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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.

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In Asia-Pacific

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

by 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.

In Antitrust / Competition

United Kingdom: Takeover Panel consultation on “acting in concert” definition

by , , and 9 Mins Read

The Takeover Panel has published a consultation paper (PCP 2022/2) setting out proposed changes to the definition of “acting on concert” in the Code. The changes, which are highly complex and technical in nature, are in part a codification of existing Panel practice. There are, however, are some important adjustments that, given the potentially significant consequences of being considered to be “acting in concert” (e.g. setting a floor price for an offer and/or triggering a mandatory bid obligation), it will be important for offer participants and their advisers to familiarise themselves with.

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In Europe

UK introduces changes to the Export Control Order 2008

by 2 Mins Read

On 28 April 2022, the UK introduced The Export Control (Amendment) Order 2022, amending the Export Control Order 2008, which will come into force on 19 May 2022. An additional control on military end-use will apply; however there are no amendments to the underlying dual-use regulation and the existing end-use control will continue to apply separately.

In Employment

United Kingdom: Striking workers and protection from action short of dismissal

by and 1 Min Read

In an article published for ELA briefing, Jon Tuck and Richard Cook discuss the implications of the Court of Appeal’s decision in Mercer v Alternative Future Group, considering whether workers participating in protected industrial action are protected from action short of dismissal under the Trade Unions and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.

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In Corporate Compliance

United Kingdom: Employment Rights – Is 2022 the year of enforcement? (Video Chat)

by 1 Min Read

The Baker McKenzie London Employment team is delighted to welcome you back to our virtual mini-series, “Employment Rights: is 2022 the year of enforcement?”, with episode three, where we turn our attention to National Minimum Wage, a topic that has the potential to be quite tricky to navigate for employers and one where we have already seen significant enforcement activity by HMRC over the past few years. In this episode, Stephen Ratcliffe and Oliver Moreton cover some of the key issues that employers need to consider, including the different types of work under the legislation, what counts as working time, the payments that count towards minimum wage, and the deductions that reduce pay for the purposes of minimum wage calculations.

In Cybersecurity, Data and Tech

United Kingdom: UK publishes report on the impact of Artificial Intelligence on product safety

by and 5 Mins Read

The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) published a report on 23 May 2022 which considered the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on product safety.
The report provides a framework for considering the impact of AI consumer products on existing product safety and liability policy. This framework seeks to support the work of policymakers by highlighting the main considerations that should be taken into account when evaluating and developing product safety and liability policy for AI consumer products. No timeline is stated in the report for that evaluation/ development to take place, but the report makes clear the view that work is needed to ensure the UK’s product safety and liability regime can deal with AI developments.

In Austria

Europe: The New European Restructuring Schemes – Update May 2022

by , , , , , , , and 1 Min Read

Through the EU Directive on Restructuring and Insolvency of 20 June 2019 (EUR 2019/1023, “Directive”), the European Union has imposed an obligation on its member states to offer a more attractive and flexible restructuring scheme in their respective local law. The initial deadline to do so had been 17 July 2021. Only a handful of countries (most notably Germany and The Netherlands) had implemented the Directive within the initial deadline, whilst the other countries made use of the possibility to ask for a one year extension.

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