Enterprise law and the eclipse of corporate law – King’s Law Journal

Posted December 13th, 2024 in company law, news by sally

‘”The company”, argued Gower and Davies: Principles of Modern Company Law in 2003, “is a dominant institution in our society, and all the more so with the retreat in recent decades of the government-owned or public sector of the economy”.’

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King's Law Journal, 11th December 2024

Source: www.tandfonline.com

Setting up a UK subsidiary: key tax considerations – OUT-LAW.com

Posted December 10th, 2024 in company law, corporation tax, news, subsidiary companies, taxation, VAT by tracey

‘This guide outlines some of the key tax issues to consider when setting up a subsidiary in the UK. It assumes that the subsidiary will be a private company limited by shares, although other legal forms are available.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 10th December 2024

Source: www.pinsentmasons.com

Failure to prevent fraud offence to impact on construction sector – OUT-LAW.com

Posted December 4th, 2024 in company law, construction industry, crime prevention, fraud, news by tracey

‘Businesses operating in the UK construction sector must prepare for the new failure to prevent fraud offence by ensuring robust compliance procedures are in place.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 3rd December 2024

Source: www.pinsentmasons.com

Time to comply: failure to prevent fraud is a reality – Kingsley Napley Criminal Law Blog

Posted November 13th, 2024 in chambers articles, codes of practice, company law, fraud, news by sally

‘The concept of holding corporate entities accountable for their failure to prevent fraud has been debated for some time. We previously wrote in detail about the process which ultimately led to the introduction into law last autumn of a new corporate criminal offence. Section 199 of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA) sits alongside the UK’s existing laws on fraud and corruption and is intended to make it easier to hold organisations to account by creating an offence of failing to prevent fraud committed by employees, or other ‘associated persons’, which may benefit the organisation.’

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Kingsley Napley Criminal Law Blog, 12th November 2024

Source: www.kingsleynapley.co.uk

New failure to prevent fraud guidance published – Home Office

‘Today we’ve published guidance that will provide organisations with important advice on the new corporate criminal offence of ‘failure to prevent fraud’, helping make sure they are taking action to prevent fraud.’

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Home Office, 6th November 2024

Source: www.gov.uk

Court of Appeal refuses certification challenge in Gormsen v Meta – OUT-LAW.com

‘The Court of Appeal in London has dismissed arguments that the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) erred in law by permitting an “unfair pricing” argument and in its assessment of the “unfair trading conditions” argument.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 23rd October 2024

Source: www.pinsentmasons.com

The future of restructuring plans is being shaped by emerging case law – OUT-LAW.com

Posted October 9th, 2024 in appeals, company law, landlord & tenant, news by sally

‘The use of restructuring plans over the past year shows that they remain an important part of the restructuring toolkit in the UK – and, as companies continue to face economic challenges, we expect they will continue to be an option for businesses in the next 12 months too.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 8th October 2024

Source: www.pinsentmasons.com

Fewer remedies despite more notifications under UK’s national security and investment regime – OUT-LAW.com

Posted September 17th, 2024 in company law, competition, mergers, news, notification, statistics by tracey

‘The UK’s foreign investment screening regime saw an increase in the number of notifications in 2023-24, but fewer cases were subject to remedies or prohibitions compared to the previous year, as the regime “is settling in”, a legal expert has said.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 16th September 2024

Source: www.pinsentmasons.com

UK ruling clarifies ‘fixed establishment’ in VAT group cases – OUT-LAW.com

Posted September 9th, 2024 in banking, company law, foreign companies, HM Revenue & Customs, news, taxation, VAT by tracey

‘Foreign companies need to have a substantial presence in the UK, including adequate human and technical resources, for their branch to qualify as a “fixed establishment”, a necessary condition for being treated as a member of a value added tax (VAT) group in the UK, a recent ruling has confirmed.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 6th September 2024

Source: www.pinsentmasons.com

No fixed charge over IP addresses – Mills & Reeve

Posted August 14th, 2024 in chambers articles, company law, insolvency, internet, news by sally

‘Having considered the circumstances relating to, and the security granted over, various IP addresses (the “addresses”), the Court held that the security granted over the addresses, was floating charge, rather than fixed charge, security and ordered accordingly.’

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Mills & Reeve, 13th August 2024

Source: www.mills-reeve.com

BHS, a case of misfeasant trading – Mills & Reeve

Posted August 14th, 2024 in chambers articles, company directors, company law, insolvency, misfeasance, news by sally

‘In a lengthy judgment the Court has ordered that former directors of BHS are to pay sums arising in both wrongful trading and in “trading” misfeasance.’

