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The result of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to social and economic challenges worldwide. The global economy is deteriorating, which has created potential legal implications that will impact businesses at present and in the future.
Read our COVID-19 ARTICLES….
Sellers are hiking their price tags to a record high for the fourth consecutive month despite the disappearance of stamp duty savings due to a drought of properties on the market.
Following the ongoing debate over the US’ proposal to introduce a temporary waiver of COVID-19 vaccine patent requirements, the introduction of compulsory licensing measures has been put forward by the World Trade Organization (WTO) as a solution to the potential problems a waiver could cause.
With backing from the Pope, on 5th May President Biden expressed support for a temporary waiver on patents for Covid vaccines. At the WTO conference in Porto however, EU nations have pushed back against the proposal, suggesting instead that the US should allow the increased export of doses and key ingredients to countries that are currently facing a shortage of doses and rising death tolls,1 such as India and Brazil.
This article will examine the issue of widespread unlawful discrimination in the use of Covid-19 Fixed Penalty Notices in breach of Articles 7, 8, and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and some of the damaging findings before then exploring some of the suggested solutions advanced by the Committee.
On 27 January 2021 the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman concluded an investigation into a Nottinghamshire County Council pursuant to the Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and s26A(1). [1] [2] [3] It produced a damning report concluding that Nottinghamshire County Council had failed to have any regard for even the most basic human rights of a man living in a care home miles away for his family for 5 months.
On the 15th of January 2021, the Supreme Court delivered its judgment on the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA)’s business interruption insurance test case, bringing clarity regarding whether insurers must pay claims on certain policies.
Arcadia Group, the parent company of retail stores such as Topshop, Miss Guided and Dorothy Perkins, officially went into administration on 30th November 2020, affecting 13,000 jobs. Ian Grabiner, the chief executive of Arcadia Group, cited the pandemic as being the main reason for the group’s collapse
In a bid to stay afloat amidst COVID-19, airlines have adapted quickly to convert their passenger cabins into cargo storage areas for freight such as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that is manufactured in Asia and desperately needed in many parts of the world.
On the 12th January 2021, the UK Government announced that the peak of infections for Lockdown 3 had arrived and was in their words “levelling off”. [1][2] On 27th January 2021, the BBC News reported that the Government were setting out a “roadmap out of the lockdown”.
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During 2020, the USA found itself in the middle of a tax war with France. This was in response to Macron placing a “3% levy on all revenue earnt from digital services used in France.” Branded as the dreaded ‘tech tax’, this naturally had a huge impact on tech giants such as Facebook Inc, Amazon Inc and, of course, Google.
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Spain's biggest economic hurdle has been youth unemployment, at around 40%, for many years. Now it has become one of the hardest COVID hit nations within Continental Europe. The nations’ central bank has predicted a 15.1% contraction in the economy if there is a 2nd wave of lockdown restrictions.
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Throughout 2020, NHS workers worked tirelessly to save thousands of lives across the UK. While their efforts have been praised via social media channels and “clap for carers” last year, NHS workers are still being overlooked by the government after requests for a 15% pay rise have been ignored.
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The Law Society has again called for non-means tested legal aid to be made available to domestic abuse victims after government data revealed unprecedented high numbers of family court applications. Data from the Ministry of Justice last week showed an increase in the number of domestic violence remedy order applications between July and September this year.
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There has been an ‘urgent notification’ issued to the justice secretary addressing major concerns of the quality of care and leadership at a privately run youth prison near Rugby.
This notification could be considered emergency action, and these notices are rare, but the so-called “bleak regime” has raised widespread concern.
Though it was only 10 days ago that the first person in the United Kingdom had received the heavily anticipated Pfizer vaccine, said to be 90% effective against combating Covid-19, increasing whispers about a different variant or modified strain of Covid have been spreading through the South East of England, about as quickly as the new strain has too.
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With the imminent arrival of the first vaccinations against COVID-19, the Labour Party has called for new laws to introduce criminal and financial penalties for social media companies that fail to crack down on misinformation surrounding coronavirus (specifically “dangerous anti-vaccine content” that appears on their networks.
In an investigation conducted by The Guardian, it was found that the UK government procured PPE kits from Chinese factories that employed North Korean women working under conditions of ‘modern slavery’. The government received huge backlash and criticism from Human Rights activists for their lack of due diligence in coming up with policies and steps that instead of discouraging and tackling the problem of modern slavery, aided and contributed to it.
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The SRA defines money laundering as not a victimless crime – “it has severe impacts across our society and economy. It allows criminals and their associates to use funds from crime, such as the illegal drugs and firearms trade, people trafficking and fraud.”
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While this year has undoubtedly been one for the history books, seeing a housing ‘boom’ is something many wouldn’t have predicted. However, it turns out that not only being cooped up with in-laws, parents, and partners has been a blessing for the stable family unit, it’s seemingly worked wonders for the property market too.
Due to the unpredictability of COVID-19, aviation experts do not expect aviation traffic to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2024. Nevertheless, when the aviation industry rebounds, it should work towards building a significantly more sustainable industry than the one we know today. This means putting the industry on a sounder financial footing and making flying less polluted.
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In a recent interview, Government Chief Scientific Advisor Sir Patrick Vallance has claimed that the UK is predicted to be facing an increase of 50,000 cases per day in the following month if no further actions are taken into hand. Indeed, cases are already rising in thousands per day, which is causing a lot of stress within the NHS, leading to them being unable to accommodate those who are suffering from serious symptoms of COVID-19.
Covid-19 cases hit a new record of 19,724 on Wednesday creating split opinions on how to manage the virus. SAGE, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, released a report stating that a two-week circuit breaker at the end of October could halve covid-19 deaths between now and the end of the year.
