Hi, Here is your weekly round-up of highlights from OUT-LAW News. As always, click the links to read the full stories of the summaries below or see these and many other stories from this week's news at http://www.out-law.com/page-5951. You can also access our archive of weekly emails at http://www.out-law.com/page-7793. The OUT-LAW Team ***This week's highlights from OUT-LAW News*** 1. Suppliers will have single point of contact across all of Government, says auditor Major suppliers to the Government will in future deal with a single civil servant in relation to contracts across all Government departments, the National Audit Office (NAO) has said. 17/02/2011 http://out-law.com/page-11785 2. New pan-EU patent plan will be adopted by 25 of EU's 27 countries, says Commission All but two EU countries will participate in a scaled-down European patent plan, the European Commission has said. The stalled process will be adopted by every EU country except Italy and Spain, a spokeswoman told OUT-LAW.COM. 16/02/2011 http://out-law.com/page-11782 3. EU consults on class action-style suits Class action-style law suits could become a feature of European law in more areas than just competition and consumer protection law, according to European Commission plans. 16/02/2011 http://out-law.com/page-11780 4. Government gives more time for consultation on public contracts SNIPPET: The Government has extended the deadline for companies to express their views on EU reform of public procurement rules. Companies now have until 25 February to contribute to the debate. 17/02/2011 http://www.out-law.com/page-11777 5. Tax tribunal rules in favour of contractor in IR35 case Whether or not a worker is an employee of a company or not can only be decided by looking at a wide range of facts related to their working life, the Tax Tribunal has said. It said a designer in the aircraft industry was not an Airbus employee. 14/02/2011 http://out-law.com/page-11775 6. UK opposes plans for '28th regime' for contract law There is no need to reform European consumer contract law and no evidence to suggest that the European Commission's preferred solution would work, the UK Government has said. 14/02/2011 http://out-law.com/page-11774 ***About this email*** This is a weekly email for subscribers of OUT-LAW.COM, a website with more than 10,000 pages of free legal news and guidance. If and when you need further advice, we hope you'll choose Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind OUT-LAW.COM. Feel free to forward this email to your friends. If someone forwarded this email to you and you'd like your own subscription, register free at http://www.out-law.com. Existing subscribers: you can manage your profile at http://www.out-law.com/page-520. The email address for this subscription is <>. Feel free to give us your feedback by replying to this email. To unsubscribe, please reply with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line. (We'd also appreciate you telling us why you've decided to unsubscribe.) This email is sent on behalf of Pinsent Masons LLP, a limited liability partnership registered in England & Wales (registered number: OC333653) and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The word 'partner', used in relation to the LLP, refers to a member of the LLP or an employee or consultant of the LLP or any affiliated firm who is a lawyer with equivalent standing and qualifications. A list of members of the LLP, and of those non-members who are designated as partners, is displayed at the LLP's registered office: CityPoint, One Ropemaker Street, London, EC2Y 9AH, United Kingdom. We use 'Pinsent Masons' to refer to Pinsent Masons LLP and affiliated entities that practise under the name 'Pinsent Masons' or a name that incorporates those words. Reference to 'Pinsent Masons' is to Pinsent Masons LLP and/or one or more of those affiliated entities as the context requires. For important regulatory information please visit: http://www.pinsentmasons.com.