The challenges arising from the protection of personal data are countless and inescapable in our landscape. Three years after the GDPR came into force, some clear trends can be seen on the Polish market, from which a set of good enforcement practices may be derived.

Regional periodical league tables ranking M&A activity through the lens of the law firms advising on the deals are often dominated by Baltic law firms, with the CEELM Index special issue of the CEE Legal Matters magazine reflecting the same trend. To better understand why that is so, we spoke with several Partners – from both Baltic firms and other CEE jurisdictions.

Over the years, all countries in the CEE region have drawn best-practice models from the West, particularly in legal, economic, and business terms. In a number of CEE countries, offices of international law firms opened in response to the needs of their global clients and market opportunities. These firms played a significant role and introduced their know-how to the legal market. Parallel to this, strong local players emerged in each of these countries, changing the competitive environment and challenging the international ones. Over the last few years, you can see a revision of the need to maintain a presence in the region by some international law firms, most notably Magic Circle and White Shoe firms.

The new Polish restitution law has been enacted and signed by the President. It solves the problem of restitution claims by making a clean break and doing away with them altogether. But is that the end of the story?

While the Dealer’s Choice Conference in London could not be organized this year in a safe manner due to current events, on July 20, 2021, CEE Legal Matters sat down with several of the event’s sponsors to take a closer look at the Deals of the Year award winners this year.

On 11 August 2021 Polish Parliament enacted the Act amending the Code of Administrative Procedure which has been just published.

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll on Poland, as it has on other European countries. In April, Poland recorded by far the biggest number of COVID-19 fatalities since the onset of the pandemic in March of last year. Consequently, most of the government’s plans to reform healthcare/pharmaceutical legislation have been either frozen or postponed. Most recent legislation has been aimed at legalizing the lockdown or enacting other pandemic measures, such as social distancing and mask-wearing in public spaces, as well as speeding up the vaccination rollout across the country. However, these new laws were essentially technical adjustments to the current framework, rather than revolutionary changes.

The Polish economy has recovered quickly following the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and the number of transactions is fairly consistent across various industries, reports Radoslaw Biedecki, Partner at Noerr in Poland. The country is pushing for further digitalization of its public services, but draft legislation on media ownership has him concerned.

CMS' Malgorzata Surdek-Janicka has been appointed as Vice-President of the International Court of Arbitration at the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris. Aside from Surdek-Janicka, 33 lawyers from CEE were appointed as members and alternate members of the court.

The European Commission has issued a decision finding that Daimler, BMW, Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche colluded in an agreement to infringe EU competition rules and fining them a total of €875 million.

The global pandemic has impacted all markets, with subsequent ramifications for M&A. Investors are now seeking greater protection against general lock-downs and supply-chain disruptions, while governments aim to protect critical supplies and services by imposing new regulations on foreign investment in crucial or strategic industries.

WKB Wiercinski Kwiecinski Baehr has announced that it is "responding to global trends" by establishing a new ESG practice, led by Partner Marcin Smolarek and Managing Associate Augustyn Wrobel.

On 30 June 2021, the Polish President signed an Act (“Amendment”) changing the so-called Anti-Crisis Shield (i.e. Act on specific solutions related to the preventing, counteracting and combating COVID-19, other infectious diseases and crisis situations caused by them, and certain other acts).

The Polish private rental sector is about to enter a period of intensive development. Unlike the western EU Member States, where the share of rented apartments often significantly exceeds 50%, in Poland, only approximately 15% of apartments are rented out (about 2.3 million out of a total of 14.8 million apartments existing in Poland).

Anna Grykin, former Head of Legal at InterRisk, has returned to private practice by setting up Grykin Law Firm in Poland.

Recently, the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (Polish name: Urząd Ochrony Konkurencji i Konsumentów “UOKiK”) announced the initiation of antimonopoly proceedings in connection with the suspected coordination of actions by the Polish Basketball League and its member clubs against their players. The aim of the collusion was, among other things, to agree the terms of termination of players' contracts and to withhold payment of their salaries.

Dominika Niewiadomska-Siniecka has joined UPC Polska as Board Member and Chief Legal & Regulatory Officer.

The digitalisation of the construction process in Poland has begun. By the end of 2022, it should be possible to access all construction-related administrative services via a single portal called e-budownictwo (e-construction).