Recent Articles

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  25/06/2024

  Bulgaria

  Bulgaria re-launches Han Tervel Block oil & gas exploration tender

  The long-awaited Han Tervel tender procedure has been opened for bidding following the adoption of the Council of Ministers’ decision dated 23 August 2023 and its recent publication in the Official Journal of the EU.The deadline for submitting applications will be 17:30 EET (Bulgarian time) on 5 November 2024 and the deadline for submitting offers will be 17:30 EET (Bulgarian time) on 20 November 2024. The price of the tender documents will be BGN 10,000 (EUR 5,000) and the documents can be purchased from the Ministry of Energy.The recent extraction developments in the Black Sea and...

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  25/06/2024

  Europe

  Market Abuse Regulation (MAR): Ensuring Fair and Transparent Markets

  Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) represents a comprehensive framework established by the European Union to prevent inter alia market manipulation, insider dealing, and unlawful disclosure of inside information. MAR came into force in 2016 and transposed into national law in Luxembourg by the law of 23 December 2016 on market abuse. Its main goal is to maintain the integrity of financial markets and bolster investor confidence by enforcing strict compliance standards and severe penalties for violations.MAR’s key components are the following:Insider Dealing: the use of inside information by a...

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  25/06/2024

  United Kingdom

  Court of Appeal guidance on allocations under the Building Safety Fund

  A recent Court of Appeal decision provides valuable commentary on the correct approach to the making of allocations under the Building Safety Fund (the “BSF”) for the funding of fire-safety remedial work. The developer in question had challenged an allocation made by the government on the basis that insurers of the buildings had accepted liability and that recoveries from insurers should be enforced prior to the making of any allocation under the BSF.The Building Safety FundThe BSF is overseen by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (the “DLUHC”) and...

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  24/06/2024

  Saudi Arabia

  Saudi Arabia Regional Headquarters Update

  CMS is a leading international law firm with an office in Riyadh, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The Corporate Law team in the KSA has launched a series of articles entitled Explore Investment in Saudi Arabia focussing on doing business in the KSA.In this article, our experts in Corporate Law, using insights gained in the course of assisting our clients to establish legal entities in the KSA, explore the latest position in the evolving landscape of the Regional Headquarters (RHQ) Program that was formally launched in February 2021. Since then, there have been a number of updates that have...

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  21/06/2024

  United Kingdom

  Finch: Supreme Court decision on environmental impact assessment regulations and the requirement to assess “scope 3” emissions

  The UK Supreme Court has handed down its much-awaited decision in R (on the application of Finch on behalf of Weald Action Group) (Appellant) v Surrey County Council and others (Respondent) (“Finch”). The case concerned a challenge to a development consent for an onshore oil and gas development on the basis that the relevant environmental impact assessment (EIA) did not consider indirect (commonly referred to as ‘scope 3’ or ‘downstream’) emissions from the combustion of eventually refined hydrocarbons produced by the development. The court’s decision –...

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  21/06/2024

  England and Wales

  Manifest-EES

  Despite Rishi Sunak’s September 2023 MEES U-turn and announcement of a “more pragmatic, proportionate, and realistic approach” to meeting net-zero, energy costs and climate policies remain crucial topics of national debate ahead of the election on 4 July.MEES is (was?) a flagship policy designed to support the UK’s drive and commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050. For many years, we have been examining and discussing the impact of the MEES regulations on commercial real estate: from application through to enforcement (or lack thereof).With the Climate Change Committee’s...

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