On 1 October 2024, the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 and statutory Code of Practice on fair and transparent distribution of tips came into force. Under the Act, employers must distribute tips in a ‘fair and transparent' manner, passing all tips, gratuities, and service charges on to workers, without deductions. Failure to do so could result in employment tribunal claims by workers seeking to enforce their rights.

The New Towns Taskforce has launched a call for evidence, which is designed to capture initial information on large development opportunities. It seeks proposals that are regionally significant for housing numbers and economic growth. The Taskforce will utilise additional data, including its own spatial analysis, to formulate recommendations regarding new towns. The call for evidence closes on 13 December 2024.

See FRC 102.

Law360, London: The new 'failure to prevent fraud' offence that is likely to take effect in 2025 was written to target large companies that do not have internal controls to prevent such crime, but lawyers are warning clients that bosses will be expected to help pursue individual fraudsters

Law360, Expert analysis: The system for regulating cryptoassets in the UK, such as bitcoin and ethereum, is still under construction. Andrew Henderson, partner at Goodwin Procter LLP, highlights the latest development in the UK's regulatory framework for cryptoassets with the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Collective Investment Schemes) (Amendment) Order, known as the Staking Order, which took effect on 31 January 2025.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) and the EU have agreed on the Joint Initiative on Services Domestic Regulation which aims to facilitate and simplify trade in services. This Regulation will streamline authorisation requirements, ease procedural hurdles faced by businesses and reduce costs of global services trade by over €110bn annually by ensuring transparency, efficiency and predictability of these requirements. The agreement will help the telecommunications, engineering and computer science sectors and includes the first binding provision on non-discrimination between men and women in a WTO text. The Regulation currently applies to 71 WTO members at varying levels of development, representing 92% of world trade in services.

The Welsh government has published a new Welsh Procurement Policy Note (WPPN) explaining new arrangements for suppliers to complete and submit core ‘pre-qualification’ information for works contracts, once the Procurement Act 2023 and Procurement (Wales) Regulations 2024 are in force on 24 February. It plans to publish updated WPPNs on a dedicated webpage to reflect the new public procurement legislation.

The Home Office has made a number of changes to the three primary Workers and Temporary Workers Sponsor Guidance documents, on 31 December 2024 and 1 January 2025. The main changes are set out below, together with details of some changes made to route-specific guidance documents at the same time, and remaining measures outlined in the 28 November 2024 Written Statement which have not been brought in at this time.

Arbitration analysis: This case involved ten contracts by five Brazilian entities (collectively ‘CBF’) to sell pig iron to Steel Base Trade AG (SBT). Because of an alleged breach of the contracts by SBT, CBF commenced an ICC arbitration against SBT in Paris, eventually obtaining an arbitral award for US$48,053,462.16. Prior to the issuance of the award, Mr. Hans Mende, a named Defendant in the New York lawsuit, stripped SBT of all assets and transferred them to Price Carbon Ltd for $1. Prime Carbon retained SBT’s liability to CBF. As part of the asset transfer, Prime Carbon gained control of Primetrade, Inc, a valuable subsidiary. Further, Prime Carbon transferred ownership of Primetrade, Inc to other entities associated with Mende in order to further insulate Mende and Prime Carbon’s assets from CBF. Subsequently, CBF moved to enforce the award by filing the lawsuit in the SDNY and argued that it should be permitted to pierce the corporate veil and make SBT’s shareholders, directors and affilited companies (the Defendants) liable for the arbitral award. CBF also alleged that Prime Carbon and Primetrade are alter egos of SBT and are thus liable under alter ego theory. Finally, CBF alleged that American Metals & Coal International, Inc and AMCI Holdings, two other named Defendants, are alter egos of Mr. Mendes and thus are liable for the award. Defendants’ moved for summary judgment seeking to dismiss the action on multiple grounds. Relavant to this article, Defendants’ argued in their motíon for summary judgment that the SDNY cannot enforce the award on alter ego or veil piercing grounds. The SDNY denied Defendants’ motions on these grounds, and held that under Swiss law, Prime Carbon and Primetrade could be alter egos of SBT so as to permit Defendants to be held liable for the arbitral award. Written by Charles H Camp, President, and Genna Portner and Elisa Cerri, of the Law Offices of Charles H. Camp, PC, Washington, DC. See www.charlescamplaw.com.

Mealey’s: A New York federal judge confirmed an arbitral award and entered judgment worth more than US$2.8m against a Japanese energy company for failure to return collateral to a US company after the Japanese company terminated its counsel and withdrew opposition to the petition, and also granted in part the petitioner’s application for attorney fees but awarded roughly US$78,000 less than the petitioner sought after finding its hourly rates ‘unreasonably high.’

Loan market and developments Please provide a brief overview of the current state of the loan markets in your jurisdiction and any significant recent market developments. The US Corporate Loan Market continues to be a substantial part of the US economy. Although the US loan market has experienced significant evolution in recent years, it remains robust and represents one of the more innovative and important sectors in the US capital markets. Two of the largest segments of the US corporate loan market are the broadly syndicated loans (BSL) and private credit transactions. The BSL market is a vital source of financing for medium- and large-sized companies and includes loans that involve several banks and non-bank financial institutions lending money through a syndicate of lenders. Private credit generally involves loans made by non-bank lenders either on a bilateral basis or by a small group of lenders (referred to as ‘club deals’). Both markets have experienced substantial growth and change over the last several years. Broadly Syndicated Loans Although private credit is getting

1. What is the applicable legislation? Foreign direct investment in New Zealand is governed by the Overseas Investment Act 2005 (the Act), the Overseas Investment Regulations 2005 (the Regulations) and the Fisheries Act 1996. The Act was substantially amended by the Overseas Investment (National Interest Test and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2025 (the Amendment Act), with effect from 6 March 2026. The reforms did not change the scope of what is screened, but rather how transactions are assessed. In summary, the key changes introduced by the Amendment Act include: • the consolidation of the previously separate national interest, benefit to New Zealand and investor tests into a single national interest test for all screened assets other than farm land, residential land and fishing quota (for which the existing consent pathways remain) • the introduction of new consent pathways under the national interest test, being a Primary Consent pathway for significant business assets and sensitive land, a production forestry pathway and a pathway for qualifying investor visa holders to buy or build a house worth more