Understand Your Rights. Solve Your Legal Problems
The European Commission imposed $4.09 billion in fines in 2016 - its largest total ever - driving up overall global cartel fines figures by over a billion dollars for the year compared with 2015, according to Allen & Overy’s Global Cartel Enforcement Report, published today. Despite the lowest annual fine levels in a decade from the US, total global fines for 2016
Despite the lowest annual fine levels in a decade from the US, total global fines for 2016 totaled $6.68 billion, compared to $5.2 billion in 2015.
After a slow start to 2016, the European Commission went on to levy a record fine for cartel activity in the auto sector for a combined total of $3.2 billion.
Other key enforcers contributing to the overall increase in fine totals include the Korea Fair Trade Commission, which topped APAC enforcers with $765 million in fines for manufacturing-related cartels, and the South African Competition Commission which levied its largest-ever single fine of $111 million for cartel activity in the steel and scrap metal industries.
In contrast, the fine total from the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division in the US dropped significantly in FY2016 to $387 million from the high of $2.85 billion in FY2015. (2016 US statistics are for the US fiscal year to date, which began 1 October 2015. All other countries’ statistics cover the 2016 calendar year.)
FY2015, however, was a particularly high total attributable to the conclusion of the FX market investigations. Another modest enforcement year is expected from the Antitrust Division in 2017, as its public investigations focus on more tailored markets and it faces the prospect of engaging in protracted litigation in connection with recently indicted cases.
John Terzaken, partner and head of the cartel enforcement practice at Allen & Overy, said: “Once again, prosecutions across the globe were the overarching theme of cartel enforcement in 2016.
"Mature and developing competition authorities alike demonstrated an appetite for substantial fines and aggressive enforcement, leading to a 20% increase in the total fines levied this year compared to last.
“But 2016 comes to a close among swirling political winds that warn of more inwardly focused, nationalistic times to come. The new political headwinds against globalisation suggest that co-operations could be scaled back, which could change strategic decision-making for multinationals. And cartel enforcement is likely to be no exception. While any changes are unlikely to result in less cartel enforcement, evolving views on jurisdiction, comity and adequate deterrence will no doubt pose new challenges for authorities seeking to co-ordinate, and thus for companies trying to navigate, global cartel investigations.”
"While any changes are unlikely to result in less cartel enforcement, evolving views on jurisdiction, comity and adequate deterrence will no doubt pose new challenges for authorities seeking to co-ordinate, and thus for companies trying to navigate, global cartel investigations.”
An overall increase in cartel enforcement activity is expected in 2017, most notably in Brazil, South Korea and the EU.
Brazil’s Council for Economic Defense is expected to post substantial fines in 2017 following reports of a heavy on-going case-load, which includes 30 active investigations linked to Operation Car Wash, the investigation and prosecution of corruption and collusion in Petrobras contracting, and an anticipated 300% increase in leniency applications in 2016 compared to 2015.
Furthermore, the Korea Fair Trade Commission is also expected to continue its aggressive fining streak – which resulted in a 55% increase in fines imposed this year – with the authority vowing to increase monitoring of cartel-related activity, particularly in the intermediary goods, commodities and public sectors.
Finally, in the EU, significant fines from the European Commission are anticipated again in 2017. This is likely to be the result, in large part, of the Commission’s numerous reported but as yet unresolved financial services investigations.
(SOURCE: AllenOvery)
It’s no secret that UK charities are suffering. Over the last 10 years alone they’ve lost more than £3.8bn in government grants and there’s no sign these are the last cuts they’ll see. But just when many charities were hoping, with the change of government, that perhaps the worst is over, a piece of EU legislation could end up hitting them and their beneficiaries hard.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the new EU law in question. It was voted in by the European Parliament in April and will come in to force in May 2018. It will cover all businesses and organisations that collect and hold information on their customers or donors. Clearly, there have always been strict regulations surrounding the collection, use and storage of personal data, but the GDPR take these directives one step further. And there is a big risk that the charity sector will be their first casualty.
