Following a further raft of changes to the immigration rules on 6 April 2012 and in particular to Tier 2 of the Points-Based System (PBS), sponsors of non-EEA nationals and their HR professionals engaged in recruitment, are now required to fully comprehend the implications of a prospective employee’s UK immigration status to determine their eligibility …
The UK government recently published its response to last year’s consultation on the reform of the UK competition regime. One significant plan is that it will no longer be a requirement to prove ‘dishonesty’ in order to convict individuals involved in a criminal cartel. The government believes that removing the requirement to prove dishonesty will …
Continue reading “The criminal cartel offence and government reforms of competition law”
The number of syndicated loans signed in EMEA in the first quarter of 2012 was less than half the number seen in the same period last year and the pipeline for the remainder of 2012 remains thin, bar any uptick in M&A activity. Banks are operating under tighter capital constraints and are increasingly selective on …
In April 2010 we considered the then proposed Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) (The In-House Lawyer 179, page 7). Two years on, the RHI is in force and in this article we look at where the RHI has got to and consider some of the practical, commercial and legal issues around the RHI scheme and heat …
Continue reading “Getting into hot water: renewable heat and the RHI”
The High Court has ruled in favour of the Lonsdale group in two related summary judgment actions: Leofelis SA & anor v Lonsdale Sports Ltd & ors; and Trademark Licensing Company Ltd & anor v Leofelis SA (the Leofelis actions). The applications were in relation to claims stemming from alleged repudiatory breaches of a licence, …
In the words of one very famous global entertainment company, ‘it’s a small world after all’. Advances in technology have made it relatively easy to move into new territories and connect globally. Although the world is getting smaller, the task of managing compliance in numerous different jurisdictions is not. Even within the UK, there are …
Continue reading “Mind the health and safety compliance gap”
Product recalls often take businesses by surprise. A suspected safety risk in a product will need immediate attention and your business will be at risk if it does not have a comprehensive, effective and up-to-date recall system in place.
There is nothing new about the fact that how an employee behaves can have a serious impact on a company’s reputation; what has changed is that a company’s reputation can now be damaged via a variety of different social media sites as well as through traditional channels. As social networking interaction continues to grow, the …
Continue reading “How that tweet could end up costing your company more than you’ve budgeted for”
Commercial contracts may confer on one contracting party the discretion to take decisions that have an impact on the interests of the other party to the contract. This can give rise to questions of whether the decision maker owes any duties to the other contracting party and the extent to which the decision maker is …
With around £23bn being invested in design in the UK each year1, there can be no doubt that designs are big business, or that they are vitally important for the UK economy. There is, however, significant doubt as to whether current design law and access to justice in this country provide sufficient protection for designs …
As economic pressures continue to affect corporate Britain, companies are imposing their own austerity measures. As suppliers of goods and services, companies want to receive payment as soon as it is due, either in accordance with payment terms set out in their terms of business or within a reasonable time. On the other hand, as …
Continue reading “Winding up petitions: the sharpest debt recovery tool in the box?”
The advent of the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Policy in April 2000 and the subsequent enactment of the SEZ Act 2005 and the SEZ Rules 2006 paved the way for SEZs in India. SEZs were regarded as the engines of growth, supported by quality infrastructure and complemented by an attractive fiscal package with the minimum …