In accordance with the Law on Protection of Competition that entered into force in 2009 and was amended in 2013 (the “Law”), the Commission for Protection of Competition (“Commission”) instituted ex officio antitrust proceedings for possible infringement of competition rights in the market of the Republic of Serbia against domestic legal entities dealing with retail and/or wholesale in consumer electronics.

On 17 September, the Serbian Commission for Protection of Competition (the “Serbian NCA”) initiated official proceedings against a local pharmacy chain (“Jankovic Pharmacy”), in order to investigate whether it failed to file a mandatory merger notification prior to a reportable acquisition.

Former Karanovic & Partners Partner Patricia Gannon has announced the establishment of Gannon Advisory, which she describes as "a holistic strategic advisory business."

The SEE Legal law firm alliance has announced the formal launch of two new practice groups, one dedicated to Employment and Immigration, headed by Kolcuoglu Demirkan Kocakli Counsel Maral Minasyan, and one dedicated to Intellectual Property, headed by Selih & Partnerji Partner Natasa Pipan Nahtigal.

The answer to this question is rather simple – no, by publishing employment-related documents on notice board the employer is not violating personal data of employees that such documents refer to.

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.