Put simply, the new regulations will require charities to gain ‘explicit consent’ – your active agreement to them taking and processing your data – and crucially, gain your consent as to how they can use it. Right now, all organisations and businesses can infer your consent from your silence, pre-ticked boxes or inactivity. From 2018, this will not be the case. All charities will need to alter their consent mechanisms to ensure that they can demonstrate the consent was given, can be verified and that there is a clear audit trail in place.
All quite sensible you might think. Not a problem. But for many charities it is a very big problem indeed. For example, many charities hold lists of wealthy patrons with a track record of philanthropy. They use these lists to decide who to ask for money, when and how to approach them. How can charities ask these people if they mind being on a list held by them? They can’t.
We have had some guidance from the ICO concerning what steps charities should take now to prepare for 2018, but there is still a big question mark hanging over whether, when it comes to drawing up the full guidance, the ICO will take a harder line with the third sector.
[https://ico.org.uk/media/1624219/preparing-for-the-gdpr-12-steps.pdf]
As the national data usage regulator, the ICO must issue statutory guidance based on the GDPR. It is this interpretation of the consent requirements that could go one way or another. The worst case being an overly stringent restriction on what charities can do with their donor data.
Charities already have numerous and slightly varied regulatory standards to interpret, across a number of bodies in addition to the ICO, EU and UK government regulations including the Institute of Fundraising; the new Fundraising Regulator; the Direct Marketing Association, and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations. Such a crowded conversation means that charities struggle to know what is law, what is industry standard, what must be adhered to and what, frankly, can be ignored with no harm done to their donors or themselves.
One of the key issues is that the ICO guidance will be drawn up to cover all bases – business and third sector. This means that charities will be just one of the many competing interests in terms of statutory guidance – what is eventually produced by ICO may appear a fair set of rules for all, but the practicality for the charity sector may prove very different.
You would like to think that the charity sector would get a fair set of guidance, bespoke to them and based on their unique challenges. However, there is a worrying precedent. At a 2005 conference, the ICO indirectly said that charities could contact individuals who were registered with the Telephone Preference Service. They then later altered their guidance to specifically prohibit charities from doing so, without telling the Institute of Fundraising, whose code at the time was the key plank in the charities’ guidance regime. With the advent of GDPR, this could happen all over again, leaving charities who have spent scares resources preparing for one interpretation only to be presented, when the dust settles, with an entirely different one.
The Third Sector is on the ropes right now. The last thing they need is any more pain. Grants from government are already less than half the level that they were 10 years ago. And while the GDPR may seem like a small and rather insignificant tightening of existing rules, for many charities they could just be the final nail in the coffin.
Authored by Phillip Rinn, Lotto Network.
(Source: Phillip Rinn)
Sir Brendan Barber, the chair of Britain’s top employment relations service, Acas, predicts what lies in store within the world of work for 2017 in a blog published today. Brendan Barber said: “History may remember 2016 as the year of surprise voting results that defied polling experts, which ended with a period of industrial unrest. It is unlikely that the year ahead will be quieter and there are many changes on the horizon that will affect Britain's workplaces.
“There is still a great deal of uncertainty over how Brexit will impact the UK economy and employment law, much of which is based on European directives and regulations. The position of overseas workers will be a very important issue and how the EU exit affects them could have a huge impact on Britain’s businesses.
“To help reduce the gender pay gap in Britain’s workplaces, large employers will have to report on differences between men and women’s pay from April this year. Acas will be launching new advice for employers on best practice to help them comply with the new law.
“Gig working has been much in the news of late and is likely to be highly topical during 2017, not least because it is one of the issues being looked at by the Matthew Taylor Review for the Government.
“Whilst this form of working offers flexibility for those who want it, our own research has found that many people on zero hours contracts and undertaking agency work are confused about their employment status and rights. This uncertainty can lead to fears around job security and there’s been a series of legal challenges against employers recently by workers.
“Acas will be looking at gig work in more depth in 2017 and issuing further guidance around the many different types of employment status and accompanying workplace rights later this year.
“Acas of course continues to conciliate in disputes between groups of employees and their employers before, during and after industrial action and 2017 looks set to be another busy year for Acas.
