Chapter 4 of the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) Conduct of Business sourcebook (COBS 4) contains the conduct of business requirements for communications (including financial promotions) made by authorised firms to their clients. This Practice Note explains how COBS 4 applies to firms in the UK and will help such firms to establish whether the rules apply to them and in what circumstances. Scope of this Practice Note The Financial Services Authority’s (FCA) rules in chapter 4 of the Conduct of Business sourcebook (COBS 4) apply generally to firms when communicating with a client or potential client when carrying on designated investment business or MiFID, equivalent third country or optional exemption business and when communicating or approving a financial promotion in relation to investment business. This Practice Note discusses chapter 4.1 of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Conduct of Business Rules (COBS 4.1) which sets out how, to whom, and where the COBS 4 rules apply. This Practice Note is part of a series that examines the rules in COBS 4 and should be read in conjunction with

FCA's Insurance Conduct of Business Sourcebook (ICOBS) contains the standards that apply to all non-investment insurance product sales (general insurance and protection policies). The COBS provisions apply to designated investment business, which is described in more detail below, the majority of which is outside the scope of this Practice Note but which includes certain life and long term insurance policies. Those communicating promotions relating to insurance policies must correctly classify the policy in question, to ensure they comply with the right conduct of business requirements. This note does not address the ICOBS requirements. It is also important that firms communicating or approving a communication or financial promotion know the intended recipient(s) of the communication, to enable them to tailor the communication accordingly and comply with the relevant rules in the relevant sourcebook. What types of insurance do the rules in COBS 4 apply to? COBS 4 applies to firms that communicate with clients or potential clients in relation to designated investment business. The designated investment in this context is a life policy.

Background to the regulation of cryptoasset promotions in the UK Following the establishment of the Cryptoassets Taskforce (CATF) in March 2018, in October 2018, the CATF published its final report. Chapter 4 of the report assesses the risks and potential benefits associated with cryptoassets. In relation to financial promotions, the report states: Advertising regarding cryptoassets, which is often targeted at retail investors, is not typically fair or clear and can be misleading. Adverts often overstate benefits and rarely warn of volatility risks, the fact consumers can both grow and lose their investment, and the lack of regulation. There are also examples of regulated firms marketing cryptoasset products without clarifying that this part of their business is not regulated. Following the publication of the report, the UK government started the process of consulting on legislation to bring certain promotions of cryptoassets within the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA 2000) and therefore the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) remit. Simultaneously, the FCA started to consult on requirements that would apply to financial promotions

ARCHIVED: This Tracker lists a number of decisions of the English courts in which the Court of Justice decision in Owusu v Jackson has been considered. This includes Supreme Court, Court of Appeal and High Court decisions. The decision in Owusu held that the English courts could not apply the common law doctrine of forum non conveniens to stay proceedings in which a defendant was domiciled in an EU Member State. Supreme Court decisions Judgment Comment News Analysis Owusu applied/considered Vedanta Resources Plc v Lungowe [2019] UKSC 20 at paras [16] and [38]–[39] The Supreme Court held that the principle in Owusu applied when considering whether proceedings could be stayed against a defendant in England. Such a stay was not permissible when the defendant was domiciled in England. This was so even if the other competing jurisdiction was not an EU Member State. Supreme Court permits claim against foreign company in the UK in ‘curate’s egg’ judgment LNB News—10/04/2019 101Supreme Court rules English court has

Restructuring & Insolvency analysis: A funeral plan provider in administration, which held plan subscription monies on trust, had insufficient funds to meet its obligations to plan members. A third party arranged funerals for certain plan members, initially for free but subsequently to be paid for out of the trust monies subject to court approval. Other plan members, whose dividends would be reduced as a consequence of the arrangement, argued that the general power of appointment of trust monies in the trust deed did not apply in an insolvency scenario and that the trust monies should be distributed pari passu. The court, in a detailed analysis of the terms of the trust deed, held that the arrangement with the third party fell within the trust powers. While emphasising the interpretative principle of adherence to the words themselves, the court construed the terms of the trust in a way that reflected the particular imperatives of the situation (including, for the question of whether living plan members would be prejudiced by payments being made to deceased plan members, considerations of ‘benevolence and humanity’ in the exercise of the powers). Written by Martin Young, associate at CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP.

Employment news analysis: The government will amend the Employment Rights Bill (ERB) to extend the right for those employed under a zero hours contract or ‘low hours’ arrangement to be offered a guaranteed hours contract to agency workers.

This Flowchart sets out the application procedure for development consent orders (DCOs) for nationally significant infrastructure

The Planning Act 2008 (PA 2008) sets out a development consent regime for nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs) in the fields of energy, transport, water, waste water, and waste. Applications for development consent orders (DCOs) are decided in accordance with National Policy Statements (NPSs), which set out the national policy in relation to NSIPs. See Practice Notes: Permission for nationally significant infrastructure projects and National Policy Statements. Although the Secretary of State (SoS) bears legal responsibility for the decision, in practice, the government delegates responsibility for accepting and examining applications to the Planning Inspectorate (PINS). For an outline of the DCO application procedure, see: Development consent order (DCO) application procedure—flowchart. Importance of application preparation Applications that are poorly organised and presented or which are incomplete could be at greater risk of not being accepted for examination. Once an application has been submitted and accepted, the opportunity to submit any additional or amended information will be constrained within examination procedures. There is limited scope to make 'material' revisions to a scheme during the examination

Software in the receiver which interprets a set of commands telling it, for instance, where to display a graphic or other object on the screen. The API also allows the same applications to run on different receiver designs without the need for the application to be rewritten for each one.

In this Checklist, the following defined terms are relevant: • application programming interface (API) means an application programming interface • API Data means any data or other content on the Platform accessed by the Application or API Licensee, and/or transferred from the Platform to the Application using an API • API Licensee means a provider of an Application that accesses the Platform/API • API Licensor means the provider of a Platform/API • Application means an application of an API Licensee that accesses an API • Platform means a platform of an API Licensor that is accessed through an API An API is a source code-based interface used by applications (more particularly, software components) to communicate with each other. The API is the external facing part of the application which defines the way in which that application will interact with other software. The developer does not need to understand the complete code of an application in order to develop a compatible program. As long as the program is compatible

ASP refers to obtaining applications over the internet, such as customer relationship management software (for example, salesforce.com) or word processing (eg Google Docs). The term Software as a Service is more common.

The Criminal Procedure Rule Committee have updated the ‘application to a magistrates' court to reconsider police bail’ form on 14 August 2023.