ARCHIVED: This Practice Note is archived and is no longer maintained. Coronavirus (COVID-19) Lawyers across the world have been grappling with many common areas of concern in connection with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. There are number of areas that are particularly relevant to banking and finance lawyers. For more detail and analysis on these, see Practice Note: Coronavirus (COVID-19) implications for Banking & Finance lawyers, which contains news, practical guidance and analysis covering the impact of COVID-19 developments. This Practice Note sets out the key issues which are relevant to trade and commodity finance during the COVID-19 outbreak. For information on general lending issues arising from the COVID-19 outbreak, see Practice Notes: Coronavirus (COVID-19)—implications for lending transactions and Coronavirus (COVID-19)—Banking & Finance frequently asked questions [Archived]. International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) guidance on its rules In April 2020, The ICC issued a guidance paper on the impact of COVID-19 on trade finance transactions issued subject to ICC rules. The guidance paper provides technical guidance to the market on:

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note is archived and is no longer maintained. Coronavirus (COVID-19) Lawyers across the world have been grappling with many common areas of concern in connection with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. There are a number of areas that are particularly relevant to banking and finance lawyers. For more detail and analysis on these, see Practice Note: Coronavirus (COVID-19) implications for Banking & Finance lawyers, which includes links to news, practical guidance and analysis covering the impact of COVID-19 developments. This Practice Note sets out the key issues which are relevant to real estate finance during the COVID-19 outbreak. For information on general lending issues arising from the COVID-19 outbreak, see Practice Notes: Coronavirus (COVID-19)—implications for lending transactions and Coronavirus (COVID-19)—Banking & Finance frequently asked questions [Archived]. Impact on real estate finance The impact of COVID-19 on the real estate finance (REF) market has gone to the heart of most transactions, affecting property values, rental cashflow and construction timeframes. Lenders and borrowers will need to review their finance

1 Introduction It is our policy to ensure that if our business is interrupted, we can become fully operational as quickly as possible. In doing so, we aim to protect our staff, clients and any other parties with which we have dealings. This plan contains the procedures we will follow should we suffer a business interruption. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this plan, please contact [insert name of appropriate contact here]. 2 Scope of the Business Continuity Plan (BCP) 2.1 This BCP applies to all staff in [every business unit OR insert which department(s) or office(s) the plan covers]. 2.2 Examples of incidents that would invoke this plan are: 2.2.1 flood; 2.2.2 fire; 2.2.3 theft; 2.2.4 IT failure; 2.2.5 communications failure (eg telephone system); 2.2.6 limited or complete loss of access to offices; 2.2.7 adverse weather; 2.2.8 loss of key personnel; 2.2.9 terrorism; 2.2.10 cyber-security or cybercrime incident; 2.2.11 public health events such as a pandemic 2.2.12 [[insert other incident].] 2.3 We have identified the key functions of our business and the impact that a disruption of these functions would have on our organisation. 2.4 We have evaluated and analysed each of these business interruptions and the impact it would have on our key functions. 2.5 The

Background The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic led to unprecedented social distancing measures and lockdowns. This in turn had a significant impact on the ability of the courts, and court users, to carry out their normal functions. In response, the courts began operating under new protocols and procedures. See Practice Note: Coronavirus (COVID-19)—Changes to the court process in insolvency proceedings [Archived]. To supplement these changes, and in order to deal with specific challenges relevant to insolvency proceedings, a Temporary Insolvency Practice Direction (TIPD) was introduced on 6 April 2020. This dealt with COVID-19 related issues such as court procedure and the ability to make virtual statutory declarations for the purposes of opening administration proceedings in light of social distancing, as well as miscellaneous issues in insolvency proceedings that were ambiguous under the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016 (IR 2016), SI 2016/1024 and subject to conflicting case law. The latter were the validity and effective time of filings made using CE-filing when appointing an administrator using the out of court procedure

ARCHIVED: The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was challenging for employers participating in pension schemes. This archived Practice Note covers the impact of coronavirus on employers participating in pension schemes, including on their automatic enrolment duties and the approach taken by the Pensions Regulator. This Practice Note also describes some government measures introduced to relieve some of the pensions-related pressure on them (eg through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 and the Kickstart Scheme), as well as the pensions impact of emergency volunteering leave (EVL) and employers’ responsibility to initiate claims on the death of certain keyworkers under the NHS and Social Care Coronavirus Life Assurance Scheme 2020. It is not maintained. The Pensions Regulator’s general approach The Pensions Regulator (TPR) took a proportionate and risk-based approach towards enforcement decisions, with the aim of helping employers to get back on track and supporting both employers and savers. Consistently with this, TPR decided that: • until 30 June 2020, it would not take regulatory action in respect of a defined benefit

This Checklist on remotely accessed mediations summarises the key considerations when deciding whether and, if so, how, to engage in a remotely accessed mediation via video conference (VC). The arrival of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic saw an increase in the use of remotely accessed mediations, ie mediations carried out online by way of VC. VC mediations (also commonly referred to as ‘online mediation’, ‘remote mediation’ and ‘remotely accessed mediation’) are not the only means of conducting a non face-to-face mediation, you can also mediate by telephone. That said, the ease and increased user functionality of the various platforms offering VC have lent themselves well to the process for remote access mediation. For information on the parties’ obligations to consider alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and the courts’ powers with respect to ordering or encouraging the parties to consider ADR, both before and during any litigation, see Practice Notes: Court powers to order or encourage ADR in civil proceedings and Court powers to order or encourage ADR in civil proceedings—key and illustrative decisions. For information on the potential costs

