In light of the announced ending of the state of emergency in Serbia, businesses must check and ensure their compliance with data protection regulation which has been fully applicable, even in these exceptional times.

The Alternative Investment Funds Act (“Act”) came into force on 19 October 2019 and applies as of 20 April 2020, while the provisions governing small investors and public offering will be applicable from 1 January 2021, and the provision governing cross-border activity will be applicable from the date of accession of the Republic of Serbia to the European Union. Besides harmonization of the Serbian law with EU law, one of the main aims for adopting the Act was the improvement of the Serbian financial market and development of micro, small, and medium-sized businesses (MSMEs).

In The Corner Office feature of CEE Legal Matters we ask Managing Partners at leading law firms across Central and Eastern Europe about their unique roles and responsibilities. In light of current events, the question for this online occurrence of the feature is: "What have been the top three most often asked COVID-19 related questions that you have gotten from clients in the last month?”

In The Corner Office we ask Managing Partners across Central and Eastern Europe about their unique roles and responsibilities. The question this time around: What major initiative or new plan does your office (or firm) plan – if any – for 2020?

Love them or hate them, conferences are a fundamental part of the successful commercial lawyer’s calendar. But time is precious. Those calendars are full. It’s vital for conference organizers to get them right, and critical for lawyers to choose wisely in determining which events to attend and which to skip.

In response to the coronavirus outbreak, most CEE/SEE countries have introduced provisions to close certain premises, while only some have banned the termination of leases in order to protect tenants who have lost revenues.

The Serbian Government has adopted the new regulation for the state guarantee scheme as the collateral for the loans of local banks to companies in Serbia as part of the economic measures aimed to minimise the negative impacts of the spread of Covid-19 to Serbian economy ( the “Guarantee Scheme”).

On April 10, 2020 and April 24, 2020, the Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted a legal framework to implement economic measures to reduce the adverse effects caused by the Covid-19 virus pandemic.

When it comes to resolving disputes between contracting parties, the threat, “I’ll see you in court!” often is the first thing to cross peoples’ minds. This call to arms is still common, despite the availability now of different dispute resolution methods, such as arbitration.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia issued the decree on the extension of the deadline for local companies that employ new individuals on 24 April 2020, in order to prolong their possibility to apply for tax exemptions introduced at the end of last year.

The outbreak of COVID-19 virus pandemic, which led to worldwide measures that temporally suspended or reduced most civil and economic rights and privileges, has insofar resulted in severe obstruction of functioning of the global markets, including Serbian economy, leaving some of the industrial branches completely paralyzed.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia has adopted new Regulation on extending the deadlines for holding a company’s regular General Meeting session and submission of the annual and consolidated financial statements of the companies, cooperatives, other legal entities, and entrepreneurs, as well as deadlines for filing the corporate income tax return and tax return for the income of entrepreneurs, revalidation of certified auditors’ licenses and licenses for real estate valuation that expire during the state of emergency due to COVID-19 Pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus (hereinafter: “the Regulation”).

As part of a package of economic measures worth EUR 5.1 billion, the Serbian Government adopted a decree on 16 April 2020 establishing a guarantee scheme for loans to be provided by local banks to businesses to reduce the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic (the “COVID-19 Guarantee Scheme”).

Over one month has gone by as of the day when the state of emergency was declared, and many special regulations applicable to labor relations were adopted.

Dentons, DGKV, Karanovic & Partners, and Ilej & Partners in cooperation with Karanovic & Partners advised Hungary's Optima Befektesi Alapkezelo on its acquisition of a 61.49% share in Globe Trade Centre S.A. from Lone Star Funds. Schoenherr advised the sellers on the deal.

“The Government has responded timely to the crisis and I think that the economic measures it has put in place can have positive effects,“ states Boris Baklaja, Partner at Baklaja Igric Tintor in Belgrade. “The Decrees adopted on April 10 provide for legislative follow-through for some of the measures previously announced by the Government are designed to produce two types of effects: support to companies primarily by postponing the regular obligatory payments — such as the tax and social contributions which are due as part of the employee’s gross salaries and advanced payment of profit tax —due in this period, and a direct, minimum wage, non-refundable financial aid for employees’ salaries for March through May.”

JPM has advised the German School Belgrade on its implementation of a GDPR program.

Contributed by Karanovic & Partners.