Draft regulations that extend the ban on exclusivity clauses in employment contracts from those on zero-hours contracts to include those earning on or less than GBP 123 per week have been laid before Parliament.
Baker McKenzie’s Sanctions Blog published the alert titled UK introduces further sanctions against Belarus on 6 July 2022. Read the article via the link here. Please also visit our Sanctions Blog for the most recent updates.
An employment tribunal has held that a claimant’s belief in ethical veganism that extended to taking positive action to reduce or prevent the suffering of animals, which included criminal conduct such as trespassing on private property to expose and remove suffering animals, was not a protected philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010.
On 20 June 2022, HM Treasury issued much-anticipated details on the forthcoming UK buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) regulatory regime. The Treasury’s approach to regulatory controls for agreements is essentially the same position that it took in its October 2021 consultation – a proportionate approach applying some but not all of the consumer credit regulatory principles, with regulations tailored to apply to BNPL as a bespoke product.
On 15 June 2022 HM Treasury published the outcome to its consultation on amendments to the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLRs). The changes to the MLRs will be implemented through the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) (No.2) Regulations 2022 Statutory Instrument. A draft of the Statutory Instrument and explanatory memorandum have also been published. The amendments bring the MLRs in line with updated FATF standards and fill gaps in the current operation of the UK’s AML regime, most significantly in relation to cryptoassets.
In November 2018, the law surrounding the prescription of medical cannabis was changed by the British Home Office. Promising developments occurred in the year after this, including the approval of a cannabis based drug for childhood epilepsy and the opening of London’s first medical cannabis clinic with 150 patients on a waiting list. Nevertheless, almost four years on from the relaxation of barriers to access, it appears that minimal tangible progress has been made, particularly as it pertains to patient access which was the key motivation triggering government officials such as Home Secretary Sajid Javid to change the law in 2018.
The government has announced that it is proposing to make changes to trade union law that will remove the current prohibition on businesses using temporary workers to cover staff taking part in industrial action. It has also announced that it plans to quadruple the maximum amount of damages that a court can award against a trade union for unlawful strike action from GBP 250,000 to GBP 1 million. These changes will need to be approved by Parliament.
Medical device companies anticipating new rules post-Brexit may be feeling somewhat overlooked to hear the BEIS’s recent announcement regarding UKCA marking. From this announcement, it transpired that the UKCA marking announcement did not include medical devices and in-vitro medical devices.
The MHRA has been accepted as a full member of three groups: the International Medical Device Regulatory Forum (IMDRF), the International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH) and the US-based Medical Devices Innovation Consortium. These partnerships bolster the MHRA’s position as an influential international player in medicinal and medical device regulation and restore the MHRA’s ties with the IMDRF and ICH.
Environmental sustainability, social justice and proactive corporate governance will increasingly underpin the ESG agenda in the real estate sector for investors, occupiers and stakeholders alike. Buildings are responsible for almost 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions, meaning our industry clearly has work to do if the UK is to achieve net-zero by 2050. The terms “net-zero” and “greenwashing” do not sit well together, and if the former is to win out, the UK will need an ambitious regulatory framework, coupled with unwavering buy-in from the boardroom to the living room. “Action, not aspiration” is the UK government’s message.