In Turkey, parties of a dispute tend to resort to courts even if they have a valid arbitration clause for the respective dispute. In the Final Award in Case 8887 (“Case”), International Chamber of Commerce (“ICC”) ruled that the defendant Turkish company (“Defendant”), by pursuing an action in the Turkish Courts despite the existence of a valid arbitration clause, breached its agreement to arbitrate and therefore it is liable for damages which the claimant Italian company (“Claimant”) might suffer due to this breach. In this article, we will briefly share the details of the Case and touch upon the reasoning of the ICC for deciding that Defendant is liable for the damages that the Claimant might suffered due to this breach.

On October 26, 2022, the Turkish Competition Board (“Board”) published its reasoned decision dated June 23, 2022 and numbered 22-28/443-180, upon its preliminary investigation initiated against six undertakings (i.e. Ahmet Tanrıbuyurdu, Emin Helal Et ve Gıda A.Ş., Göktaşlar Et-Et Ürünleri Yan San. ve Tic. Ltd. Şti, Namet Gıda Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş., Pınar Entegre ve Un Sanayi A.Ş. and Sultan Et ve Gıda Üretim Tic. Paz. Ltd. Şti.) that are active in the red meat industry to determine whether the undertakings have violated Article 4 of Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (“Law No. 4054”).

Factoring volumes in Romania have seen a marked increase over the last year, up to EUR 3.68bln in the first half of 2022, according to public sources. While part of this 31.6 % year-on-year surge was driven by inflation rates, local businesses do appear to show a growing appetite for this type of financing product.

The Tax Foundation issued its annual International Tax Competitiveness Index (ITCI) of 38 OECD countries. The Index seeks to measure the extent to which a country’s tax system adheres to two important aspects of tax policy: competitiveness and neutrality. The ranking weighs variables across five categories: corporate taxes, individual taxes, consumption taxes, property taxes, and international tax rules.

Continuing our series on opportunities for investment in Serbia, we discuss the real estate sector.  Historically, countries have been reluctant to allow foreigners to acquire real estate. In the past, real estate (primarily lands) symbolized its owners’ power, and today apartments, buildings, houses, properties, mines, and fields have significant worth. Nevertheless, globalization has increased the dynamics of “international” real estate trade. Real estate has thus become an important segment in international investment, both as a secondary part of the project (leasing or even buying space for the investors’ regular business operations) and as the very purpose of the investment (real estate construction, exploitation of mineral resources, construction of roads, etc.). As discussed in our previous articles, Bilateral Investment Treaties (“BITs”) play a crucial role in encouraging and securing foreign investors to invest in a foreign country, this time in real estate.

After Decree No 318 of 7 October 2022 adopting the Ordinance on the conditions and procedure for issuing, extending and revoking a certificate for a high-tech and/or innovative project (the "Ordinance") was promulgated in issue 82 of the State Gazette of 14 October 2022, Bulgaria joins the almost half of EU countries that issue "start-up visas".

The Hungarian Government has adopted new decrees concerning household power plants and microgrids. These new legislations aim to enable economic operators to cooperate in fulfilling energy needs in times of high demand as well as to regulate small household power plants. The rules in question entered into force on 26 October 2022 and presumably will remain in force at least until the end of the state of emergency.

In mid-October 2022, a new bill has been submitted to the Parliament on the amendment of certain tax provisions in relation to real estates. The bill, on the basis of changes in the building regulations, clarifies the definitions of the properties under construction and built-on new properties. Thus, a built-on new property means also a property for which an occupancy permit was already issued, but then, its use or the number of its units changed (e.g. it was converted from a flat to an office) and 2 years have not yet elapsed until its sale. These properties will be sold subject to VAT.

On November 10, 2022, the European Parliament finally adopted the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (“CSRD“). The CSRD intends to expand the application of corporate sustainability standards across the market by including an even larger specter of business entities compared to the application scope of the Non-financial Reporting Directive (“NFRD“).

Following in the footsteps of the previously adopted Government Emergency Ordinance no. 27/2022 on the measures applicable to final consumers on the electricity and natural gas market between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023, as well as for amending and supplementing certain regulations in the energy sector (GEO 27/2022), as well as the subsequent Government Emergency Ordinance no. 119/2022 (GEO 119/2022), which amended GEO 27/2022 as of 1 September 2022, the Romanian Government has recently adopted a new regulatory act, further amending both GEO 27/2022 and GEO 119/2022, and establishing an even higher degree regulatory control over the energy market, in the form of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 153/2022 for the amendment and supplementation of GEO 27/2022 and GEO 119/2022 (GEO 153/2022), published in the Official Gazette of Romania on 11 November 2022. 

An updated version of the Technical Guideline for Administrative and Technical Overview of Functionalities of ESIR or L-PFR – Version 1.14 (“Technical Guideline”) was published on the website of the Tax Administration on October 25, 2022.

The Draft Regulation Amending the Regulation on Bank Cards and Credit Cards ("Draft Regulation") was published on the website of the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency ("BRSA") on 28/10/2022 to receive sector and public opinions.

If one takes into account the applicable Law on Companies of the Republic of Serbia, every branch office, including a branch office of a foreign legal person, represents a separate organizational unit of a company through which such company conducts its business activities in Serbia. A branch office does not hold the status of legal person, it only acts in the name and on behalf of the company that founded it, in the respective legal transactions of the company.

As a capital gain arising from foreign exchange activities, the sale of bitcoin for Czech currency is not exempt from income tax.

As part of a comprehensive EU strategy to tackle non-performing loans, the European Parliament and the Council adopted a directive on credit servicers and credit purchasers, which Member States have until 29 December 2023 to transpose into national law.

Foundations, along with associations, are the most widely chosen legal form for Polish non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Due to the specific nature of their relationships with the state, doubt may sometimes arise as to whether foundations may be legally obliged to organize tender proceedings. This is because the Public Procurement Law (PPL) does not list foundations among other types of entities which may act as ‘contracting authorities’. Does this mean that no foundation under any circumstances will ever have to observe public procurement laws? Naturally, this question can only be answered in the negative, as in some cases a foundation may acquire ‘contracting authority’ status under the above-mentioned laws.

On October 20, 2022, the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 140/2022 on the single industrial licence (“GEO 140/2022”) adopted by the Romanian Government has been published in the Official Gazette.

Due to rising energy prices more and more employers are considering continuing or (re)introducing the home office (i.e. (partial) teleworking), previously introduced out of necessity, where workloads allow and now on the basis of cost efficiency. For the time being, the rise in energy prices does not seem to have discouraged employees from teleworking, and in many places the possibility of teleworking has become an expectation of employers.