“We are expecting to see more elements of the Trade Union Act being brought into effect in 2017. And Sir Ken Knight’s independent review of electronic voting is also set to report later this year.
“Whatever the challenges and opportunities over the coming year, Acas will play its full part in helping to improve the economy by encouraging good workplace relations. Our services are highly valued by those who use them and our latest research shows that for every £1 we spend, there is at least £13 benefit to the economy.”
(Source: Acas)
In the very final UN session of the year, a handful of countries seeking to avoid scrutiny of their own human rights records are attempting to cut off essential funding for the UN's independent experts.
(New York) States including China, Russia, Israel and Belarus are expected to attempt to block the funding of key UN human rights experts today, through a resolution at the General Assembly committee which deals with finance and budgetary issues.
The UN's Fifth Committee will decide how much money is provided to finance the work of human rights experts who investigate human rights violations in Burundi, Iran, Syria, the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Belarus as well as violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans persons.
ISHR’s New York Director Eleanor Openshaw said the move is an unprecedented attack on the crucial oversight provided by experts of countries whose citizens face severe and widespread human rights violations.
'The States are trying to abuse the authority of the Fifth Committee in order to cripple the decisions taken by the UN Human Rights Council and the General Assembly. It's a few countries attempting to crush mechanisms that the world has come together on and agreed are essential to confront extremely challenging human rights situations.
'This underhand move is particularly shocking in the case of Syria. Just yesterday, the General Assembly voted to create a mechanism to help investigate war crimes in the country, but today China, Russia, Israel and Iran are trying to impede funding of a UN Commission of Inquiry that has been documenting the situation in Syria since 2011,’ said Ms Openshaw.
The assault goes beyond choking funding for work by experts looking at Syria, Burundi, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Iran and Belarus, it is also an attempt to squeeze the resources and therefore capacity and effectiveness of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
‘It’s clear that the end goal for these countries is to make sure that the OHCHR and all UN independent experts are unable to do their work, including exposing human rights violations committed within their own borders,’ said Openshaw.
In an open letter leading human rights organizations have urged ambassadors in New York to block the attack.
‘The UN has agreed that this work is urgently needed, so it’s imperative that it be properly funded,’ said Ms Openshaw.
(Source: ISHR)
The government’s Housing Minister, Gavin Barwell MP, has called the current leasehold system a “widespread problem that needs addressing” during a debate in the House of Commons to discuss the Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Act (2002).
Speaking at the end of a wide-ranging debate, during which MPs offered numerous examples of unfair and unjust practices related to the leasehold system, Mr Barwell said: “[The Secretary of State and I] have been looking closely at the issues raised in recent weeks and I can tell the House that we are both absolutely determined to stamp out unfair, unjust and unacceptable abuse of the leasehold system.”
Mr. Barwell highlighted the results of the National Leasehold Survey 2016, which showed that 57% of leaseholders agreed with the statement “I regret purchasing a leasehold property”. The Housing Minister said: “I most certainly do not feel comfortable with that level of concern right across the country... I am very keen to explore how we can promote greater transparency and fairness, and to work with all interested parties to improve leaseholders’ experience of home ownership.”
His call was echoed by Labour’s Ruth Cadbury, who promised that a Labour government would give leaseholders security from rip-off ground rents, end the routine use of leasehold for new housing developments, and cap ground rent charges.
Louie Burns, Managing Director of leasehold enfranchisement specialists, Leasehold Solutions, has been working with the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership to provide vital information to MPs on the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) considering leasehold reform. The investigation by the APPG prompted the debate House of Commons debate on 20 December.
Louie said: “It is fantastic to see that Parliament is waking up to the deplorable scandal of the UK’s feudal system of leasehold. We have been campaigning for years to raise the issue of leasehold on the political agenda and to educate flat owners about their rights.
“I hope that the government will work to bring about timely and meaningful changes to improve the lives of the UK’s 4.1 million leaseholders. Abuse of the leasehold system is a growing problem; 43% of all new properties in 2016 were built as leasehold homes, so without urgent action increasing numbers of flat owners will continue to be exploited for profit by unscrupulous freeholders.”
