Australia: Airport projects in the Pacific face the same live-environment challenges seen in Australia and New Zealand, including restricted access, passenger movements and aviation security requirements, compounded by smaller contractor markets, limited specialist subcontractor capacity and long, imported supply chains. These conditions make procurement strategy and contract selection critical to successful delivery. This article looks at how to test market capacity early, package works realistically, and choose contract models, from lump sum and measure and value to guaranteed maximum price, incentivised target cost and Managing Contractor arrangements, that match the risk profile of the work. It also covers protecting operational continuity, managing stakeholders and adapting Australian and New Zealand standard forms to local conditions, so all parties have a clear basis to price, programme and deliver the works.

Canada: The 2026 annual meeting proxy voting results are in for Canada’s Big Six banks and a cross-section of other major TSX and S&P/TSX-listed issuers. The results confirm continued investor confidence in incumbent boards and management, alongside sharpening scrutiny of AI governance, capital allocation, data stewardship and shareholder-rights frameworks.

Ukraine: Over the past two years, a remarkable transformation has taken place in the global defense industry. Ukraine—a country that in 2022 was almost entirely dependent on Western military aid—has emerged as one of the world’s most dynamic defense technology ecosystems, generating battlefield-validated innovation at a pace that has surprised seasoned observers and is now attracting aggressive investment and partnership interest from the United States, Germany and across Europe.

New Zealand: Mergers and acquisitions are often characterised by months of negotiations, due diligence and deal-making. But for many buyers and sellers, the real challenges begin after closing the deal. Unexpected liabilities, warranty claims, purchase price adjustment disputes and disagreements over earn-out arrangements can quickly erode the value of a transaction and strain commercial relationships.

New Zealand: The Planning Bill (PB) and the Natural Environment Bill (NEB) have now been reported back by the Environment Select Committee. The Committee received 3,204 submissions and heard presentations from 178 submitters. The Bills are reported back by Majority, with opposition parties each providing a minority position. In this article we provide a brief update on some of the more notable changes. 

New Zealand: The signing of the Auckland City Deal on 10 April 2026 established a formal partnership between Government and Auckland Council aimed at unlocking the city’s potential by improving infrastructure coordination, facilitating housing growth, and increasing productivity. It serves as a test case for the government’s wider City and Regional Deals framework and may shape how similar arrangements are developed across the country in future years.

Mexico: Over the past decade, the European Union (EU”) has reshaped its approach to investment treaties, moving away from case-by-case arbitration towards standing tribunals and deliberately narrowing the substantive standards that investors can invoke, so as to preserve more room for State regulation.

Mexico: Durante la última década, la Unión Europea (“UE”) ha reconfigurado su enfoque en materia de tratados de inversión, abandonando el arbitraje caso por caso en favor de tribunales permanentes y restringiendo deliberadamente los estándares sustantivos que los inversionistas pueden invocar, a fin de preservar un mayor margen para la regulación estatal.

United Kingdom: A long-running dispute involving football referees is a useful reminder that employment status remains highly fact-specific. For employers, the decision is a useful prompt to check whether their status assessments would still stand up after extra time.

Singapore: First published on IWIRC News, this article considers Singapore’s proposed adoption of the UNCITRAL Model Law on Recognition and Enforcement of Insolvency-Related Judgments (MLRIJ). It examines what this development means for Singapore’s cross-border insolvency framework, and in particular whether the proposed adoption of the MLRIJ represents a new departure or the codification and strengthening of an approach already reflected in recent Singapore decisions.

United Kingdom: The UK has opted for a deliberately split approach to stablecoin regulation. Non-systemic UK-issued qualifying stablecoins (UKQS) sit within the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regime, while systemic stablecoins move into joint regulation by the FCA and the Bank of England (the Bank) once HM Treasury recognises them as systemically important.

United Kingdom: On 30 June 2026, the FCA published the core policy statements and finalised guidance completing much of the UK’s new regulatory regime for cryptoassets.

United Kingdom: In what has now become a familiar approach from the FCA for firms, the FCA has published further good and poor practice findings under the Consumer Duty (the Duty) – this time focused on the products and services outcome. 

New Zealand: On 1 July 2026, the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) became the sole supervisor of New Zealand’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime. At the same time, the DIA issued a comprehensive guidance suite (Guidance Suite) setting out its expectation for compliance with AML/CFT obligations. Nearly all of the documents in the Guidance Suite are updated or refreshed guidance materials from prior to 1 July, when there were three AML/CFT supervisors. 

South Korea: On July 2, 2026, the Ministry of Employment and Labor (“MOEL”) released a revised edition of the “Manual for the Prevention of and Response to Workplace Harassment,” three years after the previous version.

On July 13, 2026, the Department of War (DOW) announced the immediate suspension of Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Phase II implementation while it conducts a 60-day review of the program. Contractors that anticipated imminent third-party assessment requirements will understandably view the announcement as welcome relief.

United States: Over the past two plus months, Dentons Cannabis Practice Leader Eric Berlin engaged in a variety of events.

United Kingdom: On 29 June 2026, the FCA published Consultation Paper CP26/23 – Consumer Duty: Scope and proportionality, proposing a targeted package of amendments to the Consumer Duty (the Duty) rules and accompanying non-Handbook guidance. The proposals are intended to clarify where the Duty applies, reinforce proportionality in its application and reduce unnecessary complexity, particularly for firms operating in wholesale markets.

Welcome to the July 2026 edition of Dentons Capitol Insights – Sounding the Drumbeat in Washington.

The rapid growth of artificial intelligence and hyperscale data centers is creating unprecedented demand for reliable, carbon-free power. While nuclear energy is increasingly viewed as one of the few technologies capable of meeting that demand at scale, the industry continues to face a fundamental obstacle: the lack of a repeatable financing structure capable of attracting large-scale private capital.