Experts' contributions

This contribution highlights some of the key changes in UK employment law in 2022, including COVID19-related legislation, employment status and reporting obligations, in particular with respect to ethnicity pay gap, and what is to be expected in 2023, including potentially far-reaching legislative changes regarding the Retained EU Law and the New Employment Bill, family rights and enhanced scrutiny of the so-called “Fire and rehire” policy.

The COVID-19 pandemic presented businesses with unprecedented challenges. It was inevitable that litigation would follow, and that the courts would be required to interpret familiar contract terms in light of these decidedly unfamiliar circumstances. Whether parties to a contract could invoke a force majeure clause (sometimes called an “act of God” clause) in response to COVID-19 was the focus of much speculation when the pandemic first hit.

In Porter Airlines Inc. v. Nieuport Aviation Infrastructure Partners GP, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice recently considered inter alia whether a force majeure clause relieved Porter from certain contractual obligations.

Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) is driving innovation across industries and is playing an increasing role in everyday life. AI (and, more broadly, algorithms) is being used in diagnostics, enabled medical devices, device manufacturing, drug discovery and manufacturing, industrial manufacturing, smart home and wearable devices, and vehicles. AI has the potential to benefit society in a number of ways, including by boosting efficiency, providing invaluable insights, and informing decisions.
But to borrow from the likes of Winston Churchill (or Spider-man), with great AI capabilities comes great responsibility.

The Norwegian Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development has proposed changes in the Norwegian Electronic Communications Act and the Norwegian Electronic Communications Regulations to implement legal requirements for data centres.

The Ministry proposes, inter alia, that data centres will be required to register and comply with a set of security requirements.
This proposal has been submitted for consultation, and the deadline for contributions is 9 September 2022. The proposal is expected to be presented to Parliament during the autumn.

The importance of green hydrogen comes from the goal of decarbonisation of the planet by 2050 by the Paris Agreement which, in its Article 4, invites “all Parties to strive to formulate and communicate long-term strategies for low greenhouse gas emission development, taking into account their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities”.

On January 19, 2022, the last piece of the puzzle fell into place for the provisional application of the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA) to begin.

Preparations are now fully under way to recruit judges, implement case management systems and resolve other practical issues.

A realistic timeframe is that the Unified Patent Court (UPC) will be operational at the start of 2023.