The European Commission has proposed the prolongation of the State aid Temporary Framework until 30 June 2022, in order to expedite the ongoing Covid-19 economic recovery in Europe. The Temporary Framework was initially adopted on 19 March 2020 and to this date, it was amended and prolonged five times (more information available here and here). Margaret Vestager, the Executive Vice-President, who is in charge of the competition policy said that we are finally seeing improvements in the EU economy after the big crisis that hit the EU due to Covid-19. She also added: ’’[W]e need to be aware of disparities […]
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Facebook teamed up with Ray-Ban to create Ray-Ban Stories, new smart glasses. The product, which will initially be only available in stores in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Italy, the UK and the US, is already facing severe scrutiny over privacy concerns. So, how are different privacy watchdogs taking the development of these spectacles? Did Facebook take any steps to respond to privacy concerns? And finally, could the smart glasses come under the radar of privacy watchdogs in the Western Balkans? What are Facebook’s Ray-Ban smart glasses? Smart glasses are not a new technological development. The concept has been around for […]
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The European Union (“EU”) will launch a project called Global Gateway, European Commission (“EC”) President Ursula von der Leyen said during her latest State of the Union address. The project will aim to bring the EU closer to its partners worldwide. Besides revealing plans for the Global Gateway, the commissioner also announced her Western Balkans trip. The fact that the two topics were brought to light in the annual EU policy speech may mean that the Global Gateway could bring more investments from the EU to the region. Commenting on the project, Von der Leyen added that the bloc wants […]
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The Irish Data Protection Commission (“DPC”) fined Facebook’s WhatsApp with EUR 225 million in its latest EU data protection ruling. The fine is the second largest of its kind in the EU. So far, only Amazon paid more in a privacy case in the EU. The DPC said in its ruling on September 2 that WhatsApp’s policies were not in line with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), noting it registered breaches of Article 5(1)(a) as well as Articles 12 through 14. The breaches particularly include the provision of information and the transparency of that information to both users […]
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Why Schrems? The EU’s trust in the processing of personal data seems to be shaken. With the famous case Maximillian Schrems v Facebook Ireland Limited pending before the Austrian Supreme Court (“Court“) for a while now, Maximillian Schrems requested the Court to refer four questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU“) concerning the lawful use of personal data of all Facebook users from the EU. So, who is Maximilian Schrems? Maximillian Schrems is a law student from Austria and a personal data protection activist who has been extremely vocal about data protection before EU authorities. […]
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In April, the Commercial Court of Madrid (“Court”) granted provisional measures forbidding FIFA and UEFA to adopt, any type of actions against the so-called European Super League (“ESL”) or against the teams and players participating in the newly proposed European football competition during the course of the main proceedings (Gecic Law has already given legal insight on this topic). Before the measures, the ESL sent a letter to FIFA and UEFA officials calling for cooperation, but also warning that they had taken legal actions to prevent and nullify any efforts to block their project. The Madrid Decision The Court […]
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The German Constitutional Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) have been at odds lately. In June 2021, the European Commission brought infringement proceedings against Germany over an alleged breach of the principle of primacy of EU law by the German Federal Constitutional Court. Namely, the German Federal Constitutional Court has delivered a landmark decision that is precedent-setting and has tremendous repercussions for the question of the power dynamics between the European Union (“EU”) and a Member State. Before getting into the nitty-gritty details of this legal conundrum, let us take a look at how things played […]
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It is almost impossible to remain unfazed by the increasing detriments of global warming. To make matters worse – the worst is yet to come, and we can only mitigate the unavoidable consequences. To this end, the European Union (“EU”) has sought to develop a strategy for combating climate change and global warming. The children of this effort are several significant legal acts. As part of the “Fit for 55” initiative, the EU wants to reduce net greenhouse emissions by 55% by 2030. So, here’s where we get to the hydrogen economy. The global economy is currently based on hydrocarbons […]