The Government must put the public interest at the heart of its Brexit strategy, the Bar Council has warned as it publishes The Brexit Papers, produced to help ministers and civil servants pin point the most pressing legal concerns arising from the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
The Brexit Papers have been written by members of the Brexit Working Group set up by the Bar Council to examine the range of complex issues arising from Brexit and to help the Government identify the legal and constitutional priorities.
Led by Hugh Mercer QC, the group has drawn on the combined expertise and experience of the profession across a wide range of practice areas.
Chair of the Brexit Working Group, Hugh Mercer QC, said: “EU law currently impacts nearly all areas of life. We need a plan to make sure that people do not suffer from uncertainty and ultimately end up worse off.
“If we are going to minimise the adverse impacts on UK citizens, a huge number of highly technical areas of law need looking at in fine detail. For example, we need to make sure that police and security services can co-operate so that criminals who go on the run can be stopped, and that parents who divorce in one country have the custody decisions upheld in another.
“We also need to restructure areas of law such as insolvency, competition and tax law otherwise businesses of all sizes could end up losing out. Our creative industries, for example, bring huge value to the UK economy, but we can only sustain that if our patents and trademarks continue to be recognised by the EU member states post-Brexit.
“There is a great deal of work to be done. The resources of the Brexit Working Group, as well as those of the Bar Council and the Bar as a profession, are being made available to the Government, parliamentarians and the media, as well as to the public, so that Brexit delivers the best deal possible for Britain.”
Chairman of the Bar, Chantal-Aimée Doerries QC said: “There has not been a more profound legal and constitutional challenge in living memory with which the UK Government has had to grapple, in terms of legal complexity, or significance for the long-term health and stability of the economy.
“The Bar as a profession is dedicated to serving the public interest. As the representative body for the Bar, we have been working to identify the key legal issues which we believe need to be addressed by the Executive and the Legislature to facilitate a transition that minimises the risk of legal uncertainty, the loss of rights, and possible adverse consequences to the national economy, and that capitalises on the opportunities for post-Brexit global Britain.
“Our interest is in helping to ensure that Brexit delivers the best deal possible for Britain.”
(Source: The Bar Council)
Gender pay gap is an on-going debate and issue in the workplace, especially in the past few months; we have had comments from PWC on the matter, women in the legal profession stating their gender hampers their career progress, and Equality and Human Rights Commission estimating that in the UK there is a gender pay gap of 20%.
Now, there is a new online tool that allows the public to find out the gender pay gap for their occupation, which has been launched by the Minister for Women and Equalities, Justine Greening today.
The online tool, created by the government and the Office for National Statistics, shows construction and building trades, and financial managers and directors have the highest gender pay gaps.
The online tool is launched as details of how large employers will have to report their gender pay and gender bonus pay gaps from next April have been published.
The regulations, which will affect almost 8,000 employers with around 11 million employees, will shine a light on workplace practices that could be preventing women from reaching the top in their organisations.
Tackling injustices like the fact that women earn on average less than men is a key part of building a society and country that works for everyone, as Theresa May made clear in her first speech as Prime Minister.
Minister for Women and Equalities Justine Greening said:
“Britain has the lowest gender pay gap on record, there are more women in work than ever before, more women-led businesses than ever before and there are now women on every board in the FTSE 100.
“But if we are to help women to reach their potential and eliminate the gender pay gap, we need to shine a light on our workplaces to see where there is more to do to. This tool will empower both men and women to challenge this issue in their profession and help people to make more informed decisions about their career.
“Employers must play their part in this too and take action to tackle the gender pay gap in their organisation.”
The online tool uses the latest data from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings to provide the most up to date gender pay gap data. The gender pay gap is now at a record low of 18.1 per cent and the online tool will show the gender pay gap by profession, so that the public can see how their job measures up against the national average.
Alongside the tool, an online quiz has also been launched allowing people to challenge their knowledge of what the gender pay gap is for a variety of professions.
