United Kingdom

On 18 July 2025, the Council of the European Union (the “Council”) adopted its 18th package of economic sanctions against Russia, following extensive negotiations among the EU Member States. This latest package introduces new asset-freezing sanctions designations, and a wide range of trade restrictions targeting key sectors of the…

Continue Reading EU Imposes Additional Sanctions Against Russia and Belarus; EU and UK Agree to Tightening of Russian Oil Price Cap

The UK Parliament has passed emergency legislation to enable the government to direct the use of assets of British Steel, and to take control of assets if directions are not followed.

The government’s stated intention is “continuing the support of steel production in the UK [which] involves preserving current production capacity to ensure resilience in the production of steel”. The new law creates new powers for the government to intervene in relation to steelmaking businesses whose assets are at risk of ceasing to be used. If the operation of a steelmaking blast furnace, such as those operated by British Steel, is stopped, restarting its operation can be prohibitively expensive and it may be permanently unusable.

Following negotiations with its current owners (the Chinese steelmaker Jingye Group) on the future of British Steel, the government announced on Friday its intention to recall Parliament the following day to introduce a draft bill and complete the full legislative process within a single day. The bill was passed by both Houses of Parliament and received royal asset on Saturday 12 April, coming into force on the same day, as the Steel Industry (Special Measures) Act 2025 (the “Act”).

This is the first time that Parliament has responded to a perceived crisis in a UK industry by extending the government’s powers to intervene in specific industries for “public interest” reasons since 2008, in the context of the Global Financial Crisis. In that case, Parliament passed legislation to enable the government to nationalise the Northern Rock bank (and subsequently other banks), and later that year the government’s public interest intervention powers under the Enterprise Act 2002 were expanded in order to allow the government to override competition concerns in the Lloyds/HBOS merger. In contrast to previous measures that provide the government with powers to acquire businesses and to intervene in potential mergers and acquisitions between businesses, the new Act applies outside of the context of a transaction or takeover. Specifically, the new Act applies where specific assets may cease (or have ceased) to be used in a steel manufacturing business but the government considers that it is in the public interest that the use of the assets should continue.

New powers to give directions on use of assets and take control of assets

The Act gives the government the power to issue a notice to a steel manufacturing business to direct how assets (in England and Wales) used by this business are to be used. This power is available when (a) it appears to the government that the assets concerned have ceased to be used or are at risk of ceasing to be used by the business, and (b) where the government considers that it is in the public interest that the use of specified assets should resume or continue. Directions can include requirements to use (or not to use) the assets in a specified way, or requirements for the undertaking to take (or not to take) steps to secure the continued and safe use of the assets. Notably this can include requirements to enter into agreements and contracts of employment, the appointment of officers, management decisions, making payments, and preventing insolvency proceedings.Continue Reading UK passes emergency legislation to authorize “public interest” directions on use of British Steel assets

The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) recently announced a new online tracking strategy, which aims to ensure a “fair and transparent online world where people are given meaningful control over how they are tracked online.”

Online advertising is one of the ICO’s current areas of strategic focus…

Continue Reading ICO announces its online tracking strategy for 2025

On January 10, 2025, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and U.S. Department of State intensified sanctions against Russia with new measures targeting Russia’s energy sector. According to the Treasury Department’s press release, these measures are intended “to fulfill the G7 commitment to reduce Russian revenues from energy” and “substantially increase the sanctions risks associated with the Russian oil trade.”

The new U.S. sanctions include a determination by the U.S. Department of the Treasury authorizing the imposition of property-blocking sanctions against any person who is determined by the Treasury Secretary or Secretary of State (in consultation with one another) to operate or have operated in the Russian energy sector, and a determination issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) prohibiting—effective February 27, 2025—the provision of “petroleum services” from the United States or by a U.S. person to any person located in Russia. In addition, OFAC and the U.S. Department of State collectively designated for property-blocking sanctions more than 400 individuals, entities, and vessels from various countries involved in Russia’s energy sector, including two of Russia’s most significant oil producers and exporters—Public Joint Stock Company Gazprom Neft (“Gazprom Neft”) and Surgutneftegas, along with more than two dozen of their subsidiaries. The designations included more than 180 vessels, many of which are part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” of vessels involved in the trade of Russian oil, as well as several Russian energy executives, oil traders, oilfield service providers, and financial and insurance entities associated with Russia’s energy sector. The designations also covered two active Russian liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) projects and a Russian oil project.

