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International Restructuring Newswire
Welcome to the Q2 2024 edition of the Norton Rose Fulbright International Restructuring Newswire.
United Kingdom | Publication | May 2019
On May 20, 2019 the House of Commons and House of Lords Joint Committee (Committee) on the draft Registration of Overseas Entities Bill published a report following its pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Bill. The Bill aims to increase the transparency of who owns land in the UK and will establish a public register of beneficial owners of overseas entities that own or purchase land in the UK.
The Committee welcomes the Bill and supports the Government’s ambition to improve the transparency of overseas beneficial ownership in the UK property market, but outlines a number of key concerns and makes several recommendations aimed at improving the draft legislation.
The conclusions and recommendations outlined in the report include:
(Joint Committee: Report on draft Registration of Overseas Entities Bill, 20.05.19)
(Joint Committee: Report on draft Registration of Overseas Entities Bill press release, 20.05.19)
On May 22, 2019 the Final Report of the independent review of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (Act) was laid in Parliament. The review was launched in July 2018 with Frank Field MP, Maria Miller MP and Baroness Butler-Sloss being asked to lead the review team. The final report was submitted to the Home Secretary on March 29, 2019. It provides evidence and recommendations on areas of the Act which concerned the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner (Commissioner) and transparency in supply chains, amongst others.
Section 54 of the Act requires large commercial organisations supplying goods or services, and carrying on a business in the UK, to prepare a slavery and human trafficking statement for each financial year. In the statement the company must state the steps it has taken to ensure that slavery and human trafficking is not taking place in its business or its supply chains, or it must state that it has taken no such steps. The Review considered how to ensure compliance and improve the quality of modern slavery statements produced by eligible companies.
Guidance issued under section 54(9) of the Act (Guidance) suggests six areas that businesses are expected to report. The Review acknowledges that these provisions have contributed to better awareness of modern slavery in companies’ supply chains, but notes that many eligible companies are not complying with the legislation at all. In light of these findings, the Review sets out a definitive list of recommendations for reform in order to ensure compliance and to improve the quality of modern slavery statements produced by companies.
The recommendations including the following:
In addition to this, the review sought to determine how the Commissioner’s autonomy and freedom to scrutinise Government policy and promote efforts to tackle modern slavery could be strengthened, both in statute and in practice. The review team believes that the Commissioner’s primary roles in carrying out his/her statutory duties should be: to advise the Government on measures to tackle modern slavery; to scrutinise and hold the Government and its agencies to account on their performance; and to raise awareness and promote cooperation between sectors and interest groups.
The Government will consider the review’s recommendations and will respond formally in due course.
(Independent review of the Modern Slavery Act: final report, 23.05.19)
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Welcome to the Q2 2024 edition of the Norton Rose Fulbright International Restructuring Newswire.
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n a long-running dispute, taking in no less than three arbitrations spanning 26 years cumulatively (involving allegations of state interference in the arbitral process), the Court has provided useful guidance on the ss.67 and 68 challenges, particularly in the context of investor-state claims.
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