TMT analysis: In a landmark decision, the Court of Justice ruled that the 1991 Software Directive (Directive 91/250/EC), allows licensees to decompile a licensed computer program, to the extent decompilation is necessary to correct errors in the program. Decompilation is the reverse process of compilation, aiming at creating human-readable (and editable) source code from the machine-readable object code (also known as binary code). The right to decompile for error correction is however strictly limited and applies only to the extent necessary to effect that correction and in compliance, where appropriate, with the conditions laid down in the contract with the holder of the copyright in that program. This case concerned the provisions of the repealed Directive 91/250/EC but the relevant Articles are substantively identical to those contained in the current Software Directive (Directive 2009/24/EC). Written by Hakim Haouideg, partner at Fieldfisher.

The European Commission has published the findings from its Digital Fairness Fitness Check, which analysed the effectiveness of current EU consumer protection laws in the digital landscape. The review indicates that while Directive 2005/29/EC (the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive), Directive 2011/83/EU (the Consumer Rights Directive), and Directive 93/13/EEC (the Unfair Contract Terms Directive) remain relevant and necessary, consumers face challenges online, such as dark patterns in online interfaces and personalised targeting. It also found that harmful commercial practices have cost consumers in the EU approximately €7.9bn per year, and that there is an insufficient enforcement of EU consumer protection laws across EU Member States, causing regulatory fragmentation and lack of incentives for businesses to protect customers.

The Home Office has issued an announcement on GOV.UK which confirms that Tech Nation has been awarded the contract to continue as the endorsing body (for the next three years) for the digital technology pathway of the Global Talent visa following an open procurement process. An amended process, effective from 4 August 2025, will introduce an expanded stage 1 endorsement form on GOV.UK, designed to capture all necessary information in a single application. As such the application form on the Tech Nation website will no longer be required.  Note that applications submitted before 11.59pm on 3 August 2024 will still require the submission of both forms.  The endorsement criteria remains unchanged, although the Home Office and Tech Nation retain the right to modify qualifying criteria in future.

Arbitration analysis: The Court of Appeal of Trinidad and Tobago confirmed that parties cannot contract out of the court’s limited supervisory jurisdiction over arbitral awards by means of a ‘no appeal’ clause, holding that such provisions are contrary to public policy. The court also clarified that interim payment certificates under construction contracts are provisionally binding unless revised through the contractual mechanism, and that contractual suspension rights must be exercised consistently with the contractor’s continuing ability to resume performance immediately. The decision provides important guidance on the limits of arbitral finality, judicial review of awards and the interpretation of payment and termination provisions in construction arbitrations. Produced in partnership with Gregory Pantin and Miguel Vasquez of M Hamel-Smith & Co.

In certain circumstances, an interim remedy is available to an employee claiming unfair dismissal before the final hearing of their claim and before any finding of unfair dismissal has been made. When interim relief is available Interim relief is only available where an employee has brought a claim for unfair dismissal and alleges that their dismissal was for one of a number of specified automatically unfair reasons, including: • where the employee: ◦ having been designated by the employer to carry out health and safety duties, carried out those duties, or ◦ being a health and safety representative or member of a safety committee, carried out the functions of that role (see Practice Note: Health and safety—employer consultation and employee representatives) • where the employee was dismissed for performing functions as an employee representative or a candidate to be such a representative under the working time legislation (see Practice Note: Remedies for breach of working time rights) • where dismissal was for performing functions as the trustee of an occupational pension scheme (see Practice Note:

This week's edition of Arbitration weekly highlights includes: coverage of arbitration-related decisions from England and Wales, France, updates from AAA, CRCICA, ISTAC, SVAMC and UNCTAD. We also note the London Arbitration Week discount offer for the LexisNexis International Arbitration Handbook. All this, and more, in our weekly highlights.

