Recent Articles

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  26.05.2023

  United Kingdom

  Con­sulta­tion on Le­gis­lat­ive Pro­pos­als for Off­shore Hy­dro­gen Pipelines and Stor­age

  IntroductionFollowing the Government’s Hydrogen Transport and Storage Infrastructure Consultation, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (“DESNZ”) has announced a consultation for offshore hydrogen pipelines and storage (the “Consultation”). The proposals within the Consultation are hoped to enable and realise first-of-a-kind offshore hydrogen projects, supporting the UK’s ambitions to produce 10GW of clean hydrogen by 2030.The Consultation focuses on two particular areas for legislative change:(1) the granting approval for the construction; and(2)...

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  26.05.2023

  Ukraine

  Ukraine launches up­dated elec­tron­ic ver­sion of the Re­gister of Med­ic­al Devices

  In January 2023, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine (MoH) revised the Procedure for maintaining the register of persons responsible for placing medical devices, active implantable medical devices and IVDs on the market through Order #2311 dated 21 December 2022, (Procedure). This register collects information not only about responsible persons but about each medical device that is allowed to be marketed in Ukraine (Register of Medical Devices or RMD). The amendments came into effect on 25 January 2023 and already in January 2023 the State Service of Ukraine on Medicines and Drugs Control (SSMD)...

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  26.05.2023

  International

  Per­form­ing ser­vices in a de­cent­ral­ised man­ner un­der Mi­CAR

  At the end of April 2023, the European parliament decided on a uniform regulation of crypto assets across the EU by voting on the MiCA regulation (i.e. markets in crypto-assets). The intended innovations are "explosive" for activities related to crypto assets, in particular if they were not yet regulated in Germany where the legislator had provisions already in place, which are similar to those under MiCAR.MiCAR regulates a broad range of crypto-asset services and requests providers to obtain a license from the competent authorities (e.g. BaFin in Germany). It is therefore crucial to identify MiCAR's...

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  26.05.2023

  United Kingdom

  Hy­dro­gen pro­duc­tion – draft con­tract pub­lished

  On 19 May 2023, the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (“DESNZ”) published the draft full-form front end agreement (the “Front End Agreement”) and standard terms and conditions (the “Standard Terms and Conditions”) for the Low Carbon Hydrogen Agreement (together the “LCHA”), which serves as the primary contract between the hydrogen producers and LCCC, the government-owned counterparty.The contract structure will mirror that of the AR4 CfD and the CCUS programme contracts (i.e. the DPA), with the Front-End Agreement containing project-specific...

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  26.05.2023

  Germany

  The new Ger­man En­ergy Ef­fi­ciency Act – "En­ergy ef­fi­ciency first" now also in Ger­many?

  The Federal Cabinet has presented a draft for a new German Energy Efficiency Act. This will transpose the updated EU Energy Efficiency Directive into national law.In July 2021, the European Commission had submitted a proposal for an amendment of the Energy Efficiency Directive (COM[2021] 558 final) (Energy Efficiency Directive, "EED") as part of the "Fit for 55" package. The Council and the European Parliament agreed at the beginning of March 2023 on the proposal; however, the amended EED has not yet entered into force. Nevertheless, the German three-party coalition government has...

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  26.05.2023

  Germany

  What em­ploy­ers must be aware of when us­ing AI and how AI can re­volu­tion­ise HR and boost ef­fi­ciency

  The hype created by the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) is enormous and continues to this day. In the workplace, it is primarily text-based large language models (LLMs) that will make inroads because of their ability to generate human-like texts and conversations. Used as such, LLMs allow employees to significantly reduce their workload. For example, employees can easily obtain information on a specific topic they are researching to complete their tasks faster. In HR, the software can also be used to check job applications against predefined criteria or draft employment contracts...

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