The Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) has allowed HMRC’s appeal in HMRC v Sportech plc and others [2014] UKUT 0398 (TCC).  The case concerned the correct VAT treatment of “judged” or “panel” “Spotting-the-Ball” or “Spot-the-Ball” competitions.  From 1979, VAT was charged on the entry fee for taking part in “Spot the Ball” competitions.  In 2009, the operators of the competitions sought to challenge that tax treatment, contending (for VAT purposes, at least) that the entry fee was, instead, consideration for the provision by the operators of facilities for the “playing of a game of chance”; that, consequently, the operators’ supplies should have been exempt from VAT; and that, therefore, they had overpaid VAT to HMRC between 1979 and 2006.  The First-tier Tribunal ruled in favour of the operators (see The “Spotting The Ball” Partnership and others v HMRC [2013] UKFTT 210 (TC), http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKFTT/TC/2013/TC02624.html).  The Upper Tribunal has allowed HMRC’s appeal, holding that there was no “game”; and that completing and posting a coupon was not “playing”.

According to press reports, the operators will now be required to repay to HMRC approximately £93 million (representing tax and interest) that HMRC paid to them in June 2014 (i.e. after the hearing of the appeal in the Upper Tribunal, but before the result of the appeal was known).

This case have been featured in various media, including The Times.

The Law Society Gazette opinion piece this week is by Monckton barrister Steve Broach, highlighting the lack of compliance by local authorities with their duties to looked after children and young care leavers. The piece is available here.

 

Eric Metcalfe is speaking on transnational surveillance and cross-border privacy protection at a workshop at the seventh annual meeting of the United Nations Internet Governance Forum in Istanbul, Turkey on 4 September. The workshop, hosted by the Electroinic Frontier Foundation and ARTICLE 19, will focus on recent developments in international human rights law in relation to privacy and surveillance, as well as the recent launch of the International Principles on the Application of Human Rights Law on Communications Surveillance.

For further details of the workshop, click here.

Monckton barrister Steve Broach has published a guest post on the Special Needs Jungle blog, a widely read resource for parents of children with special educational needs. The post seeks to explode some of the myths which have arisen about the reforms to the SEN system introduced under the Children and Families Act 2014, in force from this week (1 September 2014). Steve and other members of the public law team are available to advise on legal issues arising from the new system.

Click here to read the full post on the Special Needs Jungle blog.

A different approach needs to be taken where there is a battle over a contract that serves the public interest, reminds Michael Bowsher QC.

 

Permission has been granted by the Supreme Court to appeal against a decision of the Court of Appeal rejecting a claim that the Social Security (Disability Living Allowance) Regulations 1991, which operates so as to automatically suspend disability living allowance after a child has been in hospital for 84 days, breaches both article 8 and 14 ECHR.  The provision in the 1991 regulations suspending disability living allowance affects around 500 of the most severely disabled children in the country each year.  The evidence is clear that with respect to such children the caring and financial burden placed on their families increases when their child is in hospital.  On behalf of the father of one such child (who sadly died during the course of these proceedings) it is argued that the Court of Appeal was wrong to have found that the discriminatory effects of the 1991 regulations were justified, the Appellant contending that they were “manifestly without reasonable foundation” and contrary to article 14 ECHR.  It is also contended that the Court of Appeal was wrong when, in considering whether the impugned measure was justified, not to have given weight to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the United Nations convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The Supreme Court will also consider whether article 8 ECHR is engaged in circumstances where a state benefit is withdrawn and in doing so whether it should follow the approach of the European Court of Human Rights in McDonald v UK rather than its own approach in the same case, R(McDonald) v Kensington and Chelsea RLBC.  Furthermore the Supreme Court will consider whether the Court of Appeal was wrong not to have found the 1991 regulations to be in breach of article 8 ECHR due to its assessment of the proportionality of the provision being inconsistent with the obligation to ensure that “the best interests of children are a primary consideration” as required by article 3 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The judgment of the Court of Appeal can  be found here, CM v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2014] EWCA Civ 286.

