Did you know...? Some practical points for companies - April 2014

United Kingdom

This article was produced by Olswang LLP, which joined with CMS on 1 May 2017.

Did you know...?

………that the 2014 edition of Olswang's Guide to Doing Business in the UK has now been published? The latest edition of the guide reflects a number of recent developments. As part of the Government's plan to make the UK corporate tax system more competitive, 2014 saw a cut in the main rate of corporation tax to 21%, to be followed by a further reduction to 20% in April 2015. This marks a substantial reduction from the 2010 level of 28%. On a pan European level, agreement has now been reached on the adoption of a new unitary patent system and a unified patent court. Although there is some way to go before the process is completed, this could have significant implications for companies owning patent rights, or being at risk of infringing them, particularly pharmaceutical and high tech companies. The guide also features important changes on the horizon in European data protection regulation, as businesses look to manage the challenges and opportunities posed by the rapidly increasing volumes of data available to them. A full copy of our Guide to Doing Business in the UK can be found here.

………that a recent High Court case, relating to the timing of claims made under a Share and Business Sale Agreement (SBSA), has highlighted the importance of clear drafting in contract claims procedures? T&L Sugars Ltd v Tate & Lyle Industries Ltd centred on a provision in the SBSA that claims notified under the agreement would be deemed to be withdrawn unless legal proceedings were "issued and served" within 12 months. The question was whether "issued and served" should be construed in accordance with the Civil Procedure Rules, including CPR 6.14 which deems proceedings to be served on the second business day after actual service (which was after the deadline in the SBSA) or whether it meant delivered and received in a non-legal sense (in which case the deadline would have been met). The Court held that, in this case, although the phrase meant "issued and served" under the CPR, service was effective when the steps for service were actually completed - the CPR 6.14 deeming provisions were not relevant for this purpose and the deadline specified in the SBSA had therefore been met. Since the questions of interpretation considered by the Court were contract-specific, parties should ensure they set out their intentions using clear wording to avoid this kind of uncertainty arising in the future.

………that, as data privacy becomes a board level issue, we have launched the Olswang Privacy Risk Assessment (OPRA) to help our clients assess their organisation's level of risk and prioritise their investment in fixing compliance gaps? For a fixed fee, we can review data handling across all business functions including IT, HR, multichannel marketing and procurement and provide a full gap analysis with recommendations for reducing compliance risk. Legal advice privilege protection is maximized by channelling the review through Olswang. For more information, please see our guide here.

Any information contained in this article is intended as a general review of the subjects featured and detailed specialist advice should always be taken before taking or refraining from taking any action. If you would like to discuss any of the issues raised in this article, please get in touch with your usual Olswang contact. This article was included in our Olswang Corporate Quarterly Spring 2014 publication.