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. ...

At a time when global powers continue to test international trade rules, a World Trade Organization decision involving Australian tariffs on Indonesian A4 copy paper highlights some of the key legal issues that caused tension between international trading partners in 2019. ...

Both the Sydney population and the population of Melbourne are expected to reach the size of New York City by 2050, raising questions about how our cities of the future will function. ...

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Corporate Crime) Bill 2019 (the 2019 Bill) in the Senate, and the Attorney-General's Department has released Draft Guidance on the steps a body corporate can take to prevent an associate from bribing foreign public officials for public consultation (the Draft Guidance).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and Associate Lewis Winter report on the key differences between the 2017 and 2019 Bills, and the content of the Draft Guidance.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

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 ...

A new Port Zone has been applied to three major Victorian ports at Geelong Hastings and Portland with announcements that it will make it easier for port operations to expand The Port of Melbourne however is not included in the new zone consistent with the State Governments intention to develop the ...

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has taken another step towards implementing its prudential framework for the supervision of conglomerate groups While it has made some new prudential standards that are specific to conglomerate groups and extended some of its existing standards to such ...

In a recent decision the New South Wales Supreme Court held that a sufficiently significant failure to meet budget expectations could constitute a material adverse change and upheld the lenders right to serve a default notice and accelerate repayment on this basis Partner Diccon Loxton and Lawyer ...

The Senate Economics Committees Report into ASICs performance is an interesting read It opens by calling ASIC a timid hesitant regulator too ready and willing to accept uncritically the assurances of a large institution And continues in a similar vein for almost 500 pages ASIC says it does the best ...

Green Bonds have been part of the international capital markets landscape for some time and recently the World Bank announced the first A Green Bonds to be issued into the Australian debt capital market If developments in the European Green Bond market are a good indicator there is potential for ...