court held that the usual costs consequences of accepting a Part 36 offer do not apply if a party accepts a Part 36 offer outside the “relevant period”, … Continue Reading
The bloc, accounting for 30% of the world’s population and 30% of global GDP, is larger than the European Union. By Oliver E. Browne and Isuru Devendra As the United Kingdom continues to negotiate trade agreements with the European Union and other trading partners, 15 Asia-Pacific countries recently signed a new multilateral trade agreement named … Continue Reading
Two cases illustrate the narrow scope of application for exceptions to the without prejudice rule of legal privilege. By Stuart Alford and Clare Nida Background In two recent judgments, the High Court found exception to the ‘without prejudice’ rule of legal privilege. The rule protects statements made by parties to a dispute (whether written or … Continue Reading
A recent Privy Council decision examines the extent to which formal shareholder resolutions may be bypassed by relying on the Duomatic principle. By Daniel Smith and Alanna Andrew The ability for shareholders to pass resolutions — or assent to a course of action — quickly and informally is a potentially useful tool at any time, … Continue Reading
The CMA’s efforts include investigations into the package holiday and hand sanitizer industries. By John D. Colahan and Anuj Ghai CMA announces package holiday sector investigation On 10 July, the CMA announced that it was investigating suspected breaches of consumer protection law in the package holiday sector. The investigation was launched on the back of … Continue Reading
The Court of Appeal decision, which considered standard form wording and the “mandatory” nature of US sanctions laws, upholds a High Court ruling exempting a borrower’s non-payment of interest, albeit on different grounds. By Charles Claypoole, Nell Perks, Robert Price and Thomas Lane In the recent case of Lamesa Investments Limited v. Cynergy Bank Limited … Continue Reading
The judgment has important implications for the competition law compliance responsibilities of company directors. John Colahan and Peter Citron On 3 July 2020, the High Court disqualified[1] Michael Martin from acting as a director for seven years. The court found that Mr Martin had contributed to a breach of competition law by his former company, … Continue Reading
Parties may struggle to establish issue estoppel based on a foreign judgment, even when they agreed exclusive jurisdiction of English courts. By Oliver Browne, Yasmina Vaziri, and Tom Watret MAD Atelier International BV v. Manès [2020] EWHC 1014 (Comm) considers key aspects of the law of issue estoppel and abuse of process in relation to … Continue Reading
The new service encourages UK consumers to report exploitative sales and pricing practices. By John D. Colahan and Anuj Ghai On 4 April 2020, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an online service called “Report a business behaving unfairly during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak” (the Online Service) to allow businesses and consumers to report … Continue Reading
By Frances Stocks Allen and Oliver Mobasser Recent legal and regulatory developments pave the way for an increased commercialisation opportunity in cannabis-based medicines, but complex rules require careful navigation. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommended the reimbursement of two plant-derived cannabis products for the first time on 10 November 2019. This … Continue Reading
In a leading case, the Court examined the extent of the duty of care that a bank owes to its customers when executing their orders. By Andrea Monks and Nell Perks On 30 October 2019, the UK Supreme Court dismissed Daiwa’s appeal in the case of Singularis Holdings Ltd (In Official Liquidation) v Daiwa Capital … Continue Reading
The 2019 Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters offers certainty in cross-border enforcement of judgments. By Robert Price and Isuru Devendra On 2 July 2019, the Hague Conference on Private International Law adopted the 2019 Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or … Continue Reading
The Berlin government’s envisaged five-year rent cap on residential properties has caused significant uncertainty among investors in housing portfolios. By Constanze Kugler and Christian Thiele On 18 June 2019, the Berlin Senate published a position paper specifying details of an envisaged five-year rent cap on residential properties in the German capital. The cap would significantly … Continue Reading
Federal Ministry of Finance publishes draft tax bill outlining new measures effective 1 January 2020. By Tobias Klass The Federal Ministry of Finance has released its first draft tax bill on the contemplated real estate transfer tax (RETT) reform, setting out the general framework to which market participants must conform. German political debate has focused … Continue Reading
While a shareholders’ resolution is still required, the FCJ left open the question of whether notarization of the resolution is necessary. By Christian Thiele and Otto von Gruben The German Federal Court of Justice (FCJ) decided on 8 January 2019 that Section 179a (1) of the German Stock Corporation Act (AktG) does not apply mutatis … Continue Reading
Sellers may be liable for damages if actual rent is lower than stated in the rent roll, despite contractual exclusion of liability for defects. By Christian Thiele and Patrick Braasch The Higher Regional Court of Cologne (HRC Cologne) has ruled that a property seller is liable for the difference between the rent shown in the … Continue Reading
Ruling finds that parties may make informal modifications without notarization after the conveyance has become binding. By Christian Thiele The German Federal Court recently ruled that parties may informally modify a property purchase agreement if the conveyance has become binding — thereby confirming prior case law. The Court further held that the parties may also … Continue Reading
New “range of factors” test suggests broad use in future civil matters and fairer, more nuanced outcomes. By Daniel Smith and Alanna Andrew The High Court has applied the new fact-sensitive “range of factors” test in Harb v Aziz[i] to determine whether a defendant to a civil claim can rely on the claimant’s wrongdoing to … Continue Reading
By Andrew Moyle, Stuart Davis, Fiona Maclean, Christian McDermott and Charlotte Collins The Bank of England (BoE) announced on 19 July 2017 that it is extending direct access to its real-time gross settlement (RTGS) service to non-bank payment service providers (i.e., e-money institutions and payment service providers that do not have regulatory permissions to carry … Continue Reading
By Deborah Kirk The UK will ratify the Unified Patent Court Agreement despite the Brexit vote, it was announced yesterday. It is unclear whether this marks the start of a long participation of the UK in this 40-years-in-the-making unifying change in patent law in Europe or whether Brexit will result in the UK exiting the … Continue Reading
