Practicing IP has always been a tricky matter, given the complexity and the diversity of this area of law. We reached out to experts from several IP-focused law firms – Hungary’s SBGK, Serbia’s Petosevic Group, and Greece’s Drakopoulos – to learn more about their origins, specializations, structures, and operations.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused many changes in doing business and, therefore, also had a significant impact on regulating the mutual rights, obligations, and responsibilities deriving from employment.

Bearing in mind the increasingly frequent engagement of foreign legal entities on various projects in Serbia, as well as the fact that during the last year the practice of direct investments by non-residents in Serbia significantly expanded, it is only natural that each transaction in which a legal entity acquires a certain income, raises numerous questions, such as: do non-residents pay income tax in Serbia, in which cases are they obliged to do so, how high is the tax rate, is there an international agreement on avoiding double taxation?

At the end of 2021, there was a public debate on the Draft Law on Internship, proposed by the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs (“the Draft”), while the final proposal is pending.

Karanovic & Partners has announced the appointment of Senior Partner Darko Jovanovic as the new Managing Partner of the firm.

Djurdjica Horvat and Filip Matkovic have been promoted to Partner at MPartners Legal.

Serbian lawyer Aleksandra Simic has been appointed to the role of Head Ethics Risk and Compliance iCEE at Novartis, based in Switzerland.

Nedeljko Velisavljevic, Head of CMS’ Dispute Resolution practice in Belgrade and Podgorica, has been promoted to CEE Partner.

The Republic Geodetic Authority (“RGA”) has recently, within implementation of the new real estate cadastre information system, launched a Cadastral Alarm, which serves to monitor the cases, i.e. changes relating to real estate.

While public perception in Serbia on joining the EU has generally been positive, according to Karanovic & Partners Senior Partner Dragan Karanovic, “recent research suggests that the overall enthusiasm of the public has taken a slight decrease, establishing a polarized, almost fifty-fifty view towards EU accession.”

Due to its strategic position in the heart of Southeast Europe and it being part of three important European corridors, Serbia can boast excellent connections to both Western Europe and the Middle East, and has a huge potential for public and private investments alike.

Offsetting of claims (compensation) is one of the ways of termination of obligations, regulated by the Law of Contract and Torts. Certain procedural and legal rules, referring to the offsetting objection and the compensatory counter-claim, are also contained in the Law on Civil Procedure. The institution of offsetting claims is especially important when one of the parties in the obligatory relationship is in bankruptcy, in which case the special bankruptcy rules are applied. The importance of this topic is further enhanced by the changed business conditions in the world after the COVID-19 pandemic, with economic entities being increasingly forced to settle their obligations with compensation for the time being, until new sources of growth yield positive effects on liquidity.

There are specific foreign exchange (FX) restrictions set out in Serbian legislation. The FX rules envisage mandatory requirements with respect to cross-border loans, guarantees, assignment and set-off of cross-border claims and debt, the opening of bank accounts abroad, etc. As FX restrictions affect various aspects of transactions between Serbian residents and foreign parties, they are frequently a tumbling stone in cross-border transactions.

When I was presented with the opportunity to share my views on lawyering in Serbia and the current legal market, one of my first thoughts was where we were 20 years ago, when Serbia had just opened its doors to foreign capital, privatization started, and international banks and investors began their search for the same quality of advice and advisers they had back home. The bar was dramatically increased, traditional law firms thought they were untouchable, and only a handful of new-generation lawyers, although with very modest international experience, was able to adapt and meet this challenge.

The introduction of new e-services of the Serbian Business Registers Agency and the beginning of the application of online-based fiscalization are rapidly bringing the Serbian corporate environment to the corporate standards of developed countries.

On October 11, 2021, CEE Legal Matters reported that Gecic Law had Launched a new ESG Practice, co-headed by Partner and Head of Corporate/M&A Ognjen Colic and Head of Operations Hristina Kosec. CEELM spoke with Gecic Law Founding Partner Bogdan Gecic and Colic to learn more about the new practice.

Serbia is showing green across the board, with healthcare, IT, and real estate driving the economy, according to NKO Partners Partner Djordje Nikolic.

Recently, the Serbian Government (“Government“) adopted a Regulation on the Quota in the Market Premium System (“Quota Regulation“), and soon after, the Regulation on Market Premium and Fid-In Tarif (“Tarif Regulation“) and the Regulation on the Model Agreement for the Market Premium for Renewable Energy Sources (“Model Agreement Regulation“). This package of by-laws has been adopted to create conditions for the organization of the first market premium auction in accordance with the Law on the Use of Renewable Energy Sources (“Law“).