The regulations, which have been publically consulted on and will now be debated in Parliament, set out the proposed requirements for employers in the private and voluntary sectors to:
By identifying the wage of the middle earner, the median is the best representation of the 'typical' gender difference. Employers will be asked to use data from a ‘snapshot’ period in April to calculate this average.
By taking into account the full earnings distribution, the mean look at both the low and high earners in an organisation – this is particularly useful as women are often over-represented at the low earning extreme and men are over-represented at the high earning extreme. As with the median gender pay gap, employers will use data from a ‘snapshot’ period in April.
This data will show the spread of male and female earners across an organisation, helping to show employers where women’s progress might be stalling so they can take action to support their career development.
As there is a significant issue around bonus payments in some sectors, employers will also have to publish the proportion of male and proportion of female employees that received a bonus during the year.
Jayne-Anne Gadhia, Chief Executive at Virgin Money and the Government’s Women in Finance champion, said:
“What gets measured gets managed and what gets published gets managed even better. Gender pay gap reporting will encourage all companies to put diversity and inclusion at the heart of their practices and work hard to ensure progress in this area.”
Emma Codd, Managing Partner for Talent at Deloitte UK, said:
"This is an important milestone on the journey towards greater gender parity at all levels within large UK businesses. Being able to access information about the gender pay gap will enable people to make better-informed decisions about potential future employers, and will also allow companies to consider gender pay data when selecting suppliers and partners."
Laura Hinton, executive board member and head of people at PwC, said:
“The current rate of progress towards closing the gender pay gap is too slow and gender pay gap reporting is an important step towards tackling both the symptoms and causes of gender inequality in the workplace.
“Publishing pay data alone won’t change anything - progress will only happen if organisations use this as an opportunity to understand what’s happening in their business and make some fundamental changes as a result. Bold action is needed to create true equality in the workplace."
(Source Education Gov UK)
VIPOLE reports rapidly increasing downloads of its end-to-end encrypted communications platform ahead of the introduction of the so-called "Snoopers Charter" into UK law early next year.
The controversial Investigatory Powers Bill, having now completed its passage through both houses of Parliament and received royal assent, is expected to pass into UK law in early 2017.
As well as making it easier for the authorities to track individual's internet and mobile phone usage, the new law confers sweeping new surveillance powers on numerous government departments, allowing agencies including police and security services, the tax office, health authorities, benefits agencies and many others, to use malware and other equipment interference techniques to covertly monitor private conversations and access stored data.
The new measures have been widely condemned as being overly intrusive. Speaking in a recent BBC interview, internet inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee labelled it ‘Undemocratic’, adding that it: “Undermines our fundamental rights online" and "Risk(s) making the internet less safe for everyone."
Christopher Miller, head of development at VIPOLE, commented: "Freedom of speech and personal privacy is a fundamental cornerstone of democracy. Removing this safeguard for the vast majority of internet users in order to make it easier for the authorities to gather evidence on a very small minority of wrong-doers is, we believe, wholly disproportionate and sets a dangerous precedent."
Unease among internet users at the prospect of their private conversations being eavesdropped by such a wide range of government agencies is leading to the rapid growth of encrypted communications platforms such as VIPOLE. Its secure messaging and file sharing application employs end-to-end (e2e) encryption to ensure that chats, files, voice and video calls between users remain completely private and totally immune to interference.
Encryption applied by VIPOLE users is not reversible by any known technology and cannot be removed without knowing the user's private encryption keys.
Miller commented: "We have seen a steady increase in personal downloads over the course of the summer as news of the new IP Bill's passage into UK law became more widely known. We anticipate a big surge in new users when the law comes into effect next year."
(SOURCE: VIPOLE)
More than 50,000 people have now signed up to Land Registry’s free Property Alert service.
The service helps people to detect fraudulent activity on their property by sending them email alerts when there is certain activity on the property being monitored, such as a mortgage being taken out against it. The recipient can then decide whether they think the activity is suspicious and act quickly if so. The alert email tells them who to contact should they be concerned.
Alasdair Lewis, Director of Legal Services, said: “Property is usually our most valuable asset so it’s important to protect it from the ever-increasing risk of fraud. Land Registry is doing all it can to detect and prevent fraud but no system can be 100 per cent fraud-proof, which is why we urge people to follow our advice about protecting themselves from property fraud, including signing up for Property Alert.”
