Business Law and Corporate Law

The Irish High Court has clarified the scope of statutory exemptions under the Data Protection Act 2018, ruling that organisations can legitimately refuse data subject access requests when legal privilege, client confidentiality, or litigation interests are at stake. This landmark decision establishes clear boundaries between different exemption provisions and confirms their compatibility with GDPR Article 23, providing much-needed guidance for organisations navigating complex disclosure obligations.

The Irish High Court has addressed a fundamental question about legal advice privilege in corporate law: can a company assert privilege against its own shareholders? This decision examines the controversial 'shareholder rule' and its compatibility with the principle of separate legal personality established in Salomon v Salomon, following the Privy Council's recent rejection of this rule in England and Wales.

France has enacted Law No. 2026-122, establishing a groundbreaking confidentiality regime for in-house legal counsel opinions, addressing a longstanding competitive disadvantage faced by French companies in cross-border disputes.

The Dutch Supreme Court has ruled on a critical question regarding the tax deductibility of cash bonuses paid to employees in exchange for surrendering conditional stock options that never vested. This case examines whether the Deduction Limitation applies when stock options are bought out before becoming unconditional, with significant implications for how employers structure equity-based compensation arrangements.

La cour administrative d'appel de Paris examine un litige fiscal portant sur la déductibilité de primes exceptionnelles versées à des dirigeants d'entreprise. L'administration fiscale contestait le caractère excessif de ces rémunérations, mais la juridiction administrative devait déterminer si les éléments de preuve fournis suffisaient à établir cette qualification. Cette décision illustre les conditions dans lesquelles l'administration doit d

The Dutch government has unveiled its Tax Plans 2027, introducing significant changes for corporate taxpayers including retroactive implementation of the Side-by-Side package and modifications to participation exemption rules for foreign currency hedging. The proposals emphasize innovation through enhanced tax benefits for SMEs and improved treatment of employee share options in start-ups, though their adoption faces uncertainty given the government's lack of parliamentary majority.

Business interests represent some of the most valuable yet vulnerable assets in estate planning. Partnership agreements, shareholder arrangements and corporate documents may override testamentary wishes, creating conflicts between surviving business owners and beneficiaries over ownership, control and valuation that can derail even the most carefully drafted wills.

This legislative update examines Ireland's Autumn 2026 legislative agenda, including reforms to director address disclosure and cooperative societies law, while analyzing key governance trends from the UK proxy season and the European Commission's corporate law harmonization priorities. The analysis explores shareholder activism, board diversity expectations, and the EU's ambitious "EU Inc." framework aimed at creating unified company law across Member States.

For a growing games company, an IPO may seem a long way off. Management is focused on developing new titles, expanding into international markets, growing its player base and investing in talent and technology.

Belgium's proposed hospital reform introduces a four-tier system with strict bed thresholds that will force many hospital sites to either grow, merge, reconvert to specialized care facilities, or cease operations entirely by 2031. Sites falling below the minimum requirements face critical decisions about their future structure, governance, and service delivery models.

The Swedish Supreme Administrative Court has ruled on whether shares held as inventory assets under building operations rules can constitute a line of business for tax purposes. The decision addresses the critical question of withdrawal taxation in corporate restructurings where siblings transferred ownership of a property-managing company into a joint holding structure.

The EU General Court's landmark Booking/Etraveli judgment validates the European Commission's power to block digital mergers based on entrenchment theories, even without horizontal overlaps or significant market share increases. This watershed ruling arrives alongside new Article 102 Guidelines and draft Merger Guidelines that reshape how dominant platforms must justify acquisitions and demonstrate competitive benefits in ecosystem markets.