This Checklist is for use where you are acting for the seller on the sale of a registered freehold residential property either with vacant possession or subject to a lease or leases. It is not exhaustive and will not cover every eventuality for every transaction. You must always consider whether there are any other issues that need to be addressed. Preliminary matters Have you taken instructions from the client? Effective due diligence and transaction management require a sound understanding of the seller’s needs and of the proposed terms of the sale. Full instructions should be taken and you should clarify any part of your instructions which are unclear or unusual. Consider whether any additional specialist advice might be required; for example, planning advice where the sale is to be conditional upon planning permission being obtained. The table below contains some of the key matters on which instructions should be obtained at the outset. This list is not exhaustive and you may need to request information on additional issues at this stage.

A condition is a term of the contract that is so significant that it goes to the heart of the transaction—so it is a major term of the agreement.

STOP PRESS: As of 24 February 2025, the main provisions of the Procurement Act 2023 (PA 2023) are in force. Procurements begun on or after this date must be carried out under PA 2023, whereas those begun under the previous legislation (the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015), the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016, the Concession Regulations 2016, and the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011) must continue to be procured and managed under that legislation. See Practice Note: Introduction to the Procurement Act 2023—PA 2023. This content relates to the Procurement Act 2023 regime This practical guidance is about public procurement under the Procurement Act 2023 (PA 2023). For practical guidance on public procurement under the previous legislation, see Practice Notes: Introduction to public contracts procurement—pre PA 2023 [Archived], Introduction to concession contracts procurement—pre-PA 2023 [Archived] and Introduction to utilities contracts procurement—pre-PA 2023 [Archived]. Parallel application of PA 2023 and previous regulations The government intended the implementation of PA 2023 to cause as little disruption as possible for

This Practice Note contains a jurisdiction-specific Q&A guide to financial services litigation in Switzerland published as part of the Lexology Getting the Deal Through series by Law Business Research (published: October 2021). Authors: Bär & Karrer—Aurélie Conrad Hari 1. What are the most common causes of action brought against banks and other financial services providers by their customers? The most common causes of action between customers and banks (and independent wealth managers) relate to breach of contract, mostly for breach of fiduciary duties. Typical disputes relate to mismanagement of the assets or breach of the duty to inform or a duty of care by the services providers further to losses in investments. The parties will in principle rely on the mandate agreement (article 394 et seq of the Swiss Code of Obligations (SCO)), which applies in most transactions between a financial services provider and its customer. Since the entry into force of the Financial Services Act (FinSA) – a new bill on financial services which was enacted by the Swiss Parliament on 15 June 2018 and entered

This Practice Note contains a jurisdiction-specific Q&A guide to labour and employment in Portugal published as part of the Lexology Getting the Deal Through series by Law Business Research (published: October 2021). Authors: Morais Leitão, Galvão Teles, Soares da Silva & Associados—Joana Almeida 1. What are the main statutes and regulations relating to employment? The main statutes and regulations relating to employment are the Labour Code, approved by Law No. 7/2009, of 12 February 2009, and the Labour Code Regulation, approved by Law No. 105/2009, of 14 September 2009, both as amended. Specific areas of regulation (eg, health and safety at work, work accidents and occupational diseases and labour misdemeanours) and special types of contract of employment (eg, work from home, sports work, work in ports or on board, showbusiness and domestic service) are governed by specific statutes. 2. Is there any law prohibiting discrimination or harassment in employment? If so, what categories are regulated under the law? Discrimination and harassment in employment are forbidden by law, on general and specific levels:

In brief Data protection laws in both the EEA (the EU plus Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein) and UK seek to ensure information about living individuals (within the definition of ‘personal data’) is used fairly and responsibly. To help ensure that, both EEA and UK data protection laws impose a large number of obligations on those ‘processing’ personal data and on controllers of such processing. ‘Processing’ is broadly defined to include doing most things with data, including storing, deleting, collecting, disclosing or using it. One of the key protections under both EEA and UK data protection laws is the set of obligations placed on ‘controllers’ (usually meaning those that decide the purposes and means of processing) and ‘processors’ (those that process personal data on behalf of a controller further to the controller’s instructions). Among other things, EEA and UK data protection laws usually require controllers and processors to put in place contracts containing certain minimum provisions and ensure any processor(s) they engage are suitable. In a cloud computing arrangement, the end customer will often act as controller and the