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UK Supreme Court rules no entitlement for consumers to an “absolute level of safety” in product liability case

by , and 4 Mins Read

The appellant in the case of Hastings (Appellant) v Finsbury Orthopaedics Ltd and another (Respondents) (Scotland) [2022] UKSC 19, has failed to demonstrate to the UK Supreme Court (UKSC) that a prosthetic hip (manufactured by the respondents, each making separate parts) used in a metal-on-metal hip replacement was defective. Rather, the UKSC unanimously upheld the finding of the lower courts and concluded that the nature of the product meant that there could be no entitlement to an absolute level of safety.
The judgment is likely to be welcomed by those involved in the manufacture and distribution of medical devices and other health care products, as it continues the pragmatic approach of the UK courts in seeking to balance the need to achieve a high level of consumer protection against a robust assessment of the standards which the public can realistically expect manufacturers to achieve.

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In Internal Investigations

Future of Disputes UK

by , , , , , , , , , , and 4 Mins Read

Our Future of Disputes UK Virtual Programme brought speakers from leading in-house institutions – including AON, Gilead, GPW Group, HSBC, JP Morgan, Rio Tinto, Salesforce and Siemens – together with Baker McKenzie dispute resolution specialists to discuss key challenges in litigation, arbitration and investigations likely to arise over the next year.
We tackled the practicalities around contract disputes and termination, engaging with government and regulators, strategies to manage litigation risk arising from internal investigations, and provided an overview of how case lifecycles are likely to unfold following recent reforms of litigation and arbitration mechanisms. Our speakers share insights garnered from managing complex, multijurisdictional disputes and offer strategies to help you shape your organisation’s business resilience and readiness for litigation in the medium and long term.

In AML & Financial Services Regulatory

United Kingdom: Treasury confirms stablecoin regulatory regime and sets out ambitions to be global crypto hub

by , , , and 10 Mins Read

At UK FinTech Week 2022 in April, the Treasury announced a host of new and forthcoming initiatives to build on the UK’s “FinTech success stories” and support its push to become the loading global hub for crypto businesses. The initiatives range from incubators (like the Financial Market Infrastructure Sandbox and the FCA’s CryptoSprint events), to industry engagement partnerships through a Cryptoasset Engagement Group, to reviews of the tax treatment of crypto and the legal status of Decentralised Autonomous Organisations. Most significant among the announcements is the Treasury’s confirmation that it will bring activities that issue or facilitate the use of stablecoins used as a means of payment into the UK regulatory perimeter.

In Employment

United Kingdom: No plans to make menopause a protected characteristic under the Equality Act

by , and 1 Min Read

The Minister for Work and Pensions and Minister for Women has confirmed that the government is not currently planning to introduce menopause as a protected characteristic under the Equality Act or to implement dual discrimination. Instead, the government will consult the Equality and Human Rights Commission, and Acas, to assess whether improvements can be made to increase understanding of the law in this area.

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In ESG

United Kingdom: IR35 – A divergence between ’employment’ for tax purposes and employment purposes?

by 1 Min Read

In an article published for ELA briefing, Stephen Ratcliffe discusses the implications of two IR35 appeals: Kickabout House and Atholl House, with Chris Stone from Devereux Chambers. Of particular interest to employment practitioners is what they say about the determination of employment status generally, and what may be a material difference in the way in which employment misclassification issues should be approached as regards employment rights versus tax rights.

In

United Kingdom: Possible divergence between employment status test for tax and employment rights?

by , and 5 Mins Read

In two recent cases, the Court of Appeal has provided some guidance on the test to determine if someone is an employee for tax purposes. In doing so, it considered and, in some key respects, distinguished the approach taken when determining whether someone is an employee or worker for the purposes of employment rights. The result may well be a different answer when determining status for tax purposes from the answer for the purposes of employment rights.

In Europe

United Kingdom: Important changes to OFSI’s enforcement powers come into force from 15 June 2022

by , , and 2 Mins Read

There have been three important changes to OFSI’s enforcement powers: for breaches of financial sanctions that are committed after 15 June 2022, OFSI will be able to impose civil monetary penalties on a strict civil liability basis; there will be greater flexibility on challenging OFSI’s decisions to issue monetary penalties for sanctions violations; and OFSI will now have the power to publicise details of financial sanctions breaches in cases where a breach has been found, but it has not imposed a monetary penalty. These changes are introduced by the SI 2022/638 – The Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022 (Commencement No. 2 and Saving Provision) Regulations 2022.

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In White Collar Crime

United Kingdom: Pensions Regulator publishes additional guidance on how it will approach the exercise of its new powers

by , and 10 Mins Read

The Regulator has responded to its September 2021 consultation on three draft policies relevant to how it will exercise its new anti-avoidance powers, which are intended to help protect defined benefit savings. The most recent policies follow on from the policy on the investigation and prosecution of the new criminal offences, which was published in September 2021 and provide further guidance on three specific areas: overlapping powers, the new GBP 1million civil penalty and information gathering. Separately, the Regulator has also issued a new consultation on two policies consolidating and updating certain existing policies on enforcement and prosecution.

In Asia-Pacific

UK commences implementation process of free trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand

by and 1 Min Read

The UK government has introduced a bill to help bring into force the UK-Australia and the UK-New Zealand Free Trade Agreements (“FTAs“).

The bill is a key step in ratifying the FTAs but before they come into force, Parliament must scrutinise the FTAs, agree the bill and pass secondary legislation to make the changes required to the UK’s procurement regime to meet the terms of the FTAs.

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