Property fraud
Property fraud is where fraudsters try to “steal” a property, most commonly by stealing the homeowner's identity and selling or mortgaging the property without their knowledge. They then disappear with the money leaving the true owner to deal with the consequences.
Since 2009, Land Registry has stopped fraud on properties worth more than £92 million.
How Property Alert works
You can monitor up to 10 registered properties in England and Wales. You will receive email alerts when there is certain activity on the properties you are monitoring, such as an application to change the ownership details.
Although Property Alert won’t automatically stop fraud from happening, it’s a useful early warning of suspicious activity which the home-owner can investigate if they are suspicious.
Example of how Property Alert helped to prevent a fraud
A landlord was renting out a property in England while he lived overseas. He was aware that absent landlords are more at risk of property fraud and signed up to our free Property Alert service. When he received an alert email informing him of a mortgage application being made against his property worth over £300,000, he contacted our property fraud line immediately as he wasn’t expecting this. Using this intelligence, we investigated and discovered the fraud. We then prevented the application from being registered. His contact details were out of date, so we advised him to update them, which he did so that if we need to contact him in the future he will receive our emails or letters.
Most at risk
You’re more at risk if your property:
Other fraud protection measures
To help protect yourself against property fraud, make sure:
your property is registered. If you become an innocent victim of fraud and suffer financial loss as a consequence, you may be compensated. Properties most likely to be unregistered are those that haven’t changed hands or been mortgaged since 1990.
Land Registry has up-to-date contact details so we can reach you easily. You can have up to three addresses in the register including an email address and/or an address abroad.
More property fraud advice is available and you can watch our video.
(Source: UK Land Registry)
Tieto and the Federation of Finnish Financial Services have presented an initiative on digitalized value-added tax (VAT) reporting. The new standard would allow companies to report VAT information faster and facilitate real-time reporting. Adopting a uniform standard could help to increase European tax revenues by up to EUR 160 billion a year.
The new ISO 20022 standard devised and developed by Tieto and the Federation of Finnish Financial Services will help to enable real-time value added tax (VAT) reporting. The standard allows the necessary information in each invoice to be reported to the tax authorities in digital form. Adopting the new standard across Europe could potentially increase tax revenues by up to EUR 160 billion through the collection of currently unreported VAT.
- Digitalization is the best weapon for combatting the shadow economy. The newly published standard for easy VAT reporting will help to advance the transition towards electronic invoicing in Europe. It will also lighten the burden of reporting carried by the companies by means of automatization and real-time reporting. “We are proud to have been able to contribute to the fight against the shadow economy by offering efficient new digital tools for companies and organizations,” says Kimmo Hannus, Head of Business Integration Brokerage at Tieto.
- Tieto is actively involved in the ecosystems of the financial sector. Together with the Federation of Finnish Financial Services, we played an active role in the specification work related to the new standard. We have also collaborated closely with the tax authorities to establish common ground rules, Hannus continues.
- The implementation of the new standard will promote uniform VAT collection policies across Europe. The VAT deficit does not constitute a large problem in Finland. For Finnish companies, the most significant aspect is that implementing real-time VAT reporting at the European level would provide for a fairer competitive environment, says Pirjo Ilola, Head of Payments Standardisation and E-invoicing at the Federation of Finnish Financial Services.
Pirjo Ilola notes that this new standard represents the third time the Federation of Finnish Financial Services has contributed to the creation of an ISO standard.
Both Tieto and the Federation of Finnish Financial Services hope for fast and extensive adoption of the standard by the tax authorities, public sector and companies, so that its benefits can be claimed as quickly as possible. The standard is available free of charge on the ISO 20022 website.
Tieto is active in promoting digitalization in Finland and the development of the financial sector ecosystem. Among other things, Tieto has developed and implemented the Siirto payment platform, Finland's first real-time multi-banking platform for mobile payments. The company has also been strongly involved in advancing the digitalization of cash and card payment receipts as part of the TARU project.
(Source: Tieto)
