This week's edition of EU Law weekly highlights includes analyses on whether OpenAI’s latest user figures for ChatGPT could trigger stricter regulation under the EU Digital Services Act (EU DSA), as well as the Court of Justice’s decision that offline copies of audiovisual works provided by streaming platforms do not fall within an exemption under EU copyright law. In addition this week, the European Commission published its simplification review of the EU Deforestation Regulation, confirmed that plans to revise EU REACH have been scrapped, and launched consultations on new Merger Guidelines, the revision of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), a new voluntary sustainability reporting standard, and a draft Digital Product Passport Registry implementing regulation. The Commission also announced the completion of the first round of activities of the Hydrogen Mechanism and the European Parliament adopted resolutions on stronger action to combat cyberbullying and stricter enforcement of the EU Digital Markets Act.

This week's edition of Financial Services weekly highlights includes: BoE consults on proposed enforcement changes following FSMA 2023; ESMA publishes consultation on possible amendments to CRAR Framework; Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (Financial Penalty) Regulations 2024 and AML/CFT: Wolfsberg Group updates principles for auditing financial crime risk management, plus dates for your diary over the coming week.

This week's edition of Financial Services weekly highlights includes: HMT policy statement sets out proposed Consumer Credit Act 1974 reforms; FCA CEO says tackling financial crime now a matter of ‘economic and national security’; AFME, IA and UK Finance call for ‘full, high-quality’ consolidated tape; John Berrigan discusses EU market integration and supervision package; plus dates for your diary.

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) has published findings from a recent investigation into the Windrush Compensation Scheme, following a complaint from Thomas Tobierre, 71, and his daughter Charlotte, 41, regarding the handling of their case. The PHSO found that Mr. Tobierre’s claim was not properly processed and that the scheme did not adequately assess the impact of excluding private pension losses. Mr. Tobierre came to the UK from St Lucia at seven years old in 1960 and married his wife Caroline, a British citizen, in 1975. In June 2017 Mr. Tobierre was made redundant at work after over 40 years of service. He was then unable to find employment as he could not prove his right to work and reside in the UK and was forced to live on his savings and cash in his private pension worth around £14,000. In light of the Windrush Scandal, Mr. Tobierre was granted the right to work and live in the UK and he returned to work in 2018, however, his wife Caroline was diagnosed with late stage cancer and a brain tumour a few weeks after this. Mr. Tobierre made a claim to the Windrush Scheme in July 2019 for the loss of earnings, pension and the impact this had on his life. After multiple reviews, which include the Home Office refusing to compensate for the loss of private pension, he accepted the revised offer in January 2021. Mrs. Tobierre applied in August 2021 to the Windrush Scheme compensation for financial hardship and disruption to family life caused by the restrictions imposed on her husband. Her application, which was done at a time when she only had six months to live, was expedited for her to settle her affairs which included funeral arrangements. Mrs. Tobierre passed away in November 2021 before her claim was resolved and Mr. Tobierre accepted a revised compensation offer on her behalf a month later. Following her death, the Windrush Scheme contacted the family requesting detailed financial information for an urgent funeral payment, which the PHSO notes caused unnecessary and avoidable stress.

This week’s edition of EU Law weekly highlights includes, the European Commission opened a consultation on guidelines under the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive and adopted a recommendation on PFAS monitoring in feed. The Council of the EU and the European Parliament also reached provisional agreements on the ETS2 market stability reserve, Chemicals Omnibus simplification measures, plant reproductive material rules and revised air passenger rights rules. In addition, the Parliament approved new rules to strengthen farmers' contractual position and the text of the Digital Omnibus on AI proposal amending the EU AI Act, as provisionally agreed with the Council. The Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU also published its programme, and the European Data Protection Board published a common template for personal data breach notifications for public consultation.

