In July last year, the new Building Act No. 283/2021 Coll. came into force. It’s the result of a reform of public building law that had been in preparation for several years. But it’s not certain that builders will follow it in its current form.
Partners-You-Trust and DLA Piper Advise on Investment in ReSpo.Vision
Partners-You-Trust has advised a consortium of investors led by FF Venture Capital and RKKVC on their investment in ReSpo.Vision. DLA Piper advised the founders of ReSpo.Vision on the seed round.
Recent Changes in Romanian Legislation Aim to Support the Renewable Energy Sector, Subject to Some Question Marks
In the current energy context, the RePower Europe package talks about an accelerated permitting procedure for renewable energy in Europe, as an absolutely measure to accelerate the development of green energy projects. However, in Romania, the permitting process for such projects is long, bureaucratic and takes about 540 days.
Employment Considerations on the Romanian Gig Economy
With the fast-paced development of applications in nearly every sector of the service industry and the advent of virtual services, Romania witnessed a rise in the number of people employed in the gig economy. CEE Legal Matters sat down with DLA Piper Head of Employment Monica Georgiadis and Schoenherr Head of Employment Mara Moga-Paler in Romania to discuss the legislative framework regulating gig workers, the labor risks and challenges they face, and the ways in which these might be addressed.
Strike! Law Firms Compete in 5th CEELM Budapest Law Firm Bowling Challenge
On June 30, 2022, CEE Legal Matters hosted the fifth edition of the CEELM Budapest Law Firm Bowling Challenge: A competition of four-person teams from leading law firms in Hungary, with all proceeds going to the previous winner’s charity of choice. A total of 13 law firms competed for the trophy – and the bragging rights that go along with it.
DLA Piper and Baker McKenzie Advise on Avallon and Genesis Capital Sale of Stangl Technik to Spie
DLA Piper has advised the Avallon MBO Fund II and the Genesis Private Equity Fund III on their sale of Stangl Technik Holding to Spie Central Europe. Baker McKenzie advised the buyer.
The Impact of Facial Recognition Systems on Democracy
Facial recognition system is considered an artificial intelligence solution empowered by a camera system, which can identify persons viewed based on image data stored in a related data base. Such systems have already been implemented around the globe in many countries and generally faced severe criticism, especially in Western democracies. Naturally, facial recognition systems have the capability of helping to prevent terrorist attacks and similar severe crimes an detect suspects and other persons of interest. In practice, however, such systems often provide inaccurate or biased results.
DLA Piper Advises Knorr-Bremse on Acquisition of Cojali
DLA Piper has advised Knorr-Bremse and its subsidiary Knorr-Bremse Systeme fur Nutzfahrzeuge on their EUR 200 million acquisition of a 55% stake in Cojali.
White Collar Crime Laws and Regulations in Czech Republic
Contributed by DLA Piper.
The Hungarian Competition Authority Case Against Facebook and Beyond
In recent years, the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) has been extremely active in tackling highly interesting and novel issues in the digital world. The GVH commissioned a pioneer study on the importance of data in e-commerce and brought several decisions against major international players such as booking.com (for using so-classed “dark patterns”) or Apple (for using misleading terms and conditions about its Wi-Fi assistant on iPhones) as well as significant CEE players such as eMag (for misleading promotions on its online marketplace) or Alza (for aggressive commercial practices on its online site). Most of the decisions – especially where large fines were involved – have been challenged before courts, with the most recent high-level judgment coming out in the Facebook case. What happened exactly?
Walking a Fine Line: Merger Control in Hungary
In the past few years, Hungary has witnessed accelerated merger trends in the fields of TMT, healthcare, and energy, among others. We reached out to several competition lawyers and spoke about Hungarian merger control regulations and the role of the Hungarian Competition Authority (HCA).
LKT Advises Egeria on Isoplus Acquisition
Lakatos, Koves and Partners, working alongside Clifford Chance’s Munich office, has advised Egeria Capital Behar BV on the acquisition of 100% of the shares of Isoplus. DLA Piper reportedly advised the sellers on the deal.
Stratulat Albulescu Advises Catalyst Romania Fund II on Adservio Funding Round
Stratulat Albulescu has advised Catalyst Romania Fund II on its participation in the EUR 2 million equity funding round of EdTech platform Adservio.
FDI Regulatory Developments in Real Estate Acquisitions
Screening of foreign direct investment (FDI) has been present in Hungarian law since 2019 in relation to certain specific investment-related activities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, additional FDI screening legislation was introduced in May 2020. The 2020 regime has had an impact on a significantly wider range of business transactions and, therefore, this summary focuses solely on the 2020 regime (FDI Rules). Given that a real estate asset deal may also fall within the scope of the FDI Rules, assessing the potential application of the FDI Rules has become an important item on the real estate due diligence to-do list. Below you will find a summary of the applicable regime based on our experience to this date.
Fundamentals of a Successful Real Estate Transaction
A sound investment requires an understanding of all the risks involved in the transaction. The main objective of real estate financial due diligence is to thoroughly inspect the fundamentals of the property, financing, seller and compliance obligations to be able to reduce and mitigate financial uncertainties.
Andra Trantea and Paula Corban-Pelin Make Local Partner at DLA Piper
DLA Piper has announced that former Counsels Andra Trantea and Paula Corban-Pelin have been promoted to Local Partner with the firm’s Romanian office.
How Does Competition Law Affect Your Transaction?
EU and Hungarian competition law considerations are also highly relevant in any real estate transaction, especially from a merger control and information exchange perspective.
Agnieszka Lehwark and Bartlomiej Palusiak Make Partner at DLA Piper
Former Counsels Agnieszka Lehwark and Bartlomiej Palusiak have been promoted to Partner in DLA Piper's Warsaw office.