European Union: EU Referendum

The Chancellor of the Exchequer faces the formidable challenge of delivering his first Budget amid economic headwinds, geopolitical instability, and a wave of ambitious government promises. With GDP growth forecast at just 1.1%, inflation at 3.4%, and public sector net borrowing exceeding £115 billion, can he balance fiscal responsibility with pledges to avoid raising Income Tax, National Insurance, or VAT while funding increased defence spending and social care reforms?

On 9 September 2026, the European Commission (the “Commission”) presented its proposal for a new Public Procurement Act, a significant reform of the EU public procurement framework...

Many of our clients are service providers and construction companies in the offshore energy business and they often participate in public tender proceedings.

BCL's latest sanctions round-up provides a comprehensive overview of recent UK and international developments in sanctions law, enforcement actions, and compliance requirements. This fortnightly summary examines new designations, licensing updates, and emerging trends that businesses and legal professionals need to monitor.

The UK government has significantly expanded its sanctions framework targeting Russia, introducing measures against individuals and entities involved in military supply chains, energy sectors, cryptocurrency networks, and alleged human rights violations. These developments reflect an evolving enforcement landscape with new powers, increased scrutiny of sanctions evasion, and landmark legal clarifications affecting businesses operating in sanctioned jurisdictions.

Angela Gregson of Weightmans and Sean Ryan of Whitney Moore compare Ireland's new foreign direct investment screening regime with the UK's established National Security and Investment Act, examining when notification is required, key procedural differences, and practical steps to navigate both frameworks. The analysis draws on recent annual reports to reveal how these regimes are operating in practice and what reforms are on the horizon.

On 2 April 2025 we published our FAQs titled “How can a regulated provider challenge a decision by Ofcom under the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA)?”.

Other things being equal, an SMR should produce a unit of electricity at higher cost than a gigawatt-scale plant. That is the diseconomies of scale. Proponents accept the point but say other things are not equal.

The aesthetics and wellness markets are seeing explosive growth in peptide treatments, but many practitioners may not fully understand the complex regulatory framework governing these products. What begins as offering an innovative treatment could escalate into criminal investigations, frozen bank accounts, and asset forfeiture proceedings under proceeds of crime legislation.

This weekly update examines the UK's latest sanctions developments, including amendments to general licences for oil projects and Lukoil entities, new guidance on banknote trading prohibitions, and expanded sanctions targeting Russian banks and shadow fleet vessels. The briefing also covers regulatory guidance from the Solicitors Regulation Authority on sanctions compliance risks.

Japan has enacted sweeping amendments to its Act on the Protection of Personal Information, introducing an administrative surcharge regime with monetary penalties for data protection violations, new protections for children under 16 and biometric data, and expanded exceptions for data utilization in statistical analysis and AI development. The reforms, which take effect in stages through 2028, fundamentally reshape Japan's privacy enforcement landscape by granting the Personal Information Protection Commiss

The SEC has issued a groundbreaking Innovation Exemption allowing tokenized securities venues to facilitate trading of tokenized NMS stocks using automated market makers and liquidity pools. This temporary five-year exemption from exchange and dealer registration requirements establishes conditions for permissioned blockchain-based trading while granting public companies a 30-day window to object to third-party tokenization of their securities.

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has issued a circular that sets forth comprehensive guidelines and expectations for licensed corporations (LCs) regarding the responsible use...

The European Commission's Industrial Accelerator Act proposes to reshape battery supply chains by conditioning access to EU public procurement and support schemes on strict origin requirements. As China controls over 80% of global battery manufacturing capacity, the legislation introduces escalating component-count thresholds that could fundamentally alter market access, financing structures, and supplier eligibility across the battery value chain.

The European Union's new Regulation on packaging and packaging waste has fundamentally transformed compliance requirements for companies placing packaged goods on the EU market, replacing decades-old directive-based frameworks with directly applicable product-law rules. While promising regulatory harmonization across member states, the reality presents a complex dual-compliance landscape where businesses must navigate both EU-wide packaging standards and diverging national implementation approaches.

Spain's draft Royal Decree introduces stringent energy sustainability, environmental, resilience and digital sovereignty requirements for data centers, including renewable additionality, hourly correlation, and efficiency standards. The regulation applies to all access and connection permits obtained after entry into force, with specific compliance deadlines for projects in progress and those with granted permits not yet connected to the grid.

California has enacted a comprehensive package of four bills that fundamentally reshape online safety protections for minors, targeting addictive design features, data privacy practices, age verification systems, and platform liability. These new laws establish strict requirements for social media companies, including mandatory stripped-down interfaces for users under 16, enhanced privacy defaults, and potential damages up to $1 million for negligent harm to children. The legislation represents one of the m

One of the goals of the Mexican Constitutional reforms is to make the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) an "empresa productiva del Estado".

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, introducing two tailored exemptions from Securities Act registration requirements for certain offerings of covered investment contracts involving crypto assets. The proposal establishes a startup exemption allowing up to $5 million in offerings over four years and a two-tier fundraising exemption permitting offerings up to $75 million...

California Senate Bill 574 proposes a groundbreaking statutory framework that would prohibit attorneys from delegating legal practice to generative artificial intelligence, while imposing disclosure requirements and verification standards across litigation, arbitration, and court filings. The legislation raises fundamental questions about how traditional definitions of "the practice of law" apply to AI-augmented legal work, from document review to contract analysis. If signed by Governor Newsom, California