On November 16, 2021, the Law on Amendments to the Law on Procedure of Registration in the Business Registers Agency (Official Gazette of RS no. 105/2021) (the “Law”) has entered into force, while the application of certain provisions has been postponed for the prescribed period.

Former Air Serbia General Counsel Branko Gabric has joined BDK Advokati as Counsel and Head of the Compliance; Investigation Practice.

On 28 October 2021, Energy Agency of the Republic of Serbia (“AERS”) adopted Rules on prevention of abuse in electric energy and natural gas market (“Rules”), that were published in the Official gazette of the Republic of Serbia 103/2021. The Rules are drafted in line with the Decision of Ministerial Council of the Energy Community no. D/2018/10/Mc-EnC, implementing Regulation (EU) No 122712011 of the European Parliament and of the Council on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency.

Serbia has a long-standing tradition in the protection of intellectual property rights. The Kingdom of Serbia was even one of the first 11 signatories of the Paris Convention in 1883.

On October 25, 2021, CEE Legal Matters reported that Karanovic & Partners had advised the Innovation Fund of the Republic of Serbia (IF) on launching the Katapult start-up accelerator in Serbia. CEE In-House Matters spoke with Mladjan Stojanovic, Program Manager at the Innovation Fund, to learn more about the matter.

On November 16, 2021, amendments to the Law on Free Access to the Information of Public Importance (the “Law”) entered into force, as they had been published in the Official Gazette of the RS no. 105/2021 of November 8, 2021, whereby they were passed for the purpose of alignment with relevant regulations adopted in the meantime, such as the Law on Data Secrecy and the Law on Personal Data Protection, and international standards in the respective field, as well as introduction of mechanisms to ensure that the authorities act in accordance with their legal duties, and that information seekers enact their rights under the Law exclusively for the purposes stipulated therein.

In 2020 and 2021 there were no developments towards the adoption of the new law and bylaws regarding competition/antirust (a process that started in 2017), probably due to the coronavirus pandemic. Certain changes in respect to the enforcement of competition rules were introduced during 2020, due to COVID-19, such as a new manner of communicating with the Serbian Competition Commission, a prolongation of the deadlines during the state of emergency in Serbia, etc. However, all subject changes have been put out of force and are being restored to the state prior to COVID-19.

Karanovic & Partners Head of Real Estate Ana Lukovic has been appointed as a Partner with the firm.

The Government of Serbia has recently adopted the Proposal for Amendments to the Companies Law (the “Proposal”), which official text states that its primary goal is to promote the protection of minority shareholders, in accordance with measures provided by the Action Plan of the Program for Improvement of Position of the Republic of Serbia on the World Bank’s Business List – Doing Business for the period 2020-2023. In addition, the respective novelties imply other changes as well, the most significant being those referring to the position of entrepreneurs, and court protection in case of business address abuse.

The Law on Amendments to the Law on Tax Procedure and Tax Administration (Official Gazette of RS, no. 96/2021) (the “Law”) was adopted on October 16, 2021. The novelties introduced by this piece of regulation particularly include those referring to the filing of tax application for calculated mandatory social insurance contributions for company founders and/or shareholders, deferral of interest payment for settled obligations, replacement of insurance instruments for collection of due taxes, and issuance of additional record.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia has recently proposed amendments to the tax laws, including amendments to the Law on Personal Income Tax (‘PIT Law’), Law on Mandatory Social Contributions (‘SSC Law’) and the Law on Corporate Income Tax (‘CIT Law’).

The Labour Law contains only 2 articles related the non-competition clause.

For the last decade or so, the video gaming industry has been witnessing an emergence, and then almost a mainstream adoption of a revenue-generating mechanic similar, if not outright identical, to gambling.

On October 9, 2019, the Court of Appeal of Brussels passed judgment 2019/AR/1006 whereby it established, pursuant to and in accordance with Article 16 of the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), that banks are obliged to use correct diacritics when spelling clients’ names, since these are personal data, and therefore subject to accurate writing.

Last month, Freedom House published its annual report on freedom on the Internet (the “Report”), where Serbia got 71 out of 100 points, thus taking the 15^th place among 70 countries where the said research had been conducted.

Franchising may be an attractive proposition for many companies wishing to expand internationally. Take a look at this overview to discover the applicable franchise law in Serbia, covering the essentials for franchisors, the relevant areas of law, selected aspects such as fees, and dispute resolution and applicable law.

Contributed by Bojovic Draskovic Popovic & Partners.

 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?