Whatever your views on Brexit, the deferment of the UK’s leaving date from the EU provided British industry some welcome breathing space to prepare for Brexit. Given the issues that still divide the two main political parties, the UK may yet leave the EU without a deal on 31 October ...
What follows is a cautionary tale for anyone involved who fails to follow a natural disaster preparedness plan. Taking short cuts and failing to follow agreed upon emergency preparedness plans are a recipe for disaster. While the litigation we analyze in this article stems from bridge construction in Florida, the lessons learned from this real situation are applicable all across the country ...
In the last edition of The Site Report, we discussed the legal issues surrounding the damage caused by Skanska's construction barges to the new Pensacola Bay Bridge ("Bridge") between Pensacola, Florida and Gulf Breeze, Florida during Hurricane Sally ...
On February 1, 2021, new reporting requirements in British Columbia will apply to owners and operators of lands that have been used for specified commercial and industrial uses. These reporting requirements will also trigger environmental investigation requirements to determine whether or not the lands are contaminated. While the B.C ...
Two new categories of tax-exempt bonds were created by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R. 3684) (the Act) adopted by the House on Nov. 6, 2021: “Qualified Broadband Projects” and “Carbon Dioxide Capture Facilities ...
Compliance with environmental regulations is challenging under the best of circumstances, but the COVID-19 crisis and measures taken in response add a new layer of complexity. The lack of a consistent message from elected officials and health officers, on the one hand, and from federal and state environmental regulators, on the other, creates a quandary for the business community ...
July 10, 2020 By: John Epperson The State Water Resources Control Board (“SWRCB”) released a draft of its General Waste Discharge Requirements for Winery Process Water (“Draft WDR”) on July 3, 2020 for public comment. Comments will be accepted by the SWRCB until August 5, 2020. California wineries should review the Draft Order carefully to determine whether they will be subject to its requirements and, if so, how it will impact their operations ...
With an ingrained focus on community, connectivity and sustainability, the build to rent (BTR) sector is helping to transform modern living habits in the UK. With the total number of BTR homes completed, under construction or in planning at Q2 2022 up 13% from 2021 to 237,000, and with regional cities growing at double the pace of London, the sector has a huge opportunity to act as a flagbearer for the ESG agenda ...
To raise sustainability practices and disclosures of listed issuers, Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad has enhanced the sustainability reporting requirements in the Main Market Listing Requirements and the ACE Market Listing Requirements which was announced on 26 September 2022. Click here to read more. Feel free to contact our partner Lai Zhen Pik or associate Ng Kar Mun for any questions about this article or Corporate/M&A matters ...
There is a growing consensus among business stakeholders and society at large that mere compliance with legal rules is not enough tolive up to the requirements of business integrity. Moreover, legal rules often use vague concepts and ethics are also useful to give concrete expression to the required practices ...
We are very excited to be supporting the UN Global Compact Network UK’s ‘Transitioning to a Net Zero’ webinar series. The opening webinar, ‘Business Transition to a Net Zero and Resilient World’ took place on Thursday, 1 July 2021 during London Climate Action Week. The webinar saw government representatives, experts and business leaders discuss their vision of a net zero, climate resilient world, and the actions they are taking to get there ...
Not-for-profit Reforesting Scotland’s "Thousand Huts" campaign has spearheaded the regrowth of the hutting community, previously almost entirely eradicated by increasingly strict building regulations. The new Building (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 sets out the framework for ecologically sustainable hut development. What is a Hut? A hut must be a single storey building used as recreational accommodation ...
Key Points In Martin v. California Coastal Commission, the Court of Appeal issued a rare opinion discussing local policies that are designed to manage and mitigate coastal bluff erosion. The court upheld a permit condition that required a new home to be set back 79 feet from the edge of a coastal bluff. The court reaffirmed that the policy at issue requires new development to be reasonably safe from failure and erosion over the entirety of the development’s lifetime ...
California Assembly Bill No. 205 was approved by Gov. Gavin Newsom on July 9, 2019. Assembly Member Tom Daly, who represents California’s 69th district of Orange County cities Santa Ana, Anaheim, and Garden Grove, introduced AB-205 to expand the definition of “beer” under Business & Professions Code §23006, which is part of the Alcohol Beverage Control Act. The new law is set to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2020 ...
On January 31, 2017, the First Appellate District Court in the case Santa Barbara Channelkeeper v. City of San Buenaventura found that an allegation of excessive water diversion to protect endangered fish species under the rule of reasonableness and the public trust doctrine, could not be resolved without consideration of all competing water users in the system ...
On 11 March 2023, the Law on Clean Water Supply Management was promulgated to regulate clean water supply business within Cambodia (“Law on Clean Water Supply Management”). This new law is aimed to ensure the quality, safety, sustainability and affordability of clean water supply. The scope of this law applies to commercial supply of clean water in Cambodia ...
On 29 June 2021, the Ministry of the Environment (“MOE”) issued five new Prakas pursuant to Prakas No. 021 dated 3 February 2020 on the Classification of Environmental Impact Assessments (“EIA”) for Development Projects. These new Prakas determine the procedures and implementation guidelines for checklists used to prepare initial environmental and social impact assessment (“IEIA”) reports ...
With the Corona crisis, countries such as Germany, France and the Czech Republic have already announced bans on exports of protective gear to avoid shortages at their countries. But is this in conformity with the principle of free movement of goods as provided for in articles 34-36 TFEU? This principle is one of the cornerstones of the European Union's internal market which implies that national barriers to the free movement of goods within the EU need to be removed ...
The California Court of Appeal recently upheld a lower court decision that, as we previously discussed, expanded the scope of the "public trust doctrine" to include groundwater. In Environmental Law Foundation v. State Water Resources Control Board, the appellate court held that agencies permitting groundwater pumping must consider how pumping may harm "public trust interests ...
If a branded medicine and its generic version are put on the EEA market by economically linked undertakings, is a parallel importer then allowed to rebrand and repackage the imported generic version as the branded reference medicine? This has been a hotly debated issue in recent years and recently led the Brussels Court of Appeal (CoA) to refer three questions to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) (Cases C-253/20 and C-254/20) ...
The ethical consumer market in the UK has increased four-fold since 1999, and now is conservatively estimated at over £40bn per annum. Consumers are actively changing their behaviours in favour of more sustainable and ethical choices. As a result, companies are increasingly creating or adapting their offerings to appeal to these consumer preferences ...
