Compared to 2015 – a very busy year for Polish M&A with the value of deals growing by 79% to EUR 6.9 billion, which positively distinguished Poland from other CEE countries – 2016 has turned out to be less intense. Still, although policies of Poland’s right wing government – the Law and Justice Party, which was elected in November 2015 – may have weakened investors’ sentiment somewhat, economic data remains respectable at 132 deals (compared with 177 in 2015). 

The new law on data protection matters at the European level has been discussed at length over the last few years. It will finally come into force as a Regulation on May 25, 2018. These new provisions will unify personal data protection measures in the EU, and therefore certain changes to data protection standards will be introduced in Poland too. Since the lawfulness of data processing is a key aspect, a closer look at the impact of the Regulation on the commonly used basis for data processing in Poland – consent by the data subject to the processing of his or her personal data – is useful.

The Czech Republic has implemented a number of statutory reforms aimed at tackling corruption and fraudulent business practices. These reforms have been welcomed by Transparency International, which describes the Czech Republic as making one of the greatest advances in fighting corruption worldwide in 2015. In this context, the Czech Corporate Criminal Liability Act (CCLA), applied by prosecution authorities with growing frequency, has in particular been in the limelight.