Contributed by Cipcic-Bragadin Mesic & Associates

Cipcic-Bragadin Mesic & Associates to Advise Croatian Ministry of Public Administration on E-Business Project Implementation

Cipcic-Bragadin Mesic & Associates has executed a public procurement advisory agreement with the Croatian Ministry of Public Administration in relation to the implementation of an e-Business project.

The Buzz in Croatia: Interview with Damir Topic of Divjak Topic Bahtijarevic

”The most important things coming up in Croatia are the HDZ's intra-party elections,” says Damir Topic, Senior Partner at Divjak Topic Bahtijarevic in Zagreb, of the ruling party. “Mid-March will see these elections concluded and we’ll see which direction the party will take.“ Former Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, a member of HDZ, lost her bid for re-election in December, 2019 and stepped down on February 18 of this year According to Topic, “the right-wing of the party argues this is due to Grabar-Kitarovic taking a mellow stance (which apparently stems from the 'pro-liberal' orientation of current party’s leaders), which lost her the support of some of the more right-wing parts of the electorate.“

Capital Markets Act Amendments

On 22nd February 2020 amendments of Capital Market Act in Croatia came into force.

The words which probably best describe trends in the field of logistics and transportation are “information connectivity” and “automatization.” The aim of both is the same – to increase efficiency and to achieve effective control of time, costs, quality of services, etc.  In Croatia, as elsewhere, these concepts have resulted in some new legal challenges.

The world is getting older by the minute, and this is a fact.

Investment funds represent a rather small part of the financial market in Croatia, but they are undeniably growing in presence and importance. Investment funds are recognized as a significant economic driver for business growth, joining the already well-established banks, insurance companies, and pension funds.

In addition to their traditional role guiding companies through legal and regulatory waters and managing disputes, General Counsels are increasingly called upon to provide input on strategic matters. An expert panel at the second annual Balkan GC Summit considered how this change in the nature of the General Counsel role is manifesting itself in the countries of the former Yugoslavia.

Tus & Andrijanic advised JGL d.d. on its HRK 130 million issuance of corporate bonds in December, 2019. The agent for the issue was Privredna Banka Zagreb d.d.

Following the adoption of the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC („GDPR“) on April 27, 2016, the Croatian GDPR Implementing Act („GDPR Act“) entered into force on May 25, 2018, simultaneously with the start of application of the GDPR.

In late November 2019 the Croatian Parliament passed a series of laws amending Croatian tax legislation. The new laws, in the most part, came into effect on 1 January 2020. The changes form part of wider efforts of the Croatian Government to ease the tax burden on both citizens and businesses.

Why would anyone knowingly become a law firm marketing specialist – a role that is demanding, complicated, challenging, and stressful? To explore this mystery, we went to the source. Accordingly, this time around we asked the law firm marketing specialists of CEE to complete the following question: “I went into Law Firm Marketing/BD as a career because ____________.“

Divjak, Topic & Bahtijarevic has promoted Ana-Marija Grubisic Cabraja, Ema Mendusic Skugor, Marina Kovac Krka, and Martina Kalamiza to partner, in the firm's words, "closing a year of great changes in the best possible way."

“There haven’t been any large shifts in the legal landscape recently if we’re talking about legal offices, teams moving, exits, and so forth,” says Schoenherr Partner Miriam Simsa. “The general situation seems to be that established players have things pretty much in control and that there is not a lot of room for new entries. Yet it is fair to say that the spin-offs have been increasing their market share over the last few years.”

When investors think of attractive and developed capital markets, Croatia’s is probably not the first to come to mind. Can that be changed? 

Former Wolf Theiss Poland Co-Managing Partner Ron Given has joined Deloitte Legal as its CE Senior Legal Counsel, responsible for all of the firm’s offices in 19 Central and Eastern European countries.

Divjak, Topic & Bahtijarevic has helped Globe Trade Center obtain stage two financing from Erste & Steiermarkische Bank for the construction of the Matrix Office Park, a project consisting of “two highly-efficient buildings, designed and constructed in line with LEED Platinum certification for green construction,” according to DTB.

Doklestic Repic & Gajin has announced the establishment of Lex Adria, an alliance of independent law firms in the Adriatic region, to provide what the firm calls “seamless and premium legal support across the area.”