Contributed by ILaw Lextal.

Contributed by KCG Partners.

Contributed by Peterka & Partners.

Contributed by Ibrahimovic & Co.

As of 1 January 2023, a significant amendment to the Act on Significant Market Power takes effect.

After years of anticipation and waiting, 2023 appears to be the year in which crypto-assets, as major applications of blockchain technology in finance, will be finally regulated by the European Union („EU”) legislation, namely, by the Regulation on Markets in Crypto Assets (“MiCA Regulation”), which is susceptible to affect the rights, obligations and interests of many existing and future generation of businesses and investors across the globe.

 On 20 December 2022, the Official Journal of the Republic of Poland published the rather awkwardly titled Act of 15 December 2022 on Special Protection of Certain Gas Fuel Consumers in 2023 Due to the Gas Market Situation (Gas Prices Capping Act). In this legal alert, we’ll look at the main rules intended to protect eligible customers against spikes in gas prices, payment of compensation to eligible suppliers, as well as amendments to the Energy Law (EL) that are likely to affect the market for companies producing energy from renewable sources (RES Businesses).

Mergers and acquisitions transactions, which has reached a global record level of 5.9 trillion dollars in 2021, are considered as one of the legal transactions with the highest potential for disputes, even though its grounds for disputes are striven to be reduced or at least brought to a foreseeable level by detailed agreements. Agreements and afterwards transactions that comply with the intentions of the parties may result in unintended consequences later. Due to geopolitical tensions, soaring inflation, turmoil in finance and energy sectors, more disputes have been arisen after the closing of M&A transactions comparing to last year. That is with respect to Berkeley Research Group’s third-annual M&A Disputes Report (“Report”), which is prepared with contributions from some of the world’s top lawyers, private equity professionals and leading experts. Report brings forth a broad perspective, on how the current market environment has changed the essence of disputes.

For the last couple of months, we have all experienced a shortage of certain pharmaceuticals on the market, especially antibiotics or pharmaceuticals for fever reduction for children. Given that this situation reoccurs almost every flu season, the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic has newly established a formal working group monitoring the availability of pharmaceuticals on the market. The Ministry of Health is also preparing the amendment to the Act on Pharmaceuticals so that it can, on its own or in cooperation with the State Institute for Drug Control („SUKL“), better respond to urgent drug shortages in case of crisis situations.

The renewables sector in the Republic of Serbia has been growing for a while with a focus on wind energy, solar energy, biomass, and biogas and as recently on agrivoltaics.

Law no. 40/2023 amending the Offshore Safety Law no. 165/2016 (Law 40) is applicable as of January 18, 2023.

An economic crisis is definitely upon us. Factors such as inflation, reduced availability of raw materials and skyrocketing material prices and costs triggered by, among other things, the armed conflict in Ukraine and sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation, are having a direct impact on performance of contracts and their profitability. Among those hardest hit in these circumstances are parties to public procurement contracts.

As the year draws to a close, we traditionally check the results. Therefore, let's review the transaction market of 2022. If I had to choose, I would consider the birth of the second unicorn to be the most significant event in Lithuania. Globally, it must be the USD 44 billion deal between Elon Musk and Twitter, which has probably boosted popcorn sales worldwide.

A draft of a preventive restructuring act is being discussed in the Czech legal environment to implement the EU directive on restructuring and insolvency (directive (EU) 2019/1023). The aim of the new legal regulation is to introduce an out-of-court restructuring model with shorter times to improve operations and the balance sheets of debtors in financial difficulties. Different forms of out-of-court restructuring are common and frequently used in many foreign jurisdictions, e.g. arrangements in England and Wales. Unlike insolvencies, in preventive restructuring the court is a “mere” supervisor supported by the restructuring trustee in certain situations.

Circular products, extended producer responsibility, mandatory return system: new terms and new concept behind the new green tax regulation coming in 2023 in Hungary. The modification of the Green Tax Act has been already adopted, and the governmental decree with the specifications is to follow.

The draft regulation of the Minister of Health on medical device advertising (the Draft) provides for further restrictions and requirements on advertising to the public. The Draft is intended to be a clarification of the technical requirements for advertising medical devices that have been introduced at the statutory level in the Polish Medical Devices Act of 7 April 2022 (the MDA).

With the recent amendments to the Notary Public Law No. 1512 ("Law"), the immovable property sales agreements, which could only be executed before the land registries previously, can now be executed before the Turkish notaries as of January 1, 2023. In other words, immovable property sales agreements can now be concluded both before the land registries and the notaries as of such date.

As of 1 January 2023, the Labour Code was amended on several points, creating significant new obligations on the employers' side. We summarize the most impactful parts of the amendments, as well as the novel employers' obligations resulting from such amendments.