A digital age of evidence in employment disputes In China, when an employer wishes to terminate an employee’s employment, the burden of proof falls on the employer to show that the statutory grounds for justifying the termination have been met...
Reform of section 2103 of the Italian civil code, concerning modification of work duties Section. 3 of law decree no. 81 of 2015 significantly amended section 2103 of Italian civil code. In its original form the rule set out that “an employee ...
Working after pensionable age – new legislation takes effect Over the coming years the Dutch pensionable age (currently 65) is set to increase gradually, in order to offset the costs associated with an ageing population. By 2021 the pension ag...
Changes to fixed term (definite term) employment contracts On 22 February 2016, an amendment to the Labour Code on definite period employment contracts will come into force. This amendment will introduce new rules allowing an employer to conclude no...
Court extends flexible working rights under the Spanish Constitution?In a recent case involving a request for flexible working, the court found in favor of the employee by granting his request for a flexible starting time, relying on Article 39 of t...
Amendment to the Labour Code and the Employment Act On 1 October 2015, amendments to the Czech Labour Code and the Employment Act came into effect and brought about substantial changes to Czech labour law, affecting most employers in the Czech Repub...
Swiss working time regulations simplified for higher ranked employees On 1 January 2016, new articles 73a and 73b of the Swiss Ordinance relating to the Labour Law Act (OLLA1) entered into force. Reflecting the reality of today’s work life, th...
Major new anti-slavery law affecting global organisations doing business in the UK in force The Modern Slavery Act 2015 requires commercial organisations with a turnover of £36 million and above and supplying goods or services to publicly repo...
Important EU data protection changes are a step nearerAfter years in the offing, the EU Parliament, Council and Commission representatives have reached political agreement on the drafting of the new EU data protection framework. Although minor modif...
UAE employers be aware - new UAE employment requirementsThree new Ministerial Decrees came into effect on 1 January 2016. These Decrees, issued by the Ministry of Labour (“MOL”), impact upon the way job offers are made and have implicati...
Ministry of Labour makes numerous labour law changes The Ministry of Labour made a number of changes to labour law with effect from 18 October 2015. Amongst other things, the amendments cover disciplinary procedures, training, Saudization privileges...
New requirement to issue itemised payslips and key employment terms With effect from 1 April 2016, all Singapore employers will be required to issue itemised payslips and key employment terms to employees covered under the Singapore Employment Act. ...
Latest developments in temporary employment (agency or leased workers) In Germany, the provision of temporary personnel is strictly regulated by the German Law on Labour Leasing Act (AÜG). The principle is straightforward: the agency is the emp...
2016 – A new year and a new employment claims system in Ireland 2015 brought a number of changes to the Irish employment law landscape. The most significant change was the introduction of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 (the “Act”...
Increase in parental leave days Swedish parents are entitled to 480 days of paid parental leave when a child is born or adopted. In principle, each parent is entitled to 240 days’ leave, some of which is available exclusively for that parent&...
Private sector wage increasesAn increase of 6% has been agreed for private sector pay, following a negotiation between the UGTT and UTICA. This agreement provides for an increase of 6% on basic salary, plus an increase in the transport allowance by ...
A number of employment law changes have taken effect at the start of 2016… Increased fines for unfulfilled employment quotas Employers with more than 25 employees must employ at least one employee with a disability for every 25 employees in t...
Supreme Court rulings on fixed term and overtime work In its recent rulings, the Supreme Court of Estonia has clarified appropriate compensation for the early termination of a fixed term employment contract and also how to determine overtime work wh...
Prescription (the lapse of arbitration awards) in employment There have been a number of conflicting judgments dealing with the prescription of arbitration awards and how the term “debt” should be defined in the employment arena. ...
New legislation on occupational accidents and diseasesThe Act on occupational accidents and occupational diseases (459/2015) came into force on 1 January 2016. By combining the earlier three Acts on occupational accidents and diseases into one, the ...
Compulsory provision of health insurance by employers in FranceThe safeguarding of employees’ wellbeing is a key focus of French employment legislation. From biannual consultations with employees to evaluate the psychological impacts of their ...
More flexibility for group companies to enforce proprietary rights and restrictions against employees? The Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Ordinance (Cap. 623) (the “Ordinance”) came into force in Hong Kong on 1 January 2016. The Ord...
Global unions renew pressure on labour conditions in supply chainsGlobal trade unions are continuing to work with pressure groups and human rights activists to hold companies to account for labour conditions in their supply chains. Their activities ...
