Pohla & Hallmagi has advised VePo Investments, Vildemal Investments, and Sixten Invest on the sale of Rave Moobel to Furnico. Reportedly, Magnusson advised Furnico.

Havel & Partners has advised Investown Technologies shareholder Ceska Sporitelna Seed Starter on the sale of a stake in the company to Finbus.

Brandl Talos has advised Telos Impact on leading the EUR 12 million series A financing round of Kern Tec. Schoenherr advised EIC.

TGS Baltic has successfully represented Orlen Lietuva, Philip Morris Lietuva, and Lietuvos Pastas in a dispute regarding the lawfulness of an out-of-court bankruptcy process for Inter Rao Lietuva.

Ellex has advised on Orkla’s opening of a new EUR 100 million biscuit and wafer production plant in Adazi, Latvia.

Glatzova & Co has advised SNP Invest on obtaining permission from the Czech National Bank to operate as a self-managed investment fund of qualified investors.

Gecic Law, working with Deloitte Legal and RPHS Law, has advised MTS on a dispute with Pristina authorities stemming from the decision to revoke MTS’s operating license in Kosovo.

White & Case has advised Asseco Poland on a shares buy-back via an invitation for current shareholders to submit offers for the sale of their shares.

E+H has advised Burgenland Energie on its acquisition of a 25% stake in the Solah Group.

Bagzibagli, Erdem & Sahin has advised Enqura Bilgi Teknolojileri on its USD 2.9 million investment round from Eksim Ventures, Hedef Portfoy Startup Burada GSYF, Lima Ventures, Doga Girisim, Echo Cagri Merkezi, Sistem Global, and private investors. 

MFW Fialek has advised the shareholders of Dom Whisky Group, including Premium Brands Spirits, CBMAX Spirits, and Premium Brands, on the sale to United Beverages. Reportedly MJH Moskwa, Jarmul, Haladyj, and Partners advised United Beverages.

CEE Attorneys has advised Sales Partner on an investment from Fortech Investments.

Former Briza & Trubac Partner Ondrej Hampl – together with former Rohlik Group Chief Legal Officer Ivo Hartmann and Attorneys-at-Law Jakub Kucera of Briza & Trubac, Ladislav Murin of Squire Patton Boggs, and Lukas Novopacky of Badokh – has launched the VIDD independent boutique law firm in Prague.

Former Banasik Wozniak i Wspolnicy Partner Joanna Bernat has joined Crido in Warsaw as a Partner and the firm's Head of Energy.

Former Linklaters Counsel Klaudia Krolak has joined Greenberg Traurig’s Poland office as a Partner.

Former Hungarian Ambassador to Austria Andor Nagy has moved into private practice by joining the Public Law and Regulatory practice of Dentons’ Budapest office as a Partner.

Tomas Skoumal has been elected as the new Managing Partner of Baker McKenzie’s Prague office, taking over from Martin Hrodek.

Former Counsels Zeno Grabmayr, Adelina Iftime-Blagean, Maciej Olszewski, Aleksandar Ristic, Bruno Stefanik, and Stefan Wartinger have all become Partners in Wolf Theiss’ respective offices across CEE.

Former Baker McKenzie Turkish affiliate Esin Attorney Partnership Associate Nihat Aral has joined Alcon as a Head of Legal & Compliance in Turkiye.

Former Biris Goran Partner Mariana Signeanu has joined the Bulboaca & Asociatii law firm in Bucharest as a Partner, effective September 11, 2023.

Former Karsan Automotive Head of Legal Ibrahim Onur Baysal has joined Erdem & Erdem as a Partner and Head of the firm's Capital Markets practice.

Lithuania's Ilaw Lextal has announced the promotion of four of its Attorneys to Associate Partner positions – Inga Neniske, Egle Visinskiene, Ramune Saikuviene, and Neringa Gylyte – effective September 2023.

Attorney At Law Jan Exner has joined the Briza & Trubac team in Prague as Head of the firm's Sports Law practice. The move became effective on September 1, 2023. 

