The Law on the Protection of Business Secret (Official Gazette of RS, no. 53/2021, “LPBS“) entered into force on 5 June 2021 and it completely repealed the previous law that regulated this matter.

Zivkovic Samardzic has advised on the merger of Eurobank a.d. Beograd with Direktna Banka a.d. Kragujevac, via an absorption of Direktna by Eurobank Serbia. GO2Law advised Direktna on English law matters, with Milbank advising both banks on English law. Schoenherr reportedly advised Eurobank Serbia on the deal as well.

The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia adopted the Law on Amendments to the Law on Electronic Document, Electronic Identification and Trust Services in Electronic Business (hereinafter "Amendments to the Law"), on May 20, 2021.

Allen & Overy has advised CEE betting and gaming operator Fortuna Entertainment Group N.V. and its subsidiaries, on an up to EUR 551 million refinancing for the group. RTPR, Ilej & Partners, in cooperation with Karanovic & Partners, Athos Demetriou Associates, and Carey Olsen advised the group in Romania, Croatia, Cyprus, and Jersey, respectively.

NKO Partners has advised CTP on the acquisition of land from the City of Novi Sad.

Schoenherr has advised Swiss-based media company Ringier on the acquisition of a majority stake in Bulgarian sports news portal z Sportal Media Group – and an affiliated IT company behind the international Sports Content Management System, Sportal365 – Digital Ventures OOD. Jordanov, Valkov & Partners advised the seller, Mr. Angel Stoyanov Shishkov, on the deal.

Former Senior Associates Ivan Ljubisavljevic and Sava Pavlovic have been promoted to Partner at Zivkovic Samardzic, as of July 1, 2021.

The global crisis, which arose as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, brought light, among other things, to the weaknesses of the Serbian public health care system. The daily mass collection of a person’s data on health – which, according to the Serbian Data Protection Act, is considered particularly sensitive data – became a regular occurrence during the pandemic.

The Law amending the Law on Excise (Official Gazette of RS, no. 53/2021) entered into force on 5 June 2021 and its novelties refer to the excise for alcoholic beverages. 

In the last decade, we have witnessed a significant transformation in the area of transportation services. Several new transportation service providers have entered the market, the offer has increased considerably, and accordingly, the price of the service has decreased. On every corner of the global metropolis, you can see a car of a different transportation company (Yandex, Uber, Cargo…) and customers are now able cheaper than ever move from point A to point B. Private transportation providers have higher profits than ever, and everyone seems to be pleased.

Vulic Law has advised dairy product company Mlekara Sabac on the construction of a factory in Russia.

The Law amending the Law on Mining and Geological Exploration (Official Gazette of RS no. 40/2021) entered into force on 30 April 2021 and most important changes refer to specification of certain solutions and more detailed normative regulation of individual issues, harmonisation with legal regulations in the field of environmental protection, introduction of e-business etc.

Intellectual property is usually perceived through three main rights: copyright, patent and trademarks. Sensitive market-relevant information is usually perceived just as a benefit, but rarely as a right. Protection of trade secrets certainly deserves more attention. To make it easier to all market players to easily comprehend this right and for authorities to apply it, Serbia adopted a new Law on Protection of Trade Secrets, which came into force on 5 June 2020 (the “New Law”). The main reason for the new regulation, as proclaimed by the lawmakers, is the alignment with the EU acquis (especially, the Directive (EU) 2016/943 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2016).

Andjelka Radovanovic has joined NSTLaw as Senior Associate and will head the firm’s Commercial Practice.

Karanovic & Partners has advised Take-Two Interactive on its acquisition of Serbian mobile game developer Nordeus.

Milosevic Law Firm has advised Vocarescar d.o.o. Beograd on the acquisition of Vocar Merosina, a fruit cold storage company based in southern Serbia.

Dragana Bajic has joined the Belgrade office of CMS as Partner and new Head of Employment and Data Protection.

In April 2021, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia passed a set of new laws in the field of mining and energy, including the new Law on Energy Efficiency and Rational Use of Energy (hereinafter “the Law”), which entered into force on April 30, 2021.