The Government has decided to make it unlawful to dismiss employees because they have reached the Default Retirement Age (the "DRA"). It has now published a consultation document setting out how it proposes to phase out the DRA. The DRA will be abolished on 1 October 2011 with transitional arrangements effective from 6 April 2011. http://www.salans.com/~/media/Assets/Salans/Publications/Gov%20abolishes%20retirement%20age_Final.ashx

The UK Ministry of Justice (MoJ) announced on 20 July that the Bribery Act 2010 (the Act) would come into force in April 2011. The MoJ also announced that the Government would launch a short consultation exercise in September, on the guidance which it is required to publish on "adequate procedures". A commercial organisation must have such procedures in place, in order to raise a defence to a criminal charge under the Act of failing to prevent bribery.

The conflict of laws rule as to the capacity of a legal entity and the restitutionary remedies for the return of money advanced under a void contract http://www.salans.com/~/media/Assets/Salans/Publications/IFI%20Update%20August%202010.ashx

Claims for misrepresentation In Raiffeisen Zentralbank Osterreich AG v. Royal Bank of Scotland plc1 Christopher Clarke J provided a review of the law relating to misrepresentation. The facts concerned a sell-down by an arranging bank to a syndicate of a debt facility that it had put in place to assist in an accounting exercise by the ill-fated Enron group of companies. The claimant was a member of the syndicate which had purchased part of the debt from the defendant arranger.

The UK Equality Act (Act) came into force, for the main part, on 1 October this year. The Act draws together the different strands of UK anti-discrimination law, with the aim of simplifying the legal position, removing inconsistencies currently prevalent in various strands of discrimination law and making it easier for people to understand and comply with them.

Guy Lepage discusses why economic activity may benefit from a legal system favourable to the assignment of receivables, especially in an international context

A significantly wider statutory liability regime for issuers comes into force on 1 October 2010. The changes are particularly important for issuers with securities traded in the UK, or which have the UK as their home state. The original regime will be expanded in a variety of ways. The new liability regime will cover not just periodic financial disclosures that are required under the Transparency Directive but all information published, or the availability of which is announced, using an RIS.

The European Commission has proposed hard-hitting “semi-automatic” sanctions against countries that repeatedly violate EU budget rules, saying the toughening of the union’s economic system would help prevent any repeat of Ireland’s property bubble. Legislative proposals from economics commissioner Olli Rehn come amid signs of growing alignment on the EU’s governance system at an ad hoc taskforce of finance ministers chaired by European Council chief Herman Van Rompuy. Mr Rehn wants his plan to take legal effect at the start of 2012.

If a buyer of chattels wishes to receive protection against the seller's creditors, Swedish law demands, in most cases, that a tradition of the property be executed. In order to be effective, the tradition must involve a change in possession of the right to dispose of the property. However, it has been argued that the principle of tradition should be repealed and replaced by the principle of immediate transfer of ownership. (Read article http://www.internationallawoffice.com/?i=1084378&l=7EK0EGL)

The recent sale of the bulk of Connaught's failed social housing group has received a lot of positive press attention of late, due largely to the number of jobs the deal is reported to have saved. The sale appears to have occurred within days of Connaught going into administration. While there has been no suggestion that the deal was effected as a "pre-pack", the speed with which the sale was carried out echoes the most prominent feature of true pre-pack deals. Pre-packs are often subject to negative publicity.