On January 4, 2018 CEE Legal Matters reported that Schoenherr had advised BUWOG AG and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer had advised Vonovia SE on Vonovia’s voluntary public takeover bid of BUWOG. The takeover offer placed the enterprise value of BUWOG at around EUR 5.2 billion. We reached out to several of the individuals involved in the deal for information: Christian Herbst, Partner, Schoenherr and Thomas Zottl, Partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer 

The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation is, according to the EU-hosted GDPR website, “the most important change in data privacy regulation in the past 20 years.” The Act, which was approved by the EU Parliament on April 14, 2016 and will become fully effective on May 25, 2018, was designed “to harmonize data privacy laws across Europe, to protect and empower all EU citizens’ data privacy, and to reshape the way organizations across the region approach data privacy.”

Unlike those of its neighbours to the East, Austria’s economy was allowed to operate free of communist interference, allowing the country to hit well above its weight, comparatively-speaking. Thus, although Austria is the 11th biggest country in CEE in population, with 8.7 million people, it has the third largest economy, behind only Russia and Poland. And these days, with the global financial crisis now firmly in the rearview mirror, the country is once again able to capitalize on its happy geographical positioning and historical relationship with the former members of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

The taxation of cryptocurrency transactions is a hot topic. The Austrian Ministry of Finance recently issued an interesting ruling outlining when mining for cryptocurrencies in Austria by a non-resident taxpayer may trigger a permanent establishment.

The squeeze-out of minority shareholders in closely held companies is one of the most controversial issues in Romania, having led to many debates both in and out of court.

The European Commission has just published its comprehensive proposal for the so-called "New Deal for Consumers", which aims to strengthen EU consumer rights and enforcement. This includes the proposal for a new Directive enabling certain qualified entities to seek redress on behalf of consumers who have been harmed by an unlawful commercial practice.

The practice of the Czech Competition Authority in question.

The legality of a 2003 dawn raid carried out by the Czech Competition Authority ("CCA") on Delta Pekárny's business premises was the subject of a long-running dispute.

One might be surprised to read that data protection rules might also impact the competitive assessment of a concentration within merger control proceedings. Nonetheless, the clash of these two universes can be increasingly seen with respect to mergers pertaining to the digital sector.

“A new Civil Procedure Act concerning litigation processes is keeping lawyers wired right now in Hungary,” reports Kinga Hetenyi, Managing Partner at Schoenherr Budapest.

As of April 2018, California will allow fully autonomous cars to be tested without safety drivers on public roads. One interesting question in this context is whom to blame for damages caused by artificial intelligence or machine learning systems? We took a look at this under Austrian law:

Reading newspapers in Austria these days one could get the impression that we are in the middle of a financial crisis. Each week another Austrian company seems to be in financial difficulties – or worse – filing for insolvency. But when taking a closer look at the individual insolvency proceedings, things are not as bleak as they seem.   

As of 1 April 2018, applicants in tender procedures must submit the European Single Procurement Document ("ESPD") in electronic form using a template provided by the European Commission.

The corporate functioning rules for joint stock companies have been repeatedly altered by Romanian legislation, especially in relation to the governing structures of companies, such as shareholders' assemblies and management bodies.

Periodically Schoenherr will keep the crypto-community up-to-date with dedicated newsletters focusing on issues relating to initial coin offering (ICOs), initial token offerings (ITO) and Blockchain.

As the host of the world’s 17th largest economy and 19th largest population, Turkey’s energy needs are significant – and growing. The country’s energy demand is expected to grow about 5% each year for the immediate future, and the Turkish government has announced its plans to increase the share of renewable sources in the country’s total installed power to 30% by 2023. 

Former DLA Piper Finance Partner Denise Hamer has joined Trace Capital Advisors — a principal investment, asset management, corporate finance, and restructuring boutique focused on performing and non-performing assets in Central and Eastern Europe and Southeastern Europe.

Venture capital investments in Bulgarian start-ups are on the rise, and modern legal structures such as share option plans and convertible notes can, if local law peculiarities are taken into account, be applied in the country.

The old Czech Commercial Code, which dated from 1991, prescribed that one third of the supervisory board of joint-stock companies with more than 50 employees must be elected by the employees. This originally brief regulation became increasingly complex, and by the time the Commercial Code was repealed thirteen years later it included detailed instructions on the matter.