Legal News (Commercial and Business)

Latest News
Date Heading Short Description
March 2013 New regulations to combat late payments in commercial transactions Late payment of debt is significantly impacting many businesses which are already facing serious financial pressures. View
February 2013 The Companies Bill 2012 The Companies Bill was published on the 21st of December 2012. The Bill consolidates the numerous existing pieces of company law legislation which date from 1963 to 2012 into one single Act and introduces a number of reforms which are designed to make it easier to operate a company in Ireland. It constitutes a complete overhaul of Irish company law. View
January 2013 The Personal Insolvency Act 2012: A solution to our personal debt crisis? On 24 January 2012, the draft general Scheme of the long awaited and greatly discussed Personal Insolvency Bill was published for consultation by the Government. View
December 2012 New Credit Initiative Launched In late October, the Government launched its “Credit Guarantee Scheme” for small and medium sized enterprises. View
December 2012 Suing on behalf of your company – when can it be done? In July of this year, the Irish Commercial Court, in the case of Connolly v. Seskin Properties Limited considered the rule established in the ancient case of Foss v.Harbottle. View
December 2012 Computer Cookies Did you know that if you or your business operate a website which uses cookies, you are obliged to take steps to ensure that persons accessing your website have consented to the use of cookies? View
October 2012 Overturning the Arbitrator’s Award – An Uphill Battle A recent decision of Mr Justice Peter Kelly in the commercial division of the High Court has served to highlight that it is difficult to successfully apply to Court to overturn an unfavourable decision made by an arbitrator following arbitration of a dispute. View
October 2012 Start Mortgages… The Saga Continues The case of Start Mortgages caused much consternation for Lenders as it limited the Bank’s ability to apply for possession of registered land unless payment had fallen due, a demand had been made and proceedings were initiated all before 1 December 2009. View
July 2012 Report of the Commission of Credit Unions Last summer the Government set up a Commission to consider the future of the credit union sector and to recommend how it could be protected. Chaired by Prof Donal McKillop of Queen’s University Belfast, it was asked to take into account the sector’s not-for-profit mandate, volunteer ethos and community focus, whilst also examining the protection of depositors and financial stability. View
July 2012 Personal Guarantees, The Irish Courts’ Approach Over the last number of years the Irish courts have dealt with an increasing number of cases involving applications by banks and other lenders for judgment against individuals on foot of personal guarantees given by those individuals. View
July 2012 Starting and running a business due to get easier under propsed new companies bill In June of last year, The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, published the first part of the Companies Consolidation and Reform Bill, otherwise known as “Pillar A”. The publication marks a significant step in the reform of Irish company law and the development of a modern company law regime. View
July 2012 New Competition Act which provides greater penalties for breaches of competition legislation passes into law The Competition (Amendment) Act 2012 has been passed into law and came into force on the 3 July 2012. View
April 2012 A Proposed Alternative to Bankruptcy: The Personal Insolvency Bill The Draft General Scheme of the Personal Insolvency Bill (“Draft Scheme”) was approved for publication by the government on 25 January 2012. It is a welcome step towards reform of the insolvency and bankruptcy laws in Ireland particularly by debtors with mortgages and debt commitments and persons facing the risk of bankruptcy which is increasing due to the current economic climate. View
January 2012 Transfer Regulations - the Commercial Context Explained To both interpret and correctly apply the Regulations governing transfer of undertakings is not easy, especially when managing the practical side of what actually happens when a businesses is transferring, writes Breda O’ Malley View
January 2012 Financial Services Ombudsman - An Update Our Winter 2011 Newsletter included an article concerning two recent decisions of the High Court endorsing the decisions taken by the Financial Services Ombudsman (“the Ombudsman”)... View
December 2011 COMPETITION (AMENDMENT) BILL 2011 Under the EU/IMF Agreement the Irish Government committed to introducing legislation to strengthen competition law in Ireland by ensuring the availability of effective sanctions for breaches of both EU and Irish Competition Law. View
December 2011 High Court Support for the Financial Services Ombudsman Two recent decisions by the same Judge have clarified the limited jurisdiction of the High Court to interfere with a decision of the Financial Services Ombudsman (“the Ombudsman”). View
