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In this Insight, first published in PLC Construction, Anna Blest, Sasha Rubinstein, Jack Mcfadden and Tiffany Babayemi consider the key takeaways from the RIBA Artificial Intelligence Report 2024.

Welcome to the Corporate Briefing, where we review the latest developments in UK corporate law that you need to know about. In this month’s issue we discuss: FCA publishes final Listing Rules on sponsor competency Following on from the consultation at the end of 2023, the FCA has published its changes to the Listing Rules sourcebook, chapter 8 (sponsors), which take effect immediately. Takeover Panel consultation on the application of the Takeover Code A new Takeover Panel consultation proposes to narrow the scope of the companies subject to the Takeover Code. Digital Securities Sandbox The FCA and Bank of England have published a joint consultation paper on their proposals to implement and operate the Digital Securities Sandbox. Climate transition plans – new sector guidance The TPT has delivered two types of sector guidance to complement the Disclosure Framework – the TPT Sector Summary and the TPT Sector Deep Dives.

On 10 April 2024, Australia’s Federal Government announced far-reaching reforms to its merger control regime, most notably the introduction of a new single, mandatory and suspensory, merger control system. The reform package is due to come into effect from 1 January 2026 and will align Australia’s regime for reviewing M&A transactions from a competition perspective with the majority of other merger control regimes globally.

Following on from the consultation at the end of 2023, the FCA has published its changes to the Listing Rules sourcebook, chapter 8 (sponsors), which take effect immediately. The changes focus on how a sponsor or a person applying for approval as a sponsor is required to demonstrate their competence. The FCA has largely adopted the rules and amendments to the three Technical Notes on sponsor competency proposed in CP23/31 but with some minor amendments to reflect feedback received. The FCA has also published Primary Market Bulletin No.48 which is focussed on consulting on changes to existing technical notes that the FCA consider are the most essential in supporting the understanding of the new UK Listing Rules or most frequently used.  Notably, the FCA states that it expects to: send notifications to issuers mid-May explaining where they expect to be mapped to should the proposals be implemented; and seek board approval of the final UK Listing Rules at the board meetings on either 27 June or 25 July. If the FCA is sticking to its original timetable and the rules are approved at one of these Board meetings, the final policy statement would subsequently be published with an implementation period of 2 weeks before the new rules come into force.

Our April update includes a case on AI facial recognition software that allegedly discriminated against black people, a case where an individual carrying out a dismissal did not have enough knowledge of protected disclosures for the employer to be liable for a whistleblowing dismissal, and a case on the issue of acts of discrimination continuing over an extended period. We also feature a news roundup on generative AI in the workplace, awareness (or lack of it) of the new flexible working rules and proposed new legislation limiting the scope of NDAs with regard to criminal matters.

In this Insight, Zaynah Mirza considers the case of CLS Civil Engineering Ltd v WJG Evans and Sons (a partnership) [2024] EWHC 194 (TCC) which concerned a number of issues including whether the terms of the letter of intent or the terms of the contract yet to be entered into governed the project.