General Commercial Topics

  • Directors' Duties Under the 2006 Companies Act

    The Companies Act 2006 was designed to modernise British company law, making it ‘fit for purpose’ for the 21 st Century. In particular, there are several changes which affect directors. As of 1 October 2007, the...

  • Financial Fraud - What Not to Do!

    With recent surveys showing that instances of employee fraud are still on the increase, and HMRC showing regrettable lack of ability to safeguard personal data, eliminating poor security practices which make fraud easier is becoming even more important....

  • Collecting Your Debts - a Brief Guide

    If a business cannot recover a debt from a customer after the normal credit control procedures are exhausted then it will need to consider taking further action to recover the sum due. Mediation with the debtor, involving negotiation through a third party,...

  • WEEE Regulations - Take Back Scheme

    Since 1 April 2007, producers of electrical goods have been required to mark them in accordance with the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations 2006. The appropriate mark, which features a crossed out wheelie bin,...

  • Email and Copyright

    Copyright is a right which exists without any specific steps having to be taken. It applies whenever there is a work created which contains original skill or labour. It applies to written material and that includes email, as a recent High Court...

  • Employee Fraud Update

    Employee fraud continues to rise -however,  the Fraud Act 2006, convictions for fraud are more easily obtained than they were under the predecessor legislation.   Under the old legislation, obtaining a conviction for fraud was...

  • Additional Work is at Contracted Rate

    In the building industry it is normal for work to be needed to be done by contractors after the expiry of the original contract. Recently, a case came to court in which a company that had obtained work under tender for Brunel University...

  • Email Received is Document Delivered

    A recent case in the Commercial Court has confirmed that the receipt of an email will be taken as delivery of the email even if it is not opened and read. Furthermore, delivery will be regarded as valid even if the email address is no longer used, if it has...