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Here we go again, fighting climate change. This time, we are focusing on State aid and climate change, and discussing an important question – how green is State aid? Back in 2019, Europe ushered the European Green Deal. The European Commission published a Communication on the European Green Deal in its tenacious efforts to tackle climate change and other environmental challenges. This Communication is the EU’s attempt to work on the transition to a future where there will be no “bad emissions”, to put it plainly. If we were to get more technical, to create a Europe with net-zero emissions […]
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A phenomenon known as the Internet of Things (“IoT”), which has been at the forefront of the global tech changes, recently caught the European Commission’s (“Commission”) attention. The Commission’s Preliminary Report and Q&A on this tech & business sector is a big step towards acknowledging IoT as a market of the future, while simultaneously pointing out some potential dangers of this groundbreaking technology. Internet of Things – a Brief Explanation Let’s imagine this situation: you are not only an ardent coffee drinker but also a sleepyhead. Your alarm wakes you up at 7.00 am. You have little precious time to […]
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The European Commission (“EC”) adopted the Fit for 55 climate action plan on Wednesday, announcing a legislative package that aims to cut carbon emissions in the European Union (“EU”) by 55% by 2030, compared to levels measured in 1990. It also calls for action to make the continent carbon neutral by 2050. The Fit for 55 package includes provisions on expanding the EU Emissions Trading System to charge for carbon emissions in more sectors. Additionally, it proposes Effort Sharing Regulation and prescribes new emissions-cutting targets per Member State. It also calls for an increase in renewable energy sources use, creates […]
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In the Republic of Serbia, agricultural policy is based on the Act on Agriculture and Rural Development and the Act on Incentives in Agriculture and Rural Development. However, none of these two acts enable the regulation of the agricultural products market and the introduction of new market regulation mechanisms, which are necessary to help Serbian agriculture maintain steady development. Market mechanisms in the Republic of Serbia are not in accordance with the common EU market organization. Serbia lacks a similar unique legal framework to implement most measures of market regulation. In order to harmonize further with mechanisms in the EU, […]
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At the event hosted by the API/IPA international press association, Slovenia revealed the priorities of its upcoming presidency of the Council of the EU and the Fit for 55 legislative package stole the spotlight all for itself. Before leaning into the story of Fit for 55, let us make a quick turn to the conference held just a few days ago. Slovenia is taking over the Council of the EU presidency for the next six months. The country’s Permanent Representative to the EU Mr. Iztok Jarc and his deputy Ms. Tamara Weingerl-Požar laid out the priorities of the presidency. Of […]
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The topic of data protection and Big Tech keeps on giving. It appears the subject of data protection simply does not want to leave the main stage and wishes to remain in everyone’s center of attention. This should not come as a surprise, since the world is only starting to become more integrated in terms of digital services provided by Big Tech companies. The most recent “controversy” on data protection and Big Tech comes from Germany, or to be more precise, Hamburg’s Commissioner for Data Protection (“Commissioner”). The Commissioner investigated Facebook’s use of personal data gathered from WhatsApp users and […]
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In the process of gradually aligning its legislation with the EU acquis the Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted two bylaws on 11 March 2021 in the field of state aid, complementary to the recently adopted new State Aid Control Act. All this adds value to the start of talks on the Chapter 8 – Competition Policy of Serbia’s negotiation process and may speed up Serbia’s EU accession. Regional Aid Regulation This regulation is designed to promote economic development of the least developed regions or the development of regions with a high level of unemployment. It also allows state […]
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Some reports say that it would be impossible to live in the digital world outside of the ecosystem created by Big Tech giants. The concentration of power in a small number of platforms has allowed some tech companies, popularly known as the Four Horsemen” to exercise unparalleled economic power and social impact almost without any oversight by regulators. These companies have complete market dominance, each in their respective field of expertise: Apple in consumer electronics and mobile operating systems; Facebook in the social media, Google in online searches, video-sharing and mapping-based navigation; and, finally, Amazon in the e-commerce market. Hence, […]
