Double tax treaties (DTTs) allocate taxing rights between jurisdictions, with the primary aim of ensuring that taxpayers do not suffer tax on the same income twice in different states, an outcome which would discourage cross-border economic activity. DTTs are hybrids—they constitute both international agreements, but also form part of the tax law of each state. It is generally agreed that they can only relieve from taxation, and cannot impose a higher tax burden than that which would apply under domestic legislation. Indeed, Action 6 (one of the 15 key Actions) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project is devoted to the concept of treaty abuse, and is the subject matter of the OECD Report entitled Preventing the Granting of Treaty Benefits in Inappropriate Circumstances. There are two types of double taxation. These are: • juridical double taxation, which focuses on the person being taxed. It can be defined as two or more jurisdictions levying taxes on the same property (eg the income or gains) in the hands of the

In December 2013 the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) issued a consultation on reforming court fees, which included (in Part 2 of the consultation) the possibility of charging 'enhanced fees' ie setting fees at a level above the cost of the activities to which they relate. The following is a summary of the progress of this consultation. Part 1 of the consultation—costs recovery Part 1 of the MoJ consultation dealt with cost recovery and set out proposals to recover close to the full cost of the civil court system through fees, transferring more of the cost to the user and reducing the cost to the general taxpayer. The Civil Justice Council and the Senior Judiciary responded to this consultation in January 2014 and February 2014 respectively, expressing their concerns about the proposal. The Government issued its response in April 2014 and a new fee structure was implemented the same month (see Court fee increases announced). Part 2 of the consultation—enhanced

This Q&A considers the meaning of establishment proceedings, a new concept created by the Insolvency (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (Brexit SI 2019/146), SI 2019/146. Establishment proceedings ‘Establishment proceedings’ are a new concept introduced into the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016 (IR 2016), SI 2016/1024 by Brexit SI 2019/146 (see IR 2016, SI 2016/1024, r 1.2(2)). This new term does not appear in: (i) the EU Recast Regulation on Insolvency, nor (ii) the Retained Recast Regulation on Insolvency, but broadly seems to be a replacement for the term ‘secondary proceedings’ in the EU Recast Regulation on Insolvency. Brexit SI 2019/146 introduces this new term into IR 2016 with the definition: • ‘establishment proceedings means ‘insolvency proceedings in England and Wales to which the EU Regulation applies where the centre of the debtor has an establishment in the United Kingdom’. ‘Establishment’ was not previously defined in IR 2016, r 1.2, but a new definition is inserted into IR 2016 by Brexit SI 2019/146 as follows: • ‘establishment has the same meaning as in Article 2(10)

Children with special educational needs are covered by Part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014 (CFA 2014) (CFA 2014, s 19) and the Code of Practice issued under that statute. It applies to children and young people with special educational needs and disabled children and young people. A ‘young person’ is a person over compulsory school age and under 25. Compulsory school age ends on the last Friday in June in the academic year when the child turns 16. See Practice Note: Special educational needs in England under the Children and Families Act 2014. A child or young person has special educational needs if they have a learning difficulty or a disability which calls for special educational provision to be made available. A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability of they have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority

Manorial rights Manorial rights are ancient rights of former lords of the manor. In medieval Europe, under the feudal system, the lord of the manor would allow local inhabitants to occupy and work open land within the manor in return for payment or services. In addition, the lord of the manor retained rights over the land. These manorial rights attached to the lordship (ie the title 'lord of the manor') and not to the land of the manor. Although a comprehensive list of manorial rights was contained in the Law of Property Act 1922, this piece of legislation was later repealed. The rights which continue to be of relevance today are: • sporting rights (ie the right to hunt game and fowl and to take fish) • the right to hold markets and fairs • mineral rights (ie the right to work mines and get minerals under the surface of the

The requirement to pay costs within 14 days is set out in CPR 44.7. This does not contain any sanction for failure to comply. The position therefore is that the other side has failed to comply with a court order. There are a number of different ways forward at this stage. • write to the other side—highlighting that their client has failed to comply with the court order and requesting an explanation of that failure. This can then be used in evidence in any subsequent application you decide to make. In addition, if there has simply been a breakdown in communication between the solicitor and their client or the monies are forthcoming

