A contract under which the employer is able to scrutinise the contractor's costs and margins through the reporting of, or access to, information.

See Practice Note: Information society services and e-commerce, which describes the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 (E-Commerce Regulations 2002), SI 2002/2013, which give effect in the UK to Directive 2000/31/EC, E-Commerce Directive, in particular the section ‘Scope of the E-Commerce Regulations 2002’. As further explained in that Practice Note, the aim of Directive 2000/31/EC, the E-Commerce Directive was to ensure the free movement of ‘information society services’ and to regulate information society service providers across the EU. There is still uncertainty as to the scope of the definition of ‘information society service’ and the Court of Justice has not divided services clearly or offered robust guidelines about when a service ceases to be an information society service. ‘Information society services’

The executor's authority to act stems from the date of death, not from the date of issue of a grant of probate. See: Personal representatives—overview. See Q&A: What is the authority for the testator’s real and personal property vesting in the executor from the date of death without any interval of time? The executors can therefore legally exchange contracts for the sale of a property and complete the transfer prior to obtaining a grant of probate, but there are practical issues which may prevent such action. For example, the executors are unable to prove

Privity of contract and liability Although contractual rights and benefits generally are (subject to express contractual provisions to the contrary) assignable, contractual obligations or burdens are not. However, in certain circumstances, contractual obligations or burdens may be 'vicariously' performed by way of sub-contracting. Sub-contracting is the delegation by one party of some or all of its obligations under a contract between it and a customer to a third party (the sub-contractor) for performance by the sub-contractor. Where vicarious (ie sub-contracted) performance is permitted, there is no transfer of the contractor’s liability under the main contract to the sub-contractor. The contractor remains liable to the customer under the main contract for

This Checklist lists the key information needed, and issues to consider when drafting a secondment agreement. It can be downloaded and printed out to form the basis of a practical outline or prompt for a client consultation, or an initial draft of a secondment agreement. This Checklist can be used as a standalone resource, or alongside Precedents: • Secondment agreement (employer—host) • Letter—secondment letter (employer—employee), or • Secondment agreement (employer—host—employee) For detailed information on secondments, including key considerations for dealing with a secondment and drafting the secondment agreement, see Practice Note: Secondments. Key information needed for drafting a secondment agreement This Checklist covers the following main categories of information: • identifying the parties and the agreement structure • potential relevance of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE 2006), SI 2006/246 • changes needed to secondee’s existing contract terms • duties, management and payment during the secondment • provision for an alternative or replacement secondee • liability and insurance • data protection • confidentiality, intellectual property and restrictive covenants • duration

Commercial analysis: An appeal was brought to the Supreme Court to determine the correct characterisation of a contract. The dispute related to whether two parties had varied an existing contract or rescinded and replaced it with a new one. The Court reviewed the applicable principles and decided that the agreements in question did constitute new agreements rescinding and replacing the former contracts. The appeal was therefore dismissed. Written by Alexander Whatley, barrister at 3PB Chambers.

The obligation to carry out a right to work check only applies to employers. Therefore, if a person is an employee, then the obligation arises and the checks must be carried out in order for an employer to obtain a statutory excuse protecting them from a civil penalty for employing a person working illegally. For further guidance, see Practice Note: Right to work checks: when and why. However, the obligation does not arise if a person is not an employee. The Home Office guidance ‘Frequently asked questions about the illegal working civil penalty scheme’ provides some guidance at section 5 as to whether a person will be considered to be an employee or not. This can be a complex

This Practice Note considers the limitation period(s) applicable to professional negligence claims. In particular, it addresses the date of accrual in both contract and tort and how the courts have approached issues which are common to such claims. For related limitation guidance, see: Limitation—overview and Practice Notes: • Limitation Act 1980—general application • Limitation—contract claims • Limitation—tort claims For general guidance on professional negligence claims, see also: Professional negligence claims—overview. Professionals owe duties to their clients in both contract and tort When a professional assumes responsibility to perform services for someone who will rely on those services, a duty in tort to exercise reasonable skill and care can arise, even if the services are performed under a contract between those parties (Henderson v Merrett, differing from Tai Hing v Liu Chong Hing). Under the Limitation Act 1980 (LA 1980), the limitation period for both contract and tort claims is six years but time starts to run: • in contract—from the date of breach (LA 1980, s 5) • in tort (negligence)—from the occurrence

The Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) permits an employer to make a deduction from a worker’s ‘wages’ (as defined in ERA 1996, s 27) if: • the deduction is required or authorised to be made by virtue of: ◦ a statutory provision, eg the requirement to make deductions for income tax or National Insurance contributions via Pay As You Earn (PAYE) ◦ a relevant provision of the worker’s contract, eg where the employer provides a loan to the worker and has a contractual right to take money out of the worker's wages in repayment, or ◦ the worker has previously signified in writing their agreement or consent to the deduction For further information, see,

Date of signature v date of commencement The date on which an agreement is intended to commence can be different to the date on which it is signed. Whereas a simple contract takes effect once signed by all parties, a deed will take effect on delivery. If the obligations under the deed are intended to commence or be deemed to commence on a date different to the date of delivery, then this should be made clear in the document itself in a separate commencement clause. The date of the deed is usually stated

What does FIDIC mean? What do they do? FIDIC stands for 'Fédération Internationale des Ingénieurs–Conseils', which is best translated from French as the International Federation of Consulting Engineers. FIDIC represents the consulting engineering industry both globally and domestically. What are the FIDIC forms of contract? FIDIC's contracts committee produces standard forms of contract for civil engineering projects, which are used globally. The purpose of these standard forms is to define the contractual relationship between the parties and to apportion risks between the contractor and the employer. FIDIC states that its contracts allocate risks fairly to the party that is best able to bear and control those risks. In December 2017, FIDIC published new versions (‘second editions’) of its Red, Yellow and Silver Books. These are discussed below, along with the other FIDIC contract forms. For guidance on the key changes in the 2017 versions, see Practice Note: FIDIC contracts 2017—what’s changed? [Archived]. As with other standard form construction contracts, the FIDIC forms are commonly amended to reflect the particular characteristics of each project and the requirements

The LexisNexis Ireland—Commercial practical guidance team has published a new Practice Note which considers the assignment of rights under contract, identifies what can be transferred when assigning rights under a contract and considers the steps necessary to affect a valid assignment of a contract both at law and in equity.