In December 2021 the Bulgarian Parliament adopted a moratorium on electricity, water supply and heating prices on the regulated market. The moratorium was imposed due to the record high electricity prices on the Independent Bulgarian Electricity Exchange ("IBEX") and the expected adjustments in the prices on the regulated market applicable to household customers. The Bulgarian Energy and Water Regulatory Commission ("Regulator") has been prevented from taking any action regarding these price increases until 31 March 2022 by virtue of the moratorium.

On December 17, 2021, amendments to the Customs Law published in the Official Gazette of RS no. 118/2021 as of December 9, 2021 (the “Law”) entered into force. Outlined below is an overview of the key novelties, that were notably enacted for alignment with the changes introduced in the EU customs regulations.

At the beginning of November 2021, a bill was submitted to the Hungarian Parliament on the temporary provisions relating to the new Land Registry Act and on the amendment of certain acts of cultural subject and relating to the land registry, spatial planning (in Hungarian: “teruletrendezes”) and urban planning (in Hungarian: “telepulesrendezes”).

Law no. 322/2021 published in the Romanian Official Gazette on 30 December 2021 has brought changes to the procedure for claiming tax credit for sponsorship expenses starting with 1 January 2022, as follows:

An act implementing the cross-border distribution of funds Directive (the "CBDFD") into Austrian law (the "Act") finally entered into force on 11 December 2021. The Austrian legislator was already late with the implementation, since EU Member States were required to transpose the CBDFD into national legislation by 2 August 2021.

In order to respond quickly to the challenges caused by the pandemic in the workplaces, the Hungarian Government introduced temporary regulation on teleworking in 2020. Since these provisions are applicable only during the state of emergency, the modification of the Labour Code and the Act on Safety at Work are on agenda with the aim of clarifying the provisions on teleworking on a permanent basis. The proposed modification is in line with the rules on teleworking specified in the Government decrees currently in force.

In terms of Turkish corporate law perspective, different types of privileges may be granted to certain shares during drafting the articles of association while a joint-stock company is being established or by way of amending articles of association of an already established joint-stock company. These privileges may be on dividend right, liquidation share, pre-emptive right, voting right and other similar rights. In this regard, the shareholders holding privileged shares in a joint-stock company are deemed privileged shareholders. In this article, we will focus on rights of privileged shareholders and relevant procedures that need to be followed for the circumstances that may affect interests of privileged shareholders within the framework of Article 454 of the Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102 (“TCC”) and the Regulation on the Procedures and Principles of General Assembly Meetings of Joint-Stock Companies and Ministry Representatives Attending the Meetings.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) confirmed once again that VAT deduction is fundamental part of the VAT mechanism and thus can only be narrowly restricted or limited.

Cartel facilitators are viewed as possible instruments for undertakings to disguise their restrictive agreements and to get around competition law obligations. The approach that enables third parties to be held liable as “cartel facilitators” under the EU competition law dates back to the 1980s, when the European Commission (“Commission”) decided for the first time in Italian Cast Glass that the third party, which was not active in the affected market but enabled and assisted the implementation of the restrictive behavior, was jointly liable for the cartel.

Mihály Varga, Minister of Finance of Hungary has introduced many changes in tax legislation as of 1 January 2022 with an estimated HUF 750 billion to be left at the private sector. According to the statement of the Minister, tax reductions became achievable, as the economic growth of Hungary rose over 6,1%.

As a rule, transactions with securities, including shares in joint stock companies, require the engagement of an investment firm, in particular a securities broker. At the same time, the Law of Ukraine “On Capital Markets and Organised Commodity Markets”, which entered into force on 1 July 2021, provides for several exceptions to this rule. Indeed, an investment firm engagement is not required for the transactions made outside of Ukraine.

Employers must ensure that the period during which an employee attends vocational training required by the employer is regarded as working time. Although the period allocated to such training does not meet all the conditions under European labour law for "working time", a recent decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU") provides a number of important clarifications in this respect. It is advisable for employers to pay attention to the developments introduced by this decision, which is expected to bring about a change in the practice of national courts.

A Hungarian company in the field of the construction industry is constantly posting workers to different member states of the European Union. According to the labour agreement of employer and employees the applicable law is Hungarian, however, the mandatory health and safety provisions of the place of work based on the Directive 96/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 1996 concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services – if these have a stronger protection - must be applied.

So far, 2021 has seen less activity in terms of enforcement actions under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA"), compared to 2020. In 2021, the United States Department of Justice ("DOJ") took a total of 19 enforcement actions, and the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") took a total of 4 enforcement actions. Therefore we observe that the DOJ has been a lot more active than the SEC in terms of the number of enforcement actions this year.

The Code on Amending the Bankruptcy and Enforcement Code and Some Other Laws ["Amendment Law"] No. 7343 was adopted on November 24, 2021 and entered into force after being published in the Official Gazette No. 31675 on November 30, 2021. In this article, we will explain the critical changes brought by the Amendment Law.

Starting with December 10, 2021, the customs activity currently under the auspices of the National Tax Administration Agency (“ANAF”) will be developed by the Romanian Customs Authority, founded by way of Law no. 268 of November 10, 2021, on the establishment of the Romanian Customs Authority and for the amendment of certain normative acts (“Law no. 268/2021”).

Last week two key regulatory changes took place that will have important implications for future development of the Croatian renewable energy market.

According to the information on the website of the Polish government, in the Ministry of Family and Social Policy, works on the bill which is supposed to implement Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law are in progress. According to the provisions of the directive, Poland is supposed to implement the whistleblower protection regulations into its legal system by 17 December 2021.