Key themes and developments on the agenda for businesses in September include reviewing revised directors’ remuneration reporting guidance, analysing the issues for boards to consider in the light of Brexit and keeping track of EU-US Privacy Shield developments.
Many of us are still getting over the shock of the UK’s unexpected decision to leave the EU. Politicians of all hues in the UK and across the continent, sent into a spin, begin to grapple with the geopolitical and economic consequences. Theresa May’s fledgling UK government starts to contemplate its Brexit negotiation strategy. The role of the EU’s rulebook, which was first consolidated into UK law some 43 years ago and has developed complex tentacles ever since, is in question.
Some early birds have already adopted the new regime, but from 1 November 2016 all solicitors will be required to adhere to the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA) new approach to continuing competence. This means that, rather than undertaking a random mandatory minimum number of continuing professional development (CPD) hours every year, solicitors will now be required to actually think about and plan purposefully for what they personally need to do, in terms of learning and development activities, to maintain or reach the necessary skill levels required to perform the roles and tasks required by their particular job, to the standards expected.
Key themes and developments on the agenda for businesses in August include dealing with the aftermath of the EU referendum result, managing the compliance requirements of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and implementing guidance on the Market Abuse Regulation.
On 12 July 2016, the European Commission adopted an adequacy decision approving the Privacy Shield framework for EU-US personal data transfers in a commercial context.
In principle, this clears the way for cross-border data transfers to US self-certified companies to take place from 1 August 2016, within a framework based on an enhanced version of Safe Harbor that was invalidated in October 2015 following the ECJ decision in the Schrems case.
This round-up summarises the developments that generated the most interest from in-house lawyers in the past three months, including Brexit, the formal approval of the General Data Protection Regulation, the implementation of the Market Abuse Regulation, the anti-corruption summit, the first compensation order for workers kept in modern slavery, and a number of interesting commercial contracts cases.
In this webcast, Adrian Pashley, Senior Editor (Charities), Thomson Reuters Practical Law, interviews Darren Heath about his role as solicitor and in-house legal adviser at the charity Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
Early in June, the Centre for Ethics and Law, UCL Laws, published the first stage of our Ethical Leadership for In-House Lawyers Project. In this project, we are collaborating with in-house lawyers to understand the ethical challenges they face and help them build their capacity to deal with such challenges. The first stage, the Mapping the Moral Compass Report, is now available in executive and long form formats.
As of today, annual returns are a thing of the past for UK companies and limited liability partnerships (LLPs). Instead, they will now need to file a confirmation statement. Like an annual return, a confirmation statement is used to update Companies House records, but there are some key differences to be aware of.
Key themes and developments on the agenda for businesses in July include dealing with the implications of the EU referendum result, the introduction of the new EU market abuse regime and the publication of the Briggs review of the civil courts structure.