FDI screening was for a long time a blank spot on the regulatory landscape for most countries in Central Eastern Europe (CEE). Unlike Western European Member States, relatively few countries in Central Eastern Europe had instruments to vet foreign investments and those that did exist often were of little practical consequence.

Djingov Gouginski Kyutchukov & Velichkov has advised Unicredit Bulbank, DSK Bank, and United Bulgarian Bank on their approximately EUR 160 million financing for Maxcom, Chipolino, and Maxbike.

Even though the Austrian green bond market has not been very active, issuers like Uniqa, Hypo Noe, Verbund, and the Republic of Austria have taken the first steps toward the new asset class. The main feature of such bonds is the intention and/or commitment to invest the proceeds of the issue in green projects. Most issuers initially established stand-alone green bond frameworks based on voluntarily applied market standards. An Austrian green bond standard has not yet been developed. Frameworks used in Austria are usually based on published guidelines, like the International Capital Market Association's (ICMA) Green Bond Principles. Issuers do consider the upcoming standards of the European Union, too – particularly, the EU Green Bond Standards (EUGBS) and the so-called EU Taxonomy.

Schoenherr has advised Red Bull on the establishment of a joint venture with Van Deer-Red Bull Sports Equipment founding shareholders Marcel Hirscher and Dominic Tritscher and the subsequent acquisition of Augment Ski by Van Deer-Red Bull Sports Equipment.

The numerous political, economic and social uncertainties of the last period, coupled with a significant increase in the prices of consumer goods, have led the Romanian Government to amend the existing legal framework and to regulate the commercial behaviour of companies in a stricter manner, aiming to combat potential speculative actions, but also unfair competition practices.

Schoenherr has advised Austria's Altstoff Recycling on a cooperation agreement for the construction of a new sorting plant in Upper Austria with Duales System Deutschland and Bernegger.

Schoenherr has advised Banca Intesa Beograd on providing EUR 26 million loans to Israeli Big Group company Minel Kotlogradnja Real Estate.

Dorda has advised the DigitalBridge Group on its joint acquisition with Brookfield Infrastructure and its institutional partners of a 51% stake in GD Towers from Deutsche Telekom. E+H and Latham and Watkins advised the bidding consortium of GIP, KKR, and Stonepeak. Reportedly, Allen & Overy and Morgan Lewis also advised DigitalBridge, Freshfields and Weil, Gotshal & Manges advised Brookfield Infrastructure, while, on the sell side, Gleiss Lutz, Noerr, CMS, Schoenherr, Cuatrecasas, and Freshfields advised Deutsche Telekom on the deal.

Earlier this year the European Banking Authority (EBA) published the final Guidelines on the limited network exemption (LNE) under the Payment Service Directive 2 (PSD2). Following the consultation phase initiated by the draft, further clarifications were added which are relevant to all service providers who plan to rely on the exclusion as well as those who already do.

In Hungary the Government recently issued a decree introducing extra profit taxes affecting several sectors, among others the aviation sector. Pursuant to the Governmental decree, as of 1 July 2022 an extra profittax is payable by ground handling companies based on the number of passengers departing from Hungary, with the exception of transit passengers. The new special tax is HUF 3,900 (approx. EUR 10) or HUF 9,750 (approx. EUR 25) per passenger depending on the passenger's final destination.

Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen, working with Luther, has advised Staffbase on its acquisition of the Romanian Dirico entity from 247Grad Labs. Schoenherr reportedly advised the sellers.

Although in most respects the law firm business in Central Europe is on par with other sophisticated practices in the rest of the world, coaching is one thing that has not been as widely adopted as elsewhere. This article addresses the questions of what coaching is, what it offers lawyers and law firms, and whether it should be more widely embraced by the legal profession in Central Europe.

Ever since the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (the "Directive") was adopted back in April 2019, its contents, especially regarding the liability of certain service providers, have sparked many controversies. According to the explanations provided by the European Council, the Directive's main goal was to protect press publication and reduce the "value gap" between the profits made by two main "entities": internet platforms and content creators. The Directive aimed to enhance collaboration between these two groups and to create copyright exceptions for text- and data-mining. However, Article 17 of the Directive proved difficult to accept within the internet sharing platform environment, as it replaces the "mere conduit" exemption from copyright infringement of online content sharing of the platform with a conditional exemption. Article 17 prohibits internet platforms from sharing and displaying unlicensed copyrighted contents on behalf of users.

Schoenherr, working with Legance, has advised Nexi on its agreement with Privredna Banka Zagreb and Intesa Sanpaolo-controlled company PBZ Card to purchase PBZ Card’s merchant acquiring business in Croatia for EUR 180 million. Reportedly, PwC Legal and KPMG Legal advised Intesa Sanpaolo.

On 29 June 2022, the Council and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on the text regarding the European Commission's proposal for a recast of Regulation (EU) 2015/847 (also referred to as the Transfer of Funds Regulation ("TFR")).

Schoenherr has advised Caverion Oesterreich on the acquisition of Porreal and its subsidiary Alea. Beira Rechtsanwaelte reportedly advised Porr AG on the sale.

Change and unpredictability, among the top keywords that could best describe the past couple of years, did little to affect the overall Romanian M&A market. Publicly available figures show that dealmaking saw a strong rebound in 2021 in terms of deal numbers. The main sectors on investors’ radar were real estate and construction, IT&C, energy (with a growing focus on renewables), manufacturing and industrials, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare.

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.