Havel & Partners' Veronika Dvorakova and Ivan Rames have become Equity Partners, while Lenka Stikova Gachova, Michal Smrcek, and Josef Zaloudek have been promoted to Partner.

At the end of 2020, the Chairman of the Czech Competition Authority (CCA) was replaced. Petr Rafaj, who had been in the position for more than 11 years and who had been linked to several controversial cases, resigned. The government, through a tender procedure, selected his successor: Petr Mlsna. The aim of the 42-year-old lawyer, who has extensive experience working in senior government positions, is to return the good reputation of the CCA. Mlsna emphasizes strengthening the importance of competition law as part of the CCA’s competencies.

On January 1, 2021, an amendment to the Czech Companies Act came into effect, which brought many minor and major changes to the current life of business companies in the Czech Republic.

With Havel & Partners celebrating 20 years of existence this year, CEE Legal Matters spoke with Robert Nespurek, one of the firm’s founding Partners, to look back at the past two decades and the firm’s plans for the future.

An amendment to the VAT Act in e-commerce is expected to come into effect in the coming days as part of the ongoing law-making process. The amendment implements the EU Council’s tax package into the Czech system of laws. It also introduces significant changes to imports, cross-border trade within the EU and extends the possibilities for the use of the special one-stop-shops.

On 14 September 2021, the Chamber of Deputies approved the long-awaited amendment to Act No. 48/1997 Coll., on Public Health Insurance (the “Act”), as returned by the Senate (the “Amendment”). It now awaits signing by the President of the Czech Republic. The Amendment brings a wide range of changes and innovations, such as rules for the entry of innovative drugs and orphan drugs into the reimbursement system, the creation of centres for rare diseases and mental health centres, and the introduction of a definition of a patient organisation.

With the implementation deadline for the EU Directive on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law (17 December 2021) approaching, here is a summary of the current state of the respective national measures in the Czech Republic and Slovakia and an introduction to our own whistleblowing solution: FairWhistle.

Privacy pros are now celebrating the three-year anniversary of the GDPR, even as we are living through the current pandemic. It is, in fact, almost impossible to talk about privacy trends without touching on the COVID-19 crisis.

On 31 January 2022, the “new” Regulation (EU) No. 536/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on clinical trials on medicinal products for human use and repealing Directive 2001/20/EC (the “Regulation“) will enter into force. After several delays (the launch was originally planned for 2015), the European Medicines Agency (the “EMA”) has confirmed to the Commission that the EU portal and the EU database, which were a prerequisite for the launch, are now fully functioning. At the same time, the EMA confirmed that the EU portal and database will be put into operation on 31 January 2022. As of this date, the Regulation will become fully applicable in all EU Member States.

As of January 1, 2022, a deposit system for disposable beverage packaging will be introduced in Slovakia. Some disposable beverage packaging manufacturers and distributors will therefore have new obligations.

Is it possible to perceive some elements of the corona crisis positively? And is it possible that changes could take place that would have a positive effect on the Slovak legal market? I may be too optimistic, but I am convinced that the answer to both questions is “yes.”

After a valuable and information-rich day of panel discussions on important business development and law firm management topics, participants reconvened that evening (and were joined by several dozen newcomers) at the first ever CEE Legal Matters Annual Banquet and Deal of the Year Awards Ceremony – a celebration of CEE’s legal markets and the lawyers who work within them. Awards were presented for 17 qualifying markets in CEE – plus a surprise award for overall CEE Deal of the Year – with many of the lawyers playing key roles in nominated deals joining the celebration.