Digital transformation has the potential to unlock efficiencies, power innovative business models, allow businesses to pivot into new areas, launch new products and create new revenue streams.
More often than not, this means complying with different regulations to those you’ve been dealing with on a day-to-day basis. This can be an intimidating prospect – your legal and business teams may be out of their comfort zone and need to upskill quickly to understand the new regulatory landscape, its impact on your proposed products and services and how it may affect your regulatory risk profile.
We can help you with this. We will not only bring our deep understanding of the legal issues, but also our vast experience of working on transformation projects across multiple sectors. We can share our knowledge of market practice as well as best practice; our insights into regulators’ priorities; and our understanding of how future developments could impact your strategy. Our objective is to set you up to be legally compliant by providing practical advice to ensure “compliance by design” in your products. We will help you to understand the risks but take a risk-based approach, where appropriate.
As well as bespoke advice on a particular project, we can help you with the strategic thinking about your overall regularity obligations, including through the options below of a workshop or presentation.
1. Launches: New Products, Services, Features
Our international regulatory experts can support you with all of your legal requirements when launching new products, services and features whether in one territory, multiple territories or globally. In particular, our team can provide the following services:
- Legal launch plan. Working with your team we will produce a detailed plan documenting all of the steps the legal workstream needs to take to get to launch, including any timeframes. We can then assist by providing a fully managed service to implement all of the steps, or alternatively if you would like to utilise existing expertise within your legal team, we can implement specific agreed upon steps.
- Legal requirements overview. If you would like to understand all of the regulatory requirements either: (i) for a type of product, service or feature; or alternatively (ii) for particular areas or an area of law, our team can provide you with practical advice detailing the relevant legal obligations. For example, popular areas of law include product regulation and ecommerce and popular products include OTT services and drones.
- Legal review / gap analysis. Our team will provide a gap analysis of your products, services and features and any associated documentation. This will detail any areas of non-compliance and provide you with a practical set of risk-based recommendations that the business needs to take to reach your preferred level of compliance.
- International coordination. We can help you to launch in multiple jurisdictions or globally, by coordinating local counsel and producing a consistent approach across the relevant jurisdictions.
2. Implementing New Legislation
Our teams have extensive experience of helping businesses implement new legislation. We work with in-house legal teams together with product teams to provide actionable advice that the business can use. Our recent track record includes advising businesses on the implementation of the Copyright Directive, the Audio-Visual Media Services Directive, the Portability Regulation, the Platform to Business Regulation, the Digital Content Directive, the Sale of Goods Directive, the UK's Age Appropriate Design Code and the Consumer Omnibus Directive.
Webinar recording - What to think about when implementing upcoming Digital Regulation
3. Day to Day Queries: Existing Products / Product Counselling
- Legal review / gap analysis. This is the same product as 1.c. above but for existing products. Our team will provide a gap analysis of your products, services and features and any associated documentation. This will detail any areas of non-compliance and provide you with a practical set of risk-based recommendations that the business needs to take to reach your preferred level of compliance.
- Day to day queries: As a product counsel you have to tackle a multitude of topics such as privacy, consumer protection, advertising and marketing, intellectual property, and digital currencies that arise out of the operation and growth of often global products and services. Our expert team is on hand to assist you with any day to day queries you may have via a hotline, a dedicated email alias or simply asking a member of our expert team.
- International coordination. We can advise you in multiple jurisdictions or globally, by coordinating local counsel and producing a consistent approach across the relevant jurisdictions.
Webinar recording - Product counselling for digital products
4. Regulators: Engaging with Regulators and Regulatory Strategy
- Challenges by regulators/competitors and regulatory investigations - our experienced team can help guide you through your case.
- Market studies/sector inquiries – working closely with your internal team, we will coordinate your responses to requests for information from regulators; providing project management services (including use of technology where appropriate), risk assessments and strategic advice.
- Regulatory strategy – digital regulation is rapidly developing and companies are increasingly required to develop a policy position to inform responses to consultations, information requests and third party investigations. We can work with you to develop a global strategy and to manage your responses, maximising your position and minimising the burden on internal resources.
Webinar recording - Managing regulatory investigations in a digital age
5. Looking ahead: Horizon Scanning
We will help you to keep current on relevant industry standards, laws, and regulations.
- New legislation scoping exercise. We will analyse if and to what extent your products, services or product features are caught by new legislation.
- New legislation impact assessment / gap analysis. If your product is in scope of a specific piece of legislation, we can provide you with: (i) a comprehensive list of the new obligations; and (ii) a gap analysis which details any changes which are necessary to your products etc; and (iii) a practical set of risk-based recommendations to reach your preferred level of compliance.
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Bespoke tracker. Our horizon scanning trackers are tailored to individual requirements and to specific areas of concern (e.g. some of our trackers focus on e-commerce laws and advertising laws whilst others report on any laws impacting platforms) and can include key regulatory developments (e.g., release of new guidance and/or enforcement proceedings). These are updated at an agreed frequency and ensure you are across all relevant legislative development and are not caught unawares by new laws.
6. Planning for the future: influencing future legislation
We have extensive experience helping clients influence and shape the legislative, regulatory and policy development process. Our lawyers work in a fully integrated manner with clients’ legal teams, government relations and lobbying teams, and have a deep and holistic understanding of business and commercial priorities, providing practical, down-to-earth support and advice with everything from consultation responses to challenges to government decisions or secondary legislation. Our team can help in the following ways:
- Engage with legislators to help develop policies and drafting legislation, regulation and guidance. We can help you explain the implications of new policies legislation and guidance to decision-makers. Our lawyers, who have experience working internally within government drafting legislation, can suggest amendments to proposals and alternative drafting to deal with any issues identified.
- Responding to consultations. Many pieces of legislation, and increasingly regulations and guidance go through a formal consultation process which is a great opportunity to have your voice heard. Our team can develop arguments, draft consultation responses and advise on how respond.
- Challenging guidance, government decisions and legislation. Our lawyers are experienced at putting forward a range of arguments to regulators and other decision-makers to challenge where necessary. Ultimately this can take the form of judicial review and our experienced team of litigators can help with this.
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