Introduction The Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Bill 2015 (“the Bill”) is currently before Parliament. The Bill is relatively short and deals with two areas in particular: i) the powers of charities to make social investmen...

Closing a loophole? One of the key features, and one of the most contentious provisions, of the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Bill 2015 (“the Bill”) is the new power it will grant the Charity Commission (“the Commission”) to issue of...

A commitment to reduce public sector termination packages has seen the Government explore various proposals for reform in recent years; from draft regulations seeking recovery of termination payments, to a financial cap upon the amount of any indivi...

The Prime Minister announced on 18 April that a General Election will be held on Thursday 8 June. Parliament will be dissolved on 3 May and we wait with interest to see what planned legislation will survive the trauma of the current Parliament&rsqu...

The importance of the internet and the role that e-commerce plays in a company’s business have increased significantly over the past few years with many successful companies operating predominantly, some even exclusively, from online platforms...

The security of personal information, including customer payment card data and related details, is integral to the functioning of retailers with an online offering, and there are serious consequences in the event of security breaches. Penalties...

3D printing is becoming an increasingly versatile and commercially attractive tool. The technology has many applications beyond its roots in prototyping and it is being used to create products such as clothes, cars, musical instruments and even huma...

Competition Law E-Briefing: Fashion sector competition probe On Tuesday 24 March 2015, the UK’s competition regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (the “CMA”), opened an investigation into suspected anti-competitive arrangements in the UK ...

  Introduction On 6 May the European Commission (“the Commission”) announced the launch of a competition law inquiry into the e-commerce sector, where it is believed that companies who engage in selling via the internet may be employing methods...

On 31 March 2015, the German Federal Cartel Office (“Bundeskartellamt”, BKartA) announced that it has blocked the proposed takeover of approximately 450 Kaiser’s Tengelmann supermarket branches by EDEKA, the leading German food ret...

It has been reported that the European Commission (the “Commission”) is asking retailers to detail the difficulties they face while trying to sell their products online, as part of the lengthy questionnaires sent to the retailers followi...

The UK’s new Consumer Rights Act ( the “CRA” ) becomes effective on the 1st October 2015. As we have previously mentioned whilst this consolidates existing UK consumer law it also brings in some significant changes to the laws appl...

Selective Distribution – Some recent developments in the adidas case: when can sales via online platforms be restricted? On 18 November 2015, the Autorité de la concurrence (the “French Competition Authority” or “...

On 29 September 2016, the French Competition Authority (l’Autorité de la concurrence - the “Autorité”) imposed a fine of EUR 2.4 million on 37 model agencies and their main trade association, the SYNAM, in relation to...

The European Commission has launched three investigations into suspected breach of the competition rules by companies in the consumer electronics, videogames and hotel sectors.  The consumer electronics and videogames probes come out of the Com...

Introduction The Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”), the authority responsible for operating and enforcing the UK merger control regime, has published its updated Retail Mergers Commentary (“New Commentary”).1 The CMA ...

In July 2017, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) published a detailed guidance paper (the “Guidance Paper”) on resale price maintenance (“RPM”) in the retail food sector. The purpose of the paper is to expl...

Aysha Fernandes, legal director in Eversheds Sutherland’s Competition, EU & Trade group comments on the ramifications of UK CMA’s Ping fine appeal. This article was written by PaRR, the leading provider of inside track on comp...

The Covid-19 Block Exemption for the Retail Property Sector (the “Regulations”) were published on 24 March 2020 in response to the declaration of the National State of Disaster. The Regulations exempt certain agreements or practices with...

Anzen Limited & Another v Hermes One Limited In the case of Anzen Limited v Hermes One Limited [2016] UKPC 1, the Privy Council considered the use of permissive language in an arbitration clause.  Specifically, the Council considered what o...

Introduction It is always important to establish whether or not communications with the opposing party in a dispute are truly without prejudice (“WP”). If a communication is deemed not to be protected by WP privilege, a party exposes the...

Suez Fortune Investments Ltd and another v Talbot Underwriting Ltd [2016] EWHC 1085 (Comm) Introduction On the 15 January 2015, the English Commercial Court handed down a decision that highlights the importance of compliance with disclosure obligati...

Following a consultation on the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (the ‘Act’), the Government has confirmed that the way in which transport operators cap their liability to customers to compensate for delays or cancellations to services must be c...