This Practice Note considers the principles and application of the duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people in employment. The duty to make reasonable adjustments is described by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) as a cornerstone of the Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010) and requires employers to take positive steps to ensure that disabled people can access and progress in employment. This goes beyond simply avoiding treating disabled workers, job applicants and potential job applicants unfavourably and means taking additional steps to which non-disabled workers and applicants are not entitled. Discrimination against a disabled person occurs where an employer fails to comply with a duty to make reasonable adjustments imposed on them in relation to that disabled person. Where a person treats or would treat disabled people more favourably than they would treat people who are not disabled, this will not amount to direct discrimination (see Practice Note: Direct discrimination). Hence any step taken under the duty to make reasonable adjustments which has the effect of treating disabled people more favourably will

This week's edition of Environment weekly highlights includes: the UK High Court's decision in the BHP dam collapse battle that BHP could not block Brazilian municipalities from bringing criminal contempt proceedings, with the court ruling there were reasonable grounds to argue the mining giant was in contempt. In addition this week, the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has launched a UK Climate Resilience Roadmap, the first guidance of its kind to outline how the UK's built environment is increasingly vulnerable to five key climate hazards, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has published a Solar Roadmap outlining over 70 actions to support the deployment of 45–47 GW of solar capacity across the UK by 2030, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has published an update to its May 2025 response to the sandeel Arbitration Tribunal's final ruling in the UK-Sandeel case, Natural England has published its Action Plan for 2025–26 detailing how it will implement its new Strategic Direction, 'Recovering Nature for Growth, Health and Security' and PackUK has published a collection of four key documents related to the Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging (pEPR) scheme. Further this week, the Environment Agency (EA) has published comprehensive guidance outlining the framework for waste exemptions in England and the National Audit Office (NAO) has published a value for money report, assessing the performance of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) since its introduction in 2021.

This week's edition of EU Law weekly highlights includes analyses on the Court of Justice’s ruling in CeramTev v Coorstek that held that the absolute grounds for invalidity under Regulation (EC) 207/2009 are autonomous but not mutually exclusive, the Unified Patent Court’s first injunction covering UK in Kodak case, the EU-US trade deal on 15% baseline tariff, the Commission’s guidelines for the protection of minors online under the EU Digital Services Act (EU DSA) and the Commission’s guidelines on the scope of obligations for general-purpose AI models. In addition this week, the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs adopted an opinion proposing significant amendments to EU corporate sustainability reporting requirements, the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators approved a new methodology for assessing national electricity flexibility needs, further, the Commission published a recommendation on voluntary sustainability reporting for SMEs, launched a call for evidence for an integrated framework for climate resilience and risk management across the EU, published guidelines for green bond disclosure templates, initiated the second stage of social partner consultations on proposed EU-level regulation of telework rights and the right to disconnect, and issued preliminary findings indicating that Temu, an online marketplace, may be in breach of the EU DSA.

This week's edition of EU Law weekly highlights includes the Commission’s adoption of a package of infringement decisions on transposition failures by Member States, the adoption of the European Common Criteria-based cybersecurity certification scheme (EUCC), the extension of the first CBAM reporting deadline for importers, and a proposal to derogate from certain Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) rules during 2024. In addition, new Regulations governing F-gases and ozone depleting substances have been finalised, the Council of the EU has published the final compromise text of revisions to Solvency II, the establishment of an European Artificial Intelligence Office has been announced, and the Council of the EU has adopted its position on a Regulation banning products made with forced labour.

This week's edition of Environment weekly highlights includes: news analyses on the UK government's third iteration of a critical minerals strategy within a three year period, key points for practitioners to consider under Part 3 of the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 (PIA 2025) and a round-up of key developments in the field of Environment in England and Wales in 2025. In addition this week, the Office for Environmental Protection has published England’s fourth Environmental Improvement Plan progress report, finding government off track on certain targets, the OEP has confirmed that it has identified possible failures by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Environment Agency (EA) to comply with the Water Framework Directive Regulations, and Defra has published guidance on closed loop recycling under the UK's extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging regulations.

This week's edition of Financial Services weekly highlights includes: the FCA’s Handbook Notice 143, a joint statement reaffirming co-operation from HMT and US Department of the Treasury, plus dates for your diary.

This week's edition of Environment weekly highlights includes analysis of the Court of Appeal refusing permission to appeal against liability findings in the Brazilian dam collapse litigation (Município de Mariana v BHP Group). Also, the King’s Speech, in which His Majesty King Charles III announced the Clean Water Bill, Energy Independence Bill and Nuclear Regulation Bill among others. In addition this week, three new decisions from the First-Tier Tribunal (FTT) on environmental information and environmental taxes, the publication of the Environment (Principles, Governance and Biodiversity Targets) (Wales) Act 2026, Biodiversity Gain Register (Amendment) Regulations 2026 and the draft Merchant Shipping (Port State Control) Regulations, and new guidelines on environmental land management (ELM), water resource planning, and coastal modelling.