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The imaginary familiarity with a famous person through platforms such as Instagram is more common when the other party is a so-called influencer – a person that enjoys appreciation of a large number of users due to their reputation. The imaginary closeness is, on the other hand, a very powerful tool in hands of influencers as users often aspire to emulate their lifestyle. However, the lifestyle the influencer presents is not always genuine as the content presented often includes (some form of) promotion. When an influencer shows on their profile that they use a certain product, there is a great […]
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The EU’s second-highest court sided with Amazon.com (“Amazon”) recently, saying it did not owe millions to Luxembourg in unpaid taxes. On May 12, 2021, the General Court (“Court”) overturned the European Commission’s (“Commission”) order to Amazon to pay EUR 250 million to Luxembourg, as reimbursement of illegal State aid. The Court held that the European Commission’s primary finding of an alleged advantage was based on an incorrect analysis. Precisely, the Court argued that none of the findings set out by the Commission in the contested decision were sufficient to demonstrate the existence of an advantage for the purposes of Article […]
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Business cartels between competing market participants are designed to limit or eliminate competition between them, with the objective of increasing prices and profit of the cartel members. In practice, this is generally achieved by fixing prices, market sharing, limiting output, allocating customers or territories, bid-rigging, or a combination of the above. Cartels are harmful to consumers and society as a whole since the participating businesses charge higher prices (and earn higher profits) than would be the case in a competitive market. Because of their negative impact on the market, competition legislation fights against cartels, imposing substantial fines on participants, which […]
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Legal Framework for the so-called influencing To say that there is no special advertising act in Bosnia and Herzegovina (“BiH”) is not completely true. Namely, certain forms of (illegal) advertising are regulated by the Prohibited Advertising Act. This Act regulates the protection of merchants from illicit advertising, the protection of procedures and determines forms of illicit advertising. On the other hand, advertising as such is regulated indirectly at the level of the Federation. In this regard, the Consumer Protection Act is applicable, considering that BiH is one of few European countries that has neither a media act nor an electronic […]
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The European Union (“EU”) and Japan created a Green Alliance and issued a document on May 27 that defines their joint goals on climate change. They committed to green growth and reaching carbon neutrality by 2050, reaffirming their commitment to the Paris Agreement. The creation of the alliance comes ahead of the UN climate conference in Glasgow in November. The event should define the implementation of the Paris Agreement. In the meantime, the EU and Japan have promised to promote green economy goals. They noted that they will help developing nations transition to low-carbon energy use. The two sides also […]
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Joe Biden’s first big clash with the largest businesses in the US came as a result of his proposal to increase corporate tax and raised quite a few eyebrows. Although Corporate America initially welcomed the massive government spending plan, it later expressed genuine concerns on the topic. International corporate taxation has long presented a challenge for tax authorities worldwide, causing them losses in billions of tax dollars. The US has been one of the largest backers of negotiations on a large-scale reform of international corporate taxation that have been going on for quite some time. However, an agreement is yet […]
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Influencer marketing is a fast-growing discipline, and the number of influencers is growing every day in our region. Like Serbia, Croatia is also “fertile ground” for influencer marketing and numerous extremely “influential influencers”. Testimonies of many, both “micro” and “macro” influencers from Croatia, demonstrate that this indeed amounts to a full-time job. So, how does one hire an influencer? In a nutshell, after “becoming famous”, influencers receive offers to promote various products and services on a daily basis, but how is this activity legally regulated in Croatia? Stay tuned, as we discuss below in greater detail the legal position of […]
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The Serbian Competition Authority (“SCA”) recently focused on unapproved mergers i.e. gun-jumping. The most recent “victim” of the SCA’s investigations into gun-jumping was Fortenova Grupa d.d. (“Fortenova”), with the only previous undertaking fined for gun-jumping being Prointer IT Solutions. Meanwhile, Ernst & Young are also being investigated under the same allegations. Is this simply a witch hunt or is there something going on here? Gun-jumping (not only during the Olympics) Before we get into the heart of the matter let`s define what gun-jumping is. In competition law, gun-jumping is a concept pertaining to an unlawful pre-merger and pre-clearance coordination of […]