Following a consultation on the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (the ‘Act’), the Government has confirmed the way in which train operators cap their liability to customers to compensate for delays or cancellations to services must be consistent...

Following the outcome of a Government consultation paper, the full force of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA) will apply to the aviation sector as from the 1 October 2016. The result could lead to compensation being paid up to the price of the air ...

Background - The 2018 Periodic Review The Office of Rail and Road (“ORR”) has recently published its conclusions (the “Conclusions”) following its initial consultation in relation to the creation of the 2018 Periodic Review ...

Background As part of the 2018 periodic review (“PR18”) of Network Rail, the Office of Rail and Road (“ORR”) is reviewing the way in which the charges that operators pay to access the rail network are calculated. This review ...

Background The Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) has recently published draft guidance on its approach to assessing rail franchise awards under its merger control powers (the “Draft Guidance”)1. The guidance has been ...

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a multi-trillion Chinese led initiative to strengthen trade routes and related infrastructure across over 150 countries worldwide. The initiative covers over 60% of the world’s population in terms of ...

Background Periodic reviews are one of the principal mechanisms by which the Office of Rail and Road (“ORR”) holds Network Rail to account, and secures value for money for users and funders of the railway. The ORR’s periodic review...

Following close consultation with IFI's including the IFC, World Bank and EBRD, Tunisia has launched a review process to aid with the structuring and implementation of new PPP projects. Eversheds Sutherland was privileged to have been spec...

...

On 2 December 2019, the European Council agreed to update Regulation 1371/2007 (the “Regulation”) on rail passengers’ rights and obligations. The proposed amendments to the Regulation aim to strengthen the rights of passengers wher...

A notice was published in the government gazette on 30 March 2020, in terms of which the minister of transport (the “Minister”) has, in terms of section 18(7) of the National Road Traffic Act (No. 93 of 1996), extended the licensing and ...

On 16 April 2019, a controversial 16-minute video containing footage of a what is believed to be a taxi journey taken by two Hong Kong celebrities, Andy Hui Chi-on and Jacqueline Wong, was published on the website of a local newspaper. This publicat...

On 1 May 2019 the UK government, through the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, launched a consultation on its proposals to regulate the security of consumer Internet of Things (“IoT”) or “smart” devices, whi...

...

On 17 May 2019, the European Council established a framework and implemented a new sanctions regime which now allows the EU to impose targeted sanctions to “deter and respond to cyber-attacks which constitute an external threat to the EU and i...

...

The DPC has published useful guidance on CCTV usage for controllers. The guidance is intended to assist owners and occupiers of premises to understand their responsibilities and obligations regarding data protection when using CCTV. This is particul...

The ICO has launched a public consultation on its new draft data sharing code of practice. The consultation period ends on 9 September 2019. It is an update of the previous code, to align it with GDPR so as to address transparency, lawful bases for ...

What you need to know UK regulatory guidance has been updated to the effect that the timescale for responding to individuals’ requests (including subject access requests) is one calendar month from the day of receipt of the ...

What you need to know UK regulatory guidance has been updated to explain what ‘manifestly unfounded’ and ‘excessive’ means in relation to the individual rights of data subjects under GDPR. This includes but is not limited to ...

The Data Protection Commission (“DPC”) issued guidance on data sharing in the public sector. The DPC noted its support for developing more efficient and customer-centric public services and sought to clarify the public sector obligations...

The Central Bank of Malaysia or Bank Negara Malaysia (‘BNM’) on 18 July 2019 issued another policy document which sets out its requirements to the nation’s Financial Institutions (‘FIs’) management of technology risk. W...

While fines recently imposed by the French and UK data protection supervisory authorities have been high, the supervisory authorities in Germany have so far imposed rather moderate penalties. This could now be changed by a new model for calculating ...

Precis: In this briefing, we look at the new regulations permitting the Central Bank of Ireland to limit the rights of individuals under the GDPR. On 30 October 2019 the Data Protection Act 2018 (section 60(6)) (Central Bank of Ireland) Regulations ...

President Cyril Ramaphosa has received a request from the Information Regulator Chairperson to declare that the remaining provisions of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) commence on 1 April 2020. If the President acts on the Informa...

The Hong Kong Court has recently confirmed the Securities and Futures Commission (“SFC”)’s powers to seize, search and compel access to digital devices rejecting challenges to such powers based on privacy grounds. Data privacy is a...