Client Alerts
Questions still remain for UK insurance undertakings in Bulgaria post-Brexit
In the increasingly likely event of a no-deal Brexit, many questions remain for UK insurance undertakings in Bulgaria. Apart from regulatory treatment aspects, a no-deal Brexit raises many other legal questions such as the application of choice of law and jurisdiction rules, data migration & protection rules, competition rules and other legal issues which are […]...
Poland set to introduce specialized courts in July 2020
On 19 February 2020, the Polish President signed an act that amends the Code of Civil Procedure along with other existing acts that impact the adjudication of IP cases, among other areas of law (“the Act”). The Act will enter into force on 1 July 2020, and the courts will be operational from this date. […]...
Further tightening of foreign direct investment screening in Hungary
On 17 June 2020, the Hungarian Parliament reconfirmed in a new act the rules adopted by the Hungarian Government earlier in May 2020 which substantially expanded the requirements for all foreign investors to seek prior ministerial approval for their investments in Hungarian companies engaged in certain strategic industries. The strategic industries covered by the screening […]...
Potential changes concerning sale of agricultural land in Romania
The Romanian Parliament has recently passed a draft law which would amend Law no. 17/2014 concerning the sale of agricultural land located outside of the “built-up area” – in Romanian, extravilan – which will significantly impact future real estate transactions if this draft law is promulgated in its current form by the President. To learn […]...
Global legal insights – Mergers & Acquisitions 2020
A team of M&A and regulatory Partners at Wolf Theiss (Sarah Wared, Hartwig Kienast, Horst Ebhardt, Florian Kusznier, Christian Mikosch and Kurt Retter) has analysed the roller-coaster M&A environment in Austria over the last 12 months for Global Legal Insights - Mergers & Acquisitions 2020. The summary sheds light on the main M&A trends in 2019 and how Covid-19 has impacted deal-making, including a discussion of the new risk assessment approaches both at the outset of transactions and in dealing with rising pre-closing volatility. It also contains a preview on the new Foreign Direct Investment Control Act which will come into force in July 2020 and which will significantly expand the scope of transactions that require FDI clearance going forward....
Romania: Amendments to companies law no. 31/1990
Romania has amended the Companies Law no. 31/1990, and important changes enter into force on 6 July 2020, which include the following: Natural or legal entities can now hold participations as a sole shareholder in multiple Romanian limited liability companies Limited liability companies can be held by other limited liability companies which are solely owned […]...
Ukraine: New investment and financial markets law
The Ukrainian capital market has been in poor condition for quite some time and could arguably be described as not existing at all. However, there may be a breakthrough, at least on the legal side, which could help the Ukrainian capital market, involving stocks, bonds, derivatives and other instruments, to make a significant leap forward […]...
CJEU invalidates EU-US privacy shield framework and introduces further restrictions on data transfers to non-EU countries
On 16 July 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued a long-awaited decision in a dispute between Facebook Ireland, the Irish Data Protection Authority and the Austrian data protection activist Maximilian Schrems. Mr. Schrems filed a complaint in 2013 seeking to ban or restrict transfers of his personal data from the […]...
New EU regs on e-commerce likely to bolster transparency and innovation
ARE THE CRITICS WRONG? Although some observers have criticised the EU’s new regulations on e-commerce for being too soft on platforms of online intermediation services and online search engines, the changes will contribute to achieving the digital single market. Critics argue that the new regs do not impose restrictive enough standards on the platforms, which […]...
Potentially significant changes coming to spatial planning
In September 2017, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Development announced a project with the goal of modifying specific laws concerning the real estate investment process (project no. UD300). The bill is currently being evaluated by different committees of the Council of Ministers. The most impactful changes are those regarding the law on spatial planning and […]...
Vergaberecht – Neue Schwellenwerte ab 1.1.2018
Ab dem 1.1.2018 treten für Vergabeverfahren neue Schwellenwerte in Kraft. Diese wurden nun am 19.12.2017 im Amtsblatt der Europäischen Union (L 337) veröffentlicht. Für klassische Bauaufträge und solche im Sektorenbereich steigt der Schwellenwert von 5.225.000 auf 5.548.000 Euro. Für klassische Liefer- und Dienstleistungsaufträge liegt der Schwellenwert bei nunmehr 221.000 Euro. Im Sektorenbereich gilt für Liefer- […]...
Potential reforms in real estate law
The new Austrian government was sworn in on December 18, 2017 and thereby also presented its government program which deals, among other things, with real estate law. The issues of lease law, condominium law, social non-profit housing law and building law are touched upon under the title “Modernization of the Right of Residence.” In addition, […]...