Weekly highlights

Weekly highlights

Each week, we provide a round up of key developments in commercial law. This subtopic is an archive of all previous weekly highlights sent to email subscribers.

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Latest Commercial News

EU GDPR obligations and platform liability (X v Russmedia)

EU Law analysis: The operator of an online marketplace on which an advertisement was placed was found not to have complied with its obligations under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (EU GDPR), despite promptly removing the advert less than an hour after receiving a removal request. The court held that it was a joint controller of the sensitive personal data contained in the advert and should have implemented measures prior to publication to (i) identify advertisements that contain sensitive personal data, (ii) verify that the advertiser is the person whose sensitive personal data appears in the advertisement and, if not, establish that explicit consent has been given by the data subject, and (iii) put in place safeguards to prevent further distribution or dissemination of the unlawful advertisements. The operator’s EU GDPR obligations were not limited by the safe harbour provisions set out in Article 14 of Directive 2000/31/EC (the E-Commerce Directive). Written by Hind Habib, partner and Sarah Reynolds, senior associate at Schillings.

Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner publishes model forced labour legislation

The Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner has published model legislative drafting proposing new UK forced labour legislation for adoption in the next King's Speech. The proposed legislation would introduce liability for organisations failing to prevent serious human rights harms where reasonable preventive measures have not been taken. It would grant government powers to ban products made with forced labour from entering the UK and restrict imports from high-risk regions. The Commissioner's report, published on 16 December 2025 in partnership with Omnia Strategy LLP and Unseen, identifies that the UK imports approximately £20bn worth of goods annually at risk of being produced through forced labour. The proposal aims to align UK law with international partners including the US and EU, which have introduced similar measures to prevent forced labour goods entering their markets.

Commercial weekly highlights—8 January 2026

This week's edition of Commercial weekly highlights includes: announcement by the Department of Health and Social Care on new restrictions on junk food advertising aimed at children, news that the Competition and Markets Authority has published summary guidance to its Price Transparency Guidance which aims to help traders comply with the price transparency provisions of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA 2024), and news that the Department for Business and Trade has launched a consultation on the draft Competition Act 1998 (Technology Transfer Agreements Block Exemption) Order 2026.

CCS guide on SME subcontracting in public procurement

Crown Commercial Service (CCS) has published an article providing guidance on subcontracting for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in public procurement. Procurers are urged to facilitate SME access to contract opportunities, including indirect opportunities in the supply chain. The guide explains how SMEs can access public contracts through subcontracting arrangements with prime contractors. It outlines methods for SMEs to identify opportunities, including networking with suppliers, monitoring platforms such as Contracts Finder, and CCS agreements with neutral vendor models. The guide details potential benefits including access to larger projects and reduced administrative burden, while also highlighting potential challenges and complexities.