An employer has certain legal responsibilities regarding liability for a reservist’s mobilisation and reinstatement at work afterwards. An employer can claim for financial assistance to cover certain costs during a reservist’s mobilisation, and since 1 October 2014 can also claim incentive payments of up to £500 per month for an employee who is mobilised. For full details, see our Practice Note: Military reservists. Time off Reservists usually train for approximately 30 days a year over mid-week evenings, some weekends and a two-week annual camp. An employer is not obliged to provide a reservist employee with time off for the purpose of training, in which case the reservist will have to use his annual leave entitlement. An employer may, however, choose to give a reservist periods of leave (paid or unpaid) in addition to annual leave entitlement to attend some or all of his training commitments. For further information, see our Practice Note: Military reservists — Training commitments. If the reservist is called out for whole-time service with

What is an NFT? A non-fungible token or ‘NFT’ is a unit of data, which certifies a digital asset as being unique. NFTs are stored on the blockchain, providing the NFT’s owner with traceable proof of ownership. See Practice Note: Blockchain—key legal and regulatory issues. Each individual NFT is inherently unique and irreplaceable and can, in some instances, be worth a considerable sum. It may be useful to conceptualise NFTs as digital collectables, much like any tangible piece of original art. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are fungible, and therefore mutually interchangeable just as traditional currency. In contrast, each non-fungible token has a unique set of characteristics and cannot be exchanged like for like. NFTs can be used to represent a wide range of digital assets to include audiovisual files, photographs, music recordings, GIFs, documents, and memes. NFTs were first used in 2014 and gained some mainstream attention in 2017. By mid 2021, there has been a significant increase in awareness due to certain high-profile sales (see Value, below). What’s the

What are parallel imports? Parallel imports typically occur when branded goods are imported into the European Economic Area (EEA) from countries where those goods are sold at a lower price which, in turn, can be sold at a reduced price in the EEA. A brand owner generally relies on its trade mark rights to prevent parallel imports and may pursue a trade mark infringement claim where it has not consented to such imports, ie where the trade mark rights have not been exhausted. Trade within the EEA is a different matter; generally, trade mark rights cannot be used to restrain the free movement of goods between member states. Trade mark rights are exhausted once goods are put on the market in one Member State. There are some limited exceptions to this principle, usually in cases concerning re-packaging of goods. Can I prevent trade within the EEA? Generally, a brand owner cannot prevent intra-EEA trade because this falls foul of the principle of free movement of goods. An exception to this general

Licences are sometimes expressed to be ‘perpetual’, ‘irrevocable’ or ‘royalty-free’, but those terms can be interpreted in a variety of ways. It is important to properly specify what these terms mean in each case: • ‘perpetual’ licences: clarify whether this means that the licence is ‘never-ending’ or merely of an ‘indefinite duration’ until terminated in accordance with its terms. Alternatively, specify a long fixed-term (eg 20 years) rather than having a contract of open-ended duration • ‘irrevocable’ licences: clarify whether this means that the licence cannot be revoked or terminated under any circumstances in perpetuity or that the licence cannot be revoked, other than subject to the term and termination provisions elsewhere in the agreement. There should be no potential conflict or uncertainty between the licence being expressed to be ‘irrevocable’ in one clause, and terminable in another • ‘royalty-free’ licences: clarify whether this means that no additional licence payments are due over and above specified fees identified in the agreement if this is the case If no payments of any

What are prelims? ‘Preliminaries’ in a construction contract, or ‘prelims’, is typically taken to mean the section in the bills of quantities which groups together items which are necessary for the contractor to complete the works, but will not actually become part of the works, such as scaffolding, plant, water, the cost of power to the site and other site overheads. The preliminaries section also often summarises the contractual terms and services to be provided by the contractor. The preliminaries are usually found within the first part of the bills of quantities which form part of the contract documents in a traditional form of contract, eg the JCT Standard Building Contract. They may also be referred to as ‘general’ items in the bills of quantities, or ‘site overheads’ or ‘field office costs’ (US contracts tend to use these terms). In JD Wetherspoon v HMRC [2007] UKSPC SPC00657 (a tax case relating to expenditure on fit out works—not reported by LexisNexis®), preliminaries were described as: ‘...necessary costs which are not usually tangibly reflected in the finished

A Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) is a self-assessment tool designed to help organisations recognise privacy risks and vulnerabilities at the early stages of a project (such as the implementation of a new database, software application or service) which involves the processing of personal data. The Information Commissioner has published a 'Privacy Impact Assessment handbook' to assist organisations to identify the potential privacy impact of a new project as well as any implications for the privacy of individuals. The Commissioner