CMS Bulgaria has helped Robert Bosch, a subsidiary of the German Bosch Group, secure a multi-million public procurement contract with EVN Bulgaria District Heating for the supply, installation, and operation of 19+1 MW water heating boilers.

Rupert Hartzhauser has been appointed Chief Operating Officer at CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz in Vienna.

Raya Maneva has been promoted to Head of Projects at CMS Sofia.

CMS has advised GTC Hungary on the sale of the White House office building in Budapest. to Warburg-HIH Invest Real Estate. Warburg-HIH was reportedly advised by Baker McKenzie, and DLA Piper advised the financing bank.

CMS has advised the Slovenian branch of Sberbank on the financial restructuring of loans to Serbian companies Dijamant AD and Kikindski Mlin AD amounting to EUR 20 million.

Jones Day has advised Societe Generale in connection with the sale of its majority stake in the share capital of Societe Generale Montenegro, a company listed on the Montenegrin Stock Exchange, to OTP Bank Nyrt. Schoenherr advised Societe Generale on matters of Montenegrin law, while CMS advised OTP.

CMS has advised the owners of Kino Swiat, a film distributor in Poland, on the sale to ITI Neovision S.A, the operator of the nc+ platform. Domanski Zakrzewski Palinka advised ITI Neovision on the deal, which remains contingent on the approval of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection.

It has been over a year since the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation became mandatory across Europe, marking a seismic shift in the way that companies collect, process, and handle personal data. Countries across the European Union and beyond have adapted their national laws to meet the requirements of the GDPR – with many introducing local derogations as permitted by the GDPR.

This time, our law firm marketing friends across CEE considered the following question: “What one part of your job would you most appreciate having more help with – not in terms of training or capability, but simply in terms of time?”

How do law firms in Austria promote themselves to current and prospective employees? A series of conversations with several leading firms revealed more than expected.

It is no secret that North Macedonia is facing the issue of usage of products for plant protection which often fail to meet legal standards. Namely, Macedonian manufacturers producing agricultural products for human and animal nutrition often use unauthorized products which fail to meet safety criteria and may have suspicious origins. Although this issue is not as widely-discussed as air pollution in North Macedonia, it contributes significantly to the existing environmental pollution problem and has a huge impact on the health of plants, people, and the environment.

Use of Artificial intelligence is growing rapidly. Some of the world’s largest industries are using AI as frequently as any other business tool. Still, there are industries which seem to be more risk averse. Pharma integrates AI at the rate of 31% in the service operations sector, 31% in the product/service development sector, and 27% in the marketing sector. Does that mean that pharma is lagging in implementing AI?

CMS has advised construction company Warbud S.A on its entrance into a public-private partnership investment project involving the reconstruction and expansion of a secondary school in Piastow, Poland. Warbud's participation will be funded by Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego.

CMS has advised Niederosterreichische Breitband Holding on its selection of Allianz Capital Partners as a partner on a potential EUR 300 million investment package involving a broadband network in Lower Austria. Eisenberger & Herzog advised Allianz Capital Partners on its successful bid.

TGS Baltic and Clifford Chance have advised London-listed online gaming operator JPJ Group plc on the Estonian law aspects of its GBP 490 million conditional acquisition of UK-based software developer Gamesys Holdings Ltd. CMS and Ellex Raidla advised Gamesys on the deal.

CMS and Integrites have advised EuroCape Ukraine I LLC, a subsidiary of independent renewable energy company LongWing Energy SCA on equity and senior debt financing it received for the construction of the Zaporizhia Wind Farm in Ukraine.

The German and Austrian offices of CMS have advised Austrian IT-service provider Catalysts and German IT market research and consulting company Crisp Research on their merger, resulting in the formation of Frankfurt-headquartered Cloudflight Group.

In a recent case involving parallel-imported agrochemical products, the District Court of The Hague ruled that non-compliance with the requirements laid down by the European Court of Justice (CJEU) for parallel import of relabelled products displaying the original right-holder’s trademark constitutes trademark infringement, particularly if the right-holder is not properly notified of the parallel import and is not offered a sample of the relabelled product on request. This decision shows that the requirements for parallel import are applied strictly by the courts and have a broad scope (not limited to pharmaceutical products), allowing the mark-holder to exercise control over the resale, re-labelling, and re-packaging of its original products within the EU.