Ukrainian Bar Association, July 27, 2022: Since February 2022, our primary objective has been to resist Russian aggression against Ukraine on the legal front. We urge world leaders to impose radical sanctions against Russia and establish comprehensive accountability and damages mechanisms. In addition, we support Ukrainian citizens and lawyers affected by the war. However, the Ukrainian Bar Association needs support from the international legal community to survive this fateful time and continue our activities.

AgiLawyer Society, July 25, 2022: We are seeking additional volunteer lawyers to join our international platform UA.SUPPORT - particularly lawyers based in the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Hungary, and also in Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, France, Norway and Sweden. If you are interested, please fill out the following form on our website UA.SUPPORT or contact us by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to discuss opportunities for cooperation.

The numerous political, economic and social uncertainties of the last period, coupled with a significant increase in the prices of consumer goods, have led the Romanian Government to amend the existing legal framework and to regulate the commercial behaviour of companies in a stricter manner, aiming to combat potential speculative actions, but also unfair competition practices.

Government Decree No. 230/2022 passed on 28 June 2022 introduced a new regime which enables the Hungarian Government to place certain entities under the supervision of the Hungarian State. Such entities shall have a significant or dominant position in the energy industry, in particular in the following sectors having strategic and national security importance: (i) electricity, (ii) natural gas, (iii) crude oil, (iv) district heating and (v) mining. The legislation expressly mentions two entities, i.e. FGSZ Natural Gas Transmission Private Company Limited by Shares and the Hungarian Hydrocarbon Stockpiling Association.

Although the number of landscape resolutions nationwide remains small, an increasing number of cities are deciding to draft and enact such resolutions.

Here is some good news for the renewable energy industry:

EU and national associations representing companies that bring ultrafast digital connectivity in Europe – AOMR (RO), APMS (CZ), AssoTelecomunicazioni (IT), ATI (BG), DigitalES (SP), ETNO (EU), Federation Francaise des Telecoms (FR), and the GSMA Europe (EU), issued a joint statement calling for greater participation of Big Tech and OTTs in infrastructure investments and extending some telecoms regulatory requirements to OTT services.

On 11 July 2022, the Romanian DPA announced it sanctioned a courier services company with a EUR 3,000 fine for breaching its obligations regarding the level of security that must be ensured with respect to personal data.

The Energy Agency of the Republic of Serbia (“AERS”) adopted three decisions on amendments of the following methodologies, on its session held on 7 July 2022:

Natural gas as a ‘transition fuel’ for Europe on its path towards a zero-carbon economy was supposed to help gradually reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, this environmentally-sound objective now needs a second look, particularly when gas market developments may affect the viability of new gas-fired generation projects, and when permanent impediments to gas availability may even prevent their uninterrupted and efficient operation.

Today, perhaps more than ever before, commercial use of Software is of great value and many Software developers design and develop Software for licensing or sale to end users, or those serving a commercial purpose in an ever-growing market.

With the “Act Amending Banking Law, Some Other Laws and the Decree no. 655” [“Amending Act”], Banking Law no. 6411 [“Banking Law”] and Act no. 6758 on the Approval of a Decree with Amendments [“Act no. 6758”] was amended with respect to the articles regarding the authorities and responsibilities of the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund – the so-called “TMSF” [“SDIF”].

On July 15, 2022, in the Romanian Official Gazette No. 716, Ordinance No. 16/2022 for the amendment of Law No. 227/2015 regarding the Tax Code, abolishment of certain normative acts and other fiscal-financial measures (“Ordinance 16/2022”) was published, through which multiple amendments were brought to the fiscal framework.

On June 3, 2022, the Turkish Competition Board (“Board”) published its reasoned decision dated September 9, 2021 and numbered 21-42/611-298, rejecting Solgar Vitamin ve Saglik Urunleri Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S.’s (“Solgar”) exemption application for its dealership agreements (“Board’s Decision”).

Due to the armed conflict and humanitarian disaster in Ukraine and in order to avert the consequences of such conflict in Hungary, the Government has adopted a decree that entered into force on 29 June 2022, on the basis of which, in order to safeguard the public interest of continuity and security of supply, the Government may place under the supervision of the Hungarian State the operators with significant or dominant market power in the energy industry, in particular in electricity, natural gas, petroleum, district heating and mining industry, including e.g. FGSZ Foldgazszallito Zrt. and the Hungarian Hydrocarbon Stockholders Association.

Government Ordinance no. 16/2022, published in Official Gazette no. 716/15.07.2022 on 15 July 2022, entails important amendments to the Romanian Fiscal Code.

EU businesses are free to cross borders and relocate their headquarters to another Member State. The amended EU directive and the corresponding new Hungarian rules aim to help companies doing so. In order to make it easier for companies to establish themselves in another Member State and to make cross-border operations more attractive, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, the European Union decided back in 2019 to amend the EU directive on cross-border mergers, divisions and mergers.

Earlier this year the European Banking Authority (EBA) published the final Guidelines on the limited network exemption (LNE) under the Payment Service Directive 2 (PSD2). Following the consultation phase initiated by the draft, further clarifications were added which are relevant to all service providers who plan to rely on the exclusion as well as those who already do.