On 12 February 2016, the Government gazetted the Employment (Amendment) Bill 2016 (the “Bill”). The Bill will be introduced into the Legislative Council for first and second readings on 2 March 2016 but it is not clear when it may come i...
Introduction The Institutional Limited Partners Association (“ILPA”) has released Version 3.0 of its Principles aimed at fostering transparency, governance and alignment of interests for general partners (“GPs”) and limited p...
From 1 October 2008, all directors of UK companies have a duty under the Companies Act 2006 to avoid actual or potential conflicts of interest. The new law places a positive onus on the director to avoid these conflict situations; it is not sufficie...
Lehman Brothers, the fourth largest investment bank in the US, filed for bankruptcy this morning. If you have funds which have entered into OTC derivatives contracts with Lehmans under an ISDA Master Agreement you may be considering your posi...
In late 2008, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) reviewed how firms had implemented key aspects of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID). It has now published the results of that review. Generally the FSA has been encouraged by ...
FSA survey on AIFMD – aiming to provide support to AIFMs On 11 March 2013, the Financial Services Authority (“FSA”) published new web-pages on the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (“AIFMD”), including an o...
On 19 March, the Financial Services Authority published its much anticipated second consultation on AIFMD: “Implementation of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive” – CP 13/9. The FSA paper came hot on the heels of HM ...
On 25 March, HMRC published a briefing on the tax treatment of payments of trail commission which is rebated to investors in collective investment schemes and other investment products such as life insurance policies. The briefing relates to any reb...
In our previous briefing we reported on HMRC’s recent briefing on the tax treatment of payments of trail commission rebated to...
The European Commission (Commission), Parliament and the Council have now reached agreement on the texts for the Recast Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (...
The European Commission (Commission) has contacted the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and, more recently, the European Banking Authority...
In the same week that the Recast Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID 2) and its companion Regulation (MiFIR) were ...
Interview with Maris VainovskisBilances Juridiskie Padomi No.8 (14) August 2014Foreign capital is more and more active in acquisition of Latvian companies. Will there be any large local companies left in the future at all?There is such a tendency in...
Changes to The Child Trust Fund Regulations and ISA Regulations have been proposed. Both sets of amended regulations, which are currently in draft form, are expected to be finalised later this month and come into force on 6 April 2015. The changes ...
Morocco - New opportunities for investments of companies based in Morocco By Jawad Fassi-Fehri In Morocco, measures aiming to make Casa Finance City (CFC) a financial continental platform are progressing. After the announcement by the African Develo...
Updated AIFMD Q&As The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published an updated version of its Q&A paper on the application of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD). This publication was released on...
The Luxembourg regulator, the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) has provided guidance on the meaning of marketing and reverse solicitation under AIFMD. This guidance is to be welcomed, as there is no European-wide guidance on th...
On 12 March 2018, the European Commission (the “Commission”) published legislative proposals for new rules on marketing AIFs and UCITS comprising: a Directive on the cross-border distribution of collective investment funds (COM(2018) 92...
On 7 August 2018, ESMA published a letter from Steven Maijoor, ESMA Chair, to Gabriel Bernardino, EIOPA Chair. The letter addressed the question of whether ESMA would consider borrowing arrangements and derivative arrangements entered into by an Alt...
When it comes to hedge strategies, onshore FCA-authorised fund vehicles may offer some unique advantages with fewer drawbacks than you might think. When it comes to authorised funds - as in a fund authorised as a product, by a regulator &ndas...
The SFC Moves to Regulate Depositaries of SFC-authorised Collective Investment Schemes In September 2019, the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (the “SFC”) issued a Consultation Paper (available here) setting out its proposa...
The Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (“SFC”) issued two circulars on 7 January 2020 providing guidance on its approach to licensing private equity (“PE”) firms and family offices to carry out regulated activitie...
The path to establishing a UK management entity for an offshore fund branches off in all manner of directions. One of the first crossroads faced by the first-time manager is the choice of UK management vehicle. Their decision has significan...
Faraday Development Ltd v West Berkshire Council [2018] EWCA Civ 2532 Relevant background: The Court of Appeal has issued a decision that has rendered a development contract between a Council and a private developer for the regeneration of an indust...
Farakh Rashid v Teyub Nasrullah (Acting as Executor of the Estate of the late Mohammed Rashid) [2018] EWCA Civ 2685 The Court of Appeal has decided that a registered owner of land can also be in adverse possession of the same land. The late Mohammed...
Canary Wharf (BP4) T1 Ltd v European Medicines Agency The impact of Brexit upon property disputes has not been wide ranging thus far. However, a case which is set for trial in the early part of 2019 may alter that position and potential...