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The last of the 95 members of the Madrid System, signatory only to the Madrid Agreement but not to the Madrid Protocol, has acceded to the latter. Thus, the Madrid System is now transformed into a One Treaty System with Algeria being the last member....

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (the "CMU") has introduced new reduced time terms for the expedited state registration of proprietary rights to real estate and their encumbrances. As soon as the new rules become effective, the state registration of proprietary rights to real estate will be performed within five, three or one business day(s) or even within two hours from the moment of acceptance of an application, and subject to different amounts of fees payable for such expedited service. Previously, the expedited registration against a higher registration fee could be possible only within three business days from the moment of registration of the application....

Національний банк України (далі – НБУ) вжив заходів з метою запобігання переведенню внутрішніх боргових зобов’язань резидентів за кредитами у зовнішні зобов’язання, відповідно до пояснень одного з високопосадовців НБУ, як основної мети прийняття постанови Правління НБУ № 551 від 20 серпня 2015 року (далі - Постанова), якою вносяться зміни до постанови НБУ № 354 від 3 червня 2015 року. В той же час, положення Постанови мають біль широке застосування та передусім обмежують права іноземних позикодавців за наданими українським позичальникам кредитами....

The National Bank of Ukraine (the "NBU") has taken actions to prevent the conversion of borrowings extended by Ukraine-based lenders to cross-border borrowings. This was announced by the top NBU official as the primary purpose of the new NBU regulation, no.551 of 20 August 2015 (the "Regulation") which supplements regulation no. 354 of 3 June 2015). However, the wording of the Regulation seems to be somewhat far-reaching and concerns the rights of the foreign lenders under cross-border borrowings extended to Ukrainian residents....

Novi Zakon o radu koji je Parlament Federacije Bosne i Hercegovine nedavno usvojio, objavljen u Službenim novinama FBIH br. 62/15 dana 12. avgusta 2015. godine, stupio je na snagu danas, 20. avgusta 2015. godine....

A new Labour Law recently adopted by the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and published on 12 August 2015 in the Official Gazette of FBiH no. 62/15, came into force today on 20 August 2015....

On 4 August 2015 the new Natural Gas Market Rules ('Gas Market Rules') were published in the State Gazette (SG, No 59/2015) after the Bulgarian energy Regulator ('EWRC') took final decision for their adoption on 7 July 2015. The new Rules come into force after more than a year' discussion how the current natural gas trading rules should be revised to answer the requirements of the developing Bulgarian natural gas market. The new Rules repeal entirely the existing Natural Gas Market Rules adopted in 2007 and become effective as of the date of their publication in State Gazette....

ZULÄSSIGKEIT VON BEARBEITUNGSGEBÜHREN BEIM KREDITVERTRAG. Jüngst wurden zwei Artikel publiziert, die sich mit der Zulässigkeit der Vereinbarung von Bearbeitungsgebühren beim Kreditvertrag beschäftigen (Georg Graf, Zur Zulässigkeit der Vereinbarung einer Bearbeitungsgebühr beim Kreditvertrag in ÖJZ 2015/43 und Raimund Bollenberger, Zulässigkeit von einmaligen Bearbeitungsentgelten beim Kreditvertrag in ÖBA 2015, 396). Während die beiden Autoren die Vereinbarung von Bearbeitungsgebühren für zulässig erachten und auch für die in Deutschland umstrittene Judikatur keine entsprechende Basis in Österreich sehen, teilt die kurze Zeit später ergangene erstgerichtliche Entscheidung des LG Innsbruck zu 818 41 Cg 20/15g diese Meinung nicht. Eine weitere Entscheidung des LG St. Pölten zu 3 Cg 7/15 w - 9 erteilt der Bearbeitungsgebühr aus anderen Gründen eine Absage....

1. Enactment of Law No. 120/2015 on providing incentives for individual investors – business angels On 17 July 2015, Law no. 120/2015 on the stimulation of individual investors/business angels (the “Law”) entered into force, providing certain fiscal deductions to be granted to natural persons investors (so-called "business angels") for their investments in micro and small enterprises, which cumulatively meet the following conditions:...

On 31 July 2015 the Bulgarian Energy and Water Regulatory Commission ("EWRC") adopted three decisions to have a significant effect across the electricity value chain in Bulgaria. On the production side, the generators of electricity from renewable sources ("RES GenCos") will be negatively affected by two of the decisions that introduce new annual production thresholds for purchase of electricity under the preferential prices (Feed-in tariffs or ("FiT")) and the increase of the access to the grid price. On the consumption side, the business consumers at the liberalised market will face a considerable increase of the mandatory contribution for the so-called "price for obligations toward society" while the households will enjoy a slight decrease of the end consumption tariffs at an average of 0,11%....

On 22 July 2015 the Bulgarian Parliament adopted amendments to the Energy Act ("EA") and the Act on Energy from Renewable Sources ("AERS"), which will have a significant affect across the electricity value chain. The most critical amendments are the introduction of a mandatory contribution to a new fund "Energy System Security" by all electricity GenCos of 5% of their annual revenues and the possibility for RES GenCos to sale the produced electricity at price for surplus on the balancing market or at free negotiated prices....

The Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) ("OHIM") revised and updated its Guidelines for Examination on both Community Trade Marks and Registered Community Designs....