With an average of 30 transactions in the last five years, Delivery Hero has developed its own, internal, dedicated M&A team. We sat down with Director and Head of M&A Legal Deniz Ozkan Ergun to learn more about how her team came to be and how they manage their pipeline of projects.

The Moldovan Government continues to promote in-depth reforms designed to meet the challenges of a digital economy. The last summer was marked by the adoption of new regulations aiming to stimulate private-sector innovation. The new legislation also instituted new responsibilities for digital platforms for creating, sharing, and streaming digital content to Moldovan users.

Direct marketing consists of any marketing that relies on direct communication or distribution to individual consumers, rather than through a third party. Unlike traditional public relations campaigns pushed out through a third party, such as media publications or mass media, direct marketing campaigns operate independently to communicate with target audiences directly.

Despite the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, IT remains one of the leading industries in the country. According to surveys, a bit more than 10% of IT specialists (mostly women, since a large part of men are not allowed to leave the country) have moved to other countries since the start of the invasion. Some of them were relocated to foreign offices of international IT companies or started working for foreign companies, while others keep working remotely for their Ukrainian employers.

COVID-19 is over – well, almost over. We are now left with the aftermath of a baby boom, some Bored Apes, and the Metaverse. All these new phenomena that surged during the pandemic eventually turned their attention to law firms, for wide-ranging legal considerations associated with all kinds of communication, from the internet, to e-commerce, to OTT, and telecommunications. Technology, media, and telecommunications, otherwise known as TMT, are now the fastest-moving areas.

A quarter century ago, when I started my career as a lawyer in the media and telecoms field, I learned the importance of understanding technology, its advancement, and in particular the importance of making it work in the best interests of your client.

Recently, several articles were published on the security and misuse of electronic communications. These tended to conclude that the responsibility for security against abuse lies with the public communications service providers (PCSP), which logically implies that they are also responsible for such misuse. PCSPs are an essential and indispensable part of the TMT sector, and it is, therefore, important to address their liability in such situations for legal certainty.

Even though the use of the term license agreement in the context of software has been globally accepted for ages, some lawmakers actually have something else in mind. A license agreement under Croatian law doesn’t actually apply to software per se, as common knowledge might imply. It applies to inventions, know-how, trademarks, and other so-called industrial property rights.

The growth of e-commerce and online advertising in Bulgaria in the last two decades has been impressive. The COVID-19 pandemic gave an additional boost to the digital economy. Amid such rapid development and almost 16 years after its entry into force, the Bulgarian Electronic Commerce Act (the ECA) feels quite outdated.

Romania benefits from being one of the EU countries with lower cinematographic production costs, and that is why it is on the radar of many international studios. The cumulative annual turnover of the film industry in Romania is approximately EUR 53 million, derived mainly from foreign productions in Romania.

The recent decision no. 35/2022 issued by the Hellenic Data Protection Authority (HDPA) on July 13, 2022 (Decision), marked a record-high EUR 20 million fine against US company Clearview AI Inc. (Clearview). This Decision adds even higher pressure on Clearview, on top of other data protection authorities’ (DPAs) relevant decisions (French, Italian, British), while a similar decision is expected soon by the Austrian regulator, all as a response to a series of complaints filed by an alliance of non-profit privacy-driven organizations.

The information and technology sector has grown exponentially in Kosovo in the past five years, mainly focusing on the provision of services to international markets. This growth has happened mainly because of two reasons: first, the labor force is cheaper compared to the European market and, second, around 70% of the population is under the age of 35 and has advanced digital skills. The mix of these two has ensured access to international markets and the provision of quality deliverables.

According to publicly available research reports, Poland holds the seventh place in terms of the number of experts working on artificial intelligence (AI) projects in the European Union and even takes the lead in CEE. On the other hand, the level of adoption of AI-based solutions by Polish businesses is relatively disproportionate. The estimations made by the government visualize the potential impact of AI on the Polish economy. According to these calculations, the implementation of AI solutions in the Polish economy could contribute to increasing the GDP growth rate by 2.65% annually.

Following Russia’s war in Ukraine, Latvia has adopted preventive legislation in the name of its national security and interests. In particular, in May and September 2022, the Latvian Parliament adopted amendments to the law aimed at strengthening its information space. Thus, it is no longer allowed to retransmit programs whose jurisdiction undermines or threatens the territorial integrity, sovereignty, or national independence of another country.

All evidence shows that the legal rules regarding the marketing activity which is carried out by influencers will increasingly be the subject of legal analysis in the coming years. Influencer marketing has grown into a global industry showing significant growth year after year. In comparison, according to the Influencer Marketing Hub, the value of the market was estimated globally only at USD 1.7 billion in 2016 while, by 2022, this figure reached USD 16.4 billion.

At the end of September 2022, the European Commission (EC) published the long-expected proposals for legal regulation on civil liability for damage caused with the involvement of artificial intelligence (AI Liability) and liability for damage caused by a defective product (Product Liability). Whereas a proposal on AI Liability already existed (Civil liability regime for AI, published by the European Parliament in 2020), this is the first draft of an updated Product Liability.

When establishing a company in Montenegro, the new legal requirement which refers to the registration of Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBO) should be considered. The Revenue and Customs Administration of Montenegro established the UBO Register within the Central Registry of Business Entities, in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in 2021. 

Serbian law firms seem to have carved out a considerable share of the Montenegrin legal market. CEE Legal Matters looks at the interplay of these two formerly linked legal markets and explores in what respects they are complementary, where they clash, and how this reflects on the work of lawyers.