On 3 March 2022, Serbian banks received a letter from the National Bank of Serbia stating that Serbia did not implement sanctions against the Russian Federation and that the banks must continue to provide services to their clients who are in any way connected to the Russian Federation. The banks were told to do so without delay, in any case not later than 4 March 2022, and to report back on undertaken actions.

In light of the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections and a relatively inactive legislative phase, Serbia’s potential free trade agreement with China is one of the major economic topics in the country, according to Bojovic Draskovic Popovic & Partners Partner Vuk Draskovic.

Ukrainian conflict has severe and far-reaching consequence on peoples lives.

The Croatian data protection authority has recently passed a decision establishing the violation of the right to personal data protection in terms of the articles 5, 6 and 14 of the General Data Protection Regulation of EU 2016/679 (“GDPR”), due to a phone call made to the number listed in “Do-not-call” registry.

Prica & Partners has advised DM Drogerie Markt Srbija on the “Uvek Povoljno” marketing campaign in Serbia.

JPM Jankovic Popovic Mitic has advised CD Holding Internationale on its acquisition of the remaining stake in Serbia's Emergo Sport from FitPass Limited in Ireland. Bojovic Draskovic Popovic & Partners advised the seller.

Practicing IP has always been a tricky matter, given the complexity and the diversity of this area of law. We reached out to experts from several IP-focused law firms – Hungary’s SBGK, Serbia’s Petosevic Group, and Greece’s Drakopoulos – to learn more about their origins, specializations, structures, and operations.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused many changes in doing business and, therefore, also had a significant impact on regulating the mutual rights, obligations, and responsibilities deriving from employment.

Bearing in mind the increasingly frequent engagement of foreign legal entities on various projects in Serbia, as well as the fact that during the last year the practice of direct investments by non-residents in Serbia significantly expanded, it is only natural that each transaction in which a legal entity acquires a certain income, raises numerous questions, such as: do non-residents pay income tax in Serbia, in which cases are they obliged to do so, how high is the tax rate, is there an international agreement on avoiding double taxation?

At the end of 2021, there was a public debate on the Draft Law on Internship, proposed by the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs (“the Draft”), while the final proposal is pending.

Karanovic & Partners has announced the appointment of Senior Partner Darko Jovanovic as the new Managing Partner of the firm.

Djurdjica Horvat and Filip Matkovic have been promoted to Partner at MPartners Legal.

Karanovic & Partners has advised Abris Capital Partners and Patent Co. founders Radivoje Perovic and Miodrag Perovic on the sale of Patent Co. to RWA Raiffeisen Ware Austria. JPM Jankovic Popovic Mitic advised Patent Co.'s founders as well. Wolf Theiss advised RWA.

Serbian lawyer Aleksandra Simic has been appointed to the role of Head Ethics Risk and Compliance iCEE at Novartis, based in Switzerland.

Nedeljko Velisavljevic, Head of CMS’ Dispute Resolution practice in Belgrade and Podgorica, has been promoted to CEE Partner.

The Republic Geodetic Authority (“RGA”) has recently, within implementation of the new real estate cadastre information system, launched a Cadastral Alarm, which serves to monitor the cases, i.e. changes relating to real estate.

Cvjeticanin & Partners has advised Pirelli Tyre on the recognition and enforcement in Serbia of an arbitral decision of the Milano Arbitration Chamber.

While public perception in Serbia on joining the EU has generally been positive, according to Karanovic & Partners Senior Partner Dragan Karanovic, “recent research suggests that the overall enthusiasm of the public has taken a slight decrease, establishing a polarized, almost fifty-fifty view towards EU accession.”