Business Diary: UK Regulations - July 2017
Currently, two to three new Regulation entries are added to the Archive each day. Regulation Watch covers business related topics such as new legislation, changes in legislation, consultations and regulatory body announcements.
3rd
Business Laws
Legislation which will extend protections enjoyed by consumers who book package deals through a travel operator to those who book holidays online is scheduled to come into effect in 2018. The Bill will also make it easier for UK firms to sell holidays across the EU, as they will be able to offer EU consumers the same protections they offer to UK consumers.
Published Date: 3rd July 2017
4th
Regulation Consultations
The Sentencing Council is inviting views from all interested parties on proposed guidelines for sentencing in manslaughter cases. Under the guidelines, employers and other offenders could face a prison sentence of between six and 12 years where there is evidence of persistent negligence over a period of weeks.
Response Deadline: 10th October 2017
EU Laws
New legislation which will require online content service providers to ensure that they make their services available to paid subscribers when those subscribers are temporarily present in another member state came into force on 4 July 2017. The rules will apply from 20 March 2018.
Published Date: 4th July 2017
EU Laws
The European Patent Office has launched Patent Prosecution Highway pilot programmes with the patent offices of Malaysia and the Philippines to enable work-sharing and accelerated treatment of patent applications. This will run for three years starting from 1 July 2017.
Published Date: 4th July 2017
5th
Business Laws
The government has announced that 32 of its biggest suppliers have signed up to the Prompt Payment Code, which will help to ensure that small businesses will be paid on time. The signatories have committed to pay 95% of invoices within 60 days and to work towards adopting 30 days as the norm.
Published Date: 5th July 2017
Business Laws
The CMA has announced that it will introduce a number of changes to the way it carries out market investigations. The changes include assessing potential remedies to improve the market at an earlier stage in the investigation and reducing the number of formal publication and consultation stages.
Published Date: 5th July 2017
Business Laws
The Gambling Commission has set out its new enforcement strategy and has confirmed that it will consider "the full range of enforcement tools" at its disposal where operators breach the rules. Operators that breach their regulatory duties should not expect to be able to settle those cases in future.
Published Date: 5th July 2017
6th
Business Laws
The Information Commissioner's Office has set out plans to maintain strong working relationships with the European Data Protection Board, which will replace the Article 29 Working Party from 2018, as well as with individual EU data protection authorities after the UK leaves the EU in 2019.
Published Date: 6th July 2017
9th
Crackdowns & Amnesty
The Ministry of Justice has announced plans to crack down on fake holiday sickness claims, which are driving up costs for the travel industry. Under the proposals, tour operators will pay a prescribed sum depending on the value of the claim in question. This will make the cost of defending a claim predictable.
Published Date: 9th July 2017
10th
Business Laws
The government will continue to back powers to allow the Construction Industry Training Board to impose its own levy on construction firms, the Minister of State at the Department for Education, Anne Milton, has revealed.
Published Date: 10th July 2017
12th
EU Laws
The European Food Safety Authority has set a new safe level for glutamate food additives. A daily intake level of 30 mg per kilo body weight per day has been set for six additives (glutamic acid, sodium glutamate, potassium glutamate, calcium glutamate, ammonium glutamate and magnesium glutamate).
Published Date: 12th July 2017
13th
Business Laws
The Export Control Organisation has updated four open general export licences (OGELs) relating to military goods and exports under the US-UK defence trade co-operation treaty. The OGELs were updated to reflect the amendments made to the Export Control Order 2008.
Published Date: 13th July 2017
Compliance Guidance
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has published a new UK professional statement on conflicts of interest for the commercial property investment market. The professional statement bans the practice of dual agency, whereby a broker represents both the seller and the buyer in the same transaction.
Published Date: 13th July 2017
Business Laws
The government has confirmed in the newly published European Union (Withdrawal) Bill that the Working Time Directive, TUPE and the General Data Protection Regulation will continue to apply after Brexit. It has also been confirmed that EU Court of Justice rulings made before Brexit will remain binding.
Published Date: 13th July 2017
Legal Statistics
According to a new survey from analytics and data management firm, SAS, 48% of UK adults plan to activate new rights over their personal data when the General Data Protection Regulation comes into effect. Social media companies are projected to receive the most requests to access, as well as remove, personal data.
Published Date: 13th July 2017
Business Laws
An Order has been issued which will make a small number of changes to the Export Control Order 2008 mainly reflecting amendments made to the EU Common Military List following an agreement to amend controls in the Wassenaar Arrangement. The Order will come into effect from 13 July 2017.
Start Date: 13th July 2017
14th
Regulation Consultations
The government is inviting views from all interested stakeholders on draft regulations to implement the EU Radio
Equipment Directive into UK law. The Directive aims to ensure that radio equipment placed on the market or put into service in the EU and the European Economic Area meets essential safety requirements and does not interfere with the radio spectrum.
Response Deadline: 14th August 2017
18th
Business Laws
The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) will draw up new standards to toughen its stance against marketing that reinforces gender stereotypes, according to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The CAP will also look to clarify standards that reflect the ASA's regulatory position on ads that objectify or inappropriately sexualise women and girls.
Published Date: 18th July 2017
19th
Business Laws
Proposed new legislation which will allow employed parents who have lost a child to take statutory paid leave to grieve has been introduced to Parliament. Currently there is no legal requirement for employers to provide paid leave for bereaved parents.
Published Date: 19th July 1970
Legal Statistics
According to its annual report, Acas conciliated 744 national and regional collective disputes in a wide range of sectors in 2016/17 and helped to settle nine out of ten disputes. In addition, the individual dispute resolution service performed strongly with over 92,000 early conciliation notifications, of which just 17,500 progressed to a tribunal claim.
