Bigger fines predicted for organisations guilty of corporate manslaughter The long awaited definitive guidelines for sentencing organisations guilty of either corporate manslaughter or a health and safety breach which causes death have been published ...
The concern expressed in our last Australian Legal Update about the possibility of Australia following most of the rest of the developed world into recession fortunately proved unfounded. Australia has been a notable exception to the experience of many other countries in this respect ...
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) announced that, as part of President Obama’s recently proposed budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, the PTO’s budget would be $2.322 billion, a 23 percent increase over FY 2010. This significant budget increase is part of PTO Director Kappos’ long term plan for increasing PTO examination efficiency and decreasing the backlog of applications ...
During negotiation of the Good Friday Agreement, it was suggested that sometimes "we all have to jump together". Having read through the Local Government and Communities Committee Report published on 28th January 2010 following an inquiry into Local Government Finances, this quote has particular resonance. While there is perhaps nothing new in the report, it is certainly timely as local government works its way through the budget setting exercise for 2010/11 ...
Seeking a state purchasing contract? You may now be required to register as a lobbyist. Some independent contractors who help vendors secure procurement contracts in Texas are now required to register with the Texas Ethics Commission.1 House Bill 3445, which the Texas Legislature passed last spring during the 81st Texas Legislative Session, established new guidelines for lobbying activities related to state procurement contracts ...
In its Sea Judgement of 10 September 2009 (C-573/07), the European Court of Justice (ECJ) further clarifies its “in-house” jurisprudence. More specifically, it goes more deeply into the notion of control ...
In Belgium, contracting agreements are subject to the Belgian Civil Code (‘BCC’) plus several other regulations. In this article, we briefly discuss five rules which foreign investors or principals may be surprised apply to Belgian contracting agreements. Make sure you avoid these pitfalls!1 ...
The Acoset judgment of the ECJ dated 15 October 2009 (C-196/08) was related to a dispute about an institutionalised public-private partnership (IPPP). A local authority wanted to grant a concession to a newly-created semi-public company, whose minority shareholder would be a private company selected by an open tender procedure. The minority shareholder would be responsible for the operations of the semi-public company ...
In the Horizon Pleiades case, the Council of State was confronted with an interesting question: if a public authority organises a procedure to select its partner for a PPP company, which will perform works or services which would normally be covered by the Procurement Directives, does the selection procedure have to comply with the rules laid down in the Procurement Directives or can a “light” selection procedure be used? In its ruling, dated 19 June 2009, the Council of Stat
On October 7, 2009 the State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted in the first reading the draft of the Federal law on amending legislation regarding land plots ...
How can the government’s attitude and approach to internet issues best be described? The Canadian government recognises that Canada is a small country in a global economy and it pursues a general policy to ensure that Canada is ‘connected’ ...
Introduction On 2 October the UK's Competition Commission re-iterated its recommendation to the Government and the devolved administrations that they should take the necessary steps to introduce a competition test in planning decisions involving large grocery developments ...
The quality of public services in Indonesia is expected to improve after the issuance of Law No. 25 of 2009 dated 18 July 2009 regarding Public Services (“PS Law”) ...
Whether you are a sceptic, a convert or a believer, there is undoubtedly compelling scientific evidence of global warming, and that climate change is upon us. Legislation enacted by both Westminster and Holyrood sets challenging targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions over the next decades. The carbon footprint of buildings is responsible for around 50% of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK ...
Introduction The term 'climate change' is now common parlance, but what role does green building play within the broader climate change picture? Well, emissions regulations post Kyoto are imminent and buildings are able to offer cost effective emissions cuts – there is therefore a possibility that the building sector may eventually be hit with emissions caps ...
AS HIGHLIGHTED BY QUÉBEC COURTS, SURETIES ARE KEY PLAYERS IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY. IN 2002, THE QUÉBEC COURT OF APPEAL ACKNOWLEDGED THEIR IMPORTANCE IN A DISPUTE BETWEEN A CONSTRUCTION COMPANY AND A SUPPLIER. THE COURT NOTED THAT THE CONSTRUCTION COMPANY’S LOSSES HAD BEEN EXACERBATED BY THE WITHDRAWAL OF ITS SURETY FACILITY ...
More recently, the Québec Superior Court established that the active participation of a surety in the restructuring of a company under the Canadian Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (“CCAA”) was critical to determining whether a surety’s obligations could be reduced under the terms of an arrangement .2 accordingly, in Charles-Auguste Fortier inc ...
Auction sales can raise difficulties when determining whether the transaction is a transfer of a going concern (“TOGC”) as there are two possible situations at which the tax point occurs. If the deposit is being held as agent then the tax point is from the moment the auctioneer's hammer goes down ...
On 15 April 2009, the Law Society published an updated practice note on mortgage fraud ...
Service charges are going to be a major bone of contention between landlords and tenants during the recession, as landlords seek to maximise returns from property, and tenants seek to count every penny. This could lead to a mountain of litigation, all of it protracted, and all of it destined to sour landlord and tenant relations for many years to come ...
In two recent cases (Coditel and Stadtreinigung Hamburg), the ECJ dealt with the so-called “in-house exemption” in procurement matters ...
What are the limits on national public procurement law to prevent collusion between tenderers in award procedures? This was the question the ECJ dealt with in its recent Assitur judgment (C-538/07).The facts of the Assitur case were as follows. Three tenderers passed the qualitative selection phase and were admitted to the final procedure ...
The intention of this brief note is to present an analysis of internal crises within law firms and the way of avoiding them. We define a crisis as an unexpected and grave difficulty or danger (“a time of intense difficulty or danger”). As a matter of fact the greek origin of crisis (“krisis”) meant “decision” (from “krinein” – decide) ...
The long-awaited and controversial Equality Bill (the Bill) has been published and laid before Parliament. Public consultations are scheduled on several of the measures outlined in this very significant piece of legislation, though it is not expected to come into force until the end of next year. With a General Election likely in June 2010, it remains to be seen how quickly the Bill will progress and how much of it will survive ...
This is the second of a three-part report on “public private partnerships.” Also known as “PPP” or “P3” projects, there is an increasing amount of press regarding these projects, some of which is contradictory and some of which is just plain confusing. The purpose of this three-part report is to provide you with some useful information in identifying and analyzing P3 opportunities. The first part of the primer provided an introduction to the P3 concept ...