On January 15, 2025, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and U.S. Department of State designated or re-designated under additional sanctions authority nearly 250 individuals and entities for property-blocking sanctions, including actors based in China.

OFAC also issued multiple general licenses related to the above designations, including a general license authorizing until February 27, 2025, transactions ordinarily incident and necessary to the wind down of transactions involving Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas, their designated subsidiaries, and entities that they own 50 percent or more, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, subject to certain conditions. In addition, OFAC revoked a general license that had authorized transactions with certain vessels subject to U.S. property-blocking sanctions due to their ownership, and amended two existing general licenses. One of these amended general licenses, General License 8L (which supersedes General License 8K), significantly narrows the scope of permissible energy transactions involving certain blocked financial institutions to include only wind-down transactions until March 12, 2025.Continue Reading New U.S. and UK Sanctions, Including Related to Russia’s Energy Sector

Economic Turmoil in the UK

The rate on the 10-year benchmark UK government bond has reached levels last seen in 2008. The rate on the 30-year bond stands at a 27-year high. Today, the Government sold £1 billion of bonds at the most expensive terms since 2004 – albeit with apparently good market demand. Sterling has suffered its worst trading losses for over two years. UK debt has risen to nearly 100% of GDP.  Inflation is proving to be sticky (recent OECD data showed the UK with the G7 highest inflation in November) – although today’s inflation figures show a small drop to 2.5%. 

Why is this happening?

International

It would be unfair to heap all the blame at the UK Government’s door.  Many of the factors fuelling the current market turbulence are outside the UK’s control.  The looming twin threats of President Trump’s tariffs and his tight immigration policy, together with rising oil prices (up nearly 10% in the first two weeks of 2025) have stoked global inflationary pressures, leading the world’s most powerful central banks to hold back on cutting interest rates and raising borrowing costs around the world. Markets appear to be pricing in higher US budget deficits and national debt (caused by Trump’s tax-cutting plans) adding to the supply of US Treasury bonds with resulting higher US interest rates and a stronger dollar.  All of which impacts the UK by pushing up  bond UK rates, increasing the deficit and hitting growth. 

Domestic

However, although bond rates are increasing across the globe (France, Spain and Germany have all seen similar increases), the UK does appear to be particularly vulnerable to this current bout of global economic uncertainty. A combination of uniquely-domestic factors (including the resilience of wage growth, service sector prices, and concerns about the inflationary impact of Labour’s tax and spend measures announced in the October Budget) has depressed consumer and business confidence and led to anaemic economic growth.Continue Reading The Political ramifications of the UK’s economic travails

In case you missed it before the holidays: on 17 December 2024, the UK Government published a consultation on “Copyright and Artificial Intelligence” in which it examines proposals to change the UK’s copyright framework in light of the growth of the artificial intelligence (“AI”) sector.   

The Government sets out the following core objectives for a new copyright and AI framework:

  • Support right holders’ control of their content and, specifically, their ability to be remunerated when AI developers use that content, such as via licensing regimes;
  • Support the development of world-leading AI models in the UK, including by facilitating AI developers’ ability to access and use large volumes of online content to train their models; and
  • Promote greater trust between the creative and AI sectors (and among consumers) by introducing transparency requirements on AI developers about the works they are using to train AI models, and potentially requiring AI-generated outputs to be labelled.

In this post, we consider some of the most noteworthy aspects of the Government’s proposal.

  • The proposed regime would include a new text and data mining (TDM) exception

First and foremost, the Government is contemplating the introduction of a new TDM exception that would apply to TDM conducted for any purpose, including commercial purposes. The Government does not set out how it would define TDM, but refers to data mining as “the use of automated techniques to analyse large amounts of information (for AI training or other purposes)”. This new exception would apply where:Continue Reading UK Government Proposes Copyright & AI Reform 

On November 6, 2024, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) released its AI Tools in recruitment audit outcomes report (“Report”). This Report documents the ICO’s findings from a series of consensual audit engagements conducted with AI tool developers and providers. The goal of this process was to assess compliance with data protection law, identify any risks or room for improvement, and provide recommendations for AI providers and recruiters. The audits ran across sourcing, screening, and selection processes in recruitment, but did not include AI tools used to process biometric data, or generative AI. This work follows the publication of the Responsible AI in Recruitment guide by the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology (DSIT) in March 2024.

