The UK Jurisdiction Taskforce (UKJT) has published a legal statement on liability for artificial intelligence (AI) harms under English and Welsh private law, following a public consultation held between 14 January 2026 and 13 February 2026. The statement concludes that existing law—principally contract and negligence—can address AI harms without a bespoke regime. Contract governs liability within AI supply chains, while negligence applies where no contract exists. Foundation Model Developers are unlikely to face negligence liability for unforeseeable uses of general-purpose models, while professionals risk liability for negligent AI use or failure to use AI where a competent peer would have done so. Strict liability under the Consumer Protection Act 1987 applies only where AI is embedded in tangible products.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), acting as agent for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), has issued a tender notice under the Procurement Act 2023 (PA 2023) seeking suppliers to develop an AI-augmented planning decision tool. The tool aims to reduce average planning application processing times from eight weeks to four, initially focusing on householder developments, with plans to extend the tool to other application types, including advertisements, changes of use, listed building consents and relevant demolitions in conservation areas. The procurement will follow a competitive flexible procedure under PA 2023, s 20, with a maximum of five suppliers to be invited to tender. The deadline for requests to participate is 21 November 2025. The contract award date is estimated as 6 January 2026. The estimated contract value is £10m (including VAT), and the contract is scheduled to run from 16 January 2026 to 16 May 2028, with a possible extension to May 2029.

Service of the claim form in Scotland is governed by the CJJA 1982 and the CPR provisions are found in CPR 6.32(1). Permission is not required to serve a claim form in Scotland if certain criteria are met, being: • the claim is the type of claim that falls within the CJJA, and • there are no other proceedings involving in the same claim in any other part of the UK One of three additional requirements must also be met. One of these is that the defendant is a party to an exclusive jurisdiction clause in favour of the English courts. That exclusive jurisdiction clause must meet the requirements set out in the CJJA 1982, Sch 4, Section

The Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments (JCSI) has published its 39th report of Session 2024–26. One instrument was drawn to the special attention of the House: the Criminal Legal Aid (Standard Crime Contract) (Amendment) Regulations 2025, SI 2025/1009, for failure to comply with proper legislative practice, as the Ministry of Justice omitted details in the Regulations of where a hard copy of the 2025 Standard Crime Contract can be obtained.

The United Nations (UN) has announced that Rwanda has acceded to the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG), becoming the 97th State Party to the Convention. The CISG establishes a comprehensive code of legal rules governing the formation of contracts for the international sale of goods, the obligations of the buyer and seller, remedies for breach of contract and other aspects of the contract.

The New Engineering Contract (NEC) has published a new practice note, providing guidance on conflict avoidance clauses for NEC4 Engineering and Construction Contracts. These clauses outline a procedure for resolving disputes at an early stage through conflict avoidance panels. The practice note includes versions for contracts using dispute resolution Options W1 and W2, and the clauses can be used in any of the main forms of contract or subcontract within the NEC4 suite.

Use of Letters of Intent We understand that [insert name of the Contractor appointed on the project] (the ‘Contractor’) has requested that [you OR [insert name of entity requested to enter the Letter of Intent] (‘you’)] enter into a letter of intent in relation to [insert name/description of the project]. We appreciate that there may be a need to enter into a letter of intent in order to [commence construction on site to prevent expiry of a planning permission or for particular tax reasons OR to ensure the Contractor holds its current tender price OR in order for the Contractor to complete construction by your desired completion date OR [insert other reason for entering into the letter of intent]]. However, there are some risks which you need to consider prior to entering into the letter of intent. The principal issue is the risk of starting the works without having a full and binding agreement

