On May 29, 2020, the “Act to Mitigate the Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Competition Law” entered into force. It includes provisions for a one-off extension of the examination periods of the Federal Cartel Office in the context of merger control. This applies exclusively to the examination periods for merger control notifications received by the Federal Cartel Office between March 1 and May 31, 2020 ...
The COVID-19 pandemic distinctly reminds us that during their term, contracts may be exposed to influences beyond the parties’ control, which may unforeseeably complicate their performance or make it impossible. Examples include civil wars, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, or pirate attacks on cargo ships ...
The Covid-19 pandemic situation has emerged as more than just a healthcare crisis. Accordingly, the focus is to address and anticipate at the same time the economic and social implications which are still at an early stage. What we are rapidly starting to acknowledge is that the circumstances created by the pandemic have revealed legislative gaps and vulnerabilities, which need to be addressed in order to avoid further negative impacts to the extent possible ...
On April 8, 2020, the federal government adopted draft wording presented by the Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection for a draft bill to mitigate the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in event contract law in order to protect organizers of recreational events and operators of recreational facilities from considerable outflows of liquidity ...
The international public health emergency due to the new Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has led to the urgent and succession introduction of a range of legislative measures. These measures are an exceptional and temporary response to the pandemic in Portugal and they include the declaration of a state of emergency across the whole country that has already been extended twice ...
As the contagion rate and death toll caused by the Covid-19 emergency (“Covid-19”) continues to decrease, on 26 April 2020 the Prime Minister announced in a press conference the measures adopted to ease the lockdown during the so-called “phase 2”. The new measures are reflected in the Prime Minister Decree dated 26 April 20201 (the “26 April 2020 Decree”) ...
In Hungary, the Government hasintroduced multiple measures – besides the ongoing curfew restrictions – aimed at helping companies navigate through these hard times. Hédi Bozsonyik, Head of our Employment Law practice, has summarized the most important facts. 1. General employment law related measures a.) The employer has more flexibility in modifying the work schedule even after it was communicated with the employees; b ...
INFARMED and the DGS have published a set of guidelines for manufacturers and wholesale distributors of medicinal products for human use. The aim of these guidelines is to ensure supply to the domestic market and, at the same time, to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and protect the employees of these operators ...
The Government of the Slovak Republic approved on 14 April 2020 the draft bill amending Act No. 62/2020 Coll. on certain emergency measures in relation to the spread of dangerous contagious human disease COVID-19 and in the justice, and amendments to certain laws.The bill was passed by the Slovak Parliament on 22 April 2020 and has been published in the Collection of Laws on 25 April 2020.The below regulation on temporary protection of businesses came into force since 12 May 2020 ...
The rapid spread of the new Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and the Covid-19 pandemic have led to a very significant increase in demand for medical devices (MDs) and personal protective equipment (PPE), and there was insufficient supply to meet existing needs during the state of emergency and the period that will immediately follow it ...
The EU Commission has implemented a Temporary Framework for State aid measures and provided the Member States with a toolbox of instruments to support their companies in the crisis. Germany has implemented some of these instruments. The following article takes a look at instruments that have been notified by other Member States and are also of interest to Germany ...
In recent months, the European courts have again decided numerous cases on state aid law. The following cases deal with antitrust law claims for damages for granting authorities, the effects of changes to the legal basis in state aid proceedings and the access to files in accordance with Regulation (EC) No. 1049/2001 in state aid proceedings ...
On April 24, 2020, the Protocol signed on March 14 2020 (the “H&S Protocol”), providing for the measures to be complied with by employers to continue the activity while ensuring the maximum degree of protection for the employees, has been amended. The amendments encompass all the sections of the H&S Protocol ...
The French State guarantee of 300 billion euros scheme to secure loans granted by banks to companies affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. This was set up by Amendment to the French budget law for 2020 dated 23 March 2020[1] (completed by two arretés dated 23 March 2020 and 17 April 2020 and modified by the second amendment to the budget law dated 25 April 2020[2]) is already a success ...
The Heidelberg Regional Court rejected an employee’s claim for access to information about the employer’s processing of his personal data insofar as this data is merely located in backup files of his email account. Restoring such data was said to represent disproportionate effort for the controller in this individual case (judgment of February 6, 2020 – 4 O 6/19) ...
It might seem that in the time of the "coronavirus", everything revolves around veils, disinfection or restriction of operation of various production facilities, and energy is talked about only in connection with the need to keep the elements of critical energy infrastructure running ...
Summary On 29 January 2020 the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) gave its ruling in the long-awaited case C-371/18 Sky v SkyKick. The judgment provides for two key findings. First, it confirms that a trademark cannot be declared invalid on the grounds that the terms used to designate the goods/services lack clarity and precision ...
Every day, the outbreak of coronavirus infection has an increasing impact on the economy, in general and various aspects of business, in particular. In this information letter, we have reflected the main trends and specifics of M&A transactions in Russia, under the conditions of restrictive measures caused by the spread of COVID-19. General trends of the M&A market in Russia under COVID-19 Transactions’ dynamic ...
The Slovak Parliament passed on 22 April 2020 the bill amending Act No. 62/2020 Coll. on certain emergency measures in relation to the spread of dangerous contagious human disease COVID-19 and in the justice, and amendments to certain laws (the “Lex Corona”). The bill of Lex Corona, among others, provides for special rules on deferral of attachments (executions) over properties of natural persons if financially affected by spread of coronavirus ...
The government has started the announce the dismantling of certain Covid19 measures and from Monday, April 27, 2020, itnow allows business trips for foreigners to the Czech Republic, in respect of which entrepreneurs have been repeatedly demanding. However, it set a number of conditions and rules ...
On 10 April 2020 was promulgated new Regulation in Slovakia due to economic mobilization measures. The Government Regulation was adopted to announce specific extraordinary regulatory measures and measures concerning civilian duty and material performance in connection with the emergency situation related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Regulation of the Government of the Slovak Republic No. 77/2020 Coll ...
A draft bill [1] passed preventing lessors of real estate, including flats and non-residential properties, to unilaterally terminate lease due to delay of lessees with payment of rent, including payments for performance usually associated with the lease, which are due during the period between 1 April 2020 and 30 June 2020 ...
On 23 April 2020, the Municipal Court in Prague issued a judgment upholding the petition for annulment of certain measures of the Ministry of Health issued in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. With effect from 27 April 2020, the Court annulled two extraordinary measures of the Ministry of Health of 17 April 2020 and 26 March 2020 on the restriction of retail sales and two extraordinary measures of the Ministry of Health of 15 April 2020 and 23 3 ...
In a previous article we emphasised the importance of ensuring compliance with the competition rules even during an economic crisis – there are inter alia strict rules on cooperation between competitors. The outbreak of Covid-19 has led to a shortage of certain healthcare products ...
