The Government announced in late 2016 new payment practices regulations to ... of the General. Data Protection Regulatio
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LexisNexis In-house NewsIN What to watch out for in 2017
January 2017 Competition > Consumer > Corporate & Commercial >
Data Security > Employment > Court Cases >
Glossary of terms > What’s it all about >
Competition
Consumer
Collective Proceedings Order
Consumer terms
Early 2017 I Court Decision
Early 2017 I Consultation Further reading: Consultation
The first application for an “opt-out” Collective Proceedings Order (permitted by the Consumer Rights Act 2015) was heard in December 2016 and we hope to have a decision early this year. This follows action taken in 2014 by the Office of Fair Trading against Pride Mobility Products and some of its retailers for breaches of competition law. The CPO will allow all customers of Pride to claim compensation unless they have opted out. It’s understood there may be 34,000 customers each claiming £200 compensation.
The government’s call for evidence on how terms and conditions can be made more user-friendly and on proposals to introduce fines for unfair terms closed on 25th April 2016. The Government’s feedback is expected in early this year.
Corporate & Commercial
E-Commerce Digital Marketing Strategy Mid 2017 I Legislation Further reading: Draft Regulations The final report of the European Commission’s e-commerce report is expected early this year. The report is expected to elaborate on the Commission’s concerns that the digital market is not working effectively. The Commission has stated that it is particularly concerned about geo-blocking and other forms of unilateral discrimination based on the customer’s nationality. The European Commission has already produced a draft regulation that is expected to be implemented in mid-2017.
Corporate Directors Early 2017 I Legislation The abolition of Corporate Directors under the Small Business, Enterprise & Employment Act (SBEE) was expected to be implemented in October 2016. However, the introduction of the ban was delayed and we can now expect to see the implementation of this provision in the early part of this year. 1
Brexit
Data Security
January 2017 I Court Decision The Supreme Court will decide whether the Government can trigger Article 50 without Parliament’s approval in January.
Debt factoring
Nuisance calls
April 2017 I Legislation
Spring 2017 I Legislation Further reading: Government announcement
The SBEE includes a provision to nullify contract clauses that prohibit the assignment of receivables (debt factoring) in most business-supplier contracts. This provision is expected to be implemented by April.
Payment practices April 2017 I Legislation The Government announced in late 2016 new payment practices regulations to be implemented under the SBEE. The duty, due to come into force from April, will require large companies to report on their payment practices. This is likely to include stating percentage of payments made within 30 days, 30 to 60 days and 60+ days.
Enterprise Act Spring 2017 I Legislation Further reading: Consultation We expect to see parts of the Enterprise Act 2016 implemented in Spring this year. One of the provisions is the creation of a Small Business Commissioner to support businesses that have challenges with larger businesses, particularly on payment issues. You can access the recent consultation here.
The UK government has issued plans stating that from spring 2017, company directors can each be fined up to £500,000 by the ICO if their firm is found to be responsible for nuisance calls or spam text messages that breach privacy laws.
Data protection reform May 2018 I Legislation The data protection reforms (Implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)) will apply from 25th May 2018. The GDPR will make significant changes to existing Data Protection laws including increased fines for some infringements of up to 4% of annual worldwide turnover. The new law also includes requirements on companies to: • Appoint a data protection officer (large companies only) • Notify data breaches to the relevant data protection authority within 72 hours • Conduct privacy impact assessments before high-risk data processing is carried out • Build in privacy by design when processing personal information
Other changes being implemented by the Enterprise Act include: (i) an implied term into all insurance contracts to obligate the insurer to pay claims within a reasonable time and (ii) increased rights of shop workers to “opt out” of working additional hours on Sundays.
Fourth Money Laundering Directive June 2017 I Legislation The directive (4MLD) is due to be implemented in June 2017 and will make numerous changes to existing anti-money laundering laws, particularly the requirement to have beneficial ownership of companies reported in real time rather than annually.
Mobile roaming charges June 2017 I Legislation EU mobile roaming charges will end on the 15th June 2017.
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Employment Holiday pay – overtime payments January 2017 I Court Decision The decision of the Fulton v Bear Scotland case is expected in early 2017. This case was heard in December 2016 and concerns whether employers must take into account non-guaranteed overtime payments when calculating basic holiday pay.