Pawel Mruk-Zawirski and Lukasz Walczyna have taken over the leadership of the Financial Regulatory practice and the Debt Capital Markets practice, respectively, in Allen & Overy’s Warsaw office.

At the end of September, the long-awaited Regulation (EU) 2023/1804) on the deployment of alternative fuel infrastructure, and repealing Directive 2014/94/EU (“AFIR”) was published in the Official Journal of the European Union. Though the entry into force of AFIR is 13 April 2024, it is worth reviewing the key takeaways that the AFIR introduces as part of the EU’s Fit for 55 package.

Trade secrets are an invaluable asset for many businesses, often encompassing years of research, innovation, and strategic development. Protecting them is paramount, and the legal landscape surrounding this protection is ever-evolving. The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) recently published the report “Trade Secrets Litigation Trends in the EU” (June 2023), which provides fresh insights into the state of trade secrets litigation within the European Union.

For almost every industry, sustainability involves adopting environmentally and socially responsible practices throughout a company's operations, from sourcing and production to sales and customer engagement. This includes reducing carbon emissions, promoting fair labor practices, supporting the product lifecycle, leveraging blockchain and digital systems, ensuring supply chain transparency, and maintaining ethical governance standards. Therefore, environmental sustainability policies need to be integrated into internal company rules, and, in particular, stakeholders in every sector need to take more responsibility for ESG practices.

September 2023 – According to Article 5 of the Serbian Banking Act (Zakon o bankama), no person other than a bank licensed in Serbia may engage in the granting of loans unless authorised by law. One Serbian law that does allow foreign banks (i.e., banks not established and licensed in Serbia) to provide cross-border loans to Serbian entities is the Serbian Foreign Exchange Act (Zakon o deviznom poslovanju). In particular, Article 18(7) of the Foreign Exchange Act expressly allows Serbian entities to borrow cross-border from foreign banks, which are not required to obtain a banking licence in Serbia for this purpose.

Under Hungarian law the judge can reduce the amount of the contractual penalty if it is excessive. The penalty reduction shall be expressly requested by the defendant during the litigation. Can the defendant submit such request at any time during the litigation, or is there any deadline for that? In a recent decision, the Hungarian Supreme Court addressed this issue.

The Law on Amendments to the Law on Excise (“the Law”) was published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia no. 75/2023 of September 6, 2023, and it entered into force on the eighth day after its publishing, i.e., on September 14, 2023, while it shall be applied from October 1, 2023.

As the amendment is effective as early as 1 October 2023, we provide below an overview of the main changes, indicating the necessary or recommended steps for employers to be taken:

One of the important advantages of arbitration proceedings is that the parties can appoint co-arbitrators. Thus, the parties can ensure that those whose impartiality, knowledge and fairness they trust will decide on their dispute. This opportunity raises the question of who the party-appointed arbitrators should be and the criteria by which the parties should appoint the party-appointed arbitrators. 

In the probate proceedings, the court determines who the heirs of the decedent are, which property makes up his estate, and which rights from the estate belong to heirs, legatees, and other persons.

As part of the implementation of the European Union's waste management directives, Hungary will also need to apply the rules of the ‘Extended Producer Responsibility’ (EPR) legislation as from 1 July 2023.

The German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act is a major advancement in the supply chain network, improving international human rights and environmental standards across the board. It focuses on issues of child labour, health and safety standards, and the role of trade unions, and will have substantial effects on all relevant parties concerned due to its scope and importance. For instance, the Act bans all sorts of conduct from discrimination to forced labour. Serbia in particular will be considerably impacted, since Germany is the country's largest trade partner.

Hungarian forest management regulations are among the strictest in Europe, however, there have always been investments and real estate developments that affected forest areas, the effect of which could so far be compensated by a fine in certain cases. As of 1 July 2023, the new provisions of the Forest Act brought pleasant changes, as even in the case of non-natural forests, the authority immediately obliges the developers affecting the forest area to reforest and not only to pay a forest protection contribution, if the size of the area reaches or exceeds one hectare.