Client Alerts

On May 31, a new legal institution in Polish procedural law came into force. The main goal of the modifications is to further digitalize proceedings. These changes could be a positive development for the judiciary, but on the other hand, they could be viewed as negative, as certain legal constructions can generate very serious problems and threaten the interests of the parties involved....

The work on a particularly significant amendment to the Polish Labor Code has been finalized. On 20 May 2019, the Act amending the Polish Labor Code and other acts ("Act") was passed to the President of Poland for a signature. The Act contains several changes, but the two most significant are related to mobbing and the issuing of work certificates. The first one aims to encourage employers to effectively counteract mobbing and therefore expands a catalog of individuals entitled to demand compensation due to mobbing. The second change provides for an extension to applying for corrections to an employee's work certificate....

The Constitutional Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopts the Decision by which it ruled that certain provisions of five local laws are contrary to the Constitution of the Federation of Bosnia & Herzegovina....

The Parliament adopted a new Bill amending the Energy Act introducing a number of measures to further integrate RES Generation into the liberalised market and abolishing electricity export fees....

On November 7, 2019, the Statute substantially amending the Civil Procedure Code and other Statutes will come into effect. However, some of the changes including the amendments to the Statute on court fees and costs in civil matters (the “Statute on Court Fees”) will come into effect much sooner on August 21, 2019....

The Serbian Parliament enacted the new Law on Personal Data Protection in November 2018 (published in the “Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia” no. 87/2018), which will be applicable as of 21 August 2019 (hereinafter: the “New DP Law”). Moreover, the Serbian data protection authority (hereinafter: the “DPA”) has just adopted several by-laws that […]...

What does H2 2019 hold for businesses in the IP, IT, TMT sectors and what legal and regulatory trends should catch their attention?...

Mergers & Acquisitions spielen sowohl auf nationaler als auch auf internationaler Ebene eine wesentliche Rolle im Wirtschaftsleben und sind meist für die Entwicklung bzw. den Fortbestand eines Unternehmens von wesentlicher Bedeutung. Daher kommt es in der Praxis vor, dass zumindest eine Vertragspartei besonderes Interesse an der Umsetzung der Transaktion hat und vor allem hohe Kosten einer gescheiterten Transaktion vermeiden möchte. Die Vertragsparteien vereinbaren immer häufiger sog. Break Fees, um vor allem den Verlust der Marktstellung zu verhindern, Reputationsschäden sowie das Kostenrisiko gering zu halten, d.h. die Vertragsparteien gehen eine Zahlungsverpflichtung für den Fall des Scheiterns der Transaktion ein. Eine Entscheidung über die Break Fee ist grundsätzlich eine unternehmerische (Ermessens-) Entscheidung iSd § 84 Abs 1a AktG. Die Zulässigkeit der Höhe der Break Fee richtet sich nicht nach Faustformeln oder Prozentzahlen, sondern nach der Einzelfallbetrachtung der Angemessenheit der Break Fee unter Würdigung aller Umstände des Einzelfalles. Insbesondere spielt bei der Einzelfallbetrachtung die Art und der Rahmen der entsprechenden Transaktion eine wesentliche Rolle. So etwa erfordert eine Fusion auf Seiten der beteiligten Unternehmen andere wirtschaftliche und rechtliche Überlegungen als ein Anteilskauf....

Shareholder activism remains a prominent, and likely permanent, feature of the global corporate landscape. Recent activism-related trends indicate that the Austrian corporate landscape is shifting, and companies’ strategies for dealing with activism should therefore also evolve. Sarah Wared’s contribution deals as a primer on these aspects of shareholder activism in Austria. Sarah Wared’s chapter on […]...

On 29 August 2019 the Bulgarian Commission for Personal Data Protection (“CPDP”) announced first significant fines under the GDPR (Regulation (EU) 2016/679 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data) for data processing breaches. The fines, which in total are more […]...

The Polish Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Act dated 1 March 2018 ("AML Act") introduced the Central Ultimate Beneficial Owner Register (Centralny Rejestr Beneficjentów Rzeczywistych - "UBO Register"). The UBO Register was introduced in order to process information about beneficial owners of partnerships and companies and will be launched on 13 October 2019. Companies and partnerships will be obliged to provide information to the UBO Register on their Ultimate Beneficial Owners ("UBOs") within 7 days from the moment of entering the company into the National Court Register, or, in the case of already existing entities, within 6 months after the UBO Register regulations enter into force, i.e. until 13 April 2020. In the case of already provided information, the update to the UBO Register should be provided within 7 days from the change of information. The UBO Register will be non-confidential, publicly accessible and free of charge....

Amendments to the Bulgarian tax law addressing the introduction of mandatory transfer pricing documentation for transactions with related parties have been recently implemented. On 31 July 2019 the Bill for amendment and supplementation to the Tax and Social Security Procedural Code ("the Bill") aiming to bring Bulgaria’s transfer pricing rules in line with the recommendations of the OECD has been adopted by the Bulgarian Parliament....