Mirroring earlier proposals by the European Commission, in a move anticipated by the industry, HM Treasury has confirmed that it will implement a regime whereby third-party firms designated as “critical” will be subject to direct regulatory oversight by the financial regulators. The Treasury published a policy statement on 8 June 2022, setting out its framework for mitigating the risks caused by financial services firms outsourcing important functions to third-party service providers.
The appellant in the case of Hastings (Appellant) v Finsbury Orthopaedics Ltd and another (Respondents) (Scotland) [2022] UKSC 19, has failed to demonstrate to the UK Supreme Court (UKSC) that a prosthetic hip (manufactured by the respondents, each making separate parts) used in a metal-on-metal hip replacement was defective. Rather, the UKSC unanimously upheld the finding of the lower courts and concluded that the nature of the product meant that there could be no entitlement to an absolute level of safety.
The judgment is likely to be welcomed by those involved in the manufacture and distribution of medical devices and other health care products, as it continues the pragmatic approach of the UK courts in seeking to balance the need to achieve a high level of consumer protection against a robust assessment of the standards which the public can realistically expect manufacturers to achieve.
On 25 May 2022, the Federal Council passed an amendment to the Price Disclosure Ordinance. The purpose of the amendment is to ensure clarity and comparability of prices and to prevent the use of misleading prices. This latest amendment was precipitated by federal court ruling 4A_235/2020, which caused uncertainty on the question of the timing of price disclosure in online trade.
High-ranking representatives from science, the judiciary, financial administration and industry discuss current developments in tax law in five key areas.
Please note that this event will be held in German only.
Our Future of Disputes UK Virtual Programme brought speakers from leading in-house institutions – including AON, Gilead, GPW Group, HSBC, JP Morgan, Rio Tinto, Salesforce and Siemens – together with Baker McKenzie dispute resolution specialists to discuss key challenges in litigation, arbitration and investigations likely to arise over the next year.
We tackled the practicalities around contract disputes and termination, engaging with government and regulators, strategies to manage litigation risk arising from internal investigations, and provided an overview of how case lifecycles are likely to unfold following recent reforms of litigation and arbitration mechanisms. Our speakers share insights garnered from managing complex, multijurisdictional disputes and offer strategies to help you shape your organisation’s business resilience and readiness for litigation in the medium and long term.
The German Bundestag has passed a bill to implement the Working Conditions Directive (EU) 2019/1152, with the aim of creating more transparency and predictability of working conditions and to improve them overall. Previously, the bill had been heavily criticized by employers and associations, as well as legal literature – but without success. Now it is up to the German Bundesrat. If the Bundesrat does not have any objections, the new law will come into force as of 1 August 2022. Companies will then not have much time to implement the changes.
The French Authorization for Temporary Use and Recommendation for Temporary mechanisms enabling a derogation for coverage of medicines were substantially amended by the Social Security Financing Bill for 2021.
With the aim of speeding up market access for innovative medicines and allowing exceptional access for medicines that meet a therapeutic need on an ad hoc basis, the new mechanisms of early access authorization and compassionate use were implemented as from 1 July 2021.
Almost a year after the implementation of such new early access mechanisms, the French High Health Authority and the French National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products gave a very positive first report on EEA.
At UK FinTech Week 2022 in April, the Treasury announced a host of new and forthcoming initiatives to build on the UK’s “FinTech success stories” and support its push to become the loading global hub for crypto businesses. The initiatives range from incubators (like the Financial Market Infrastructure Sandbox and the FCA’s CryptoSprint events), to industry engagement partnerships through a Cryptoasset Engagement Group, to reviews of the tax treatment of crypto and the legal status of Decentralised Autonomous Organisations. Most significant among the announcements is the Treasury’s confirmation that it will bring activities that issue or facilitate the use of stablecoins used as a means of payment into the UK regulatory perimeter.
It is well known that online booking platforms often contractually restrict the freedom of accommodation providers to set their own prices for the accommodation offered (so-called “price-fixing clauses”). A newly adopted amendment to the Swiss Act against Unfair Competition (UCA) now limits these as well as other practices of online booking platforms
Baker McKenzie’s Sanctions Blog published the alert titled Switzerland decides to adopt the EU’s sixth package of sanctions against Russia and Belarus on 13 June 2022. Read the article via the link here. Please also visit our Sanctions Blog for the most recent updates.