The Legal 500

In February 2010 the Sentencing Guidelines Council (the SGC) issued definitive guidelines to courts on imposing appropriate sentences for corporate manslaughter and health and safety offences causing death. The SGC states that fines imposed on companies found guilty of corporate manslaughter should not fall below £500,000, while fines in respect of health and safety offences that are a significant cause of death should be at least £100,000. Crucially, the SGC declined to provide for a fixed link between the imposed fine and the turnover or profitability of the offending company.


Applications for Concluding Advance Pricing Agreements

In November 2011 the Cyprus Parliament enacted a law allowing for a partial write-off of interest and penalties on overdue tax liabilities of companies and individuals in respect of tax years up to and including 2008.

The Alternative Investment Management Association has published an analysis of the divergences it has identified between the European Commission's draft Level 2 regulation implementing the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive and the technical advice provided to the Commission last November by the European Securities and Markets Authority.

In Nzinga Maswaku v Westminster City Council [2012] EWCA Civ 669 the Court of Appeal clarified that in offering a homeless person with alternative temporary accommodation the local authority is obliged to point that if the offer is refused it has discharged its Part VII duties under the Housing Act 1996.

The 2012 UK Budget confirmed that, following a consultation period, changes to the current UK REIT regime are expected to be introduced in the third quarter of 2012.

Norway is a member of the European Economic Area (“the EEA”), and a party to the EEA agreement. Through the EEA agreement Norway has implemented EU legislation on, inter alia, public procurement.

On 3rd May 2012, Advocate General Verica Trstenjak issued her opinion in case C-130/11, also known as the Neurim case. Should the Court of Justice choose to accept the findings of the opinion, it will improve the possibility for the pharmaceutical industry in Europe to obtain SPCs for medicinal products.

In Le Temps, the daily newspaper of reference of Western Switzerland, Yves de Coulon analyses the latest developments in the field of planning and zoning: Weber Initiative, Landscape Initiative, recent modifications of the Federal Law on planning and zoning, what consequences on the cantons' autonomy in the area of planning and zoning?

Issuance of Licensed Importer Numbers

The head of our tax practice group, partner Dominique Christin, summarises the legal requirements to obtain a lump sum taxation status in Switzerland and in the cantons of Geneva and Vaud.