European Directive no. 2019/904 on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment was transposed into Romanian law as of 2 September 2021 by Ordinance no. 6/2021 on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment (the “Ordinance”).

On 31 August 2021, Government Ordinances nos. 8/2021 and 11/2021, amending the Fiscal Code and the Fiscal Procedure Code, were published in the Official Gazette no. 832/31.08.2021.

Following the adoption of the GDPR, an important new element was brought into Romania’s legal framework – the required designation of a Data Protection Officer (DPO), which is mandatory in some cases.

According to Barbara Kusak, Partner at Noerr in Prague, the Czech Republic is currently preparing for its upcoming general elections. She also notes that the Czech economy shows no signs of contraction, despite the country’s abysmal COVID-19 infection rates, and that the infrastructure, IT, and e-commerce sectors are on the rise.

Following the adoption of regulations allowing profit tax consolidation in late 2020, the Romanian tax authorities issued Order 1191/2021 approving the instructions for implementing and managing Profit Tax Groups (“PTGs”) on 6 August 2021.

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll on Poland, as it has on other European countries. In April, Poland recorded by far the biggest number of COVID-19 fatalities since the onset of the pandemic in March of last year. Consequently, most of the government’s plans to reform healthcare/pharmaceutical legislation have been either frozen or postponed. Most recent legislation has been aimed at legalizing the lockdown or enacting other pandemic measures, such as social distancing and mask-wearing in public spaces, as well as speeding up the vaccination rollout across the country. However, these new laws were essentially technical adjustments to the current framework, rather than revolutionary changes.

The Polish economy has recovered quickly following the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and the number of transactions is fairly consistent across various industries, reports Radoslaw Biedecki, Partner at Noerr in Poland. The country is pushing for further digitalization of its public services, but draft legislation on media ownership has him concerned.

The European Data Protection Supervisor has published a case-law digest on the transfer of personal data to third countries¹. The case-law digest aims to clarify the structure of the analysis carried out by the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) in judgments concerning the transfer of personal data to third countries, in particular by highlighting the steps followed and the jurisprudential acquis in relevant case law.

The close relationship between data protection and cyber security results from Art. 5 of the European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) which outlines one of the most important principles relating to processing of personal data: “integrity and confidentiality”.

The Health Ministry and the Ministry of Internal Affairs have issued Order no. 1204/99/09.07.2021 to supplement Order no. 874/81/2020, which established an obligation to wear a protective mask, epidemiological triage and mandatory hand disinfection to prevent contamination with the SARS-CoV-2 virus during the state of alert (the “Order”) and have published it in the Official Gazette no. 683 dated 9 July 2021.

Noerr has advised Irish clinical research company Icon Plc on EU merger clearance for its acquisition of PRA Health Sciences. Schima Mayer Starlinger advised Icon on Austrian law, while A&L Goodbody, Cahill Gordon & Reindel, Macfarlanes, Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier, and Gianni & Origoni advised on Irish, US, UK, French, and Italian law, respectively. 

The VAT legislation applicable to cross-border e-commerce will be modernised at EU level by new EU e-commerce rules with effect from 1 July 2021. The new rules will allow companies selling goods online to fulfil certain VAT obligations at EU level via a digital online portal (the “One-Stop Shop”, OSS), hosted by their own revenue agencies and in their own languages. These rules have been in place for online sellers of e-services since 2015, when the “Mini One-Stop Shop” or MOSS was implemented.

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced us to adapt to many new things, among them a shift to remote work. Unsurprisingly, remote work or, as Forbes has described it, “a gift born in tragedy”, has proved to be not only possible and efficient, but also attractive, especially for certain industries. In two simple words, remote work has easily become a freelance accelerator. And we believe it is here to stay.

The digitalisation of the construction process in Poland has begun. By the end of 2022, it should be possible to access all construction-related administrative services via a single portal called e-budownictwo (e-construction).

Noerr has advised the shareholders of Adaptive Vision Sp. z o.o. on the sale of 100% of the shares in the company to a UK-based subsidiary of Zebra Technologies. Baker McKenzie advised the buyers on the deal.

The Budapest office of Noerr has advised Polish pesticide distributor Chemirol on its acquisition of a 10% shareholding in Hungary's Chemark Zrt.

After more than a year of the Covid pandemic, there is hope that vaccinations will allow us to beat the virus and get back to normal life. We will be able return to our workplaces, meet our colleagues face to face and work together more efficiently. However, this is not yet possible, since not all of us are vaccinated or have existing immunity to Covid.

The Supreme Court of Hungary recently put an end to a long debate amongst legal practitioners and academia. In its decision No. 1/2021 PJE, the court confirmed that an agreement cannot be considered null and void only because it was signed on the basis of a power of attorney by: