On 2 November 2021 the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) published its long-awaited amended Online Identification Regulation (Online-Identifikationsverordnung, "Online-IDV"). The FMA herewith enables financial service providers subject to the KYC obligations of the Financial Market Anti-Money Laundering Law (Finanzmarkt-Geldwäschegesetz; "FM-GwG") to use purely biometrical processes for remote identification of new customers. Biometrical identification processes are all procedures for online customer identification where the entire or parts of the online identification are carried out by an automated electronic procedure without the involvement of employees – there is no need for personal contact in the whole remote identification process anymore.

On October 7, six leading labor lawyers in Hungary sat down for a virtual round table moderated by CEE Legal Matters Managing Editor Radu Cotarcea. The conversation focused on the current state of affairs of labor regulations in Hungary and their evolution over the pandemic-marked last few months.

The pandemic has transformed the Czech real estate market. While the residential and logistics real estate markets strengthened, the retail, tourism, and hotel sectors are among the worst affected. However, interest in investing in real estate has not waned as, in uncertain times, the purchase of real estate represents a safe place to park one’s funds and watch them appreciate. There has been no significant decline in property prices, even in the case of commercial real estate, as some investors had anticipated. The Czech market still lacks enough quality investment opportunities. The clear winner of this situation is the logistics segment. Our Prague office assisted in several transactions in the logistics segment, the largest being the purchase of 130 hectares of land intended for warehouse development, at one of the exits of the western D5 motorway. According to some real estate players, we can also expect increased interest in the industrial segment soon, including sale & leaseback transactions.

 In “The Corner Office” we ask Managing Partners at law firms across Central and Eastern Europe about their backgrounds, strategies, and responsibilities. With summer having just passed, the question this time: What is your one favorite yearly activity to disconnect?

Gas is of particular economic importance for Austria. In addition to production, infrastructure (including the Baumgarten gas hub), transportation, trade, and supply-secure coverage of gas demand play a major role. Yearly demand of roughly 80 to 90 terawatt-hours, constant over the last ten years, is generated by the manufacturing and energy sectors, non-energy consumption, agriculture, private households, power plants as conversion applications, transport, and the service sector. With a share of about 15%, gas also plays an important role in Austria’s electricity generation, primarily by providing flexible capacities that can be utilized at short notice to stabilize the power grid.

According to a recently published ruling, the German Federal Labour Court says you can. Here is how.

In its judgment on 14 July 2021 in Case T-399/20, the General Court assessed whether there is likelihood of confusion between figurative trademarks that depict two letters from different foreign alphabets.

In summer 2021 the European Banking Authority (EBA) published Draft Guidelines on the limited network exemption (LNE) under the Payment Service Directive 2 (PSD2) for consultation. The Draft Guidelines are meant to foster supervisory convergence amongst the EU's national competent regulators (NCAs).

On 2 September 2021, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued the much awaited judgement in the Komstroy vs Moldova case (C-741/19).

The recent implementation of the AML V Directive to the Polish Act on Counteracting Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing will have a significant impact on business and the approach taken by state bodies to certain transactions. The main changes are as follows:

The NFT market is still relatively new and volatile, but its potential is huge. Christie's managed to auction an NFT linked to an artwork for over USD 69 million this March, proving that NFTs are a new asset class that can carry significant value. A value, that needs protection just like any other asset class.

The Austrian Cartel and Competition Law Amendment Act 2021 (KaWeRÄG 2021) will introduce – in part substantial – amendments to the Austrian merger control regime as of 1 January 2022. The amendment originated in the context of the implementation of the ECN+ Directive. However, the Austrian legislator seized the opportunity to, among other things, refine the Austrian merger control regime by introducing a second domestic turnover threshold and implementing the SIEC test, as well as to strengthen the FDI screening mechanism.

In response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, on 6 August 2021 the Hungarian Government issued Decree No. 474/2021 on the different application of the Patent Act (Act XXXIII of 1995). According to the decree, patent applications filed after the entry into force of this decree will not be subject to a maintenance fee for the first three years of patent protection. The decree was promulgated on 6 August 2021 and will remain in force until the end of the state of emergency related to COVID-19.

In general, the Serbian Agricultural Land Act ("ALA") envisages granting the use of agricultural land, free of charge, to state-owned subjects, or, in instances where particular plots have not been leased for three or more agricultural years, agricultural land may be tendered for to be used by registered agricultural holdings.

An unregistered community design is established merely by the disclosure of a design and triggers protection for three years from the date of disclosure. This informal right was created to satisfy the demands of the industry and creatives for a design protection right providing broad-ranging territorial protection and safety for short-lived products without an elaborate and costly registration procedure.

Patents and innovation are closely linked. Patents can boost innovation by granting a legal monopoly over certain technology, and inventors may be willing to invest more time, money and creativity into their inventions if they can do this in anticipation of being rewarded with such monopoly on their invention. Furthermore, patents boost future innovation because the technology protected by a patent will be made publicly available and can be used by everyone once the patent protection term expires. However, patents may even hinder innovation, because technology and its further-development could be blocked by existing patents.

In a recent article for CEE Legal Matters, Schoenherr Attorney at Law Alexandra Bognar wrote that Hungary adopted a UBO Register Act this year. We spoke to Bognar to learn more about the new piece of legislation.

The Hungarian Competition Authority (HCA) published its draft report of an accelerated sector inquiry on the Hungarian brick market. The interested and affected parties have only 8 days to submit comments to the authority's draft report. As a main finding, the HCA has not found reasons to conduct an antitrust proceeding on the relevant market. It has, however, made recommendations for consumers and also for the government.