Client Alert

The end of winter brought a number of measures promoted by the National Bank of Ukraine (the "NBU") and aimed at easing and deregulating exchange control regulations. In particular, Ukrainian individuals have been de jure permitted to make foreign investments and freely use foreign bank accounts using funds other than those transferred from Ukraine. Even though the measure by the NBU is not a full scale liberalisation measure, the market still considers it to be a positive trend toward deregulation....

The amended Slovenian Civil Procedure Act ("ZPP-E") will enter into force on 14 September 2017 and will govern all proceedings initiated after this date....

Since 2013, several investment treaty claims have been filed in the field of renewable energy against European member states based upon alleged breach of the Energy Charter Treaty....

Under the current legal situation regarding cross-border business transactions, operators of online shops must provide individual platforms for each EU member state to fulfill all specific national legal requirements. Notwithstanding the technical capabilities of the internet today, it is still not possible to provide just one general online shop for the whole European area. According to the "Flash Eurobarometer 396, 2015" survey, 39% of businesses selling online but not cross-border quote different national contract laws as one of the main obstacles to cross-border sales....

On 30 June 2017, the Croatian Parliament adopted extensive amendments to the existing Foreigners Act in order to implement relevant EU legislation and clarify certain provisions subject to different interpretation in practice....

Auf Grund des Vorwurfs illegaler Preisabsprachen finden derzeit bei etlichen österreichischen Bauunternehmen Hausdurchsuchungen durch die Wirtschafts- und Korruptionsstaatsanwaltschaft bzw das Bundesamt zur Korruptionsprävention und Korruptionsbekämpfung sowie die Bundeswettbewerbsbehörde statt. Bereits diese Erhebungen bzw die daraus resultierenden Vorwürfe können – für sich alleine – vergaberechtliche Konsequenzen wie den Ausschluss des jeweiligen Unternehmens von laufenden Vergabeverfahren (aufgrund des Verlustes der beruflichen Zuverlässigkeit) nach sich ziehen (etwa wenn aus Sicht eines öffentlichen Auftraggebers eine "schwere berufliche Verfehlung" festgestellt wurde; einer rechtskräftigen Verurteilung bedarf es dazu nicht)....

Developers initially claimed that the government’s concerns about the market were misplaced and its pro-consumer approach would negatively influence their business. Experts differed, however, emphasizing that the lack of specific regulations was not only harmful for consumers but was also an exception among European legal systems. Prior to the Developers Act, when a developer was declared bankrupt consumers had to stand in the line of regular creditors and wait years for reimbursement (usually only a part) of their invested funds....

Following the initiative of several consumer organizations, and based on allegations that the constitutional order has been disrupted by the lending operations of unauthorized foreign lenders, the Croatian Parliament unanimously passed the Act on Nullity of Loan Agreements with International Elements Concluded in the Republic of Croatia with Unauthorized Lenders ("Act") which entered into force on 29 July 2017. The Act has already been labelled as controversial for its retroactive effect and Croatia seems to continue down the path started by the 2015 amendments to the Consumer Credit Act forcing a retroactive conversion of CHF denominated loans....

On 16 February 2016, the European Commission officially presented the new Energy Security Package, which aims at increasing the role of the EC in the energy sector by introducing a series of changes....

Since the digital age began, models for computing the rent for retail spaces have remained basically unchanged: lease agreements provide for a base rent while high-traffic locations as in, for example, shopping centres, provide an additional component dependent on revenue....

Ukrainian competition law currently lacks guidance on various legal questions, including vertical restraints; legal uncertainty exists even with regard to clauses regularly used in distribution agreements in other jurisdictions. It is therefore a welcome development that the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (the "AMC") is working on a draft Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (the "Draft Regulation"). It is doing so in view of the requirements under the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union....

On 25 April 2017, important changes ("Amendments") to Austrian competition law entered into force - a number of changes will enter into force at different times....