August 2011 Paid Product Placement – a welcome addition for both broadcasters and advertisers Irish television programme makers could soon appear a lot more brand conscious... View
August 2011 Appointing the Ideal Chairperson? While the Companies Acts do not specify any particular statutory role for a chairperson of a board of directors over and above the general responsibilities of the chair... View
August 2011 White Collar Crime Bill Passes Into Law The President has signed the Criminal Justice Act, 2011 (“the Act”) into law. View
August 2011 Changes To Irish Bankruptcy Law Steps have been taken by the Minister for Justice to reduce the minimum period which a personal bankruptcy is required to last by Irish law. View
August 2011 Developments in the Priority of Payments in a Liquidation When a company is wound up by reason of insolvency the various creditors of that company will often become embroiled in a fight for the limited assets and funds available for distribution to undischarged creditors of that company. View
July 2011 NEW WHITE COLLAR CRIME BILL The Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter (“the Minister”), has published the Criminal Justice Bill 2011 (“the Bill”). View
May 2011 Section 60 Companies Act, 1963 – Update Section 60 of the Companies Act, 1963 (“Section 60”) is one of the best known provisions of Irish company law. View
May 2011 Abandoned Companies – Consequences / Liability For Directors In recent times the closure of businesses has unfortunately, become common due to trading difficulties. View
November 2010 Charities Act 2009 The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs has recently commenced sections of the Charities Act, 2009 (“the Act”) which relates specifically to the role of the charity trustee. View
November 2010 Hayes and Short Richardson Forth Solicitors Responses to Transfer Regulations Queries View
September 2010 In the field of competition law, internal company communications with in-house lawyers are not covered by legal professional privilege It is important that any business with in-house Counsel takes note of an important recent decision. View
July 2010 Competition Law Forum David Phelan was invited to speak at a Competition Law Forum organised by the Irish Society for European Law on the 27 July. View
July 2010 Personal Data Security Breach Code of Practice On 7 July 2010 the Data Protection Commissioner (“DPC”) approved a personal data security breach Code of Practice to help organisations to react appropriately when they become aware of breaches of security. View
July 2010 Competition Authority report on GPs within the GMS On Friday (the 9 July 2010) the Competition Authority published its report on competition amongst GPs within the General Medical Services system. View
May 2010 Age Discrimination In Irish Employment Law Breda O’Malley, Partner in Employment and Commercial Law in Hayes solicitors, presented on the Issue of Age Discrimination at the Industrial Law Society (ILS) Spring Conference in London on Saturday 22 May 2010. View
March 2010 “Lo-commotion” – Changes in Revenue practice for Locum workers Healthcare workers working in locum positions may now be treated as employees for tax purposes. This includes amongst others, doctors, physiotherapists, pharmacists and dentists. View
February 2010 Pension Trustees Beware The Pensions Board (“the Board”), the statutory authority with responsibility for monitoring the operation of the Pensions Acts, has recently released its Review of 2009. View
February 2010 The importance of small print. It may be time to check your website terms and conditions A recent English case has re-opened the debate on law of negligent misstatement on a website. View
February 2010 Examinership Given the major slowdown in economic activity in Ireland many companies are now facing financial difficulties and this has led to a significant increase in the number of troubled companies seeking to enter the examinership process. View
February 2010 Do what your Business does Best: Outsource the Rest Outsourcing is an important aspect of the business strategy of many Irish businesses. Outsourcing can exist in a myriad of ways, extending from quite basic arrangements to sophisticated business operations. View
January 2010 Circuit Court Case Progression - New Rules From 1 January 2010 certain types of Circuit Court proceedings can avail of a new form of case progression very similar to that which is applied to litigation in the Commercial Court. View
January 2010 Extension of Small Claims Procedure to Business From 11 January 2010 businesses will be able to avail of the small claims procedure for certain claims. View
October 2009 The Small Firms Association Commercial Law Seminar in conjunction with Hayes solicitors 19th October 2009 Hayes solicitors were delighted to give a commercial law seminar to members of the Smalls Firms Association on 19th October 2009. View
