Did You Know that, according to the Activity Rankings function of the CEELMDirect website, the NKO Law Firm (with four) and SOG Law Firm (with two) are the only two law firms in Serbia to have reported working on more than one Real Estate deal in that country in the past year, with a total of 14 other firms reporting having worked on one.

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.

Recently, the Serbian Government (“Government“) adopted a Regulation on the Quota in the Market Premium System (“Quota Regulation“), and soon after, the Regulation on Market Premium and Fid-In Tarif (“Tarif Regulation“) and the Regulation on the Model Agreement for the Market Premium for Renewable Energy Sources (“Model Agreement Regulation“). This package of by-laws has been adopted to create conditions for the organization of the first market premium auction in accordance with the Law on the Use of Renewable Energy Sources (“Law“).

CMS has advised UK-based Hystead Limited on its sale of the Delta City shopping mall in Belgrade, Serbia, to MPC Properties for EUR 115 million. Samardzic, Oreski, & Grbovic advised MPC Properties on the deal. 

On 17 November 2021, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia adopted the amendments to the Companies Act (“Official Gazette of the RS”, No. 109/2021) (the „Act“) which entered into force on 27 November 2021.

For the last decade or so, the video gaming industry has been witnessing an emergence, and then almost a mainstream adoption of a revenue-generating mechanic similar, if not outright identical, to gambling.

NKO Partners and Lovric Novokmet Smrcek have advised French Conforama on the sale of furniture and appliance company Emmezeta and subsidiary Emma Real Estate to Poland's Merkury Market. Marohnic, Tomek & Gjoic advised LCN Capital Partners on the sale of a related real estate portfolio. Glinska & Miskovic, Samardzic Oreski & Grbovic, and Brzozowska & Barwinska advised the buyer.

Not so long ago (12 years!) Serbia adopted the amendments to the Agricultural Land Act which was supposed to allow the use of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes, mainly to support the growing renewable energy sector. Of course, this was conditioned with adopting an adequate Regulation by the Serbian Government, which everyone waited for since 2009. Finally, patience paid off and in July 2021, the Serbian Government adopted the Regulation on the conditions, manner and procedure for giving state-owned agricultural land for use for non-agricultural purposes (hereinafter: “Regulation”).

On 2 September 2021 Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) announced a 225 million euro fine for WhatsApp and ordered the company to amend its practices within three months. It is the largest fine ever from the DPC, and the second-highest under Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

In the age of digital philosophy, when the electronic management of documents become more and more prominent in both private and public sectors, digitalization of invoices is rather a logical development than an innovative approach in the functioning of the supply chain. Harmonization of e-invoicing regulation in B2G sector has been in effect for seven years in the EU, while Serbia established an e-invoice system in 2019, prescribing mandatory registration of invoices issued in commercial transactions with the public sector on the central registry of invoices (CRF). The most recent novelty in the field happened with adopting the Electronic Invoicing Act and its by-laws when a comprehensive set of rules regulating e-invoicing came into effect.

Technological progress has a magnificent impact on everyday business life, and one of the things made possible by it is creating the opportunity for employees to perform work outside their business premises. But although technological progress gave employers the means to operate their business through remote work, the rigidity in incorporating this work model in practice was shaken only after the COVID-19 pandemic struck, making the expansion of remote work models a result of practical necessity. The sudden spread of remote work in companies also brought concerns of legal nature, and questions like what are the best ways to regulate contracts, safety measures etc.

On 4 June 2021, the European Commission adopted two implementing decisions (Decision no. 2021/914 and Decision no. 2021/915) which contain Standard Contractual Clauses for processing and transferring of personal data and are set in line with the General Data Protection Regulation (2016/679) (“GDPR”) with the hope of bringing about a higher level of personal data protection.

On 24 May 2021, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia adopted the amendments to the Law on Planning and Construction (“Official Gazette of the RS”, No. 52/2021), which entered into force on 25 May 2021.

The standard approach in cases involving abuse of dominant position implies that the competition authority determines the market influence of the company due to which it can operate in the relevant market to a significant extent independently of other market participants and, provided that the company has a dominant position, whether its actions result in abuse of such position. The standard approach came naturally in markets that are geographically and economically limited. The core of the principle is that the public authority reacts ex-post (after the event) to abuses, by imposing the obligation to terminate anticompetitive practices or imposing penalties for prohibited behaviour.

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.

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.

Should software be protected as a work of authorship or a patent?

As we mentioned in our previous article, the Law on Archive Materials and Archiving Activities (“Law“) started to apply as of 2 February 2021.