March 02 2007

Red tape day–businesses need to absorb 74 new statutes and statutory instruments

Over 70 new statutes and statutory instruments that impact on businesses come into force on Red Tape Day, April 6th says Sweet & Maxwell the legal information providers.

Alina Lourie Director of Legal Online Sweet & Maxwell, comments: “Despite the fact that we are now in the last months of the Blair government, his administration seems to have lost none of its appetite for bringing in further regulations and legal changes.”

In the week commencing April 2 there will be a total of 82 new statutes and statutory instruments that will impact on businesses compared to 80 last year.

Major changes that businesses will have to deal with that week include:

• The introduction of a smoking ban in Wales - April 2
• Extension of the right to request flexible working to carers of disabled adults – April 6
• New health, safety regulation in the construction industry – April 6
• Extension of paid maternity leave to nine months for women or adopters – April 6
• New gender equality duties – for public sector employers and outsourcers – April 6
• FSA takes over regulation of personal pension schemes and SIPPs – April 6

The table below, has been created using data from Sweet & Maxwell’s Lawtel online Legislative Calendar and shows the dramatic jump in statutory instruments and statutes effecting areas of commercial law, implemented around “red tape day”.

Source: Lawtel / Sweet & Maxwell

Sweet & Maxwell, a Thomson business (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC), designed the Lawtel Legislation Calendar to allow the user to track the progress of all parliamentary bills and statutory instruments, view the exact dates on which individual sections of an Act come into force and then click to view the actual legislation and its evolution.

The service allows lawyers to refine the calendar to see just those legislative changes that will affect a particular practice area, for example employment or banking, then with a click of their mouse add the details into their own Microsoft Outlook Calendar.

Sweet & Maxwell (http://www.sweetandmaxwell.thomson.com ) is a leading provider of information and solutions to the legal and professional markets in the UK and Ireland. With over 200 years of history and heritage in legal publishing, Sweet & Maxwell offers detailed and specialist knowledge, understanding, interpretation and commentary across a wide range of subjects in a variety of formats to meet customers' needs - books, journals, periodicals, looseleafs, CD-ROMs and online services. Sweet & Maxwell is part of The Thomson Corporation.

The Thomson Corporation (www.thomson.com) is a global leader in providing essential electronic workflow solutions to business and professional customers. With operational headquarters in Stamford, Conn., Thomson provides value-added information, software tools and applications to more than 20 million users in the fields of law, tax, accounting, financial services, scientific research and healthcare. The Corporation's common shares are listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC).

Press enquiries:

Boris Nadenic
Corporate Communications Manager
Sweet & Maxwell
Tel: 020 7393 7000

Nick Mattison or Paul Arvanitopoulos
Mattison Public Relations
Tel: 020 7645 3636