With negotiations underway for the free trade agreement between Australia and the European Union (the A-EU FTA), Australian businesses that produce, buy or sell EU and non-EU food, agricultural goods and spirit drinks have to confront the possibility that Australia will agree to give much stronger protection to the names of hundreds of EU products that indicate their geographical origin. We look at some of the key issues in the EU's proposal that would impact Australian businesses' operations and IP portfolios, and consider some of the agreed compromise positions in the EU's other recent FTAs. ...

Legislation focusing on imposing new obligations on design consultants and builders was recently introduced to the NSW Parliament. Importantly, the Design and Building Practitioners Bill creates a statutory duty of care owed by builders, and others, for economic loss for defects in construction serv ...

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Corporate Crime) Bill 2019 (the 2019 Bill) in the Senate, and the Attorney-General's Department has released Draft Guidance on the steps a body corporate can take to prevent an associate from bribing foreign public officials for public consultation (the Draft Guidance).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and Associate Lewis Winter report on the key differences between the 2017 and 2019 Bills, and the content of the Draft Guidance. ...

Federal Parliament has passed legislation to repeal the carbon pricing scheme removing the nationwide impost on greenhouse gas emissions Partner Grant Anderson and Associate Albert Yu report ...

Further amendments to existing property legislation that aims to streamline the sale of property particularly in respect of the sale of off-the-plan lots have been introduced into the Queensland Parliament These amendments will be of substantial benefit to developers Partner Alister Fitzgerald ...

The FCAFC has upheld an earlier decision rejecting an application to set aside or not enforce an international arbitral award. ...

Parties involved in large-scale commercial transactions with non-lawyer third-party advisers need to be aware that communications with these advisers will rarely be protected by legal professional privilege following a recent Federal Court decision ...

The Supreme Court of Western Australia has rejected a wide-ranging attack by a contracting party preferring litigation to arbitration on the operation of an arbitration clause Partner Andrew Maher reports ...

A recent Federal Court decision highlights the importance of managing the provision of information and documentation to third parties with caution in order to preserve legal professional privilege Partner Richard Harris and Senior Associate Elnaz Nikibin report on the case ...

We look at the circumstances where a court may not grant an injunction to restrain an employee from working with a competitor the Fair Work Commissions position on legal representation a case that helps clarify when restructuring roles will create genuine redundancy whether a gift to employees who ...