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Amendment to the Labour Code 2023
On 12 September 2023, the Chamber of Deputies approved an amendment to the Labour Code after the legislation was returned by the Senate in July with several amendments. The Chamber of Deputies, however, ultimately approved the amendment in its original wording. After it is signed by the President, the amendment will come in to effect on the first day of the calendar month following its publication in the Collection of Laws (likely still in 2023). However, certain provisions concerning agreements on work performed outside employment relationships (e.g. regarding annual leave) will take effect on 1 January 2024. Major changes pursuant to the amendment to the Labour Code: Telework arrangements
New regulation of telemedicine in the Czech Republic
The Czech Republic should soon have its own legal regulation for telemedicine. A government proposal is on its way to the Parliament to introduce a basic definition of telemedicine. Until now, there has been no legal definition, which in practice has led to many uncertainties and questions, including the possibility and conditions of provision by healthcare providers, but also, for example, the admissibility of reimbursement by health insurance companies. The proposed amendment to the Health Services Act should remove this uncertainty and will explicitly state that telemedicine is a legally permitted way of providing health services and will set out the framework conditions. Telemedicine services are defined
Turkey’s Competition Board sets the rules for online sales restrictions
Turkey’s Competition Board (the "Board") rendered two significant decisions last year concerning online sales restrictions that provide a view forward for many undertakings. In its decisions, the Board scrutinised the commitment packages offered by BSH and Arçelik, two of the major small and large household appliances manufacturers in Turkey. The investigations against the companies (the “Investigations”) concerned whether Arçelik and/or BSH violated Article 4 of Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (“Law No. 4054”) by preventing their authorised resellers from selling online and/or interfering with resellers’ resale prices. The Board accepted the commitment packages, which Arçelik and BSH revised
New legislative changes promote flexicurity in employment relations in Romania
The first part of 2023 continued last year's trend of substantial changes to Romanian labour legislation, which is of real interest to both employers and employees. As such, both Law no. 53/2003 on the Labour Code (“Labour Code”) and Law no. 367/2022 on social dialogue (“Law on Social Dialogue”) have undergone several changes, some aimed at clarifying legal issues identified in practice and others at promoting flexibility at work and work-life balance. In this article, we present the latest legislative changes, as well as our recommendations for their implementation. I. Amendments to the Labour Code The latest legislative amendments continue the European and national policies implemented in recent
Long-awaited changes to the competition law in Ukraine
Yesterday, 9 August 2023, the Ukrainian parliament adopted long-awaited amendments to the country’s competition law (the "Amendments"), which is the first step towards an extensive overhaul of Ukraine’s antitrust and merger control rules. The Amendments are pending the signature of the president and are expected to come into force on 1 January 2024 (except for certain provisions, which will take effect after the cancellation of martial law). Although the final text of the Amendments is not yet available, it has been reported that the key changes are aimed at: i) the implementation of additional antitrust rules to boost the leniency program in Ukraine, ii) the introduction of the concept of the infringer’s joint and
Recent ECJ judgement sparks controversies on the Romanian statute of limitations for criminal liability
The Romanian regulatory context In recent years, the statute of limitations for criminal liability in Romania has been the subject of numerous debates among legal scholars and practitioners. This is because in 2018 the Romanian Constitutional Court rendered a binding decision declaring as unconstitutional, in part, the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code on interrupting the statute of limitations for criminal liability. The Constitutional Court issued this binding decision because the Romanian legislator had failed to amend the respective provisions, and as a result has divided the jurisprudence of Romanian criminal courts into two camps of interpretation, namely: (i) one camp stating that the statute of limitations cannot
Ukraine Parliament mandates electronic presence for court proceedings
The Ukrainian parliament has passed the Law “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Concerning Mandatory Registration and Use of Electronic Offices in the Unified Judicial Information and Telecommunication System or Its Separate Subsystem (Module) that Ensures Document Exchange”. The law is due to take effect on 18 October 2023. The Law mandates that each participant in court proceedings in Ukraine register their electronic presence in the system by opening their respective electronic office within it. The principal purpose of this new requirement is to ensure the quick, flawless and guaranteed exchange of procedural documents among all participants in court proceedings in Ukraine. Key provisions
Romanian Competition Council issues draft report addressing permitting bottlenecks in the renewables sector
The Romanian Competition Council (“RCC”) published today, 19 July 2023, a preliminary report following its study on the potential market barriers to producers accessing the local energy market from renewable energy sources (“RES”), given the applicable permitting process. Romanian Competition Council report on the permitting of new RES capacities In brief, the RCC concluded that the process of obtaining all permits and authorisations needed for the commissioning of new RES capacities is cumbersome and time-consuming, in spite of some simplification steps already taken, and may be discouraging to investors. Some of the main RCC findings and recommendations included the following: The
Workforce restructuring in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe
Recent economic and regulatory trends such as high inflation rates and the need to transition to a green economy have pressured employers to consider cost cutting measures. Organisations have various responses with many taking steps to reduce labour costs and/or reallocate resources which may lead to recruitment freezes or even redundancies. These measures come with their legal risks which are greater in some jurisdictions over others. Although EU legislation sets certain minimum standards for termination of employment and mass lay-offs across all EU Member States, local rules vary widely in terms of timing, costs, employee protection, and litigation risks. In some cases, upskilling or reskilling of employees could be an
Class actions to protect collective interests of consumers in Slovakia
The new Act on Actions for the Protection of the Collective Interests of Consumers and on Amendments and Additions to Certain Acts (the "Act") was adopted by the Slovak Parliament on 21 June 2023 and will enter into force on 25 July 2023, with the exception of some special and temporary provisions, which enter into force on the date of the Act’s publication in the Collection of Legislative Acts. The Act, which transposes the Representative Actions Directive (EU) 2020/1828, introduces a new legal proceeding—class actions—into Slovak legislation. The most significant elements of the new Act include: The introduction of two types of actions / proceedings available under the Act: a proceeding
Slovakia: Recent changes to the Whistleblower Act
Slovakia currently has an outdated Whistleblower Act (Act No. 54/2019 on the Protection of Persons Who Report Antisocial Activities). The relevant EU Whistleblower Directive (No. 2019/1937 on the Protection of Persons Who Report Breaches of Union Law) has not yet been fully implemented in the act. Consequently, the EU initiated an infringement procedure for non-compliance with EU law, as with several other member states. Thus, Slovakia finally took steps to avoid the procedure. On 10 May 2023 the Slovak parliament passed an amendment to the Whistleblower Act (the Amendment). The Amendment will take effect in two steps, the first on 1 July 2023 and the second on 1 September 2023. The aim of the Amendment is mainly to fully
Currency restrictions in Ukraine: Changes to the rules for external debt financing
Following the outbreak of the full-scale Russian invasion, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) implemented temporary restrictions on cross-border foreign currency transactions. These restrictions were outlined in Resolution No. 18 of the NBU Board "On the Operation of the Banking System during the Period of Martial Law" (NBU Resolution No. 18). NBU Resolution No. 18 established an exclusive list of cross-border foreign currency transactions permitted during the martial law period. In late June 2023, the NBU took significant steps to expand the capacity of Ukrainian businesses to attract and service external loans and borrowings. This newsletter provides an overview of the provisions outlined in NBU Resolution No. 18 concerning