The legislation due to come into effect on 1 July 2021 will change the way employers carry out right to work checks for EEA citizens. The Employers Guidance has been updated to consider the legislation.
On 21 June 2021, the EU and UK announced coordinated sanctions against specified Belarusian individuals and entities. This follows the forced landing of a commercial aircraft in Belarus and subsequent detention of a Belarusian journalist, and suggests that the UK is continuing to align its sanctions regime with key allies following Brexit. The sanctions were further coordinated with the US and Canada.
On 21 June 2021, the UK and EU both announced further sanctions targeting individuals and entities linked to Myanmar’s military regime.
The EU announced that it was imposing sanctions against an additional 8 individuals, 3 economic entities (Myanmar Gems Enterprise; Myanmar Timber Enterprise; and Forest Products Joint Venture Corporation Limited) and the War Veterans Organisation.
The UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA) entered into force as a replacement for the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) due to Brexit, to leverage Vietnam-UK trade relations. To implement preferential tariff treatment under the UKVFTA, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) issued Circular No. 02/2021/TT-BCT that will regulate the origin issues and take effect on 27 June 2021.
The Court of Appeal has upheld a High Court decision that both the employer and host employer were vicariously liable for two seconded employees’ alleged dishonest assistance and knowing participation in fraudulent trading. The investment bank trader employees were so much a part of the work, business or organisation of both their employer and the host company to which they were seconded that it was just to make both employers vicariously liable.
The Court of Appeal has ruled that the lack of an interim relief remedy for discrimination dismissal claims does not breach the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). The Court of Appeal has confirmed that interim relief is not a remedy that is available to claimants bringing claims of discriminatory dismissals.
On 22 June, UK International Trade Secretary Liz Truss began negotiations with Yasutoshi Nishimura, the current chair of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
On 15 June 2021, the UK Government announced that the UK has secured a trade deal with Australia eliminating tariffs on all UK goods and boosting jobs and businesses across the country, in the first major trade deal negotiated from scratch by the Government since the UK left the EU. The announcement said that the main elements of the deal were agreed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison at a meeting in Downing Street on 14 June. A final Agreement in Principle will be published in the coming days.
Continuing its increasing focus on fair customer treatment and achieving good customer outcomes, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published a consultation on a new Consumer Duty, which would set higher expectations for the standard of care that firms provide to consumers.
The UK government has recently published further information about its proposed Plastic Packaging Tax that will apply to plastic packaging containing less than 30% recycled plastic content from 1 April 2022. This latest information is intended to help businesses prepare while the relevant primary legislation, the Finance Bill 2021, is considered by Parliament. Companies who manufacture in, or import into, the UK 10 or more tonnes of plastic packaging over a 12-month period will need to register and account for the tax at the rate of GBP 200 per metric tonne of packaging containing less than 30% recycled content. Record-keeping requirements will still apply even if the 10-tonne threshold is not met.