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Questions are being raised about the right of patients to claim for clinical negligence in relation to a healthcare worker’s ‘negligent’ actions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The NHS has introduced an ‘additional indemnity coverage’ scheme. This scheme is available for cases whereby healthcare professionals have carried out activities related to COVID-19. This is in accordance with clauses 10-12 Coronavirus Act 2020.
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The US stock index is ahead of other major indices around the world, particularly Europe. The benchmark US stock index, the S&P 500 swiftly regained the ground lost during the pandemic.
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The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), also known as the furlough scheme launched in March had paid out £35 billion and has been used by 1.2 million employers enabling 9.6m jobs to be furloughed. The UK tax authority has claimed that UK may have paid out up to £3.5 billion in furlough money on fraudulent or mistaken claims.
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Despite the UK entering the worst recession since records began, Rightmove has reported over £37 billion worth of property sales agreed in July, making it the most active month for home buying since they started tracking this data over ten years ago. The temporary stamp duty changes coupled with changing consumer preferences are just two of the factors that contributed to this occurring.
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The economic activity in the United Kingdom and all over the world has declined drastically amid the global health emergency caused by coronavirus. Foremost among the industries most affected by the economic lockdown is the UK's travel sector, depending on the duration of the crisis, OECD estimates indicate that the potential shock could range between a 60-80% decline in the international tourism industry in 2020.
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There are suggestions that the UK’s Chancellor will not seek to extend the furlough scheme beyond the October deadline, something that the Bank of England governor supports.
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The UK arm of Victoria’s Secret has been hit by changing consumer tastes and weakened spending. The retailers hired administrators from Deloitte after being hit by the coronavirus lockdown putting more than 800 jobs at risk.
Potentially one of the most unexpected consequences of Covid-19 has been the revelation of a symbiotic relationship between human prosperity and the environment. Inextricable links have been identified between the natural world with all areas of human experience. Beyond environmentalism, sustainability has become imperative for national recovery in its entirety.
A regional reduction in property prices coupled with diminished transaction levels has led to heedful property surveyors producing cautious property estimates. This can be largely contributed to an industry fear of over-valuation and a lack of post-COVID housing market data.
The effects of lockdown and the lack of garden space for some has led to the prediction that there will be a surge in demand of people seeking homes with gardens, but what are the wider reaching consequences of this?
Small businesses are struggling with registering or protecting their already registered trademarks. What consequence does this bear for the trademarks of small businesses and what needs to be done in order to minimise the blow of the situation?
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A group of MPs from Labour, the Scottish National Party and the Green party have written a letter to the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, asking him to set up a commission to explore the option of a four-day working week for the UK, to help kick-start the economy after the COVID-19 crisis.
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Last week, Spain’s government injected €3.7 billion into reviving its ailing automobile industry. This followed an €8 billion pledge made by French President Emmanuel Macron to invest in green subsidies and research in hydrogen-powered vehicles and driverless cars.
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In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, oil companies around the world have been buffeted by decreased demand and mounting debt. As OPEC forecasts a 6.4 million barrel per day downtick in the global demand for oil, the route out of the crisis for oil producers appears to be a treacherous one.
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Gazprom have stated that they will sue Germany over the decision not to exempt their gas pipeline from EU competition standards under the EU Third Energy Package. The EU package prohibits energy monopolies and the supplier of gas from also owning the pipeline. This is intended to improve the functioning of the internal energy market and resolve certain structural problems.
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The cash flow of SME’S is frequently depleting due to disruptions in supply chains and sales while managing fixed recurring costs. At LawMiracle, we believe the use of digital complementary currency (CC) seems likely to be one of the few viable ways the SME’s can offset the impact of COVID-19.
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As the COVID-19 pandemic wreaks havoc on the global economy, public debt in emerging markets has surged to levels not seen in the last 50 years. As a result, the developing world is facing a wave of government bankruptcies.
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A US apparel retailer, ‘Untuckit’ has begun evaluating its stores and leases with landlords as the economy stumbles from the coronavirus pandemic.
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The economic activity in the United Kingdom and all over the world has declined drastically amid the global health emergency caused by coronavirus. Andrew Bailey, the Bank of England (BOE) governor, has stated that there would be a V-shaped recovery of the economy as Britain would bounce back faster than from the 2008 global financial crisis.
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The Germany-based private hospital chain Fresenius Group has been the latest victim of ransomware attack. The International Criminal Police Organization (“Interpol”) has issued a global alert regarding the new trend of ransomware attacks targeting at healthcare organisations.
The coronavirus pandemic has knocked the Brexit negotiations. However, Michael Gove (Cabinet Office minister), told MPs that the business turmoil caused by coronavirus would not cause the government to seek an extension to Britain’s post-Brexit transition period.
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The COVID-19 outbreak is affecting 210 countries and territories around the world and two international conveyances. The pandemic has resulted in a global economic shock as the world’s largest economies are divided by trade disputes. There has been a dramatic fall in global stock prices and bond yields. The disruption in the economy is likely to result in a recession, which will potentially result in a currency war between the countries.
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There is a second wave of desert locusts arriving in East Africa, and this may cause significant challenges in completing vital infrastructure in these African regimes.
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Major Airlines have called for a dramatic scaling back of operations. It is stated that by the end of May 2020, most airlines will become bankrupt.
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The clothing and homeware retailer, Cath Kidston has filed a notice of intention to appoint an administrator on 3 April 2020. As retailers have been temporarily closed amid the COVID-19 pandemic, more companies may follow suit.
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As of 17th April 2020, nearly 210 countries in the world have reported the cases of Coronavirus.
A report assessing the impacts of COVID-19 on the legal industry has been released by Wolters Kluwer at the end of June 2021, titled “The 2021 Wolters Kluwer Future Ready Lawyer: Moving Beyond the Pandemic”.