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Mills & Reeve, 13th August 2024

Source: www.mills-reeve.com

Tax issues for UK holding companies – OUT-LAW.com

Posted August 12th, 2024 in company law, corporation tax, debts, interest, news, shareholders, taxation by tracey

‘This guide considers the tax implications of using a UK holding company to hold shares in other UK or overseas companies.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 9th August 2024

Source: www.pinsentmasons.com

Investor personhood: the case against paternalism and welfarism in corporate law – Journal of Corporate Law Studies

Posted August 8th, 2024 in company law, news, shareholders by sally

‘Equity investment is seen in both dominant and critical corporate law literature as a passive act that carries exclusively instrumental value. This conceptualisation legitimises shareholder paternalism in current UK law and provides support for stakeholder welfarism reforms. Engaging with cogent emerging evidence on the preferences, motivation, and behaviour of contemporary individual investors, we demonstrate that, for the majority of them, equity investment is increasingly experienced as a choice instantiating their personhood, identity, and moral agency, and thus carrying inherent value. Drawing on Hayek’s epistemology, we propose a novel interpretation of Rawls’s theory of justice, and argue that freedom to own productive property must be included in the list of basic liberties under Rawls’s first principle of justice. Therefore, corporate law cannot continue imposing paternalistic restrictions on the configurations of shareholder rights that investors may rationally choose from, and pleas for stakeholder welfarism within corporate law must be rejected.’

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Journal of Corporate Law Studies, 18th July 2024

Source: www.tandfonline.com

Increasing director accountability: The new Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill – Kingsley Napley Corporate and Commercial Law Blog

Posted August 7th, 2024 in auditors, bills, chambers articles, company directors, company law, news by sally

‘Last month, King Charles III opened the first session of the new parliament by outlining the Labour government’s priorities. Among these was the much-anticipated draft Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill. It has been six years since Sir John Kingman delivered his independent review of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), and the call for robust audit reform has remained strong.’

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Kingsley Napley Corporate and Commercial Law Blog, 5th August 2024

Source: www.kingsleynapley.co.uk

Supreme Court confirms no tax deductions on costs associated with disposal of a business – OUT-LAW.com

Posted August 1st, 2024 in appeals, company law, corporation tax, news, Supreme Court, taxation by tracey

‘Tax deductions were not available for professional fees incurred by an investment company once a decision to sell a business it held had been made, because they were expenses of a capital nature even though they are accepted to have been expenses of management, the UK’s highest court has ruled.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 31st July 2024

Source: www.pinsentmasons.com

Separate legal personality – an explanation and a defence – Journal of Corporate Law Studies

Posted July 29th, 2024 in company law, legal personality, news, sham transactions by sally

‘The article proposes a modern version of real entity theory to explain the principle of the separate legal personality of the company. This theoretical model relies on scholarship from the wider social sciences that demonstrates that organisations bring about behaviours that would not exist but for the organisational context. Organisations are real in their consequences. The principle of separate legal personality condones, supports, and protects the ability of organisations to act autonomously. The article further suggests that we do not need a principle of corporate “disregard” but should continue on the path of developing context-specific rules addressing questions arising out of corporate abuses.’

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Journal of Corporate Law Studies, 17th July 2024

Source: www.tandfonline.com

A Legal Obligation on UK Employers to Conduct Labour Law Due Diligence: A Substantive Proposal – Industrial Law Journal

Posted July 26th, 2024 in company law, employment, news by sally

‘The use of non-financial reporting and due diligence legislation to force companies to address specific adverse effects of their operations has become an increasingly common tool for policymakers in recent years. To date, international legislative activity has mainly focussed on potential breaches of human rights and environmental obligations but has also included aspects of labour law. This article proposes a new law that adapts the concept of corporate due diligence to the field of labour law. The new law uses a reflexive model of legislation which is referred to as Labour Law Due Diligence. The under-resourced system of labour market enforcement in the UK and workers’ reluctance to use litigation to defend their rights means that persistent non-compliance by employers can go unpunished. Employers would be obliged to carry out an annual audit to assess whether they comply with key labour law obligations and make the results public. Non-compliant employers would need to remedy any unlawful practices within a year or face the prospect of enforcement action being taken against them. Through an evaluation of UK legislation which has attempted to force companies to address specific legislative goals through public disclosure of data, the article seeks to address the weaknesses of such legislation by involving stakeholders and introducing robust systems of enforcement.’

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Industrial Law Journal, 24th July 2024

Source: academic.oup.com

Law Commission publishes scoping paper on Decentralised Autonomous Organisations – Law Commission

Posted July 15th, 2024 in company law, computer programs, Law Commission, news by tracey

‘Today, the Law Commission has published a scoping paper looking into how Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) can be characterised and how the law of England and Wales might accommodate them now and in the future. The paper seeks to identify current issues around DAOs to inform any future law reform or innovations.’

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Law Commission, 11th July 2024

Source: lawcom.gov.uk

Co-ownership in the business context: the odiousness of survivorship in equity – Wilberforce Chambers

Posted July 4th, 2024 in appeals, chambers articles, company law, equity, news, partnerships by sally

‘The co-ownership of property is a question that vexes all private client lawyers. The recent judgment of Nugee LJ, a former member of these chambers, in Williams v Williams [2024] EWCA Civ 42 involved litigation that touched upon the issue in the context of partnership and real property.’

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Wilberforce Chambers, 27th June 2024

Source: www.wilberforce.co.uk

FCA’s Anti-Greenwashing Rule Takes Effect: What It Means for Compliance and ESG Accountability – Criminal Law Blog

‘The FCA’s long-awaited anti-greenwashing rule came into force on 31 May 2024. This rule is part of the wider Sustainability Disclosure Requirements regime and reflects the FCA’s strong commitment to ESG and to supporting the Government’s commitment to achieving net zero by 2050.’

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Criminal Law Blog, 14th June 2024

Source: www.kingsleynapley.co.uk