The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Water Management of the Republic of Serbia introduced the newest amendments of the Rulebook on Conditions and Procedure for Public Bidding for Lease/Use of State Owned Agricultural Land, which came into force on 24 June 2021.

The global pandemic has impacted all markets, with subsequent ramifications for M&A. Investors are now seeking greater protection against general lock-downs and supply-chain disruptions, while governments aim to protect critical supplies and services by imposing new regulations on foreign investment in crucial or strategic industries.

The hype surrounding NFTs and crypto assets appears infinite and is raising more and more questions and challenges for the legal profession in Austria and beyond.

Legislation concerning remote work is once again in the spotlight, as Government Decree 487/2020. (XI. 11.) on the application of teleworking rules during the state of emergency modified the provisions of telework as of 3 July 2021. According to the Decree, home office should be considered as remote work during the state of emergency and the provisions of the Decree are applicable instead of the provisions of the Labour Code on remote work.

With oil reserves constantly estimated between 150 and 200 million barrels, Albania has been widely regarded as one of the richest in hydrocarbons European countries, whereas Patos-Marinza oil area is recognized as the largest onshore oil field in continental Europe. Therefore, it was only normal for the industry to be quickly regulated upon the transition of Albania towards democracy in the early 1990s, by adopting industry specific legislation. Law 7746/1993 and Law 7811/1994, dealing with the granting of exploration and exploitation rights and the taxation of the activities, respectively.

The provisions creating the legal framework of the Special Employee Stock Ownership Plan (“Special ESOP”) entered into force on 13 July 2021, providing a new special ownership opportunity for employees or board members of limited companies to acquire stocks at a more favourable rate than before.

The Board of Directors ["Board"] is the main management body of a joint stock corporation. Accordingly, the Board members have extensive management and representation duties. Given that such broad duties inherently carry the same level of liability risk, legal liability of the Board members has always been a critical topic. [For detailed information on the legal liability of Board members and the liability lawsuit you can refer to our article: “Legal Liability of Board of Directors Members”]. The Board, as the representative and administrative authority, must be able to support the corporation in reaching the intended goal, fulfill the management duties without hesitation, and take independent decisions. Therefore, considering the magnitude of the liability risk, a warranty mechanism –insurance– to balance the increasing liability of the Board has been discussed for many years as an indispensable element in liability cases. Today, the "Board of Directors’ Liability Insurance" [“Board Members Liability Insurance”] has already become as a widely used insurance type throughout the world, from United States to England and Continental Europe to Germany, Japan and Turkey. Issuance of this easily accessible insurance policy provides a significant assurance for the Board members.

According to a decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union made on 8 July 2021, Hungarian employees can make claims before the Hungarian courts against their Hungarian-based employer for breaching the minimum wage rules of the Member States where they are posted.

At the beginning of July 2021, a new Government Decree (402/2021. (VII. 8.)) entered into force on the registration procedure of raw materials and products with strategic importance for the security of supply in construction and on other measures. The aim is to control the purchase and export of certain building materials abroad from Hungary. It applies to building materials which are intended to be exported or to be sold abroad from the territory of Hungary, for instance gravel, pebbles, crushed stone, portland cement, bauxite cement, cinder cement, fireproof cements, mortars, concretes, iron bars and wood, however, it is not applicable to building materials supplied in the framework of transit traffic.

The influence of digital technologies on all spheres of life is currently on the increase. This has led to intellectual activity appearing in a variety of digital formats. One of them is the Non-Fungible Token (“NFT”).

The relationship between a joint stock corporation and its board of directors ["Board"] is established by the acceptance of duty by the Board member, who is elected by the general assembly of shareholders or exceptionally by the Board. As a result, a contractual relationship is established between the corporation and the Board member.

HUF 200,000 might be the new general gross minimum wage from 2022 in Hungary. Informal consultation between the Government and the National Association of Entrepreneurs and Employers has already begun with regard to a new, long-term agreement on minimal wages. The official negotiation process should also be started by 15 September 2021.

Following the adoption of regulations allowing profit tax consolidation in late 2020, the Romanian tax authorities issued Order 1191/2021 approving the instructions for implementing and managing Profit Tax Groups (“PTGs”) on 6 August 2021.

Protection of the share capital is one of the fundamental principles of the Turkish Commercial Code [“TCC”]. In this respect, capital loss and negative equity [the so-called “technical insolvency”] are regulated under Article 376 of the TCC, and a Communiqué was enacted to set the rules regarding the application of this Article. As a result of the unpredictable fluctuations in foreign exchange rates in the economy as well as the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the financials of the companies, Article 376 of the TCC gained a special popularity among the Turkish companies in recent years. Accordingly, this article explains the situations where capital loss and technical insolvency may emerge and the measures that should be taken in the given circumstances. The article further elaborates on the new rules adopted to reduce the negative effects arisen from the drop of Turkish Lira and the Covid-19 pandemic. The potential liability of the directors that may arise in case the necessary actions are not taken is also addressed.

On 4 June 2021, the European Commission adopted two implementing decisions (Decision no. 2021/914 and Decision no. 2021/915) which contain Standard Contractual Clauses for processing and transferring of personal data and are set in line with the General Data Protection Regulation (2016/679) (“GDPR”) with the hope of bringing about a higher level of personal data protection.

To mint NFT art, you need to have enough cryptocurrency in your wallet (and even more to buy it). A successful NFT artist could then also pay his or her studio assistants in cryptocurrency from the proceeds of the sales. Cryptocurrency therefore plays an obvious part in a blockchain-based business. But is this also true from an employment law perspective? Can or should remuneration be paid in a cryptocurrency? Let's take a closer look at this question by examining the interface between the crypto world and the physical world from an Austrian employment law perspective.

In short, an NFT (non-fungible token) is a set of data stored on a blockchain (a digital ledger), that certifies a digital asset as unique and thus non-fungible. Assets can be tangible (real estate) or intangible (IP rights).

When advising organisations how to comply their businesses with GDPR, i.e., with the Serbian Law on Personal Data Protection, many times we received answers that organisations apply “best information security practices”. What does this formulation mean?