This Practice Note contains a jurisdiction-specific Q&A guide to banking regulation in Luxembourg published as part of the Lexology Getting the Deal Through series by Law Business Research (Law stated at: 7 February 2023). Authors: Loyens & Loeff—Adrien Pierre; Vanesa Gomez Pena 1. What are the principal governmental and regulatory policies that govern the banking sector? Luxembourg is a major financial centre and the development of the financial sector is, therefore, an important policy consideration. The Ministry of Finance works together with Luxembourg for Finance (the Luxembourg agency for the development of the financial centre) to promote, develop and diversify the Luxembourg financial centre, and identify new opportunities. Current priorities include digitalisation, anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), sustainable finance, and financial education. Policies are being adjusted as needed to address the covid-19 pandemic, to which the sector has been quite resilient. 2. What are the defining characteristics of a bank to be caught by the banking laws and regulations? Is non-bank fintech regulated differently? Credit institutions or banks are defined in the

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. This Practice Note is a summary of the key legal developments of relevance to personal injury and clinical negligence practitioners as of June 2020. For the most recent horizon scanner, reference should be made to PI and Clinical Negligence horizon scanning—overview. New special account rate The Ministry of Justice has announced the reduction of interest rates for Court Funds Office special and basic accounts from 1 June 2020. The special account rate has reduced from 0.5% to 0.1% and the basic account has reduced from 0.1% to 0.05%. The Lord Chancellor will further review the level of interest paid to clients should the Bank of England base rate rise in the future. See News Analysis: Changes to interest rates for Court Funds Office special and basic accounts and LNB News 01/06/2020 25. Coronavirus (COVID-19) To stay ahead of the fast-moving changes in the courts’ processes and procedures necessitated by the pandemic and for industry guidance on how

This tracker was intended to be used to track key developments, legislation, guidance, parliamentary briefing notes and other sources of interest relating to social housing provision during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic up until so called ‘freedom day’ 18 July 2021. For recent guidance, see Practice Notes: Coronavirus (COVID-19)—local government tracker—post July 2021 and Coronavirus (COVID-19)—implications for property [Archived]. Primary legislation Development When in force Find out more Coronavirus Act 2020 (CA 2020)• CA 2020, s 81 (residential tenancies in England and Wales: protection from eviction) • CA 2020, Sch 29 (residential tenancies in England and Wales: protection from eviction) Came into force on the day on which CA 2020 was passed (25 March 2020) Analysis of the impact of Coronavirus Act 2020 on housing possessions and local authorities Sarah Cummings, senior associate, and Giles Peaker, partner, at Anthony Gold Solicitors analyse CA 2020 in respect of housing possessions, its likely impact on landlords and tenants, and suggest what Property Disputes practitioners should pay attention to when advising clients.See News Analysis: Housing possessions

Background This Practice Note examines the legal and practical issues for employers to consider in relation to remote working arrangements. The concept of remote working has been around for some time, however the experiences of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, during which many employees worked entirely, or primarily, from home resulted in a huge shift in work practices. Remote work is emerging as an increasingly common work arrangement. The government introduced the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022 to fulfil their obligation to implement Directive (EU) 2019/1158 (the Directive) on work-life balance for parents and carers. For further information on the Directive, see Practice Note: The EU Work-Life Balance Directive. Following widespread criticism of this initial stand-alone bill, and it’s failure to reflect commitments made in Making Remote Work: National Remote Work Strategy (DETE, 2021)—guidance issued by the government in 2021 in relation to remote work, the bill was amended to include a stand-alone right for all employees to request ‘remote working arrangements’. An employee now has the statutory right under Part 3 of the Work

Overview On 27 August 2024, a Clinical Negligence Claims Agreement (the Agreement) was signed by NHS Resolution, the Society of Clinical Injury Lawyers (SCIL) and the patient safety charity Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA). The Agreement came into effect on the day it was signed. It replaced the earlier Covid-19 Clinical Negligence Protocol 2020 (the Protocol), which enabled claims to be progressed efficiently during the coronavirus pandemic. The Agreement relates to civil claims under English domestic law (including claims under the Human Rights Act 1998) and to claims under the European Convention on Human Rights. It builds on the success of the earlier Protocol in improving working practices in clinical negligence litigation and intends to continue to encourage positive behaviours from claimant and defendant lawyers and to promote a consistent approach in practice across England. Key aspects of the Agreement include a change to the process that was in place under the earlier Protocol for suspension of limitation periods. It also outlines ways in which parties to clinical negligence litigation should work cooperatively,

Coronavirus (COVID-19): Advice for Tier 2, 4 and 5 visa sponsors in the UK who are sponsoring those affected by coronavirus (COVID-19) has been published by the Home Office. The guidance, originally published on 27 March 2020 and being kept under constant review and regularly updated, includes advice regarding reporting requirements for absences of international students or migrant workers due to coronavirus; distance learning for international students; working from home arrangements for migrant workers; and submission by sponsors of scanned documents. For further information, see LNB News 27/03/2020 67 and LNB News 03/06/2020 53. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has also published guidance for seasonal agricultural workers coming to England to work on farms and their employers amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. For further information, see LNB News 04/06/2020 56. Until 30 November 2020 the system by which non-EEA nationals were able to come to work in the UK was points-based and had five tiers: • tier 1: graduate entrepreneurs and investors • tier 2: skilled workers