The law of nuisance was first developed by the courts of England and Wales hundreds of years ago, long before the industrial revolution, at a time when England was predominantly a rural society. Throughout the intervening period there has been great change to our society and the law of nuisance has been adapted by the …
Continue reading “What a nuisance! Key environmental cases from the past year”
6 April 2006 saw the introduction of the Employer Financed Retirement Benefit Scheme (EFRBS), replacing the now defunct Funded Unapproved Retirement Benefit Scheme. An EFRBS is an unregistered (ie not registered with HM Revenue & Customs) pension scheme commonly used to provide retirement benefits to high-net-worth individuals (defined as those earning over £150,000 per annum …
Continue reading “EFRBS: attractive alternative for high earners?”
With the AGM season in full swing, this article takes stock of rule changes that public companies have been dealing with when presenting their accounts and holding their AGMs. Before looking at the changes it is worth remembering that the legal and governance regimes do not apply in their entirety to all companies. Company definitions …
During the boom times, Dubai and the UAE seldom experienced insolvency cases, so it became a widespread rumour that the UAE does not have an insolvency law. In addition, it had also been widely speculated that the UAE has a very archaic regime in which debts can lead a debtor to jail. By opposition to …
There is a situation more common than most people would think, particularly in the construction industry whereby parties commence work under a letter of intent, pending the negotiation and execution of a full written contract, setting out all the detailed terms and conditions governing contract performance. This often occurs where projects are time and cost …
Continue reading “Supreme Court warns: agree first, start work later”
The popular consensus is that there will not be a return to pre-2008 levels of property transactions for at least a few years. It is also uncertain when, if ever, the property market will return to the boom times seen in the early part of the last decade. During this period, it was not uncommon …
On 4 March 2010, the federal government announced its budget for 2010 (Budget 2010). Several of the measures proposed by the government relate to international trade and investment. Included in the budget are commitments to: eliminate a large number of custom tariffs on manufactured goods; continue the negotiation of international trade and investment agreements; enhance …
A sound corporate governance policy requires managing directors to guarantee compliance with competition law in the organisation. Violations can lead to penalties of millions of euros, and serious damage to the reputation of the organisation and the persons involved. In practice, it is difficult to identify and control competition law risks. This problem can be …
Continue reading “Compliance with competition law: prevention is better than cure”
The trend for co-operation between international financial regulators has become a feature of the regulatory environment over recent years. On 24 February 2010, in a boost for the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in its approach to dealing with requests for assistance from overseas regulators, the Court of Appeal allowed an appeal and found in favour …
Continue reading “Court of Appeal supports FSA’s request for documents”
The threat from modern methods of communication is that the potential damage to an individual, company or brand’s reputation is fast and global. As international companies and their brands grow, so does the need for a trusted reputation and the need to protect the brand. The speed at which information travels, especially in this internet …
Continue reading “Reputation law: an international approach to protecting brands”