Ian Wise QC and Stephen Broach act for the deceased child’s father.

The 2014 Chambers Bar Awards shortlist has been announced. Monckton Chambers has once again been nominated for ‘Set of the Year’ in Competition/EU. Monckton has been nominated in this category for six consecutive years, successfully winning the award four times.

Additionally, we are pleased to announce that Jon Turner QC and Daniel Beard QC have been nominated for ‘Silk of the Year’ along with Anneli Howard for ‘Junior of the Year,’ in the Competition/EU category.

The results will be announced at The London Hilton on Park Lane on Thursday 2nd October.

Ms Itziar Bilbao Urrutia, the founder and curator of the Urban Chick Supremacy Cell (“UCSC”), an adult website and art project featuring BDSM images and audiovisual content, has today won her appeal against a decision of the Authority for Television On Demand (“ATVOD”) classifying UCSC as an “on-demand programme service (“ODPS”) as defined in and regulated by Part 4A of the Communications Act 2003 (“the 2003 Act”), which implements Directive 2010/13/EU (“the Audiovisual Media Services Directive” or “AVMS Directive”).

The Directive sets out minimum standards for the regulation of ODPS that are in competition with linear television – covering issues such as advertising, sponsorship and restrictions on access to harmful material by persons under the age of 18 – with the aim of leveling the commercial playing field between these modes of access to similar audiovisual content. In addition, Part 4A of the 2003 Act requires all ODPS providers to notify their service to ATVOD and pay a registration fee.

Ofcom, which decided Ms. Urrutia’s appeal pursuant to section 368B of the 2003 Act, considered that the UCSC website was not sufficiently comparable with linear television to constitute an ODPS having regards the length, content and narrative structure, production techniques and niche appeal of the audiovisual content available on the website. However, Ofcom has also published today a decision finding that another adult website, Frankie and Friends, did constitute an ODPS.

Ligia Osepciu, instructed by Daniel Godden and Myles Jackman at Hodge Allen and Jones and funded by sexual expression campaign group, Backlash, advised and assisted Ms. Urrutia in her successful appeal.

 

The Competition Appeal Tribunal (“CAT”) has held that BT should pay interest on sums that it over-charged rival communications providers.  BT’s sales of wholesale Ethernet services, used to provide broadband services to consumers, are regulated by Ofcom given BT’s significant market power.  Among other things, BT’s charges for these services must be reasonably derived from their costs of provision.  In 2012, Ofcom found that Sky, TalkTalk, Virgin and a number of other companies had been overcharged by BT to the tune of almost £100m over a period of several years ending in 2011.  However, Ofcom declined to award any interest on the overcharged amounts.  In its judgment, the CAT held that in the absence of interest BT has a weaker incentive to comply with its regulatory obligations.  BT is now far more likely to be required to pay interest on any excessive charges identified in future disputes. 

 

Meredith Pickford and Julian Gregory acted for Sky and TalkTalk.

 

To view the judgment, please click here.

In this landmark decision on just satisfaction the European Court of Human Rights made, by far, its largest ever award for pecuniary loss, ordering Russia to pay in the region of 1.9 billion Euros in compensation to shareholders of Yukos, the former Russian energy giant which ceased trading following tax proceedings taken against it by the Russian authorities. The Court made awards in respect of the unlawful imposition of penalties on the company (c. 1.3 Billion Euros) and unlawful interference with its rights under Article 1, Protocol 1 of the Convention on account of the enforcement proceedings taken against Yukos (c. 0.6 Billion Euros).

Piers Gardner acted for the applicant company throughout this case (2004-14) including during the six years since Yukos was liquidated and struck from the register of companies in Russia

Here is the full Yukos v Russia Judgment

Here is further comment on the case by the European Journal of International Law