This Article was originally published in Issue 7.5 of the CEE Legal Matters Magazine. Companies around the globe are having to make urgent decisions to keep their employees safe and ensure business continuity in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak. In order to fulfil these goals, companies need to find the right balance between providing a safe working environment and respecting their employees’ privacy, which can prove to be quite difficult in practice ...
As part of a package of economic measures worth EUR 5.1 billion, the Serbian Government adopted a decree on 16 April 2020 establishing a guarantee scheme for loans to be provided by local banks to businesses to reduce the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic (the “COVID-19 Guarantee Scheme”) ...
The Government of Serbia adopted the Regulation on the Procedure for Issuance of Debt Securities (“Regulation”). This is one of the economic measures presented to reduce the negative effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and an attempt to support the economy of Serbia. The Regulation entered into the force on 10 April 2020 ...
Following the announcement of economic measures aimed towards responding to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Serbian Government issued two regulations on 10 April 2020 that determine the conditions and criteria for compliance of the state aid (i) for remedying the negative effects caused byCOVID-19 and (ii) for remedying a serious disturbance in the economy caused byCOVID-19, whereas both regulations will be valid until 1 July 2021 ...
The Government of Serbia adoptedthe Regulation on Fiscal Benefits and Direct Aid to Private Sector Entities and Financial Aid to Citizens to Mitigate the Economic Impact ofCOVID-19 (“Regulation”) on 10 April 2020, ten days after the announcement of the proposalof the Program of economic measures aimedat reducing the negative effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Regulation provides tax benefits and direct payments to private sector companies ...
The Government announced on 1 April 2020 its proposal of a Program of economic measures to reduce the negative effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and an attempt to support the economy of Serbia, split into four categories ...
The Republic of Serbia has officially closed its border crossings for passengers in road, rail, air and water traffic at 8.00 a.m. on 20 March 2020. The passing of humanitarian aid and crossings of national importance that are approved by the competent authority are still allowed. International passenger traffic to and from the Nikola Tesla Airport has been suspended in accordance with the Government of Serbia’s decision on 19 March 2020 from 12.00 p.m. onwards ...
The current COVID-19outbreak and severe and numerous preventive and restrictive measures governments are continually introducing are first and foremost a global health concern. However, this situation has already caused significant distortions to businesses and their ability to perform their contractual obligations. The question of all questions seems to be if the COVID-19 pandemic is aforce majeureor not ...
Due to the developments regarding the outbreak of COVID-19 and the declaration of a state of emergency in Serbia, the National Bank of Serbia (“NBS”) undertook emergency measures to facilitate the position of citizens and businesses in servicing debts ...
This article was written by Igor Angelovski and was originally published in Issue 6.2 of the CEE Legal Matters Magazine. “If you are a company conducting business in the automotive industry with intentions of expanding on the European market, where do you look? The answer may be the Central European country of Slovenia ...
This article is written byMarko Ketlerand originally published in Issue 6.4 of theCEE Legal Matters Magazine. After a few troublesome years during the global financial crisis, it seems like Slovenia is on a positive economic route again. On December 14, 2018, S&P Global Ratings affirmed an “A+/A-1” credit rating for Slovenia with a positive outlook ...
The Government of North Macedonia announced an open call for awarding a contract for the use of a feed-in premium for electricity produced in photovoltaic power plants (“PVPPs”) on state land in North Macedonia, with total installed capacity of 35 MW. Two locations are envisaged for construction of the PVPPs – Azambegovo (Sveti Nikole) and Manastirec (Makedonski Brod) ...
The European Commission consistently emphasises the citizens’ rights and status in its hard Brexit preparations and contingency works. It appealed to EU Member Stats to take a generous approach towards the rights of UK citizens in the EU, given that the UK reciprocates such an approach ...
