The UK Government has published a statement of intent containing details of its proposed Data Protection Bill. The full text of the Bill is expected in September 2017, when the UK Parliament returns from its summer break. The Bill will enshrine the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) into UK…
Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences companies operate in a demanding environment and face diverse challenges such as pricing pressure, increased regulatory requirements and mounting costs. With this backdrop, they have, starting with non-core functions, such as IT, facilities management, finance and human resources, before moving to secondary core functions, such as…
A number of major carriers have suffered high-impact IT events in the past several months. Estimates of losses in these cases have exceeded £100m. This is on top of (no doubt significant) remedial costs, reductions in share price and reputational damage. Such high-impact events are, in theory, unlikely to occur—the…
In a global economy, every supply chain should have each link inspected to ensure it has not been forged in whole or in part in a manner that involves human rights abuses. In “Is your supply chain free from human rights abuses?,” a recent piece in Outsource, our colleague Tim Wright explores…
The European Commission has published its Brexit mandate with a clear focus on “citizens’ rights, the financial settlement and new external borders,” with the Commission’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, planning to “pay great attention to Ireland during the first phase of negotiations.” In his Next Steps toward Brexit Client…
Software giant’s victory in “indirect use” case is cause for concern for companies worldwide. On February 16, 2017, the High Court of Justice in the United Kingdom held that Diageo plc, a global drinks company, was liable for unauthorized use of SAP software as a result of failing to secure…
Recently, governments and rule-making bodies across Europe, the UK and globally, appear to be paying increasing attention to the need for the development of legislative and regulatory frameworks in the expanding field of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. With the growing use of these technologies across a wide range of…
“We will follow two simple rules: buy American and hire American.” While world leaders are pondering what these words from President Trump’s Inaugural Address mean for international trade, a different question looms for U.S. Government contractors—what is on the horizon as far as the Buy American Act and similar protectionist…
UK’s Industrial Strategy announced—new Government contracting approach will favour UK-based firms after Brexit. UK Government spending currently runs circa £278 billion per annum. Government contractors will be given priority when bidding for UK Government work after Brexit. International players should take note and design their organization and operating models accordingly.…
The FCA has fined Aviva, the UK insurance group, £8.2 million for failing to have appropriate controls over its outsourced service providers. According to the FCA’s press release, the fine would have been even larger at £11.8 million but for a 30% discount due to Aviva for agreeing with the…