Law360, London: Insurers are contending with the risk that a broad range of policies could inadvertently be triggered by losses caused by artificial intelligence (AI) technology, trade bodies said in a report on 17 June 2026.

Law360: A trade body for financial institutions on 18 October 2024 called for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to clarify in proposed amendments to guidance when firms should treat UK politically exposed persons and linked entities as lower risk.

Law360, London: A financial services trade body on 31 March 2025 is pressuring regulators to exempt wholesale banks servicing primarily corporate clients from the Consumer Duty regime to give companies easier access to capital.

Law360: A trade body for underwriters said 19 June 2024 that it has launched a committee on specialist insurance to cover risk associated with mergers and acquisitions, amid a surge in such policies being written from London.

Found in construction management. A contract entered into directly between the employer and a trade contractor for an element of the works.

Trade credit insurance typically provides protection to a policyholder against non-payment of accounts receivable, due to the protracted default (ie a failure to pay an invoice after the due date has passed) or insolvency of its buyers or a political risk. Credit insurance accordingly seeks to remove the credit risk from the policyholders' balance sheet, thereby improving their profit and loss accounts. Bad debt provisions may also be reduced as a result. Trade credit insurance Types of risk insured Trade credit insurance risks are ordinarily classified into commercial and political risks: • a ‘commercial risk’ is typically defined as the insolvency of the insured's buyer resulting in a payment default or the buyer's failure to pay for the goods on the due date • a ‘political risk’ is typically defined as the risk that a government buyer or country prevents the fulfilment of a transaction or fails to meet its payment obligations. Examples include: ◦ regulatory or legislative payment freezes ◦ expropriation and confiscation of

This tracker tracks all of the trade developments in terms of the UK-EU Trade Cooperation Agreement, especially as it relates to the Partnership Council and Specialised Committees. Publication Date Meeting/Agenda/Statement/Development 2 October 2025 Fifth meeting of the Trade Specialised Committee on Public Procurement under the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement—Agenda 1 October 2025 Trade Specialised Committee on Public Procurement—Agenda 30 September 2025 Fifth meeting of Trade Specialised Committee on VAT Administrative Cooperation and Recovery of taxes under the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement—Agenda 19 September 2025 Sixth meeting of the Specialised Committee on Energy under the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement—Minutes 15 September 2025 Eleventh meeting of the Specialised Committee on Fisheries established by the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement—Agenda 10 September 2025 Fourth Trade Specialised Committee on Level Playing Field for Open and Fair Competition and Sustainable Development under the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement—Minutes 27 August 2025 Second meeting of the Working Group on Motor Vehicles and Parts under the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement—Minutes 21

Compliance, enforcement and offences Owner or occupier of trade premises It is an offence punishable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, and on conviction on indictment to an unlimited fine, to: • discharge trade effluent from trade premises without a consent or agreement granted under the Water Industry Act 1991 (WIA 1991) • contravene any conditions applicable to such a consent or agreement See Practice Notes: Trade effluent consents and agreements—when are they required? and Trade effluent consents and agreements—applications for more on when and how to apply for a trade effluent consent or agreement. Agreements are enforceable between the parties to the agreement, namely the owner occupier of the trade premises in question and the sewerage undertaker, in so far as they relate to private contractual obligations, eg to adopt a pipeline. However, to discharge trade effluent in contravention of what is set out in the agreement is an offence punishable on summary conviction

Applications for consent Application process The owner or occupier of trade premises who wishes to discharge trade effluent into the public sewer of a sewerage undertaker applies by serving a trade effluent notice on the sewerage undertaker in accordance with section 119 of the Water Industry Act 1991 (WIA 1991). Water and sewerage undertakers provide application forms and many allow for online applications and provide guidance to guide the applicant through the process. Note, this is different to the environmental permit required by regulators to discharge trade effluent into water courses. See Practice Note: Trade effluent consents and agreements—when are they required? for more on when to apply for a trade effluent consent. For some undertakers (eg Thames Water) the process normally starts by requiring the applicant to make preliminary enquiries to the undertaker, who will then ask for further details together with supporting documentation. Once the information is received the undertaker will consider the information provided and will either refuse or grant the consent in

Consent or agreement A consent, or an agreement, must be entered into with a local water and sewerage undertaker, in order to discharge liquid effluent from trade or industrial premises into: • a public sewer • a private sewer that subsequently connects to a public sewer For information on water companies and water supply/sewerage licencees, see: Ofwat: Licences and licensees. To apply for a trade effluent consent a Trade Effluent Notice must be submitted to the sewerage undertaker. If an application is unsuccessful, the water company will provide written reasons for its refusal. A right of appeal lies to Ofwat under section 122 of the Water Industry Act 1991 (WIA 1991). In certain circumstances the Environment Agency (or Natural Resources Wales in Wales) may apply additional conditions to a consent, because of the substances in the discharge or the processes giving rise to the discharge. Agricultural holdings, horticulture business, fish farms and those premises used for scientific or experimental purposes are deemed to be premises for carrying out trade

A trade fixture is an item attached to leased premises by a business tenant for the purposes of its trade, such as machinery, display units or specialised fittings, which the tenant is generally entitled to remove at the end of the lease. The concept arises mainly in landlord and tenant law and real estate practice, and is derived from case law rather than detailed statutory definition in England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland or Ireland.The key legal distinction is between landlord’s fixtures, which form part of the heritable or real property and belong to the landlord, and tenant’s trade fixtures, which remain the tenant’s property despite annexation, provided removal does not cause significant damage and any damage is made good.Trade fixtures are particularly relevant in commercial leases (for example, retail, industrial or hospitality premises) when negotiating repairing obligations, reinstatement, dilapidations and fit-out provisions. Across the UK and Ireland, the underlying principles are broadly consistent, though Scots law frames the analysis in terms of accession to heritable property and separate tenancies of fixtures. Careful drafting is often used to clarify whether particular installations are intended to be trade fixtures and who bears the cost of removal.

This Practice Note provides practical guidance on trade in financial services. Specifically, it addresses the Annex and Second Annex on financial services as well as the Decision on financial services and the Understanding on commitments in financial services. Introduction Trade in financial services is regulated by the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). As such, our guidance on the GATS is also applicable to trade in financial services. See Practice Note: An introduction to Trade in Services. There are, however, two annexes on financial services to the GATS as well as an understanding and decision which are important to understanding trade in financial services. The annexes are named the Annex on Financial Services and the Second Annex on Financial Services. The understanding is known as the Understanding on commitments in financial services. The decision is known as the Decision on Financial Services. The Annex on Financial Services contains specific provisions relevant to domestic regulations taken for prudential reasons. The Second Annex on Financial Service contains provisions relating to measures under the GATS