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Part 2 of 4 (a) For Users/Consumers Simply put, OTT services are low or free of charge services. Its known that online video traffic is on the growth due to simple accessibility and cheapness. Consumers’ hopes are also evolving as they are exp...

AI AND ROBOTICS IN RETAIL HAS UNSTOPPABLE MOMENTUM. IT WILL BE A KEY FOCUS AND POTENTIAL DIFFERENTIATOR FOR RETAILERS Earlier this year, MEPs voted for a set of regulations to be drafted to govern the use and creation of robots and artificial intell...

Précis New EU copyright directive entered into force on 7 June 2019, ushering in new EU copyright rules, bringing radical changes to the EU copyright regime. Member states have until 7 June 2021 to implement the new directive. Background The Europea...

Part 3 of 4 Despite its advantages, OTT systems do face challenges, and these become particularly apparent when moving from the concept to implementation. As mentioned in the above section OTT services are almost considered as low/free of charge ser...

Speed brief: On 11 July 2019, the UK Government published legislation confirming its intention to introduce a digital services tax (DST). The key features of this DST are as follows: • 2% tax on revenues (not profit) generated from UK users &bu...

Last Thursday, July 11, 2019, the French Parliament definitively enacted the so-called "GAFA tax” initiated by the French government in early March 2019, making France one of the first countries to tax the turnover of digital giants. Context D...

Part 4 of 4 Compared to the rest of the world, OTT regulation is fairly advanced in Europe and subject to a completely different approach in Africa and Middle East. It seems that in this part of the world, OTT services are commonly banned to protect...

At the end of March, the German Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community (BMI) submitted a draft bill for the "Second Act to Increase the Security of Information Technology Systems (IT Security Act 2.0)" to the vote of the ministries...

Recommendation CM/Rec(2019)2 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on the protection of health-related data Mobile health apps and other technical applications in the health sector are becoming more and more popular. Whether it's heart rate...

There has long been discussion as to whether the use of cookies and other technologies for the purposes of web analysis, tracking and individualised advertising requires the explicit consent of those concerned or whether this can also be based on le...

Precis The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (“DCMS”) have opened a consultation[1] which seeks stakeholder’s views on the proposed approach to the implementation of the European Electronic Communications Code Dire...

  The much anticipated sixth judgment (“the Horizon Judgment”) in the long-running group litigation against the Post Office (“POL”) brought by some 550 current and former sub-postmasters (“the Group Action”),...

2020 looks set to be a significant year for privacy, cyber security and Internet content reforms in China and Hong Kong. On 20 December 2019, the Cyberspace Administration of China released the “Regulation on Governance of Internet Information...

  Throughout 2019, we saw a growing promulgation of guidance, consultations and new laws across the world. In light of such a regulatory landscape beginning to form, there is growing debate as to whether or not Artificial Intelligence (“A...

(Note that this is an updated version an article originally published in 2016) In the era of the “digital economy” (with more than half of our shopping done on-line and 44% of UK on-line1 payments made using a mobile device2), companies ...

In light of the recent two-week extension of the lockdown, there is a lot of uncertainty regarding what may possibly transpire at the end of the lockdown period. There is also uncertainty regarding the extent of the Government’s powers, in res...

On Thursday, 9 April 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the extension of the nationwide lockdown for an additional 2 weeks, until 30 April 2020. The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) advised that all companies providing es...

Expert evidence in procurement claims – no general admission On 28 September 2012 the High Court rejected an application under...

Fair Deal: the latest developments On 19 November 2012 HM Treasury published its response to the March 2011 consultation on the future of the Fair Deal for Staff Pensions guidance. The Fair Deal review is part of the Government’s broader revi...

Registered Providers to face longer, more complicated and more expensive claims? The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 ("LAPSO") LAPSO received Royal Assent on 1 May 2012 and will come into force on 1 April 2013. It will hav...

The Charities Act 2006 (now the Charities Act 2011) introduced a new form of incorporated charitable entity, the CIO.  There has been a long delay in making CIOs available but their imminent arrival has been heralded by a recent government anno...

Many in local government will already be familiar with the CRC Scheme. This is the UK’s mandatory emissions trading scheme aimed at improving energy efficiency and cutting carbon dioxide emissions in large public and privat...

The European Commission has announced proposals to amend the Enabling Regulation adopted in 1998. This forms part of the EC’s State Aid Modernisation Initiative. It will allow the EC to focus on larger more...

? The European Commission has announced proposals to amend the Procedural Regulation adopted in 1999. This forms part of the EC’s State Aid Modernisation Initiative and will support quicker decision making and ensure a focus...

