Law No. 7451 on the Amendment of the Law on Organized Industrial Zones and Certain Laws (“Law No. 7451“), published in the Official Gazette dated 10 April 2023 and numbered 32159, introduced significant amendments to energy legislation, and the Law on Organized Industrial Zones and entered into force on the same date.

The Ministry of Finance published, at the end of -March 2023, its eleventh Regulation on interest rates which are considered to be in line with the "arm’s length" principle. The Ministry of Finance, i.e. the Minister issues this Regulation every year and it pertains to the interest rates for that year.

From 1 January 2028, e-invoices will be mandatory for cross-border supplies of goods or services. with corresponding ‘near-real time’ reporting. The current maximum issuance requirement of 45 days post-taxable event is proposed to be shortened to just two days.

After the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey announced that it will complete the first CBDC tests at the end of 2022, it was announced that the blockchain-based digital identity application would be implemented in the “Digital Turkey 2023 First Meeting” held under the chairmanship of Vice President Fuat Oktay at the Presidential Complex in the first days of 2023. With the login system that will work within the scope of the e-wallet application, it will be possible to log in to the e-Government with digital identities created in the blockchain network.

It is no secret that Romania is the EU Member State with the least digitised services in the public administration. But that is about to change.

Dogs are becoming an increasingly significant part of our lives. Regardless of the owner’s age – we can acknowledge that almost everybody enjoys their time patting a dog. Moreover, many people are addressing their dogs as babies, recognizing them as a part of the family.

A new law implementing a wide range of international agreements and standards is aimed at improving global transparency in Ukrainian tax reporting and will have implications for a variety of taxpayers.

The procedural rules applicable to the registration of companies in Hungary have been largely unchanged since the entry into force of the present Company Act of 2006 (Act V of 2006 on Public Company Information, Company Registration and Winding-up Proceedings). Now, these long-established practices are about to change, as a new Company Act (Act XCII of 2021 on the Registration of Legal Persons and the Registration Procedure) is being introduced by the legislator.

The 12th Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation ruled with its decision numbered 2022/9954 (E. 2022/6460) and dated October 6, 2022 (the “Decision”) that the prohibition on determining a contract value in foreign currency or indexed to foreign currency which introduced by the Decree No. 32 on the Protection of the Value of Turkish Currency ("Decree No. 32") concerns public order and must be taken into account by the judge ex officio (automatically) even if it is not raised by the parties during the proceedings.

In a recently published judgment, the Curia ruled that a private e-mail address containing the full name of a natural person qualifies as personal data. However, the unlawful processing of personal data does not automatically constitute a violation of the right to the protection of personal data in the absence of other elements.

The Future Is Here! And it is here to stay. What we could only imagine some years ago is now part of our reality, and AI has become an ever-present topic. AI is everywhere, from banking and healthcare to transportation and entertainment.

An Overview of Important Legislative Changes in Slovakia

April 2023 – An amendment to Act no. 283/2021, Building Act (the “New Building Act”) has been approved by the Chamber of Deputies, bringing key changes to Czech construction laws and permitting processes (the “New Amendment”). The New Amendment has been passed to the Senate, which should approve it shortly. The original New Building Act, representing a major change of Czech building regulations, was adopted back in July 2021.

Several years have passed since the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) has been in force in the EU, regulating personal data protection. Although the GDPR is directly applicable, the act governing the matter of personal data protection must nevertheless be adopted in each member state, as some areas in the GDPR are left to be governed by the national law of each country.In addition, the adoption of a national law is a precondition for imposing fines and appointing a supervisory authority. Those are the main reasons for systematic regulation of the field of data protection in Slovenia by the new Personal Data Protection Act (“Act”). The Act will apply as of 26 January 2023.

On 20 April, the European Parliament endorsed two regulations which will fundamentally change the crypto-asset market landscape in the EU and potentially beyond: the Regulation for Markets in Crypto-assets (MiCA) and the recast version of the Transfer of Funds Regulation (TFR recast). As a forerunner in regulating crypto business, Estonia has had local crypto laws in place since 2017, however, MiCA and TFR recast will be directly applicable in the EU and will replace the respective local legislation.

Following the 7.8. and 7.5. magnitude earthquakes occurred in Kahramanmaraş on 06.02.2023, the Presidential Decree on the declaration of the State of Emergency for 3 months in the cities affected by the earthquakes was adopted by the Turkish Grand National Assembly on 09.02.2023 and was published in the Official Gazette No. 32100 dated 10.02.2023. A number of measures concerning work and social security field were also envisaged in the scope of the State of Emergency.

The Romanian public and sectoral procurement legislation has recently undergone several important changes aimed at clarifying certain provisions that used to be open to interpretation and/or have given rise to disputes in practice.

Regulation (EU) 2022/1925, The Digital Markets Act, is set to apply from 2 May 2023

Addressing digital developments and concerns regarding contestability and fairness in the digital economy, the Digital Markets Act – an ex-ante regulatory system – entered into force on 1 November 2022 and will apply from 2 May 2023. Designed to complement competition law, the Digital Markets Act lays down prohibitions and obligations for designated gatekeepers that provide a range of “core platform services” and gives the European Commission broad investigative and enforcement powers. Generally speaking, the Digital Markets Act aims to prevent unfair practices by gatekeepers.