Hogan Lovells has advised Netflix on its partnership with Russia's National Media Group.

DLA Piper has advised the founder of Top System, a flexible packaging company in the dairy industry in Poland, on the sale of a majority stake to Switzerland's Aluflexpack, a manufacturer of flexible packaging solutions.

Asters is reporting that it reached a settlement following an anti-dumping investigation concerning imports into Ukraine of hot rolled seamless steel pipes originating from the People's Republic of China.

DLA Piper has advised Sberbank Investments on its secured mezzanine loan to Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod Region and Prosveshcheniye Group for the construction of a training and educational center.

Cobalt has advised capital300 and Chalfen Ventures on a EUR 5 million series A investment into Riga-based startup Lokalise.

Schoenherr’s Budapest and Prague offices have advised Covivio on its lease of the Carlo IV hotel in Prague and the New York Palace and New York Residence hotels in Budapest to the NH Hotel Group. CMS advised the NH Hotel Group on the deal. 

Glodeanu & Partners has advised Blue Rock Investments on the acquisition of two logistic centers in Bucharest from unspecified sellers.

Pierstone’s Prague office has advised the Prague-based Socialbakers social media marketing company on the sale of its global business to U.S.-based customer engagement company Astute.

White & Case has advised Valmet on its EUR 64 million acquisition of the PMP Group. Clifford Chance Warsaw advised the seller on the deal.

JPM has established a Criminal Law and Criminal Compliance team.

Ahmet Bagci has joined GKC Partners in Istanbul.

Monika Sturm has been promoted to Equity Partner at Fellner Wratzfeld & Partner, bringing the total number of partners at the firm to ten.

Former Kelemenis & Co Partner Ioanna Lazaridou has joined the KLC Law Firm in Greece.

Former Bird & Bird Counsel Andrzej Nentwig has left that firm to co-found the new Gorzelnik Nentwig Ziebinski law firm in Warsaw with former Enern Partner Bartlomiej Ziebinski and former Wento Head of Legal Jakub Gorzelnik.

Nazali Tax & Legal has opened a new office in Kyiv.

Svitlana Teush has been promoted to partner at Redcliffe Partners in Kyiv.

Grata International has announced the creation of "a fully integrated office" in Ukraine, led by former Anstrum Law firm Partners Valeriy Savva and Mykola Aleksiuk.

Croatian law firm Marohnic, Tomek & Gjoic has joined CEE Attorneys.

After approving Emergency Ordinance no. 153/2020 (the “EO”) “establishing incentives for companies to increase their equity” on August 14, 2020, the Romanian Government published it on 4 September 2020.

On 1 September 2020, a new government decree entered into force on travel restrictions during the pandemic period. Based on the new rules, Hungarian citizens arriving from abroad may get through a health inspection and in case of suspicion of contamination, the Hungarian citizen must be placed in quarantine. In case the suspicion of contamination has not been established by the health inspection, the Hungarian citizen also must be placed in official home quarantine or in quarantine determined by the pandemic authority for 14 days. In certain circumstances, the Hungarian citizen may be exempted from this quarantine obligation, if he/she arrives from the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic or the Republic of Poland.

Who hasn’t queued at the in-store customer service desk to have their warranty stamped? Who hasn’t spent hours figuring out which brand service centre to take a faulty product to? And there are many more, similar nuisances we could add. However, changes in the warranty regulations are set to put an end to these from next year. But what’s good for consumers represents a major additional burden for vendors.

Starting from 1 January 2019, Russia has been implementing a programme of “waste reform” to radically change its municipal waste-management system across the country. Many of the scheduled preparation and organisational arrangements have already been implemented or are in the pipeline.

Due to the current unfavourable economic situation, many businesses are in arrears of their financial obligations. If a company is at risk of becoming bankrupt, it is obliged to take immediate steps to avert it (see the article “A Company in Crisis”). However, where a company is unsuccessful in staving off the crisis, bankruptcy proceedings are imminent. 

A draft law on measures relating to information and communication infrastructures of national interest and the conditions for the implementation of 5G networks (the “Draft Law”) was launched on August 4, 2020 for public consultation by the Ministry of Transportation, Infrastructure and Communications and slightly revised on September 2, 2020.

Independent data protection authorities (“DPA”), such as Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection in the Republic of Serbia (“Commissioner”), have significant role and authorities in case of personal data breach.

For our Checking In feature, we reach out to partners and heads of practice across CEE to learn how specific practice areas are faring in their jurisdictions. This time around we asked firm Energy experts: What, in your view, is the most effective scheme currently in place in your jurisdiction to attract investments in renewable energy? If you had to pick one, what additional step from the regulators do you believe would have the most positive impact?

On 31 July 2020, the Russian President signed Federal Law No. 265-FZ* (the “Law”) enacting a tax manoeuvre for the Russian IT industry. How will this manoeuvre affect domestic and foreign market players in this field?