7.2. Law - Business law

Regulations take centre stage

This briefing provides an overview of the developments in business law in the year 1999, including tax, that are most likely to affect small and medium-sized businesses.

A separate briefing, New business law in 2000, LA 9, covers new laws, regulations and relevant cases in 2000. Developments in the specific area of employment law are covered in New employment law in 1999, LA 6, and New employment law in 2000, LA 8.

These briefings provide pointers to changes that might affect your business, but do not deal with issues in detail. If you need to know more, talk to your professional adviser, or follow the cross reference to the appropriate Directors' Briefing.

This briefing covers:

• New laws.
• New regulations.
• Key court cases that highlight small business issues.

Change on many fronts

This briefing provides an overview of the developments in business law in the year 2000, including tax, that are most likely to affect small and medium-sized businesses.

A separate briefing, New business law in 1999, LA 7, covers new laws, regulations and relevant cases in 1999. See the margin note on page two for a list of the material covered in that briefing.

Developments in the specific area of employment law are covered in New employment law in 1999, LA 6, and New employment law in 2000, LA 8.

These briefings provide pointers to changes that might affect your business, but do not deal with issues in detail. If you need to know more, talk to your professional adviser, or follow the cross reference to the appropriate Directors' Briefing.

This briefing covers:

• New laws.
• New regulations.
• Key court cases that highlight small business issues.

It’s your business to know

This briefing provides an overview of the developments in business law in 2001 that are most likely to affect small and medium-sized businesses. It follows publications covering the same area for 1999 (LA 7) and 2000 (LA 9). Developments in employment law are covered separately, in New employment law in 2001, LA 12. There are titles covering the same area for 1999 (LA 6) and 2000 (LA 8). These briefings provide pointers to changes that might affect your business, but do not deal with issues in detail. If you need to know more, talk to your professional adviser, or follow the cross reference to the appropriate Directors’ Briefing.

This briefing covers:

• New laws.
• New regulations.
• Key court decisions, in areas important to small businesses.

This briefing outlines the developments in business law in 2002 that are most likely to affect small and medium-sized businesses. It follows publications covering the same area for 1999 (LA 7), 2000 (LA 9) and 2001 (LA 13). Developments in employment law are covered separately in New employment law in 2002, LA 15.

There are titles covering the same area for 1999 (LA 6), 2000 (LA 8) and 2001 (LA 12). These briefings provide pointers to changes that might affect your business, but do not deal with issues in detail. If you need to know more, talk to your professional adviser, or follow the cross reference to the appropriate Directors’ Briefing.

This briefing covers:

• New laws and regulations.
• Key court decisions in areas important to small businesses.

Rules still apply

Some people like to think of the Internet as an unregulated free-for-all, but this is simply not the case. The law still applies, although in some areas its interpretation and effects are not entirely clear.

The international nature of the Internet, and the ease with which information is copied and transmitted, can lead to additional problems.

This briefing outlines some of the common legal issues you need to be aware of. It covers:

• The basic rules covering email and the Internet.
• Contracts, marketing and e-commerce.
• Intellectual property.
• Privacy and data protection.

Intangible assets

Whether your business relies on innovative new products or just the strength of your reputation, it almost certainly involves some intellectual property. You need to use your own intellectual property as effectively as possible while avoiding infringing others' rights to theirs.

You do not need to be a legal expert to do this. You do need to know what the options are and how to choose the most appropriate protection.

This briefing explains:

• What you need to do about intellectual property.
• How patents, design right and registration, copyright and trade marks work.

All businesses that keep any information on living and identifiable people must comply with the Data Protection Act. The Act applies to computerised personal information and to some structured manual records about people. Some businesses must register under the Act and ensure their information is properly managed. But others only need to observe data-protection principles — enforceable rules of good practice for handling personal information.

This briefing covers:

• Whether you need to register, (known as notifying).
• How you can comply with the Act.
• What circumstances are likely to trigger action by the data protection authorities.
• Some particular danger areas.