? Recently, the Equality and Human Rights Commission EHRC published detailed technical guidance for those public sector bodies seeking to comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED). There is separate guidance for Scotland, England and Wales....

The European Commission (the "EC") presented two proposals on 5 December 2012, as part of its State Aid Modernisation initiative. The proposals will include amendments to two key State aid instruments, the Enabling Regulation and...

? The Solicitors Regulation Authority has undertaken consultation on proposed changes to the rules for solicitors employed by local authorities.  The SRA is proposing to amend rule 4.15(e) of the Practice Framework Rules, to ...

The court has recently considered the extent of disclosure required to satisfy the obligation of fairness in a consultation exercise in the case of R (on the application of Save our Surgery Limited) v Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts  (&l...

Today’s employment law changes; and what else to expect this year Various changes to employment legislation take effect today, including amendments to whistleblowing laws.  Other changes will follow over coming months. In this briefing we...

Local Government Pension Scheme liabilities on academy conversionsBackground The treatment of Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) liabilities on academy conversions has been presenting significant difficulties for some time, with pension liabilit...

Code of Conduct for Operational PFI/PPPs HM Treasury recently published a brand new PFI/PPP code of conduct (the ‘Code’) which is aimed at delivering savings in operational PPP contracts. What has been introduced? ...

On 1 July 2013, following its consultation Judicial Review: proposals for reform, the Government introduced significant changes to the judicial review process.  The stated aim was to balance the need to ensure lawful public administration with ...

Local authority elections will take place this year on 22 May 2014. This is later than would usually be expected because a statutory instrument was made to allow them to be held at the same time as the European elections. This briefing note provides...

Freedom of information and the private sector -  the next chapter in transparency by the Coalition Government Extension to Transparency agenda and Freedom of Information In March 2014, Justice Minister Simon Hughes MP stated: “We do inten...

A report from the Auditor General for Wales has recommended that Welsh local authorities should implement scrutiny improvement action plans. The recommendation is one of nine recommendations contained in Good Scrutiny? Good Question!, a report of an...

From a planning perspective the Bill does not envisage major regime change, but rather concentrates on refinements to the nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIP) system and includes a measure aimed at accelerating decisions at a local ...

Care Act 2014 The Care Act 2014, which received Royal Assent on 14 May 2014, will impose new obligations on local authorities in respect of the provision of social care. The Care Act 2014 (“the Act”) contains five Parts and eight Schedul...

Following the unsuccessful “save the library” challenge against Brent Council in 2011, comes another  High Court judgment in judicial review proceedings involving a Council’s decision to achieve spending cuts by reducing its l...

Almost a decade to the day after the rejection by voters of a regional assembly for the North East, the announcement has been made of a historic agreement between government and the 10 Greater Manchester authorities that could lead to the devolution...

The Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment)(Governance) Regulations 2015 were laid before Parliament on 28 January 2015.  Issued under the Public Service Pensions Act 2013, these...

Another year, another budget. So what have we learnt from the contents of the infamous red brief case? Here are some of the highlights for the local government community.             George...

On 4 February 2015, the government launched a consultation on draft regulations implementing the cap on care costs contained in the Care Act 2014. The consultation also sought views on the need for new appeals system in relation to local authorities...

With the dust settling after the recent General Election, it is possible to better speculate as to the likely direction of travel of the new Conservative government. The new administration has a slim majority, therefore, there still may be an elemen...

Background The Government’s latest proposal in reforming the English schooling system was laid before Parliament last week in the form of the Education and Adoption Bill 2015-16 (“the Bill”). The Bill sets out provisions to conver...

Key Principles The public law duty to consult is one aspect of the principle that public authorities should exercise fairness in the exercise of their functions. Where the duty to consult is imposed by statute, then the procedure to be adopted is al...

Although the "Mystery Shopper" has been around since February 2011, with the release of the Public Procurement Note 09/15 ("PPN 09/15") on 1 June 2015, we can expect to see a rise in the number of procurement investigations. PPN 09/15 explains the n...

Remember to Comply with the Health & Safety Executive Guidance Introduction The High Court (Queen's Bench Division) recently handed down judgment in the case of X v Northampton BC. The judgment is a reminder that a failure to comply with guidanc...

Supreme Court reinforces the need to interpret clauses by the words used and their "natural meaning" On 10 June 2015, the Supreme Court handed down judgment in the case of Arnold v Britton and others [2015] UKSC 36, which concerned the interpretatio...

In R (on the application of Diocese of Menevia and others) v Swansea City and County Council1 (“the Council”), the Administrative Court was required to consider whether a change in policy made by the Council in respect of school transpor...