Government today responded to its consultation on UK implementation of the Marrakesh Directive.

The Directive implements the Marrakesh Treaty. The Treaty improves access to books for the visually impaired and print disabled. It does this by creating exceptions to copyright law. These allow books to be copied into accessible formats and these copies to be transported across borders.

In summary:

• most respondents agreed with the proposed implementation approach. The government will proceed on this basis. There will be slight changes in one area of implementation based on legal advice.

• we will amend existing UK copyright disability exceptions in line with the EU Directive. Where possible, we will extend these to all works and disabilities.

• we will remove existing commercial availability restrictions. These are not permitted by the Directive. There was insufficient evidence to warrant a compensation scheme. We will review this decision in 5 years, or if new economic evidence emerges.

The Marrakesh Treaty was agreed by the World Intellectual Property Office in 2013. The EU published a Directive and a Regulation to implement the Treaty in 2017. This will come into force by 12 October 2018. Legislation will be laid in Parliament in due course.

Published 10 September 2018

Vivid Lifestyle Ltd (Vivid) was incorporated in July 2013 and its’ registered office was in Hounslow, West London.

The company started business in 2014, selling nutritional supplement tablets wholly to UK customers before broadening its operations to international markets. By 2017, the majority of its sales were to customers in Australia and New Zealand.

Vivid enjoyed significant turnover, reaching over £1 million in 2017, with a gross profit margin of 91.4%, and sat in the centre of a multi-national trading operation, co-ordinating the activities of a telesales centre in India and a distribution centre in Reading.

Following complaints, however, the Insolvency Service launched an investigation into the Vivid’s activities and petitioned to the courts to wind up the company.

The court heard that Vivid’s customers, which included a significant proportion of elderly and vulnerable patients, were misled as to the worth and likely effects of the tablets sold to them at huge mark ups.

Vivid employed highly pressurised and persistent sales practices and techniques, including telesales callers making false claims to be qualified to give medical advice.

The court also heard that Vivid appeared to have abused customers bank and credit card information. Customers were charged for items they did not order, were told they had not paid for items when they had and were charged for repeat sales which they had not requested. In some cases, customers simply paid in order to be rid of the callers.

Vivid was wound up by the High Court Business and Property Courts in Manchester on 29 August 2018 and at the hearing, for which no company representatives were present, District Judge Matharu said she found Vivid’s manner of procuring business and payment “quite disgusting”.

She continued:

there is layer upon layer of taking advantage of those most least able or prepared to deal with the nature of the communications.

DJ Matharu said that the company “must be stopped”, and duly made an order that the company be placed into compulsory liquidation with the Official Receiver appointed as Liquidator.

Investigation Supervisor Irshard Mohammed, of the Insolvency Service, said:

The Insolvency Service has taken action against a significant number of companies selling everyday vitamin tablets to the elderly and infirm as a cure for whatever ails them. We will continue to do so.

Members of the public should be wary of anyone calling them, or their elderly or vulnerable friends or relatives, looking to sell them expensive medicines over the telephone.

The petition to wind up the company was presented in the High Court of Justice Business and Property Courts in Manchester, on 25th July 2018, under the provisions of section 124A of the Insolvency Act 1986 following confidential enquiries by Company Investigations under section 447 of the Companies Act 1985, as amended. A Winding Up Order was made against Vivid Lifestyle Ltd at the hearing on 29th August 2018.

Vivid Lifestyle Ltd was incorporated on 15 July 2013 with the Company Registration Number 08610085. Its Registered Office on 29 August 2018 was 3 Foundry Mews Hounslow, P O Box 631, London, United Kingdom, TW3 9UB.

Since 2016, in addition to Vivid, the Insolvency Service has wound up nine other health supplement companies in the public interest after they scammed people, often the elderly and vulnerable, into unnecessarily buying their products.

All enquiries concerning the affairs of the companies should be made to: The Official Receiver, Public Interest Unit, 4 Abbey Orchard Street, London, SW1P 2HT. Telephone: 0207 637 1110; piu.or@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk.

Company Investigations, part of the Insolvency Service, uses powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK on behalf of the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

Further information about live company investigations is available on GOV.UK.

The Insolvency Service, an executive agency sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), administers the insolvency regime, and aims to deliver and promote a range of investigation and enforcement activities both civil and criminal in nature, to support fair and open markets. We do this by effectively enforcing the statutory company and insolvency regimes, maintaining public confidence in those regimes and reducing the harm caused to victims of fraudulent activity and to the business community, including dealing with the disqualification of directors in corporate failures.

BEIS’ mission is to build a dynamic and competitive UK economy that works for all, in particular by creating the conditions for business success and promoting an open global economy. The Criminal Investigations and Prosecutions team contributes to this aim by taking action to deter fraud and to regulate the market. They investigate and prosecute a range of offences, primarily relating to personal or company insolvencies. The agency also authorises and regulates the insolvency profession, assesses and pays statutory entitlement to redundancy payments when an employer cannot or will not pay employees, provides banking and investment services for bankruptcy and liquidation estate funds and advises ministers and other government departments on insolvency law and practice.

Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.

Media enquiries for this press release – 020 7674 6910 or 020 7596 6187

You can also follow the Insolvency Service on:

The government has announced £2 million to support the uptake of e-cargo bikes, driving UK companies towards a greener future.

The funding will help pave the way for the nimble electric delivery vehicles to replace older, polluting vans – helping to improve the environment and reduce congestion.

The announcement is part of the international Zero Emission Vehicle Summit being held in Birmingham this week. The event is bringing together policy makers, industry experts and opinion formers from around globe to tackle carbon emissions and to explore ways to improve air quality.

Jesse Norman, Minister for Low Emission Vehicles, said:

Support for e-cargo bikes will help to ensure that Britain leads the way in the development and deployment of the technologies of the future.

Encouraging electric delivery bikes on to our city streets will cut traffic and improve air quality, and will show how these vehicles have the potential to play an important role in the zero emission future of this country.

The government’s plans will encourage alternate green technologies to counter the increasing usage of diesel delivery vans that has accompanied the boom in internet shopping, and comes as 16 of the UK’s largest van fleet operators have signed up to the clean van commitment in a bid to go electric.

In the last year alone spending online in the UK increased by 15.3% and the latest road traffic estimates indicate van traffic increased by 4.7% to 49.5 billion vehicle miles in 2016.

Most of these vans are diesel, which cause congestion and have a detrimental impact on the environment. Over time the government expects to see increasing numbers of electric vans on UK streets but there is also a place for other delivery modes including e-cargo bikes.

The announcement of the grant is an early response to the last mile call for evidence, which closes today (10 September 2018). The call for evidence asked for views on how the government can harness the opportunities for greener delivery in the commercial and residential parts of our cities and towns. Further detail about the distribution of this funding will be outlined shortly along with the government’s full response to the call for evidence.

It also builds on previous government-funded UK trials for e-cargo bikes in Spring 2017. The Department for Transport’s Innovation Challenge Fund grant enabled London-based e-cargo Bikes to set up their first Micro Hub on an industrial estate in Islington from which grocery delivery trials with Sainsbury’s were conducted.

The trials exceeded expectations in its potential commercial viability and efficiency, which showed that 96.7% of orders could be fulfilled in a single e-cargo bike drop.

This funding builds on the government’s Road to Zero Strategy which outlines the government’s ambition to lead the world in the design and manufacturing of zero emission vehicles.

It also forms an important part of the government’s work on the Future of Mobility Grand Challenge, part of the modern Industrial Strategy, which is considering how emerging technologies and services can be used to address a range of transport challenges.