Employment status January 2017 I Court Decision The Pimlico Plumbers v Smith case is listed for hearing in the Court of Appeal in January. This is to determine whether the plumber was an employee, worker or self-employed. The Employment Appeal Tribunal had previously held that the plumber was a worker rather than being an employee or self-employed. This case and similar cases such as Aslam v Uber help to provide guidance on employment status.
Gender pay gap April 2017 I Legislation Further reading: Draft Regulations Private and voluntary sector businesses with more than 250 employees are required to carry out a data snapshot of gender pay differences on the 5th April 2017 and each anniversary thereafter. Employers have one year from this date to publish the data.
Equal pay April 2017 I Tribunal Decision In late 2016 an employment tribunal ruled that lower paid women working in Asda stores can compare themselves to higher paid men who work in Asda’s distribution centres. An appeal of the Employment Tribunal’s refusal to strike out the claims is to be heard by the EAT on 26th April.
Trade Union Spring 2017 I Legislation The Trade Union Act 2016 is expected to be implemented in the Spring. The changes include: • Increased ballot thresholds • Strike mandates limited to 6 months • Doubling of the notice requirements of strikes to 14 days • More clarity on the words used in the ballot paper
Holiday pay - commission Mid 2017 I Court Decision The Court of Appeal heard the lead commission holiday pay case (Lock v British Gas) in 2016 and determined that Lock was entitled to average commission during holiday periods. An appeal to the Supreme Court has been lodged that is expected to be listed in mid-2017.
Tax - exiting employees April 2018 I Legislation
Apprenticeship levy April 2017 I Legislation From April, the Government’s new apprenticeship levy will see large employers paying 0.5% of their annual wage bill towards the cost of apprenticeship training. Subject to some exceptions, it will be possible to recover £1.10 for every £1.00 paid by the employer for training and assessments of apprentices.
Income Tax & NIC April 2017 I Legislation Income tax thresholds will rise in April 2017. This measure will increase the personal allowance to £11,500, the basic rate limit to £33,500 and the higher rate threshold will rise to £45,000. Rates of income tax and NICs will be locked at the current (2015/16) rates.
All payments in lieu of notice will be taxed in full. Employers will still be able to pay departing employees a tax-free ex gratia payment of up to £30,000. Employers’ NICs will be payable on ex gratia payments above £30,000 and the exemption from tax on injury payments will no longer apply (except where there is a recognised psychiatric injury or other medical condition).
Shared grandparental leave 2018 I Legislation Shared Parental Leave is to be extended to allow grandparents to take time off work to help with childcare.
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Court cases Follow the links below for further reading on this month’s court cases in LexisPSL. Dorothy Gibson v Pride Mobility Products Case no. 1257/7/7/16 Fulton and anor v Bear Scotland Ltd EATS/0010/16
Glossary of terms 4MLD
Fourth Money Laundering Directive ((EU) 2015/849)
BEIS
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
CMA
Competition and Markets Authority
CPO
A Collective Proceedings Order is a type of class action in which a claim is brought by a representative on behalf of a certain category of claimants. Since the introduction of the Consumer Rights Act in 2015 CPOs can be brought in competition law matters on an “opt-out” basis.
Geo-Blocking
The practice of redirecting customers to websites depending on where they are located.
GDPR
General Data Protection Regulation
ICO
Information Commissioner’s Office – an independent authority set up to promote and enforce data privacy laws
SAR
A Subject Access Request (SAR) is a right given to individuals (under the Data Protection Act) to obtain any personal data held about them by organisations (subject to some exemptions).
SBEE
Small Business Enterprise and Employment Act 2015
What’s it all about? This table details the background to some of the live matters that we regularly discuss in our bulletins.
EU-US Privacy Shield
The EU-US Privacy Shield is the replacement for the Safe Harbor scheme and allows companies transfer personal data to U.S. Privacy Shield registered companies and be compliant with Data Protection laws. The scheme has been available since August 2016.
Safe Harbour
The Safe Harbour scheme had permitted companies to transfer personal data to U.S. Safe Harbour registered companies and be compliant with Data Protection laws. The Safe Harbour Scheme was invalidated in late 2015.
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