Published Date: 19th July 2017
Court Rulings
The Court of Appeal has ruled that an applicant for a worldwide freezing order (WFO) must be able to demonstrate that there are grounds for believing the subject of the order actually has assets that can be caught by the injunction. The judgement affirms that UK courts will not order a broad and speculative WFO over entities where there is uncertainty over the existence of assets.
Ruling Date: 19th July 2017
Business Laws
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has published plans to transform the way the UK food and drink industry is regulated. The first phase of the plan, which will take place ahead of Brexit, will look at developing a central registry of UK food businesses. Under phase two, the FSA will introduce a sustainable funding model which could see many businesses paying for inspections.
Published Date: 19th July 2017
Regulation Consultations
The Welsh government is inviting views from all interested parties on proposals to change the way fees are charged by letting agents, landlords and third parties to tenants in the private rented sector. The proposals include a possible ban on charging letting agent fees to tenants.
Response Deadline: 27th September 2017
21st
Business Laws
The Information Commissioner's Office has warned employees to make sure they do not illegally share personal data that they have access to as part of their job. This comes after a recruitment manager was prosecuted and fined for illegally disclosing the personal information of job applicants to a third party employment agency.
Published Date: 21st July 2017
22nd
Business Laws
The government has announced new rules to improve the regulation of drone use. Under the new rules, owners of drones weighing 250 grams and over will have to register details of their drones. In addition, users will be required to sit safety awareness tests.
Published Date: 22nd July 2017
24th
Business Laws
Scottish limited partnerships must identify people with significant control (PSC) from 26 June 2017 and send this information to Companies House within 14 days from 24 July 2017. General Scottish partnerships, where all the partners are corporate bodies, must identify PSC from 26 June 2017 and register this information from 24 July 2017.
Start Date: 24th July 2017
25th
Regulation Consultations
The Department for Communities and Local Government is inviting views from organisations and individuals on measures to tackle unfair and unreasonable abuses of leasehold arrangements. The measures include banning leaseholds for new-build houses, limiting ground rents and exempting leaseholders from possession orders due to arrears of ground rent.
Response Deadline: 19th September 2017
26th
Court Rulings
The High Court has confirmed that the 2010 Third Parties (Rights Against Insurers) Act does not have retrospective effect. The case in question concerned a claim brought by an employee's widow against the employer's insurer. However, the date of the employer's insolvency and the date of the alleged liability occurred prior to the Act's commencement.
Ruling Date: 26th July 2017
Regulator Services
The Export Control Organisation has published a new open general export licence to allow the export or transfer of military goods, software or technology under the Turkish Aerospace Industries TF-X Programme.
Published Date: 26th July 2017
27th
Compliance Guidance
The Department for Communities and Local Government has updated its statutory planning practice guidance to reflect a number of recently enacted changes to planning law. The changes include guidance on a new planning consent route known as permission in principle as well as additions to the self-build and custom housebuilding guidance.
Published Date: 27th July 2017
28th
Business Laws
An independent review of building regulations and fire safety in the UK has been announced by the government. This will examine the regulatory system around the design, construction and on-going management of buildings in relation to fire safety, compliance and enforcement issues, and international regulations.
Published Date: 28th July 2017
Legal Statistics
The number of white collar crime prosecutions, including prosecutions relating to corruption, bribery, insider dealing and computer fraud, in the UK fell by 12% between 2015 and 2016, despite a 4% rise in the number of reported offences, according to data obtained by Pinsent Masons.
Published Date: 28th July 2017
30th
Regulation Consultations
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is inviting views from the electronic communications industry, businesses and consumers on the design of the Universal Service Obligation (USO). The USO, created by the Digital Economy Act 2017, will give every household and business the right to request a broadband connection at a minimum speed of at least 10Mbps, up to a reasonable cost threshold.
Response Deadline: 9th October 2017
31st
Court Rulings
EU law does not automatically prevent brand owners that wish to preserve a luxury image from stopping retailers from selling their goods on online marketplaces, according to an EU court adviser. However, the operation of selective distribution systems for that purpose can only be justified in certain circumstances.
Published Date: 31st July 2017
Business Laws
The Financial Conduct Authority is to maintain a cap set on the interest and fees charged on high-cost short-term loans until 2020 after a review concluded that it had benefited consumers. The review showed consumers were paying less for credit, repaid on time more often, and needed less help from debt charities.
Published Date: 31st July 2017
Regulation Consultations
Lord Justice Jackson has published proposals to extend fixed recoverable costs to a wider range of English civil court cases. The proposals include a new fixed cost 'intermediate' track for more complex cases up to a value of £100,000, and a voluntary cap on recoverable costs for cases in the Business and Property Courts up to a value of £250,000.
Published Date: 31st July 2017
Regulation Consultations
The European Commission is inviting views from individuals, companies, vehicle manufacturers and other interested parties on possible amendments to the General Safety Regulation and the Pedestrian Safety Regulation to further reduce road fatalities and injuries. Measures under consideration include the introduction of new mandatory safety features on cars, light commercial vehicles, buses, trucks and trailers.
Response Deadline: 22nd October 2017
Regulation Consultations
The Gambling Commission is inviting views from remote and non-remote casino operators on proposed changes to its money laundering guidance to reflect provisions in the new Money Laundering Regulations. Under the regulations, the customer due diligence threshold is now determined by any transaction of €2,000 or more, whether it is a single transaction or several which appear to be linked.
Response Deadline: 8th September 2017
Regulation Consultations
The European Commission is inviting views from all citizens, businesses and other interested parties on whether there is a need for a framework for the prevention and amicable resolution of disputes between investors and public authorities within the single market. The consultation also seeks views on whether there is a need to enhance clarity about the rights of EU investors in the single market.
Response Deadline: 3rd November 2017
