The global commodities market The global commodities market covers a wide range of products, which are traditionally divided into hard and soft commodities: • 'soft commodities'—generally refer to harvested products such as wheat, sugar, cocoa, soy beans or corn • 'hard commodities'—refer to extracted products such as precious or base metals, rubber or energy products such as oil Global commodities markets work to standard measurements, such as deliverable grades and standard pricing by weight, which allows participants to buy commodities unseen, safe in the knowledge that they are certified to the recognised standard. What are commodity derivatives? Commodity derivatives are financial instruments which take their value from the underlying price of a traded commodity and require payments to be made or products delivered based on the movement of that price. They can be traded ‘over-the-counter’ or on exchange. See Practice Note: The nature of financial derivatives—Over-the-counter or exchange traded derivatives. Commodity derivatives allow investors to invest in commodities without actually owning the underlying physical commodities they represent. Similar to other financial derivative products, commodity derivatives

Commodity derivative contracts take their value from the underlying price of a traded commodity and require payments to be made or products delivered based on the movement of that price. They can be traded ‘over-the-counter’ or on exchange. These contracts will reference prices quoted for standardised commodities on global commodities markets.

CASE HUB See further, timeline. Case facts Outline Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Chapter I Competition Act 1998 (CA 1998) investigation into 11 commodity futures traders concerning suspected exchanges of competitively sensitive information and the co-ordination of trading strategies in commodity futures markets. Latest development On 24 June 2026, the FCA launched a consultation on its proposal to accept commitments offered by the 11 traders. Parties • 11 commodity futures traders (James Biagioni, George Commins, Paul Commins, Aristos Demetriou, Henry Lunn, Elliott Pickering, Christopher Roase, Nicholas Stewart, Paul Sutton, Matthew Thompson and Connor Younger) Market(s) Commodity futures trading, in particular energy futures contracts (including gas oil, natural gas and crude oil futures). Background In July 2023, the FCA launched its investigation into whether 11 individual commodity futures traders had infringed the

Commodity repurchases (repos) are a common alternative method of financing. There are a number of advantages for both the financier and a commercial party like a trader in entering into commodity repos but the parties will need to do the appropriate legal and accounting due diligence and carefully check the wording of the documentation to ensure that the desired outcomes will be achieved. What is a commodity repo? Put simply, a commodity repo involves the sale of a commodity from one party (a seller) to another (a buyer) which is accompanied by a 'forward sale' under which the seller will repurchase the commodity from the buyer at a future date. There are a number of variations that a commodity repo structure can take; for example, the seller may have an obligation or an option to repurchase the commodity in the future, or the seller may act as a 'service provider' to monitor the commodity after it has been sold to the buyer and deal with collections. This Practice Note looks at the various structures that

Counterpart to the creation of a customs union between the EU’s Member States, it implies uniform conduct of trade relations with third countries.

Common European Sales Law is an optional twenty-eighth contract law regime (to supplement the existing twenty-seven of the existing Member States). It would provide the contracting parties with two domestic regimes of contract law to choose from (ie the new regime or that of a Member State). The new regime would insert a new self-standing set of contract law rules into the national laws of all Member States.

The method prescribed in legislation for the assessment of a debtor contribution in a trust-deed'>protected trust deed or under an Income Payment Order in sequestration

The CFSP, formerly the second pillar, is the policy area covering mainly the issues of foreign policy and matters regarding the Union's security and defence policy.

Contributed by Katherine Worraker, Ian Ahkong, Tom Howgate, Daniel Johnson and Harry Stead of Deloitte LLP UK registered pension schemes operated by a single employer or group of associated employers are able to pool their investments together in a common investment fund (CIF). This can provide benefits such as economies of scale and access to investments that smaller funds may not have on an individual basis. This diversification of investment can help each scheme invested in a CIF to spread investment risk. The trustees of a pension fund can choose to what extent they invest the schemes assets in a CIF or decide instead to keep its assets outside of the CIF and invest elsewhere. There are a number of legal and tax considerations to take into account if a CIF is being considered, although these should not be a barrier to their use. The purpose of this Practice Note is to discuss: • when a CIF might be used • the key issues to consider, and • the pros and cons compared to other alternatives Common

This Practice Note considers the various Islamic or Shari’ah compliant structures typically seen in project financings and looks at the documentation involved in those structures. It assumes a working understanding of the key principles of Islamic finance. For further details of these principles, see Practice Notes: Key principles of Islamic finance and Sources of Shari'ah. It also assumes a working understanding of typical conventional project finance frameworks and participants. For further details of these, see Practice Notes: Introduction to project finance, Project finance—key project parties, Project finance—key finance parties, Types of projects and Project finance—meaning of completion and its effect. The structures outlined below are somewhat more complex, involve more moving parts and entail parties signing up to a greater number of documents than their conventional equivalents. They are, however, established forms of financing with which most financial institutions and law firms in the market are familiar. Greenfield projects—Istisna’a-Ijarah Typically, greenfield projects (ie projects on unused lands where there is no need to remodel or demolish existing structures) that entail

Arbitration analysis: The laws and rules on disclosure vary significantly between common law and civil law jurisdictions. This article examines these differences, explores how international arbitration can bridge them and explains how technology can aid the disclosure process. Written by Patrick Gearon, Partner at Charles Russell Speechlys, and Georgia Fullarton, Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys.

Domain of EU policy covering defence and military aspects, as well as the management of civilian crisis.