The jurisdictional questions arising from  a decentralised workforce will be a key tech-sector trend for 2022, Mason, Hayes & Curran technology partner Oisin Tobin has predicted.

The push by staff to work outside of their home jurisdiction was not merely a HR issue, but also a significant legal issue as well, he said.

Staff working for an Irish company, but spending extended periods outside of the jurisdiction, throws up issues of local employment law and local payroll taxes, as well as whether – inadvertently – the Irish firm is now established in that country.

“This causes issues from a corporate-tax perspective,” Tobin said at the later MH&C technology sector update.

He also raised the possibility of jurisdictional issues, with respect to showing where the company was established, from a jurisdictional perspective.

“Which law is going to apply to your Irish company?” asked Tobin. 

Complex issue

This was a complex issue to manage, he warned, and one that would be increasingly to the fore.

Digital services used by minors would be affected by the EU’s new directive on contracts for supply of digital services, Tobin said.

Services must be child-safe, or have blocking mechanisms in place.

Many clients were now looking at how best to child-proof their services, he said.

The directive, which came into force at the start of this year, also expands consumer law to cover video and audio files, cloud-computing services, and social media.

“What we are seeing is that these services now have to comply expressly with traditional consumer-law principles – such as ensuring that the goods or services are fit for purpose,” he said.

Novel requirements for providers to give updates are a new obligation – particularly security updates to services that are provided remotely.

Tobin said that, from his perspective, this new rule was not getting the attention it deserved, but would have a significant impact on technology companies.

Legal frameworks

He suggested that business and legal leaders should keep a close eye on new legal frameworks emerging from Brussels.

“We're seeing quite a push, particularly by the French presidency of the European Council, to adopt extensive EU rules which are effectively designed to rewrite the rulebook with respect to the role of technology companies, and their liability for user-generated content,” he said.

Other rules would make it easier and faster to collect electronic evidence from large technology companies, he added.