Background

The ICO conducted a series of voluntary audits from August 2023 to May 2024. During the audits, the ICO made 296 recommendations, all of which were accepted or partially accepted by the organisations involved. These recommendations address areas such as:

  • Fair processing of personal data,
  • Data minimisation and lawful retention of data, and
  • Transparency in explaining AI logic.

Areas for Improvement

Based on its findings during the audits, the ICO identified several areas for improvement for both AI recruiters and AI providers. The key areas for improvement across both were:Continue Reading ICO Audit on AI Recruitment Tools

Last month we provided an update on the UK Government’s draft post-market surveillance statutory instrument (“PMS SI”) and the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (“MHRA’s”) intention to run a further public consultation on proposed changes to pre-market medical device regulation under an upcoming statutory instrument (“Pre-Market SI”).

On 14 November 2024, the MHRA launched a consultation on proposed pre-market regulatory changes for medical devices and in vitro diagnostic (“IVD”) devices (the “Consultation”).  The MHRA intends to incorporate the feedback from the Consultation in drafting the Pre-Market SI.

The Consultation, which is open until 5 January 2025, addresses four areas of the future regulatory framework for medical devices in Great Britain (“GB”):

  1. International Reliance Scheme
  2. UK Conformity Assessment (“UKCA”) Marking
  3. In Vitro Diagnostic Devices
  4. Assimilated EU Law

It builds on the MHRA’s previous consultation in November 2021 (see our update here) and the responses to that consultation.

In the Ministerial Foreword to the Consultation, the Government makes clear that its reforms to the regulatory framework for medical devices in GB are focused on improving “timely access to high-quality healthcare”.  However, the Government recognises that this aim must be balanced with ensuring confidence in the safety and effectiveness of “groundbreaking medical devices”.

We discuss the four areas of the Consultation below.Continue Reading MHRA Consults on New UK Pre-Market Medical Device Measures

On 21 October 2024, the UK Government laid the draft Post-market Surveillance statutory instrument (“PMS SI”) before Parliament (see the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (“MHRA’s”) press release here).  Once implemented, the PMS SI will further amend the UK’s Medical Devices Regulations 2002 (“UK MDRs”) by introducing new vigilance requirements for medical devices already on the Great Britain (“GB”) market.  The proposed updates to the UK MDRs seek to bring it into greater alignment with the EU’s Medical Devices Regulation 2017/745 (“EU MDR”) and In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Regulation 2017/746 (“EU IVDR”), whilst also taking advantage of certain opportunities resulting from the UK’s withdrawal from the EU to build on and diverge from this legislation.

The long-awaited draft PMS SI follows the Government’s response in June 2022 to the MHRA’s 2021 consultation on the future regulation of medical devices in the UK.  In January 2024, the Government published its ‘Roadmap towards the future regulatory framework for medical devices’, which set out the intended timeframe for delivery of the future regulatory framework. 

Since the Government’s response in June 2022, reform of the regulatory framework for medical devices has suffered several delays as a result of various factors, including (i) the extension of the transitional periods under the EU MDR and EU IVDR (see our update here) and knock-on impact on UK strategy, (ii) the UK proposals to adopt a new international recognition procedure for device approvals (see our update here), and (iii) a change of government.

The draft PMS SI represents the new Government’s first step in updating the UK’s legal framework for medical devices.  Subject to the PMS SI’s passage through Parliament, the final version is expected to come into force in the summer of 2025.

What are the Key Changes?

Post-market surveillance (“PMS”) requires manufacturers to monitor the safety of a medical device after it has been released on the market, and, where necessary, take appropriate action to prevent or reduce the risk of an identified safety issue.  The current UK MDRs contain high-level provisions relating to PMS, which are supplemented by MHRA guidance (which is based on European Commission MEDDEV guidance applicable to the now repealed EU Medical Devices Directive 93/42/EEC).

The Government hopes the draft PMS SI will improve patient safety by introducing more stringent and clearer PMS requirements for both CE marked devices and UKCA marked devices that are placed on the market or put into service in GB.  To that end, the draft PMS SI introduces the following:Continue Reading UK’s Medical Device Post-market Surveillance Statutory Instrument Laid Before Parliament – What are the Key Changes for Medical Device Regulation?

The UK Government has announced that it intends to introduce the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill (the “Bill”) to Parliament in 2025. Formally proposed as part of the King’s Speech in July, this Bill is intended to strengthen the UK’s cross-sectoral cyber security legislation to better protect the…

Continue Reading What to expect from the UK’s Cyber Security and Resilience Bill (and when)