A blind trust is a trust arrangement where the settlor and, typically, the beneficiaries have no knowledge of, or control over, the specific assets held or the day‑to‑day investment decisions, which are managed independently by the trustee or an investment manager. It is used to reduce conflicts of interest, for example for politicians, senior public officials or company directors, by distancing them from decisions affecting their personal assets. “Blind trust” is a descriptive term rather than a defined statutory category in the UK or Ireland; the underlying trust is constituted under general trust law (including trustee legislation and fiduciary principles), with additional confidentiality and non‑interference obligations. Key features usually include: wide investment powers for the trustee; restrictions on disclosure to the settlor/beneficiaries; and express clauses preventing directions or influence over trust management. Across England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland, the concept is broadly similar, though detailed requirements may arise from ethics, standards in public life or anti‑corruption rules, rather than from trust legislation itself. Legal practitioners should consider tax, disclosure, registration (e.g. trust registers) and regulatory implications when advising on the creation or operation of a blind trust.

Law360, London: A blind employee won his discrimination case against a Welsh bakery when an employment tribunal found that the bakery didn't give him time to familiarise himself with his surroundings or offer him a 'buddy' while he adjusted to his new workplace.

EU Regulation or UK Order that exempts a category of agreements, often according to their sector (e.g. Motor vehicle distribution agreements) from the prohibitions in Article 101(1) TFEU and section 2 of the Competition Act 1998

Certain agreements benefit from an exemption from certain competition law rules. Undertakings must be prepared to make their own assessment of the compatibility of their restrictive practices with competition laws and these exemption provisions. Block exemptions are drafted on the basis that terms which are not stated to be prohibited are permissible, subject to the overriding premise that there may be no appreciable anti-competitive effect. The restrictions are divided between ‘hard core’ restrictions, which are very rarely acceptable, and less abhorrent restrictions, which may be permitted if certain criteria are met.

Horizontal and vertical agreements that contain provisions that would otherwise not be compatible with Article 101(1) TFEU may be exempted from the prohibition on anti-competitive agreements through one (or more) of the block exemption regulations issued by the Commission under Article 101(3) TFEU to exempt ‘categories of agreements’ from the application of Article 101(1) TFEU. This Checklist provides an overview of the EU block exemption regulations that are currently in force and describes the main conditions for each block exemption regulation to apply. Block exemptions applying to horizontal agreements The following block exemption regulations apply to horizontal agreements, ie agreements between undertakings operating at the same level of the supply chain (ie mainly agreements between competitors). For block exemptions applying to vertical agreements, please see Block exemptions applying to vertical agreements below. The research and development (R&D) block exemption regulation If the following main conditions are met, agreements relating to R&D efforts can benefit from the R&D block exemption regulation: • there is an agreement between two or more undertakings in relation to: ◦ joint R&D of contract products or

MLex: Lawmakers across Europe are on notice in the wake of a ruling by France's highest constitutional authority that blanket social media bans for minors may be found to conflict with protections for freedom of expression and privacy. While the ruling only applies in France, it has raised questions about whether other countries considering similar bans, such as Spain and Austria, may need to be more targeted.

The sale of a large amount of shares in a single transaction. In the UK this typically involves an investment bank buying a large amount of shares in a listed company through a private transaction before then trying to resell the shares to the wider market.

The transfer in a single transaction of all the sums and assets held for the purposes of (or representing accrued rights under) the arrangements under the pension scheme from which the transfer is made, which relate to the member in question and at least one other member of that pension scheme.

Purpose There are three circumstances which give rise to the need for a block transfer of office-holder appointments: • where an office-holder dies • upon the retirement of an office-holder from practice • where an office-holder is otherwise unable or unwilling to continue in office An office-holder may be unable or unwilling to continue in office where they change firms or lose their licence to practice due to regulatory action. While insolvency appointments are personal to individual office-holders, some firms will insist that the insolvency cases of an insolvency practitioner (IP) remain with it and be transferred to IPs who are remaining with the firm. In these circumstances, arrangements will need to be put in place for the proper continuation and management of these insolvency cases. Other firms may be content for the relevant insolvency cases to move with the IP to their new firm with appropriate undertakings as to payment of their work in progress. Which arrangement takes place depends on the terms negotiated between the respective parties. In addition, it

FORTHCOMING DEVELOPMENT: Section 10 of the Finance Act 2022 will increase the normal minimum pension age (NMPA) from 55 to 57 on 6 April 2028 (save for members of the firefighters, police and armed forces public service pension schemes). The Finance Act 2022 will also give members of registered pension schemes a right to take their benefits before age 57, if on or before 4 November 2021 they either had an ‘unqualified right’ to take benefits or were in the process of a substantive transfer to a scheme offering an unqualified right to a protected pension age of less than 57 on or before 4 November 2021. To benefit from this new 2028 protection, the rules of the pension scheme must have included (on 11 February 2021) an unqualified right to take the entitlement to scheme benefits before age 57. For further information, see Practice Note: Increasing the normal minimum pension age (NMPA) to 57—pensions impact. As a general rule, members of registered pension schemes can only start receiving

A decentralised database (chain) stored in its entirety on each of a series of connected devices forming the blockchain network, where time-stamped digital data (blocks) are recorded onto each copy of the complete database and are made confidential by cryptography or hashing.

Banking & Finance analysis: While blockchain is discussed in increasingly excitable terms, questions still abound as to the real world implications of such a technological leap. Richard Usher, commodities lawyer at DLA Piper, examines the structure of the system as well as the nature of some of the problems it will solve, and those it won’t.