My new year’s resolution (for my business) is…

What is your new year’s resolution? It could be to join a gym, to learn a new skill or perhaps it is to read more Talking Business blogs(!), but what about a new year’s resolution for your business? Well, ensuring compliance with a raft of new legal developments expected in 2018 should be one of them.

There are many unknowns this year, not least the outcome of Brexit negotiations and everything that is likely to follow them. This blog outlines some of the key legal developments in 2018.

GDPR

The introduction of the GDPR will result in significant changes to data protection law from 25 May. Businesses will need to ensure the more onerous statutory requirements are followed or they could be faced with hefty fines and reputational damage. With the economy becoming increasingly digitised, data privacy is of paramount importance to consumers.

The GDPR will affect all businesses and, if preparations have not started already, businesses should be considering how they can become compliant. You can use Gateley’s GDPR toolkit to help you establish the key concerns for your business and its operations. This should be a principal area of focus in the coming year, anything less could have severe repercussions.

You can download our GDPR guidance for corporate transactions here.

Corporate governance

This year will also see significant changes to corporate governance and the manner in which businesses are expected to be managed. Last year we saw a large number of proposals which resulted in proposed changes relating to executive pay, employee and customer voice, and governance in private businesses.

The FRC has published proposals for a revised UK Corporate Governance Code to reflect the changing business environment and to help UK companies achieve the highest levels of corporate governance. The revised code is shorter and builds on the proposals that were seen in 2017. It focuses on, amongst other things, effective engagement with a wider stakeholder base and the operation and adoption of remuneration policies. The revised code is expected to be implemented in the summer.

The UK Corporate Governance Code is only mandatory for companies with a premium listing on the Main Market. But private companies also need to keep an eye on corporate governance developments as a voluntary corporate governance code for larger private companies is likely to be introduced later this year.

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