Publication
Environmental injustice: How informal e-waste recycling impacts human rights
In light of the documentary ‘Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy,’ the global issue of ‘e-waste’ has become a topic of conversation in many households.
Trump pauses investigations and enforcement actions brought under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)
What does this mean for businesses operating in the US and globally?
Australia | Publication | March 2025
On February 10, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order directing the Attorney General (AG) to pause investigations and enforcement actions brought under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for 180 days, subject to exceptions granted by the AG.
What does this mean for businesses operating in the US and globally? See the thoughts of our US colleagues here. In summary, companies should not overread the implications of this executive order. The FCPA is not dead, and companies do not have free rein to bribe foreign government officials. The AG can authorize new investigations during the review period. Nor is there a safe harbor for conduct committed prior to the issuance of the new guidelines. Most conduct chargeable under the FCPA will also constitute crimes under other laws, such as the very broad US wire fraud statute, that are outside the Executive Order’s scope. For US public companies and non-US companies with listed US securities or ADRs, the SEC – which is outside the scope of the executive order – also has civil enforcement authority over the FCPA, and the SEC has not yet stated how or whether it will change its approach to enforcing the FCPA.
For Australian businesses, the Commonwealth Criminal Code still operates to criminalise bribery of a foreign official. It is still a crime for a corporation to fail to prevent bribery of a foreign official by an associate, see our articles here: Will Australia’s foreign bribery laws finally bite? | Global law firm | Norton Rose Fulbright; New foreign bribery offence commences 8 September 2024 | Australia | Global law firm | Norton Rose Fulbright. There are also various other anti-bribery laws, such as the UK Bribery Act, that have extraterritorial application and could apply to Australian businesses.
Implementing a compliance program responsive to the risk of bribery or corruption continues to be the best approach to managing this legal, compliance and cultural risk.
Recent publications
Publication
Legislation on default consolidation of small DC pots to be included in forthcoming Pension Schemes Bill
The DWP has confirmed that primary legislation enabling the introduction of a default consolidator model for small DC pension pots (up to £1,000) will be included in the forthcoming Pension Schemes Bill expected before Parliament’s summer recess.
Publication
Pensions Regulator publishes its first Annual Funding Statement under the new funding code
The Regulator's annual DB funding statement for 2025 was published on April 29, 2025. This statement and the accompanying analysis paper are particularly relevant to schemes with valuation dates between September 22, 2024, and September 21, 2025, now known as Tranche 24/25 or T24/25 to reflect the calendar year (previously known as Tranche 20 or T20).
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