Learn practical tips to improve your negotiation skills as in-house counsel. This resource is based on informative insights shared by in-house counsel.
English law continues to be one of the most frequently adopted choices of law for international contracts across the world. Likewise, the court service in England, and in London in particular, maintains its reputation worldwide as a destination for international litigation. This article sets out ten key considerations for any person or business considering litigating commercial and corporate disputes in London.
In a push to increase consumer understanding around the meaning of "carbon neutral" and "net zero" claims, the UK Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) have provided some updated guidance on misleading environmental claims and social responsibility in advertising. The guidance is intended to help encourage transparency and consensus of environmental-related claims in British advertising.
This article has been developed based on existing Code rules, rulings and a review of environmental claims and issues in advertising. This will be key for the air travel, energy and automotive sectors. The focus is on carbon neutral and net zeros adverts, as they are the most commonly encountered claims.
Progression in technology has meant that, over the last decade, contracts have become longer, more complex and sometimes harder to negotiate as businesses have been keen to have the most protective contracts possible. Over time, businesses often build up multiple contract templates to ensure that every contracting eventuality is covered. But what if there could be a different approach?
In 2021, in the context of the common agricultural policy reform 2023-2027, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union adopted a new exemption from competition rules for certain agricultural products. Specifically, Article 210a of Regulation 1308/2013 establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products (“CMO Regulation”) introduced an exclusion from the prohibition against anti-competitive agreements (or “cartels”) for certain restrictive agreements in the agricultural sector when those agreements are indispensable to achieve sustainability standards. In this latest development, on 10 January 2023, the European Commission (“Commission”) published for consultation its draft guidelines on how this exclusion should apply. The Guidelines seek to clarify how operators active in the agri-food sector can design joint sustainability initiatives in line with Article 210a.
In January 2023, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published its much awaited consultation on its Draft Guidance on Horizontal Agreements. The CMA clearly indicated that it proposes to take advantage of its post-Brexit freedom and to depart from the position on this issue taken by the European Commission as set out in its Draft Guidance on Horizontal Agreements, and to take a more radical and permissive approach to the role competition law has to play in supporting environmental sustainability initiatives.
The UAE Agency Law which has been in place since 1981 has been repealed and replaced by a new law, Federal Law No. 3 of 2022 Regulating Commercial Agencies which comes into force on 16 June 2023. The new law still provides protection for agents against the termination of the agency contract, which goes beyond the terms of the contract. However, this protection has been reduced and now provides greater balance between principals and agents. The de facto exclusivity which agents had under the old law continues under the new law.