In Hungary, adherence to regulatory requirements is pivotal for the operations of domestic legal entities or businesses. Recently, there have been discussions regarding the significance of possessing a domestic bank account as mandated by Hungarian law, and the implications for companies failing to meet these criteria.

On 15 December 2023, Austria's National Council of the Parliament (lower house) adopted the Flexible Company Act (Flexible-Kapitalgesellschafts-Gesetz, FlexKapGG), which introduces a new company form, the "Flexible Company" (FlexCo) as of 1 January 2024.

Technical guidance published on the websites of the Hungarian Competition Authority (HCA) and the Public Procurement Authority in November 2023 on corruption risks and cartel agreements affecting the fairness of public procurements.

In early September of this year, the President of Ukraine signed the Law “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Improving Legislation on Protection of Economic Competition and Activities of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine” (the “Law”). 

Do defendants need to make a formal setoff statement against the creditor’s claim in front of the judge to extinguish the claimant’s claim? Or is it enough to refer informally to an earlier setoff made by them prior to the litigation? A fresh decision of the Hungarian Supreme Court, analysed in this article, gives answer to these questions.

In the summer 2022, the United States unilaterally terminated the US-Hungary double tax treaty with Hungary.

A foreign national, as well as a domestic citizen, assumes the status of a self-employed person when performing the duties of a director outside an employment relationship, i.e., based on a contract governing the mutual rights and obligations of the director, unless insured on a priority basis.

The Cybersecurity Act imposes new requirements on many companies regarding the operation of their electronic information systems. Organizations have until the end of 2023 to prepare to comply with the new rules.

Last week, we discussed the topic of incentives for the improvement of energy efficiency and energy improvement/rehabilitation, and possibilities for individuals and housing communities in that regard. This time we would like to glance at incentives for energy improvement/rehabilitation for housing communities– residential and residential–commercial buildings connected to district heating systems, which may be obtained through the project called „Energy improvement/rehabilitation of residential, multi-family buildings connected to district heating system– Public ESCO Project“ which is initiated by the Ministry of Mining and Energy in collaboration with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. 

During its last session on October 26, 2023, the National Assembly adopted amendments to the Public Procurement Act.

At the II National Regulators Conference it was announced that the Digital Citizenship programme to be launched between July and September 2024 and the necessary legislation to be submitted to the Parliament in November 2023. With this step the Hungarian Government follows the trend, where citizens are dealing at an increasing rate with administrative cases on their mobile phones.

The new Law on Electronic Media (“the Law“) has been published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, no. 92/2023, and came into effect on November 4, 2023.

In June 2023, the Czech Republic adopted the Whistleblower Protection Act implementing the relevant EU Directive with a two-year delay. The law came into force on 1 August 2023.

There is a bill on the new Hungarian Architecture Act, which would replace the acts on Engineers and Professional Chambers, on the Shaping and Protection of the Built Environment and on the Protection of Townscape, and will consolidate their provisions in a modernised and clear code.

Is the M&A market facing a further slowdown due to the macroeconomic situation? Or, following the recent parliamentary elections in Poland, will the market quickly rebound after a brief pause and continue to experience the best economic period in modern history? Can we expect more records to be broken? The truth may lie somewhere in the middle, as there is no shortage of challenges lying in wait for the economy.

In connection with the implementation of Directive 2019/1152 on transparent and predictable working conditions in the European Union, a principle has been introduced into the Polish Labor Code, according to which an employer may not prohibit an employee from parallel employment with another entity. The Polish legislator has established a strict ban on parallel employment with very few exceptions, which is widely criticized by employers.

Poland’s dynamic business landscape is about to transform as it adapts to the European Union’s Foreign Subsidies Regulation dated December 14, 2022 (FSR), which partially came into effect on July 12, 2023. This regulation aims to level the playing field for companies operating in the EU market by scrutinizing financial support from non-EU countries.

The Polish Competition and Consumer Protection Office (UOKiK) has devoted the last two years to the very important issue of influencers and their online advertising activities. Recent years have seen a significant development of influencer marketing not only in Poland but on a global scale. Across the world, companies and advertising agencies have noticed the growing popularity of celebrity accounts on Facebook or Instagram, and have strategically used them as a new channel to promote products or services.