On 14 March 2024, the Romanian Ministry of Energy launched for public consultations the draft Government decision on the approval of the general legal framework for the implementation and functioning of the Contracts for Difference support scheme for low carbon technologies ("CfD Scheme"). There is a short deadline for public consultations: 25 March 2024. In early March, Romania received the green light from the European Commission to launch a EUR 3 billion state aid programme to promote the deployment of wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity to meet its energy transition goals. The support scheme foresees two auction rounds, in 2024, the first auction of 2 GW, consisting of 1 GW solar and 1 GW wind; and in 2025
On 29 February 2024, the Serbian Competition Authority (the “SCA”) published two detailed decisions involving two largest undertakings on the Serbian coffee market. The first one relates to concerted practices that resulted in a joint fine of approximately EUR 2 million, while the other one relates to the conditional approval of the acquisition of Strauss Adriatic by Atlantic Group. As per data released by the SCA, these two enterprises collectively h approximately 70% to 80% of the coffee market in Serbia, boasting a portfolio that includes the most significant coffee brands in the region. In 2021, the SCA conducted a sectorial analysis encompassing various food markets, including a specific focus on the ground coffee
On March 13th the EU Parliament adopted the AI Act, marking a significant milestone in shaping the region's AI landscape. The Act will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union, and 20 days after publication, the AI Act will enter into force. Although it will take two full years until the grace period passes and almost all provisions will be applicable, AI providers should be aware of the detailed schedule of applicability. In addition, as the AI Act has extraterritorial scope, it does not only concern the 27 Member States of the European Union, but any AI provider worldwide whose AI systems are placed on the market or put into service in the EU. The first deadline expires in six months, as the rules
At present, even though the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMC) does not actively conduct inspections, conducting dawn raid inspections is still permissible during martial law. On 6 February 2024, the updated Dawn Raids Procedure was implemented in Ukraine in order to make the process more transparent and lucid. The document outlines the steps that the AMC must take in order to carry out a dawn raid, as well as the step-by-step protocols for each stage of the inspection, such as taking pictures, recording audio or video, seizing or restricting evidence, checking and sealing the premises and other possessions, and copying papers and data storage devices. There are three noteworthy changes to the updated process:
In its decision of 8 February 2024 (C 566/22), the Court of Justice of the European Union (the ECJ) has finally resolved the long-term practical question (and debate among legal practitioners) whether, in the case of a purely national relationship without the presence of a foreign element or link to several legal orders, contracting parties may choose the jurisdiction of the judicial authorities of any EU Member State. The response is YES. This landmark decision is a clear affirmation of the parties’ autonomy to determine the jurisdiction of the judicial authorities. Simply put, if two Slovak entities enter into an agreement under Slovak law without a link to another Member State or non-Member State, the parties are not
The European Commission and European Intellectual Property Office (“EUIPO”) have once again launched a small and medium-sized business fund (“SME Fund”) to provide reimbursement for trade mark and design application fees and pre-diagnostic services. The 2024 SME Fund is the third and last call of this initiative, following the 2022 and 2023 SME Funds. The grant scheme, designed to encourage SMEs to expand their intellectual property (“IP”) portfolios, has a budget of more than EUR 21 million, available on a first-come, first-serve basis. The submission period for applications runs from 22 January to 6 December 2024. Read more in the brochure below: DOWNLOAD IN ENGLISH In case of
The United States Congress passed the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act (FEPA) as an integral part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 (NDAA) on 14 December 2023. President Biden signed the NDAA into law on 22 December 2023. FEPA imposes extraterritorial criminal liability on foreign officials who solicit and/or accept improper financial gain, either for their own benefit or that of a third party – either from (i) US nationals, (ii) US legal persons, and also (iii) any other person currently present within the US borders at the time of any such activity. FEPA is a long overdue addition to the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) mechanism. Click on one of the images below or click on
With the 6 July 2024 deadline for the implementation of the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (EU) 2022/2464 (the "CSRD”) looming, Member States across the EU have been moving at different speeds to adopt their respective local implementing legislation. Our second status update on the CSRD implementation in Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia is available here. At the time of writing, three of the six countries in Central and Eastern Europe that we have been following – the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania – have already adopted legislative acts that, at least partially, implement the CSRD into national legislation. Slovakia has brought a draft act to parliament
As of 5 December 2023, the Council and European Parliament reached a provisional political agreement regarding a „Regulation establishing a Framework for setting ecodesign requirements for sustainable products“. The upcoming EU sustainability legislation is crucial as it affects a substantial part of the Consumer & Retail sector. It is of particular importance in the field of fashion and luxury industry as the points which the provisional agreement addresses have been among the hot topics of recent years in this sector. As we are closely monitoring the legislation process, click here or on the image below to explore the overview of key points of the adopted provisional agreement.
As of the close of 2022, Serbia's banking sector faced challenges amid global economic conditions. The year 2023 brought its distinct set of obstacles, with a noteworthy slowdown in global inflation compared to the last quarter of 2022. However, the undeniable focal point is the war in Ukraine, triggering a faster inflationary spiral due to increased energy and food prices. Key mergers and acquisitions In 2020, Komercijalna Banka, the largest state-owned Serbian bank, was acquired by Slovenian NLB Banka, leading to the merger of NLB Banka and Komercijalna Banka into NLB Komercijalna Banka. Vojvodjanska Banka was acquired by Hungarian OTP Bank, followed by OTP Bank's acquisition of Societe Generale Bank. In 2021
Location data has become an integral part of everyday digital life, providing easier navigation through various digital tools, such as maps. Despite the importance of making navigation easier, the need to preserve data privacy, such as location data, has been cast to the shadows. In light of this misuse of our private data, Google is finally set to implement a ground-breaking update for its widely used mapping service, Google Maps. The update relates to a change in the way Google stores data: instead of on the cloud, data will be stored on users’ devices. The anticipated update aims to prevent authorities from accessing users’ location history data through geofence warrants, which have long been considered controversial
The Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority (“ANRE”) has announced important amendments to the rules for connecting new power-generation capacities to the public network. On 1 February 2024, ANRE released for public consultation a draft order (“Draft Order”) regarding the approval of the Methodology for capacity allocation of new power-generation capacities (the “Methodology”) as well as other amendments to ANRE Order no. 59/2013 approving the public grid connection regulation (the “Connection Regulation”). Comments to the Draft Order may be submitted to ANRE by 1 March 2024. The main changes introduced under the Draft Order concern (i) a change of the grid connection process applicable to power-generation