AP Legal has advised UniCredit Bank Srbija on its loan to Marera Properties member MPP Palata Beograd. Isailovic & Partners reportedly advised Marera Properties.

The new Law on Safety and Health at Work was published on April 29, 2023, in the Official Gazette of RS no. 35/23 and went into force on May 7, 2023. With the entry into force of the new law, it completely ceases to be valid the previous Law on Safety and Health at Work (“Official Gazette of RS”, nos. 101/2005, 91/2015 and 113/2017).

American actor Jim Belushi met with the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama to discuss the Albanian government’s initiative to legalize cannabis and the possibilities of exporting this product for medical purposes.

On 16 March 2023, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) published its judgment on Towercast’s appeal against the French Competition Authority’s decision in Towercast’s case (Case No. C-449/21), confirming that abuse of dominance rules may equally apply ex post to transactions in which national and EU merger control thresholds were not met.

AP Legal has advised Raiffeisen Banka Beograd on its merger with RBA Banka Novi Sad and on the merger of CA Leasing Srbija into Raiffeisen Leasing.

The Serbian government announced that it is looking for a strategic partner to develop a minimum of five self-balancing solar power plants with a total installed capacity of 1,000 MWac (or 1,200 MWdc) and a battery storage system with a minimum total installed capacity of 200 MW and the ability to accumulate at least 400 MWh of electric energy.

The new Law on Electronic Communications, published on April 29, 2023, in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia no. 35/23, went into force on May 7, 2023. With the entry into force of the new law, the previous Law on Electronic Communications ceases to be valid (“Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”, nos. 44/2010, 60/2013, 62/2014 and 95/2018) except for certain provisions related to the secrecy of electronic communications, legal interception, and retention of data, as well as other specific provisions that will be valid until the adoption of by-laws prescribed by the new Law on Electronic Communications.

The Parliament of Republika Srpska adopted the amendments of the Company Law of Republika Srpska which entered into force on 2 March 2023. This is the sixth time that the Company Law has undergone changes since it was enacted, whereas the recent amendments brought significant novelties, rather than cosmetic ones.

We would like to remind you that tomorrow is the final day for legal entities in Serbia to register as users of the e-government portal.

Cytowski & Partners has advised both South Central Ventures and Serbia's HireApp on their USD 1.5 million seed financing agreement.

In January 2023, the Serbian Ministry of Mining and Energy initiated the procedure for the amendments to the Law on the Use of the Renewable Energy Sources (“Amendments”) whose purpose was, among others, to limit the installed power of the prosumers.

Hristov & Partners and the Legal Advisory Group, working with Hogan Lovells, have advised Aiopsgroup on its sale to Valantic. BDK Advokati and Boyanov & Co, working with Heuking Kuhn Luer Wojtek and Spectrum Legal India, advised Valantic.

On May 24, 2023, PRK Partners announced that Yokohama Rubber’s acquisition of Trelleborg Wheel Systems (reported by CEE Legal Matters on April 13, 2022) had closed.

The Commission for Protection of Competition of Serbia (the “Commission”) announced on 3 May 2023 that it initiated an antitrust investigation against the companies KTG Solucije d.o.o. Subotica and Eco Sense d.o.o. Subotica due to alleged restrictive agreement – colluding in public procurement procedures (bid rigging).

Contributed by Karanovic & Partners.

Serbia seems to rank highly on the destination lists of foreign investors – as the country has been experiencing an uptick in M&A and the arrival of new players – with IT, pharmaceuticals, and energy being among the sectors seeing significant growth, according to Bojanovic & Partners Managing Partner Vladimir Bojanovic.

The European Commission launched a Call for Evidence, which entails asking for feedback from the business community and the general public on adopting new Guidelines on exclusionary abuses of dominance.

With the latest amendments to the Law on Registration Procedure in the Business Registers Agency, another step has been taken on the digitization of public administration.