Scope of this Practice Note This Practice Note sets out the regulatory regime for consumer buy-to-let (CBTL) lending under the Mortgage Credit Directive Order 2015, SI 2015/910 (MCD Order 2015), which transposed the EU Mortgage Credit Directive (Directive 2014/17/EU) (the EU MCD) into the UK regulatory framework prior to the UK’s decision to leave the EU. The MCD Order 2015 was published on 25 March 2015 and became fully effective on 21 March 2016, the deadline by which all Member States were required to implement the EU MCD. For a flowchart outlining whether the CBTL registration requirements apply, see: Registration requirements for CBTL mortgages—flowchart. For an overview of the UK’s implementation of the EU MCD, see Practice Note: Mortgage Credit Directive—UK implementation and the post-Brexit regime. For an overview of the EU MCD regime, see Practice Note: EU Mortgage Credit Directive—essentials. MCD requirements on CBTL mortgages The EU MCD established an EU-wide regulated mortgage regime applicable to both secured credit and home loans with the objective of fostering a single European

This edition of Employment weekly highlights includes: (1) an announcement that the State Opening of Parliament and the King’s Speech will both take place on 17 July 2024, (2) an EAT judgment concerning contractual entitlement to lifelong travel benefits, (3) a Court of Appeal decision about whether contract workers could bring an indirect discrimination claim against the client relating to being paid less than directly employed staff, (4) the Finance (No 2) Act 2024, (5) an EAT decision about whether an employer’s pandemic holiday policy was indirectly discriminatory to non-British employees, (6) a report by PwC on mandatory gender pay gap reporting in 2023–2024, (7) the Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Act 2024, (8) a High Court decision refusing an injunction to a trade union member who wanted legal representation at a disciplinary appeal hearing, (9) analysis of the failure to prevent fraud offence faces expected to come into effect in 2025, (10) an EAT judgment on whether redeployment should be considered by the tribunal as a matter of course when considering claims of unfair dismissal or failure to make reasonable adjustments, (11) updated guidance from NHS Employers on the use of settlement agreements and confidentiality clauses when resolving a workplace dispute or ending an employment contract, (12) a reminder that MyHMCTS went live for the North West England region on 3 June 2024, (13) an EAT judgment concerning case management orders in Tesco’s equal pay litigation, (14) an EAT decision on the documents required to properly institute an appeal, (15) an immigration election policy tracker published by the Migration Observatory, (16) dates for your diary, and (17) updates to our legislation and consultation trackers and horizon scanner.

This Agreement is made on [date] Parties 1 [insert name of Manufacturer] [of OR a company incorporated and registered in Ireland with company number [insert registered number] whose registered office is at] [insert address] (Manufacturer); and 2 Parties Check that the parties named in the contract are correct. If there is more than one company in a corporate group, check that the company entering into the contract is the appropriate group entity. [insert name of Distributor] [of OR a company incorporated and registered in Ireland with company number [insert registered number] whose registered office is at] [insert address] (Distributor); each of the Manufacturer and the Distributor being a party and together they are the parties. Background This section (which may also be known as the ‘recitals’) should be used to briefly summarise the agreement and explain relevant background information. It should not contain substantive or operative provisions, and should be clear whether or not it is intended to be legally binding. Setting out the background is not essential but may be useful as an introduction to the agreement, especially where there are related agreements

Presence in the jurisdiction and service To effect service in the jurisdiction, it does not require that the defendant be domiciled in the jurisdiction. Nor is it necessary for the defendant to be physically within the jurisdiction. There are valid methods of service other than personal service and, unsurprisingly, service by delivery to a person’s residence is not invalidated if the person happens to be temporarily out of the jurisdiction at the time. Part 6 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (CPR 6) concerns the service of documents in proceedings. CPR 6.3, and the other rules to which it refers, set out permissible methods of service in the jurisdiction. These are subject to section IV of CPR 6, clarifying that (for example) personal service of a person in Florida is not valid

Construction analysis: The Outer House of the Court of Session (CSOH) rejected a claim from the claimants that a ‘ius quaesitum tertio’ (effectively a right for a third party to have a claim in relation to a contract) was created through an obligation to provide a collateral warranty. The court instead applied the general rule of privity of contract and thus held that the ‘ius quaesitum tertio’ was not created.