Page 20 - Law Developments News Today

The much-anticipated Energy White Paper was published by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (" BEIS") on 14 December 2020, setting out its strategy for the UKs energy transition over the next decade. The Energy White Paper focuses on strategy in six key areas: consumers, power, the energy system, buildings, industrial energy and oil & gas. Much of what has been set out in the Energy White Paper is not new. For one, the Energy White Paper builds on the UK governments Ten...

A new law recently modified the Labour Code, which now provides that employees can claim leave for family reasons if, among other things, they have a child under the age of 13 who must quarantine following a decision or recommendation of the competent national or foreign authority in order to limit the spread of an epidemic. In such circumstances, the employee's absence is justified by a certificate issued by the competent national or foreign authority confirming the decision or recommendati...

Since the beginning of 2021, the government has implemented a raft of additional travel and entry measures to minimise the spread of new COVID-19 variants in the United Kingdom, including pre-departure COVID-19 testing, travel bans, the suspension of travel corridor arrangements and the requirement that visits to the United Kingdom be for an essential purpose. This article outlines the recent developments for travel to England.

In March 2020 the Comptroller of Revenue released a concession confirming that where companies had to alter their operating practices to compensate for the COVID-19 outbreak, the comptroller would not determine that such company had failed the economic substance test under Article 6 of the Taxation (Companies – Economic Substance) (Jersey) Law 2019. Given that the pandemic remains ongoing, the comptroller recently issued further guidance in relation to the concession.

Introduction On 27 December 2020 Congress enacted the Trademark Modernisation Act (TMA) 2020 as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021. The TMA amends the Trademark Act 1946 – also known as the Lanham Act – and makes significant changes to trademark law by clarifying the burden for trademark owners seeking injunctive relief and providing new mechanisms for challenging applications and registrations on non-use grounds. The notable changes that will come into force in 2021 affect pr...

Faber Union(1) is good law. In total, there were seven appeals before the Federal Court by purchasers and housing developers. The key question that the court considered was where there is a delay in the delivery of vacant possession, does the date for the calculation of liquidated and ascertained damages (LADs) begin on the date of the payment of the booking fee or on the date of the sale and purchase agreement (SPA)?(2) This article refers to the appeals pertaining to GJH Avenue Sdn Bhd.(3) G...

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the shipping industry and led to many disputes. However, owing to the prevalence of arbitration in resolving shipping disputes, and the time taken for cases to progress through the courts, there have been few reported cases detailing the pandemics impact on the industry. In January 2021 the Admiralty Court handed down one of the first judgments dealing with this matter in P&O Princess Cruises International Ltd v The Demise Charte...

On 21 January 2021 a new royal decree was published in the Official Gazette which has temporarily extended occupational doctors role in combating the COVID-19 pandemic in the workplace. Occupational doctors will be contact tracers in the workplace and in this context have been given the authority to: identify high-risk contacts in the company; issue a quarantine certificate for these workers; and refer certain workers to be tested or to carry out the test themselves if they consider such actio...

Introduction Corruption allegations have blossomed as an area of interest in international arbitration since at least 2006, when an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes tribunal found that a claimants conduct in procuring an investment contract through bribery was sufficient as a matter of law and international public policy to render any claim under that contract unsustainable (World Duty Free versus Kenya). Since then, numerous other published awards have shown that stat...

The Northern District of Illinois recently declined to stay an action for declaratory relief relating to an insurance coverage dispute arising out of the ongoing <i>Clearview</i> litigation. The court held that the determination of whether an insurance policy applied did not require the resolution of facts relating to the policyholder's alleged violations of Illinois's Biometric Information Privacy Act.