Varying a contract

Over the course of a commercial arrangement, there will be occasions when a written contract needs to be varied or amended to reflect the changing needs of the parties or environment within which they are operating. Written contracts will either contain a prohibition on any variation or allow changes to be made, perhaps on the condition that such changes are in writing and signed off by the parties or their authorised representatives. A person purporting to vary and amend a contract must have the authority to do so.

An agreement that does not need to be in writing (or evidenced by it) may be varied by the oral agreement of the parties.

Any agreement to vary a contract is subject to general contract principles and needs to be supported by consideration. If an attempted contract

To view the latest version of this document and thousands of others like it, sign-in with LexisNexis or register for a free trial.

TAKE A FREE TRIAL

Latest Commercial News

CMA publishes provisional findings on mobile browsers competition

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published its provisional decision in the market investigation into mobile browsers and cloud gaming. The CMA has provisionally identified competition concerns in the mobile browsers market. This development follows a series of working papers and updates throughout 2024, including the recommencement of the investigation in January after a Court of Appeal judgment. The CMA has set a deadline of 5pm on 13 December 2024 for interested parties to submit responses to the provisional findings.

Commercial weekly highlights—21 November 2024

This week's edition of Commercial weekly highlights includes: analysis of the statutory guidance on the failure to prevent fraud offence which was introduced under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, commentary on Advertising Standard Agency's strategy to proactively pursue ‘greenwashing’ claims which explains the risks posed to businesses and what they can do to minimise their exposure, and news that the Department for Business and Trade has launched a consultation on implementing the new subscription contracts regime to be introduced under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024.

ASA rulings—20 November 2024

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a ruling on two paid-for Google ads for The Pure Gold Company, a gold and silver retail dealer. The ads were identified through the ASA's proactive monitoring as part of its wider work on unregulated investments. The ASA found the ads were misleading as they failed to illustrate the risks of gold investments. The ASA upheld the complaint.

Failure to prevent fraud—Statutory guidance

Corporate Crime analysis: Following a wait of nearly 12 months since the failure to prevent fraud (FTPF) offence was enacted, the government has now issued the statutory guidance on the procedures which companies are expected to implement for the purpose of preventing the relevant underlying fraudulent conduct by persons associated with them and, where such conduct occurs, providing a potential defence to the offence . Written by John Binns and Alexander Gorst at BCL Solicitors LLP.