Reform of section 2103 of the Italian civil code, concerning modification of work duties Section. 3 of law decree no. 81 of 2015 significantly amended section 2103 of Italian civil code. In its original form the rule set out that “an employee ...

Working after pensionable age – new legislation takes effect Over the coming years the Dutch pensionable age (currently 65) is set to increase gradually, in order to offset the costs associated with an ageing population. By 2021 the pension ag...

Changes to fixed term (definite term) employment contracts On 22 February 2016, an amendment to the Labour Code on definite period employment contracts will come into force. This amendment will introduce new rules allowing an employer to conclude no...

Court extends flexible working rights under the Spanish Constitution?In a recent case involving a request for flexible working, the court found in favor of the employee by granting his request for a flexible starting time, relying on Article 39 of t...

Amendment to the Labour Code and the Employment Act On 1 October 2015, amendments to the Czech Labour Code and the Employment Act came into effect and brought about substantial changes to Czech labour law, affecting most employers in the Czech Repub...

Swiss working time regulations simplified for higher ranked employees On 1 January 2016, new articles 73a and 73b of the Swiss Ordinance relating to the Labour Law Act (OLLA1) entered into force. Reflecting the reality of today’s work life, th...

Major new anti-slavery law affecting global organisations doing business in the UK in force The Modern Slavery Act 2015 requires commercial organisations with a turnover of £36 million and above and supplying goods or services to publicly repo...

Important EU data protection changes are a step nearerAfter years in the offing, the EU Parliament, Council and Commission representatives have reached political agreement on the drafting of the new EU data protection framework. Although minor modif...

UAE employers be aware - new UAE employment requirementsThree new Ministerial Decrees came into effect on 1 January 2016. These Decrees, issued by the Ministry of Labour (“MOL”), impact upon the way job offers are made and have implicati...

Ministry of Labour makes numerous labour law changes The Ministry of Labour made a number of changes to labour law with effect from 18 October 2015. Amongst other things, the amendments cover disciplinary procedures, training, Saudization privileges...

New requirement to issue itemised payslips and key employment terms With effect from 1 April 2016, all Singapore employers will be required to issue itemised payslips and key employment terms to employees covered under the Singapore Employment Act. ...

Latest developments in temporary employment (agency or leased workers) In Germany, the provision of temporary personnel is strictly regulated by the German Law on Labour Leasing Act (AÜG). The principle is straightforward: the agency is the emp...

2016 – A new year and a new employment claims system in Ireland 2015 brought a number of changes to the Irish employment law landscape. The most significant change was the introduction of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 (the “Act”...

Increase in parental leave days Swedish parents are entitled to 480 days of paid parental leave when a child is born or adopted. In principle, each parent is entitled to 240 days’ leave, some of which is available exclusively for that parent&...

Private sector wage increasesAn increase of 6% has been agreed for private sector pay, following a negotiation between the UGTT and UTICA. This agreement provides for an increase of 6% on basic salary, plus an increase in the transport allowance by ...

A number of employment law changes have taken effect at the start of 2016… Increased fines for unfulfilled employment quotas Employers with more than 25 employees must employ at least one employee with a disability for every 25 employees in t...

Supreme Court rulings on fixed term and overtime work In its recent rulings, the Supreme Court of Estonia has clarified appropriate compensation for the early termination of a fixed term employment contract and also how to determine overtime work wh...

Prescription (the lapse of arbitration awards) in employment  There have been a number of conflicting judgments dealing with the prescription of arbitration awards and how the term “debt” should be defined in the employment arena. ...

New legislation on occupational accidents and diseasesThe Act on occupational accidents and occupational diseases (459/2015) came into force on 1 January 2016. By combining the earlier three Acts on occupational accidents and diseases into one, the ...

Compulsory provision of health insurance by employers in FranceThe safeguarding of employees’ wellbeing is a key focus of French employment legislation. From biannual consultations with employees to evaluate the psychological impacts of their ...

More flexibility for group companies to enforce proprietary rights and restrictions against employees? The Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Ordinance (Cap. 623) (the “Ordinance”) came into force in Hong Kong on 1 January 2016. The Ord...

On 12 February 2016, the Government gazetted the Employment (Amendment) Bill 2016 (the “Bill”). The Bill will be introduced into the Legislative Council for first and second readings on 2 March 2016 but it is not clear when it may come i...

Halfway through his 30-minute bike ride to work, police ordered Juan Pasamar to dismount, accusing him of breaking Spain’s coronavirus lockdown rules by exercising in public.

