A glimpse at legal challenges in mergers and acquisitions within an uncertain business environment.

The Hungarian Whistleblower Protection Act has entered into force this July. While bigger companies have to operate the internal whistleblowing system since the above date, medium sized businesses (50-250 employees) were given a prolonged period until the 17th of December 2023 to implement the reporting channel. Since the deadline is approaching, we summarize how Hungarian SMEs can comply with the Act.

The Serbian National Assembly has adopted amendments to the Law on Personal Income (PIT Law) and the Law on Mandatory Social Contributions (SSC Law) extending the deadlines for payroll incentives.

Polo shirts are probably more broadly recognized than the sport itself. Unlike t-shirts, polo shirts feature a collar, a sleek design, and a knitted polo player logo on the chest. However, if you’re not fashion-savvy and examine it closely, you’ll notice that this polo player logo varies.

A new legal company form and the reduction of the minimum share capital of limited liability companies is expected to make Austria more attractive in the international corporate landscape, particularly for start-ups and venture capital companies.

On 20 October 2023, the National Authority for Administration and Regulation in Communications ("ANCOM") and the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitisation published for public consultation until 31 October 2023, the Draft Law on the establishment of measures for the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 October 2022 on a Single Market For Digital Services and amending Directive 2000/31/EC, as well for the amendment and supplementation of Law No 365/2002 on electronic commerce (the "Draft Law").

Why do we need an agent to hold the security in the first place?

The Hungarian Competition Authority (HCA) recently published a draft report on its findings based on an accelerated sector inquiry into Hungary's online accommodation booking market. The sector inquiry was launched on 24 August 2023 after the HCA received numerous complaints during the peak summer holiday season about the practices of Booking.com, a key market player, for withholding payments to accommodation providers.

The landscape of cross-border reorganisations in Poland has undergone significant changes with the amendments to the Code of Commercial Companies, effective as of 15 September 2023. The revisions introduce a pivotal element – the requirement for a certificate of compliance with Polish law for cross-border reorganisations.

The government of the Republic of Serbia in its session held on 03 November 2023 adopted Regulation on amendments to the Regulation on conditions of delivery and supply of natural gas, published in the Official Gazette of the RS no. 97/2023.

Amid reports of substantial volumes of foreign exchange proceeds going unreceived under certain export transactions, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has taken steps to shorten the mandatory settlement deadlines for the export of certain agricultural products.

This Legal Monitoring Report includes the latest and most relevant amendments to the national legislation for forward-looking businesses. This month, several amendments were made to the Law on State Aid, Law on Consumer Protection, Law of Protection of Trade Secrets, as well as to the Customs Code and Law on Energy. The Report also outlines changes to the IT parks activity, as well as recent adjustments to the minimum and average salary in the economy for 2024.

The government has proposed a package of measures aimed at reducing the state budget deficit in the next coming years. The package anticipates savings of almost CZK 150 billion, which, should bring to the state budget, in addition to changes in tax rates, also changes affecting employees and employers.

As we have written about in one of our previous texts, the Labour Law (“the Law“) stipulates, among other, that an employee’s employment may be terminated if there is a justified reason pertaining to employer’s needs, i.e., if due to technological, economic or organisational changes the need for certain job ceases or if the workload is reduced.

Some significant amendments to the Hungarian Competition Act have entered into force. The Hungarian Competition Authority (HCA) has been very active recently in various sectors. This summary briefly describes the most important changes. Some of the changes require an update to the compliance materials for Hungary.

The National Bank of Ukraine (“NBU”) further relaxed currency control restrictions allowing Ukrainian borrowers to make early repayments of cross-border foreign currency loans extended after 20 June 2023 to development finance institutions (“DFIs”) and foreign export credit agencies (“ECAs”).

In a recent decision, the Hungarian Supreme Court had to decide in case, where the amount called by the beneficiary of the guarantee was more than the actual costs incurred. Does call on the bank guarantee shall be proportionate to the costs actually incurred? Shall the beneficiary settle accounts with the debtor after the bank guarantee has been called?

Although a seemingly simple question, the obligation to incorporate a branch does not have a simple answer. Branch incorporation of business companies is foreseen by the Company Law (hereinafter: "Company Law").