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New Acts for 2010
Before Parliament was dissolved, the “wash-up” session which approves new Acts of Parliament at the last minute, led to a large number of brand new Acts.
Although under a new Parliament it is likely that a bill will be introduced to abolish many of the new laws, several will remain, as they carried all-party support.
The main new laws which are relevant to those running a business include:
- Bribery Act 2010 - new offences including a corporate offence by a company
- Digital Economy Act 2010 – affects those involved with internet marketing and selling and copyright.
- Equality Act 2010 – consolidation of earlier piecemeal discrimination legislation into one Act in addition to some new rules which may affect what you say in employment contracts about what employees may discuss with other employees about their pay. All discrimination legislation etc is consolidated. As a result, many readers will need to change references to old discrimination regulations in their internal Codes and policies in due course, although much of the substance of employment law is unchanged.
- Financial Services Act 2010 – contains new enforcement legislation amongst other matters.
- Corporation Tax Act 2010 – part of the attempt to re-write tax law to make it clearer in the area of corporation tax. Tax lawyers need to learn completely new section numbers.
- Taxation (International and Other Provisions Act) 2010 – again part of the re-writing of tax law here relating to international aspects of taxation. Another Act where tax section numbers are all new.
- Finance Act 2010 – the usual budget measures.
We can help you revise internal staff handbooks to refer to the new discrimination legislation in the Equality Act and ensure your practices are compliant with the Bribery Act 2010 and guide you through the other legislative changes.
Contact us for more information.
Notes
- The Acts are all available on the Parliament website.
- The Equality Act 2010 is at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2010/pdf/ukpga_20100015_en.pdf
- The Digital Economy Act 2010 is at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2010/ukpga_20100024_en_1
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