22 June 2016
30th June 2016: Changes to the Companies House Filing Regime
With the UK’s membership of the EU hanging in the balance, directors and company secretaries may be forgiven for overlooking their company filing responsibilities. Nonetheless, businesses should be prepared for the changes being introduced by the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 (the “Act”) which come into force on 30th June 2016.
6 June 2016
Data Protection: 5 Things SaaS Providers Should do Today
Rather than hosting and maintaining their own software, an increasing number of businesses are turning to software as a service (“SaaS”) providers who centrally host software and make it available to customers over the internet, usually for a subscription fee. The SaaS model often requires the customer to send personal data relating to its employees and clients to the SaaS provider. This can pose a significant data protection risk for both the customer and the provider. Below we provide 5 top tips on how SaaS providers can limit their liability whilst offering the customer comfort that their data is secure.
18 April 2016
How will the Modern Slavery Act affect SMEs?
One year on from the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (the “Act”) receiving Royal Assent, businesses have recently started to publish their first Slavery and Human Trafficking Statements. Although the Act only explicitly applies to larger organisations, its effects are already being felt by small and medium sized enterprises (“SMEs”).
5 April 2016
Emerging from the shadows: the new regime of corporate transparency in the UK
The Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca has dominated headlines over the last two days. It is alleged that the firm enabled its high net worth clients to launder money, avoid sanctions and evade tax. Although the firm insists that it has operated within international law, the allegations appear to be based on it creating complex corporate structures in order to conceal the identity of its clients, many of whom are household names.
23 October 2015
Safe Harbor tsunami: a data transfer blockade
Do you worry about the extent to which corporations protect your personal data? An Austrian law student (Max Schrems) acted on such concerns and, as result, toppled a 15 year old international legal agreement between the EU and the US which facilitated the flow of huge quantities of data across the Atlantic. On 6 October 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union (in Maximilian Schrems v Data Protection Commissioner) invalidated the EU-US Safe Harbor agreement with immediate effect, sending shockwaves through the digital world.