Client Alerts

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....

As we announced earlier in May this year, the Bulgarian Commission on Protection of Competition ("CPC", "Commission") launched a sector inquiry in the pharmaceutical sector. Ultimately, the Commission published its decision on opening a sector inquiry. It is now evident that the Commission`s investigation will be focused on the retail market of pharmaceuticals paid in full or in part by the National Health Insurance Fund ("NHIF"). The inquiry was provoked by the request of the Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Union in April 2015....

On 16 June 2015 the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law "On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Related to Strengthening the Transparency in Extractive Industries of Ukraine” (the "Law") which will become effective in the coming weeks. This Law has been developed in order to introduce the European financial reporting standards in Ukrainian extractive industries and to ensure Ukraine’s compliance with its obligations as a candidate country for the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (the "EITI")(1). EITI developed an independent and voluntary international standard for openness around the management of revenues from natural resources (the EITI Standard), which is currently being implemented by 48 countries....

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....

Am 7.7.2015 wurde die Regierungsvorlage zur Novelle des BVergG veröffentlicht. Im Vergleich zum Ministerialentwurf vom April 2015 ist es in einigen Punkten zu interessanten Änderungen gekommen. Anbei finden Sie einen Überblick über diese Änderungen....

New Amendments to the Mortgage Law became effective on 16 July 2015. Below is a summary of the important changes that the new amendments have introduced. One of the most important changes is that, while mortgage creditors may still freely choose between judicial or non-judicial mortgage foreclosure, the process for out of court foreclosures is now much better regulated and has been simplified, so as to provide a greater level of creditor control over the out-of-court foreclosure process....

The World Intellectual Property Organization adopted changes in the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks established under the Nice Agreement concluded back in 1957 (the "Nice Classification")....