The US tech giant, Google is fined EUR 50 million by France's data protection regulator, CNIL, for failing to comply with its General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) obligations. This is the biggest GDPR fine yet to be issued by a European regulator and the first time that one of the tech giants has been found in breach with the new regulations that came into force in May 2017 ...
As of 31 December 2018, the Central Registry of Ultimate Beneficial Owners was established within the Serbian Business Registers Agency (the “Registry”), in line with the Law on Ultimate Beneficial Owners (“Official Gazette of the RoS no. 41/2018). In addition, the Ministry of Economy issued guidelines which provide more information on the implementation of certain aspects of this Law (the “Guidelines”) ...
In light of the new EU data protection scheme, shaped by the GDPR, Serbia has enacted a new Data Protection Law earlier this year, with its' applicability postponed for 21 August 2019. The new law was long-awaited: it has been 10 years since the existing law was passed, which was even at that moment already outdated (e.g. it recognized only consent in the written form and almost completely restricted data transfers to non-European countries) ...
Over the years, Montenegro invested significant efforts in the development of the tourism industry, and one could say that it is steadily becoming a go-to destination for those seeking an ultimate luxury Riviera lifestyle. The recent steps taken by Montenegrin legislators show that international trends are well received and recognized by local authorities, this time through the implementation of a new hospitality model – the mixed-use hotel ...
Earlier this year, the European Court of Justice ("CJEU") has thrown out an appeal by Nestlé, which argued that it owns the shape of its famous treat KitKat. Nestlé, the world's largest food and beverage company, has spent more than a decade fighting to trademark the four-fingered wafer shape. However, EJC's most recent ruling could bring an end to the snack's protected European status ...
The Croatian Parliament adopted the new Capital Markets Act in order to align the Croatian legislation with the EU acquis. The act adjusts the Croatian legislation with the cornerstone of EU's financial markets regulation - the Directive on Markets in Financial Instruments repealing Directive 2004/39/EC and the Regulation on Markets in Financial Instruments, commonly referred to as MiFID II and MiFIR ...
The beginning of the summer brought amendments to several employment-related laws. The most notable changes are presented below: The Law on the Employment of Foreigners The duration of the labour market test– The labour market test within the work-permit acquisition process (through which the National Employment Service examines whether there are any Serbian citizens suitable for the vacant position), is shortened to 10 days, having previously lasted one month ...
The Serbian Parliament adopted amendments to the Serbian Company Law (Law), and they were published in the official journal on the same date. This is the first overhaul of the Serbian Company Law since it was enacted back in 2011. Most of the amendments relate to the introduction of the concepts required for Serbia's accession to the EU (such as cross-border merger and European company forms) ...
Geographical indication of origin, this very peculiar form of industrial property protection, has undergone a revival phase over the past few years, thus becoming more omnipresent not only within the circles of interest, but also amongst the Serbian public at large. Although, up to this day, there are only a few dozen geographical indications of origin registered before the Serbian Intellectual Property office, for a country of little over 7 million spread over 80 ...
This article will focus on the experience in practice and the evolution of privatizations of state and socially owned companies in Serbia in the period of transition and will assess the boundaries of arbitrability of disputes that arise out of the termination of privatization agreements. The term arbitrability will be analysed from a broader perspective, as opposed to the traditional and commonly used meaning of this term - whether a certain dispute is suitable for arbitration ...
The first upscale exploration of oil and gas in Montenegro started in 1914, when King Nikola Petrovic approved the National Assembly's decision for oil exploration around Lake Skadar. The first well in the area of Crmnica dates back to 1922 - although it produced nothing of significance. In later researches of the Montenegrin offshore, the existence of geological structures with the potential for hiding hydrocarbon deposits was confirmed ...
Following a tip, the Serbian Competition Commission (the "Commission") recently started investigating the business relationship between GR Sport and Polanik, a Polish company, concerning an alleged infringement of competition – the conclusion of a restrictive agreement which was not notified for prior exemption under the applicable legal framework ...