September 2009 Changes to the Residency Requirements for Directors Now that the Companies (Amendment) Act 2009 has been brought into force it is no longer required that at least one of the directors be an Irish resident. View
August 2009“ONCE IS ENOUGH TO BE A CONCERTED PRACTICE” In June of this year the European Court of Justice gave its decision on a referral from the Dutch Courts concerning alleged anti-competitive practice by five Dutch mobile phone service providers. View
August 2009Companies (Amendment) Act 2009 Earlier in the year we flagged proposed changes to Company law in the Companies (Amendment) Bill 2009. The changes proposed are now law, the President having signed the bill in July. View
August 2009Contract Termination - Court decides on Reasonable Notice Period The decision of the High Court of England and Wales in Jackson Distribution Limited v Tum Yeto Inc. (2009) is a useful illustration of the factors that a court will consider in determining the period of reasonable notice required to terminate a contract which does not expressly provide for termination. View
June 09Ones to Watch The Multi-Unit Developments Bill 2009. The Companies (Amendment) Bill 2009 View
June 2009 Franchising – a viable option in turbulent times? In the current economic downturn the franchise model could provide an excellent opportunity to expand a successful business or to set up your own business. View
June 2009 Kerry Group take home the bacon A look at a recent successful High Court Appeal against a decision of the Competition Authority View
May 2009 CHANGES TO COMPANY LAW – THE COMPANIES (AMENDMENT) BILL 2009 Earlier this year the government published the Companies (Amendment) Bill 2009 (the Bill). The stated aim of the Bill is to bring forward legislation to improve the transparency of certain loans made by banks to their directors and to those connected with directors. However, the scope of the Bill reaches beyond the banking sector and makes important changes that affect all companies regulated by Irish law. View
April 2009 Competition Authority The Irish High Court overturns a decision of the Competition Authority to prohibit a Merger View
March 2009 Irish Commercial Mediation Association A recent survey carried out by the Irish Commercial Mediation Association (ICMA) among the managing partners of more ... View
March 2009 Charities Act Further to our recent seminar on changes in the area of Charities Law, we now confirm that the Charities Act 2009 has been signed into law and it currently awaits the making of the necessary commencement orders by the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. It is expected that commencement will occur in several phases. View
September 2008 Steps that may be taken to guard against Insolvency and Winding Up For an insolvency situation to arise either in respect of an individual or a company, there must be evidence of a debt that cannot be repaid when due. View
September 2008 HSE Pharmacy Dispute David Phelan acted successfully on behalf of the Hickeys Pharmacy Group in the recent High Court case taken by that pharmacy group against the HSE in the Commercial Court. View
September 2008 Arbitration Bill 2008 On 19th of June 2008 the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform published the Arbitration Bill 2008. View
September 2008 First examination of Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003 by the courts In an ex-tempore judgment of Ms Justice Linnane delivered in the Circuit Court on 10th June 2008 in relation to the operation of these Acts, the Court was asked to decide upon the complex issue of personal data ... View
September 2008 When is it fair to say you’re cheaper than the rest? Comparative advertising is the phrase used where one company compares its prices to those of a competitor in an advertisement. View
December 2007 Attention Shoppers! : NEW CONSUMER PROTECTION Most of the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act 2007 have been commenced with effect from 1 May 2007. The Act establishes a new office, the National Consumer Agency (“NCA”) and brings into effect European Law on unfair commercial practices. View
December - 2007 The Companies Consolidation and Reform Bill Irish Company law is about to undergo a major transformation when the draft Companies Consolidation and Reform Bill is enacted. The exact date for this enactment is not known at present, but it is predicted that it will be sometime in 2009 before it will become law. View
7-Jan-2005 The fight against counterfeiting and piracy Have you ever stopped to think of the importance of your brand to your business? In the case of many businesses (eg Microsoft, Coca-Cola, ...... View
7-Jan-2005 Spam and how to avoid it! Up to 60% of e-mails now sent are either junk mail or spam, according to figures presented at the first International Spam Enforcement Wor...... View
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