Australia's modern slavery reporting regime was introduced one year ago, and 2020 will see the first set of modern slavery statements published by reporting entities. ...

The Australian Government has tabled the Crimes Amendment (Combatting Corporate Crime) Bill 2019 (the 2019 Bill) in the Senate, and the Attorney-General's Department has released Draft Guidance on the steps a body corporate can take to prevent an associate from bribing foreign public officials for public consultation (the Draft Guidance). Like the 2017 version of the Bill that lapsed earlier this year (the 2017 Bill), if passed, the 2019 Bill will strengthen Australia's foreign bribery laws, including by introducing a new corporate offence of failure to prevent bribery by an associate, and will introduce a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) scheme for resolving serious corporate criminal matters. Partner Rachel Nicolson, Senior Associate Andrew Wilcock and Associate Lewis Winter report on the key differences between the 2017 and 2019 Bills, and the content of the Draft Guidance. ...

The United Kingdom High Court (the Court) recently handed down its judgment in Amey Highways Ltd v West Sussex County Council, which considered the abandonment of a government procurement process following a breach of relevant procurement regulations by a public agency. For government departments and agencies in particular, this case clarifies when a public agency can abandon a procurement process and what remedies may be available to bidders in these circumstances. ...

It is critical that listed entities understand how COVID-19 is likely to impact their businesses and are prepared to make necessary disclosures to the ASX. To date, the majority of ASX-listed entities have not made any disclosure in relation to COVID-19. In this update we have set out a number of scenarios that should be considered by listed clients as part of the proper and ongoing assessment of the need for disclosure under the ASX Listing Rules. ...

The Full Federal Court has held that when the court is faced with multiple competing class actions in relation to the same issue it can choose one to proceed and stay the others In doing so it said that there is no one size fits all solution to the problem of competing class actions and that ...

The decision in a recent Supreme Court of New South Wales case where indemnity was sought for costs incurred defending and settling a class action highlights a potential gap in coverage under civil liability insurance policies Partner Louise Jenkins Senior Associate Julia Clemente and Lawyer Calypso ...

The Australian Law Reform Commission has released its much-anticipated final report on class actions and litigation funding which makes a broad range of recommendations intended to bring the modern class action landscape back into line with the regimes original objectives Partners Jenny Campbell and ...

The 4th edition of the ASX Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations focuses strongly on the link between culture, values and community expectations, consistent with the themes that emerged from the Royal Commission. ...

Associates Tiernan Christensen and Nick Li report on some noteworthy developments relevant to the food industry in Australia. ...

The last 18 months were a busy time for product safety. Consumers found redress via the courts (in the form of class actions) and the regulator (in the form of product recalls). ...