The two main forms of non-governmental organizations that may be established in Romania are the associations and foundations. While an association may be incorporated by at least three domestic/foreign individuals/entities as founding members, a foundation may be incorporated by at least one domestic/foreign individual/entity as founding member(s). Associations are set up in order to carry out activities for the general interest, for the interest of a community or for the non-profit interests of its members and the law does not impose a minimum initial patrimony.

Entrepreneurship in Romania.

We are four months into the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and still a long way from a conclusion awaited by so many people. Beyond the reasons of this conflict and potential outcome lies the dramatic change in the lives of the Ukrainian population. Daily updates in the proportion of displaced Ukrainians paint a vivid picture of the unfolding drama that affects not only Ukraine, but Europe and much parts of the world.

Since the end of the 2010s foreign direct investment (“FDI”) considerations have been on the forefront of transaction planning and management. Although a unified EU-level screening mechanism is not in place, recently the European Commission (“EC”) closed a landmark case, while another one is currently ongoing before the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) where the interplay of EU law and more specifically, EU merger law and national FDI rules were/are assessed. Dicta in these cases may have considerable implications in national FDI practice. This summary therefore provides a quick glance-through of the key notables taken from these cases.

Although in most respects the law firm business in Central Europe is on par with other sophisticated practices in the rest of the world, coaching is one thing that has not been as widely adopted as elsewhere. This article addresses the questions of what coaching is, what it offers lawyers and law firms, and whether it should be more widely embraced by the legal profession in Central Europe.

In July last year, the new Building Act No. 283/2021 Coll. came into force. It’s the result of a reform of public building law that had been in preparation for several years. But it’s not certain that builders will follow it in its current form.

Partners-You-Trust has advised a consortium of investors led by FF Venture Capital and RKKVC on their investment in ReSpo.Vision. DLA Piper advised the founders of ReSpo.Vision on the seed round.

In the current energy context, the RePower Europe package talks about an accelerated permitting procedure for renewable energy in Europe, as an absolutely measure to accelerate the development of green energy projects. However, in Romania, the permitting process for such projects is long, bureaucratic and takes about 540 days.

With the fast-paced development of applications in nearly every sector of the service industry and the advent of virtual services, Romania witnessed a rise in the number of people employed in the gig economy. CEE Legal Matters sat down with DLA Piper Head of Employment Monica Georgiadis and Schoenherr Head of Employment Mara Moga-Paler in Romania to discuss the legislative framework regulating gig workers, the labor risks and challenges they face, and the ways in which these might be addressed.

On June 30, 2022, CEE Legal Matters hosted the fifth edition of the CEELM Budapest Law Firm Bowling Challenge: A competition of four-person teams from leading law firms in Hungary, with all proceeds going to the previous winner’s charity of choice. A total of 13 law firms competed for the trophy – and the bragging rights that go along with it.

DLA Piper has advised the Avallon MBO Fund II and the Genesis Private Equity Fund III on their sale of Stangl Technik Holding to Spie Central Europe. Baker McKenzie advised the buyer.

Facial recognition system is considered an artificial intelligence solution empowered by a camera system, which can identify persons viewed based on image data stored in a related data base. Such systems have already been implemented around the globe in many countries and generally faced severe criticism, especially in Western democracies. Naturally, facial recognition systems have the capability of helping to prevent terrorist attacks and similar severe crimes an detect suspects and other persons of interest. In practice, however, such systems often provide inaccurate or biased results.

DLA Piper has advised Knorr-Bremse and its subsidiary Knorr-Bremse Systeme fur Nutzfahrzeuge on their EUR 200 million acquisition of a 55% stake in Cojali.

Contributed by DLA Piper.

In recent years, the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) has been extremely active in tackling highly interesting and novel issues in the digital world. The GVH commissioned a pioneer study on the importance of data in e-commerce and brought several decisions against major international players such as booking.com (for using so-classed “dark patterns”) or Apple (for using misleading terms and conditions about its Wi-Fi assistant on iPhones) as well as significant CEE players such as eMag (for misleading promotions on its online marketplace) or Alza (for aggressive commercial practices on its online site). Most of the decisions – especially where large fines were involved – have been challenged before courts, with the most recent high-level judgment coming out in the Facebook case. What happened exactly?

In the past few years, Hungary has witnessed accelerated merger trends in the fields of TMT, healthcare, and energy, among others. We reached out to several competition lawyers and spoke about Hungarian merger control regulations and the role of the Hungarian Competition Authority (HCA).

Lakatos, Koves and Partners, working alongside Clifford Chance’s Munich office, has advised Egeria Capital Behar BV on the acquisition of 100% of the shares of Isoplus. DLA Piper reportedly advised the sellers on the deal.

Stratulat Albulescu has advised Catalyst Romania Fund II on its participation in the EUR 2 million equity funding round of EdTech platform Adservio.