Theresa May’s Brexit speech in Florence and the fourth round of negotiations between the UK and the EU were the key developments in September. Earlier in the month, the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill 2017-19 received its second reading in the House of Commons.
Gender pay gap reporting is not just about producing the right data, in the right way and at the right time. Just as important is the story behind the gap and how you communicate this, both externally and internally. Continue reading
Key items on the agenda for businesses this month include assessing the government’s proposals on corporate governance reform, continuing to prepare for the GDPR and several changes to intellectual property legislation.
In its position paper for discussion with the EU27 at the Council working party of 7 September 2017, the European Commission sets out its initial expectations for intellectual property rights after withdrawal of the UK from the EU, in particular in relation to geographical indications and exhaustion of rights. While short, at just five pages long, it indicates the Commission’s high level priorities and marks a start of the negotiations around intellectual property and Brexit.
To borrow a much overused and somewhat clichéd term from the weight loss industry, your UK Modern Slavery Act (MSA) statement is not a diet, it is a lifestyle. Your company has to live and breathe the principles and policies that you have chosen to implement with the purpose of eradicating slavery in your supply chain. If management and the people in charge of implementation do not believe in the company’s MSA policies, they will have nothing to report at the end of the year.
So how do you turn the MSA diet into a lifestyle? Continue reading
The UK government published a flurry of Brexit position papers in August, including papers on continuity in availability of goods and confidentiality, and access to documents; the exchange and protection of personal data; cross-border civil judicial cooperation; and enforcement and dispute resolution.
As the old adage goes, it’s never a good idea to make friends in a crisis, particularly one being played out in front of your eyes on social media. GCs and legal teams should therefore prepare in advance and acquire a thorough understanding of how social media can help and hinder when something unexpected happens.
When considering local leaders and how to put them front and centre of ethics and compliance activities, we have much to learn from Betty Crocker.
Key items on the agenda for businesses this month include the expected publication of the Data Protection Bill, the coming into force of the corporate offence of failure to prevent facilitation of tax evasion and dealing with the implications of the Supreme Court’s judgment on employment tribunal fees.
Currently, many companies rely on their employees’ consent to process their personal data and short consents are often included in employment contracts for that purpose. The benefits of this approach are obvious: rather than having to determine which legal basis (from a number of potential legal bases for the processing of employee data) applies to each category of employees’ personal data, an employer can simply rely on an all-encompassing consent (see Practice note, Employer obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998: Schedule 2 conditions). Continue reading