On 23 December 2019, the National Assembly adopted the Public Procurement Act (‘’Official Gazette of RS’’ No. 91/2019 – hereinafter the “PP Act”) that started to apply as of 1 July 2020. The PP Act replaced the previous version of the Public Procurement Act and introduced numerous novelties that significantly change the public procurement landscape.

Government adopts new minimum labour price of RSD 32,126.

In line with the new Health Care Law (“Law“) which came into force on April 11, 2019, the Business Registers Agency (“BRA“) announced the establishment of a new Register of Health Care Institutions on October 11, 2020, after which the Health Care Institutions, both private and public owned, shall be obliged to harmonise with the Register of Health Care Institutions maintained by BRA.

Karanovic & Partners has announced the withdrawal of Founding Partners Patricia Gannon and Dejan Nikolic, after a prolonged process.

“Due to a very hefty package of financial aid, at least judging by Serbian standards, our economy shouldn’t suffer a significant drop in GDP,” says Karanovic & Partners Partner Goran Radosevic. "Some estimates show that the drop shouldn’t be higher than 4%, which is much better than what our neighboring countries are expecting.”

JPM has established a Criminal Law and Criminal Compliance team.

Kinstellar’s Belgrade Office has successfully advised the Serbian Orthodox Church on a case heard by an English High Court regarding claims of alleged abuse by clergymen in Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Croatia. DWF and Michael McParland, QC, also reportedly provided legal assistance to the Church in the UK.

Zivkovic Samardzic has advised Manchester-based biotech firm APIS Assay Technologies Ltd on the Serbian aspects of its acquisition of BeoGenomics. CT Legal advised the unnamed seller of BeoGenomics on the deal.

Independent data protection authorities (“DPA”), such as Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection in the Republic of Serbia (“Commissioner”), have significant role and authorities in case of personal data breach.

Karanovic & Partners has partnered up with Blocknify to launch an electronic signature technology called "k/signing."

Mikijelj Jankovic & Bogdanovic has advised the Belgrade-based Nelt Grupa on its acquisition of baby food brand Bebi from Atlantic Grupa.

Just as we entered the year of 2020, the Serbian Government enacted the new Regulation on Incentives to Investors for Production of Audio-visual Works in the Republic of Serbia (“Regulation”). The motives for enacting a new Regulation were the encouragement of investments and increasing employment in the field of audiovisual production, as well as the promotion of the potential of the Republic of Serbia in the said field.

On 10 August 2020, the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection (the “Commissioner“) issued an official statement confirming that the recently annulled mechanism for the free transfer of personal data to the United States (better known as the “Privacy Shield Framework”) cannot be considered a lawful basis for the transfer of personal data anymore.

The Law on Consumer Protection (Official Gazette of RS no. 62/2014, 6/2016 – other law and 44/2018 – other law; “LCP 2014“) prescribes seller’s liability for non-conformity of goods that occurs within a period of two years after the transfer of risk to the consumer.

According to the newly adopted package of COVID-19 economic measures, financial aid will be provided to Serbian companies registered between 15 March 2020 and 20 July 2020, which were not able to apply for fiscal benefits from April this year. The measure is introduced by Conclusion of Serbian government 05 No. 401-6052/2020 (“Conclusion”). These companies may receive direct aid in one tranche in September, in the amount of 120% of the minimum wage for March (approx. EUR 300) for each employee. These funds can be used until 31 October 2020, and only for the purpose of employees’ salaries.

On 17 August 2020, the National Bank of Serbia (“NBS”) adopted the Decision on temporary measures for banks to facilitate access to financing for natural persons (“Decision”), which was published in the Official Gazette of RS no. 108 on 20 August 2020 and which will enter into force on 28 August 2020.

As Europe begins a tentative re-opening following several difficult months of quarantining, social distancing, and working-from-home, we spoke to CMS’s Warsaw-based Employment Partner Katarzyna Dulewicz and Vienna-based Dispute Resolution Partner Daniela Karollus-Bruner for their perspective on the process.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from the energy sector is critical to mitigating climate change. Studies have shown that the electricity sector will play a key role in this mission, primarily through decarbonizing electricity production, which is heavily dependent on the massive deployment of renewable energy.