At the end of 2021, there was a public debate on the Draft Law on Internship, proposed by the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs (“the Draft”), while the final proposal is pending.

In its recent decision issued on 27 January 2022, the Constitutional Court annulled an important rule of the Tax Procedure Act with regards the prolongation of limitation period. The decision is fundamentally beneficial for taxpayers, but also triggers some uncertainty for repeated proceedings going forward.

From the Polish law perspective, clearance of a joint venture establishment is different as compared to the EU law perspective. In this article we shine light on these key differences.

On 11 November 2021, the Moldovan Parliament passed a series of legal amendments ("Law 175/2021"), including to the existing Law on Personal Data Protection. Law 175/2021 entered into force on 10 January 2022 and partially transposes the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR").

The crowdfunding regulation of the European Union (Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 on European crowdfunding service providers for business, "ECSPR") entered into force on 10 November 2021, which was a long-awaited legal development both within the European Union and on the Hungarian market. Even the Hungarian National Bank suggested in its Fintech Strategy that a regulatory framework for crowdfunding would be essential to assist financing of SMEs and therefore, enhancing competitiveness on the Hungarian market. Prior to the ECSPR, there was no uniform crowdfunding regulation within the European Union and Hungary did not have a regulatory framework for crowdfunding; thus, the Hungarian National Bank had to assess such activity pursuant to the already existing rules. The ECSPR established a directly applicable and uniform regulatory framework aiming to facilitate cross-border provision of services. We summarize below the latest legal developments in connection with the ECSPR.

Pursuant to the Protocol No. 15 amending the European Convention on Human Rights ["ECHR / Convention"], the time-limit for the application to the European Court of Human Rights ["ECtHR"] was reduced from 6 months to 4 months, effective as of February 1, 2022. Accordingly, once remedies available as per domestic laws are exhausted, the application should be filed with the ECtHR within 4 months following the final court judgment. Having said that if the court decision was adopted before February 1, 2022, the ECtHR application based on this decision will still be subject to 6-month time-limit.

On December 9, 2021, the Turkish Competition Authority (“Authority”) published its report entitled “Analysis Report on the Financial Technologies in Payment Services” (“Report”) which evaluates the effect of the use of financial technologies (“Fintech”) in the financial sector, the obstacles to innovation and competition in the relevant markets and the entry of big technology (“Big Tech”) companies (e.g., Facebook, Amazon, Google, Apple) into the market. The Report notes that Fintech includes: (i) innovative products and services that emerged in the financial sector as a result of the radical technological transformation, (ii) new entrants other than the incumbent players that offer these services, and (iii) Big Tech companies which started to offer financial services.

The MNB has launched its Green Program early 2019 to mitigate the risks associated with climate change and other environmental problems, to expand green financial services in Hungary, to widen the related knowledge base in Hungary and abroad, and to reduce financial market participants’ and its own ecological footprint. The Green Program relating to green financial services consists of several initiatives from analyzing the current situation of green financing to incentivizing the financial market participants to operate greener and engaging in green financial services (mainly loans and bonds).

“Regulation on the Principles of the Asset, Right and Receivable Inquiry on the National Judiciary Informatics System” [“Regulation”] was published in the Official Gazette dated January 22, 2022 and entered into force on the same date. The Regulation basically sets forth the procedures and principles regarding the inquiry of the debtor's assets, rights and receivables via the information systems integrated into the National Judiciary Informatics System [the so-called "UYAP"].

Although it is the first thing that comes into mind, share acquisition is not the only way to acquire a target. Turkish laws allow acquisitions to be completed through a number of other methods such as asset acquisitions, business acquisitions and merger, depending on preference of the buyer. This article will explain the processes for the acquisition methods concerning joint-stock and limited liability companies covering the requirements for valid acquisitions and matters to consider.

Like many other European countries, Romania is struggling to implement the EU Whistleblowing Directive and accommodate this game-changing perspective on issues such as corporate fraud and non-compliant business environments. In April 2021, Romania issued a first draft law, which was hotly debated and criticized for reasons including the imbalance between the obligations imposed on the private sector and the scope of the upcoming law.

In “Official Gazette of Montenegro” no. 145/21 and no. 146/21 on 31, December 2021, amendments of the series of laws were published, including Law on Tax Administration, Law on Personal Income Tax, Law on Corporate Income Tax, Law on Contributions for Compulsory Social Insurance, Law on Compulsory Health Insurance, Labor Law, Law on Companies.

A new law proposal amending certain provisions of Law No. 5651 on Regulation of Broadcasts via Internet and Prevention of Crimes Committed through Such Broadcast and Turkish Criminal Code is submitted before the relevant commissions of Grand National Assembly of Turkey (“TBMM”) and has been published on TBMM’s website on February 3, 2022.

The Hungarian National Bank ("MNB") issued a guideline this January to assist market participants in the issuances of green bonds. This guideline is one of the measures that the MNB introduced under its Green Programme, which it launched in early 2019 to mitigate the risks associated with climate change and other environmental problems, to expand green financial services in Hungary, to widen the related knowledge base in Hungary and abroad, and to reduce financial market participants' and its own ecological footprint. The Green Programme relating to green financial services consists of several initiatives, whose range continues to expand both in the banking sector and in capital markets with the sole aim of promoting green finance.

At the end of November 2021 Bulgarian Competition Protection Commission (CPC) launched inquiry of the consumer goods and services e-commerce sector (The Sector Inquiry). The Sector Inquiry is part of CPC's priority in the field of antitrust for 2021 to monitor constantly digital markets for prohibited agreements or practices as well as for abuse of dominant position. CPC also defines the e-commerce sector as one of its investigations top priorities in 2022.

Significant changes to the legal framework governing the electricity sector were enacted at the end of 2021 under Government Emergency Ordinance no. 143/2021 (Ordinance 143) and ANRE Order no. 137/2021 (Order 137). Among these changes, two categories are of outmost importance for producers, as detailed below.

The state of alert that followed the state of emergency has been extended several times during the last year and a half by Government Decisions. Some of these decisions were annulled by the competent courts (even if the court rulings are not final). Also, there are ongoing litigation proceedings aiming at challenging the legality of such Government Decisions. In this context, one would legitimately ask: what effect would have the annulment of the Government Decisions extending the state of alert on the validity of the building permits and town planning certificates which were prolonged during the state of alert?

The initiative of the European Commission aims to support innovation and fair competition by creating a framework for the issuance and provision of services related to crypto-assets. The Commission believes that where crypto-assets are not covered by the financial regulation of the European Union, the absence of applicable rules to services related to such assets leaves consumers and investors exposed to substantial risks. It aims to ensure a high level of consumer and investor protection as well as market integrity in the crypto-asset markets, and to address financial stability and monetary policy risks that could arise from the wide use of crypto-assets in financial markets.