We are witnessing that there is a constant "hunger" for information in modern society and that the media are competing to be the first to publish exclusive news. The average reader is overwhelmed by a massive amount of information, and the media almost always publish articles and appealing photos to attract the reader's attention.

The Serbian Ministry of Justice released a Data Protection Strategy Proposal for 2023-2030 and invited stakeholders to participate in public discussion. The document sets an ambitious goal: harmonisation of data protection legislation with acquis communautaire resulting in obtaining EU decision on the adequate protection of personal data and resulting in a free flow of personal data with EU. We would be glad to participate in public discussion providing suggestions resulting from our long-term practice for the improvement of the proposal.

White-Collar Crime Attorneys Danilo Nikolic and Luka Nikolic have joined Jankovic Popovic Mitic as Partners in the firm.

After the publication of the draft of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Spatial Planning and Construction, a series of public hearings on the proposed draft law was held in February 2023, and now we are waiting for the final wording of the proposal of the amendments and the lawmaker’s response to the of proposals and objections raised during the public hearings.
The draft envisages numerous amendments to the law, the most striking of which is the amendment related to the conversion of the right of use on construction land into the right of ownership (conversion).

Former Senior Associate Bojana Javoric Micovic has been promoted to Partner at Jankovic Popovic Mitic.

The Republic of Serbia continues to encourage creativity in the field of audiovisual production through incentives’ allocation to individuals even so in 2023.

NKO Partners has advised a group of Saga’s minority shareholders on Noventiq's buyout of their equity. Jankovic Popovic Mitic advised the buyer.

The very idea of introducing a new financial instrument issued by a limited liability company (“LLC” or “Company”) is to improve the economic environment as well as financial growth by providing a way for companies to incentivize employees, especially the ones in IT industry, thus enabling companies to operate in accordance with high standards adopted worldwide.

On the 19th of January, there has been yet another competition infringement investigation (ex officio) by the Serbian Commission for the Protection of the Competition, this time against VAILLANT doo Beograd (Vaillant) regarding the market of gas boilers!

The renewables sector in the Republic of Serbia has been growing for a while with a focus on wind energy, solar energy, biomass, and biogas and as recently on agrivoltaics.

According to the United Nations eGovernment Development Survey 2022, Serbia’s eGovernment Development Index was evaluated as “very high,” moving forward 18 places. Following the Strategy for the Development of Artificial Intelligence, Serbia set the use of AI in the healthcare sector as a priority and started supporting projects for cooperation between public bodies and commerce to share and use data. Digitalization prevents corruption but, on the other hand, cannot meet the expectations of citizens if data protection principles are not implemented in real time.

Although there are several incentives for renewable energy projects supported by the state, there also seem to be several factors that could impede Serbia’s potential for renewables and deter further investments in the sector. Kinstellar Belgrade Managing Partner Branislav Maric, JPM Jankovic Popovic Mitic Senior Partner Jelena Gazivoda, and Gecic Law Partner Ognjen Colic weigh which will carry a stronger impact.

There is a growing concern, across CEE, about a potential wave of insolvency and restructuring proceedings. Given the economic aftermath of COVID-19, coupled with the ramifications of rising inflation and interest rates, energy crisis concerns, and the war in Ukraine – the road ahead seems bumpy at best.

As the terms “hunger” and “benefits” in most cases exclude each other and expectations of all interested parties are high on both ends, we spent hours listening carefully
to what lecturers and panelists of our data protection conference were saying, to summarise ideas and solutions to a complex question from the headline.

After the Parliament of Montenegro adopted Law on amendments to the Law of Foreigners and introduced legal framework for digital nomads earlier in August 2022, further activities were undertaken in order to establish the practical applicability of the adopted legal framework.

The fact that the last 20 years have been marked by the expansion of digital markets has undoubtedly contributed to the "enthronement" of leading companies in dominant positions all over the planet, created issues of effective competition enforcement regulations and the obvious need for more comprehensive and better regulation of the markets themselves.

In the last two months, the Commission for the Protection of Competition (“Commission”) initiated several different proceedings i.e., 3 gun-jumping cases, one for abuse of a dominant position and one case regarding restrictive agreements. It is necessary to pay attention to these proceedings, because they are not coincidences but rather are initiated due to Commission’s reasonable doubt that market participants have breached the Law on Protection of Competition of Republic of Serbia (“Law“).

Keeping investments in or out of line with the development of the IT sector.