POLICE used batons to beat back thirsty Indians jostling to buy alcohol for the first time in 40 days as the government eased further the world’s biggest novel coronavirus lockdown. The government credits

IRAN’S parliament has passed a bill allowing the government to slash four zeros from the rial, Iranian state media reported yesterday, after a sharp fall in the value of the currency as a result of crippling

JAPAN’S Prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday extended a state of emergency over the coronavirus until the end of May, warning it was too soon to begin relaxing restrictions. Abe said a review of the situation

Italians strolled in the park, grabbed take-out cappuccinos and paid their respects to the astonishing number of dead as the European epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic gingerly woke up from the continent’s

Venezuela will try two Americans captured during a failed bid by mercenaries to invade the country, President Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday, as the United States vowed to “use every tool available”

In late 2008, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) reviewed how firms had implemented key aspects of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID). It has now published the results of that review. Generally the FSA has been encouraged by ...

On 19 March, the Financial Services Authority published its much anticipated second consultation on AIFMD: “Implementation of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive” – CP 13/9. The FSA paper came hot on the heels of HM ...

On 25 March, HMRC published a briefing on the tax treatment of payments of trail commission which is rebated to investors in collective investment schemes and other investment products such as life insurance policies. The briefing relates to any reb...

In our previous briefing we reported on HMRC’s recent briefing on the tax treatment of payments of trail commission rebated to...

Interview with Maris VainovskisBilances Juridiskie Padomi No.8 (14) August 2014Foreign capital is more and more active in acquisition of Latvian companies. Will there be any large local companies left in the future at all?There is such a tendency in...

Morocco - New opportunities for investments of companies based in Morocco By Jawad Fassi-Fehri In Morocco, measures aiming to make Casa Finance City (CFC) a financial continental platform are progressing. After the announcement by the African Develo...

Updated AIFMD Q&As The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published an updated version of its Q&A paper on the application of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD). This publication was released on...

The SFC Moves to Regulate Depositaries of SFC-authorised Collective Investment Schemes In September 2019, the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (the “SFC”) issued a Consultation Paper (available here) setting out its proposa...

The Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (“SFC”) issued two circulars on 7 January 2020 providing guidance on its approach to licensing private equity (“PE”) firms and family offices to carry out regulated activitie...

  The path to establishing a UK management entity for an offshore fund branches off in all manner of directions. One of the first crossroads faced by the first-time manager is the choice of UK management vehicle. Their decision has significan...

The Alexander Devine Children's Cancer Trust v Millgate Developments Ltd and others [2018] EWCA Civ 2679 The Court of Appeal has refused to allow a property developer to modify a set of restrictive covenants, reversing the decision of the Upper Trib...

Bracken Hill Court at Ackworth Management Company Ltd v Dobson [2018] UKUT 333 (LC) The Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has upheld an appeal from a management company and determined that contracts of less than 12 months are not Qualifying Long T...

Ramoyle Developments Limited v Scottish Borders Council [2019] CSOH 1 A local authority entered a contract to sell an area of land for regeneration.  Either party to the contract was entitled to withdraw from the sale if the purchasers failed t...

Cine-UK Limited v Union Square Developments Ltd [2019] CSOH 3 A landlord and tenant couldn’t agree revised rent due in terms of a rent review. An expert surveyor was appointed to determine the issue in accordance with the provisions of the lea...

At the end of last year the High Court was asked to decide the proper meaning of a rent deposit deed relating to a deposit of over £2 million. The deposit allowed the landlord security for, amongst others, "any proper loss which the landlord m...

Churston Golf Club Ltd v Richard Haddock [2019] EWCA Civ 544 The Court of Appeal has overturned both the High Court and earlier County Court decisions and found that a covenant to fence should not be treated as a fencing easement capable of binding ...

Warwickshire Aviation Ltd & 6 Ors v Littler Investments Ltd [2019] EWHC 633 Tenants of an airfield recently failed in their appeal to the High Court to show that their landlord wasn’t able to oppose new leases being granted to them pursuan...

Wells v Devani [2019] UKSC 4 Earlier this year the Supreme Court unanimously decided that the claimant, Devani, an estate agent and the defendant, Wells, a property developer had entered into a binding oral contract. The parties were introduced by a...

Alexander Kuznetsov v Camden London Borough Council [2019] EWHC 805 (Ch) In an application for relief from sanctions, the Claimant tenant, Kuznetsov, persuaded the High Court that it had a real prospect of establishing at trial that a letter between...

Ury Estate Limited v BP Exploration Operating Company Limited [2019] CSOH 36 A landowner raised a court action against BP seeking compensation for their inability to develop land due to a presence of an oil pipeline.  The proposed development w...

Blue Manchester LTD v North West Ground Rents LTD [2019] EWHC 142 (TCC) The High Court confirmed earlier this year that landlords must consider aesthetic appearance when assessing repairs as they may be obliged to reinstate original design features....

Windsor-Clive v Rees [2019] EWHC 1008 (Ch) In considering the scope of a landlord’s reserved right to enter premises let to their tenant “for all reasonable purposes”, the High Court has held that the right to do so must be...