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The Council of the EU agreed on Tuesday to apply its revised enlargement methodology in the accession negotiations of Serbia and Montenegro. The new rules within the accession process aim to increase contacts at the ministerial level and promote fundamental reforms in the two countries. Additionally, the new enlargement methodology has the goal of improving the predictability of the accession process. Furthermore, it reorganizes chapters into clusters to speed up negotiations between the states with the EU. The decision comes after the European Commission issued a Communication in February which addressed the need to improve the accession process. The new […]
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During the session held on March 18, Serbian MPs adopted the Climate Change Act (the “Act”). The Minister of Environmental Protection, Ms. Irena Vujović noted that “the issues concerning environmental protection and climate change are of high priority and have finally received deserved attention from the Government of Serbia.” The main goal of the Act is to reduce greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions, as the accelerated development of technology and international trade make pollution, and especially emissions of GHG, a global problem. Long History of Global Climate Change Mitigation Acts The United Nations (the “UN”) noted the impending problems caused by […]
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One of the significant novelties in Serbian legislation refers to the regulation of electronic invoicing through the Electronic Invoicing Bill (the “Bill“). The adoption of the Bill is on the agenda of the National Assembly on April 21, and it remains to be seen whether the Bill will be modified and if so, which provisions will be changed. Reasons for the adoption of the Bill One of the key reasons for the adoption of the Bill is further harmonization of Serbian legislation with European Union law. Additionally, in the words of the Minister of Finance, the Bill ”improves the transparency, […]
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Governmental legislation on compulsory vaccination does not violate the European Convention on Human Rights (“Convention”), the European Court of Human Rights (“ECHR” or “Court”) ruled on April 8. Particularly, the ECHR noted that compulsory vaccination of children in the Czech Republic did not violate the right to respect for private life. The Case Vavřička and Others v. the Czech Republic The complaint was raised with reference to a fine imposed on Mr Vavřička and the non-admission of the child applicants to nursery school. The applicants said the legislation violated their rights under the Convention. Applicants claimed that the Czech state […]
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After a short break from our previous reflections on the EU’s new set of regulations concerning digital markets (more details available here), we are back with an even more vivid and thorough breakdown of the proposed regulation. To pick up where we left off, we will be taking a closer look at the Digital Services Act (“DSA“ or „Act“). As we have already familiarized ourselves with the EU’s goals and ambitions regarding new digital market regulation, we can now fully indulge ourselves by taking a closer look at the Act. We hope that you managed to catch your breath because […]
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For many years now, watching movies and series has shifted to various internet platforms, while authors are wondering where their copyrights are in all of this. Answers to that question should be provided by the Copyright and Related Rights Act (‟Copyright Act”), which came into operation more than 11 years ago, during a surge in the use of various data exchange platforms. Data is exchanged much faster, and computer technology is far more complex than it was before, and the Copyright Act is lagging behind in its response to emerging challenges regarding new ways of using technology and protecting authors. […]
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In the last few months, the Serbian National Competition Authority (“NCA”) has turned its attention to sanctioning agreements between undertakings where resale prices are maintained. After taking cases against consumer electronics undertakings, the NCA recently opened an investigation against a general importer and its three car dealers of “Audi” vehicles, in the course of its sectoral analysis of the markets of sales and after-sales services of motor vehicles. Resale Price Maintenance – What is the Problem? Resale price maintenance (“RPM”) is a contractual provision where the supplier (usually the manufacturer or general importer) binds the buyer (usually the distributor or […]
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As the famous Arabic proverb says, ‘Silence is golden’. And it seems that this nugget of ancient wisdom still holds true today – even in law; even when it comes to a high-profile case before the European Court of Justice. To find out why would silence be so important as to cause a stir among lawyers throughout Europe, we must track back to the beginning. What happened? On February 2, 2021, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) released a landmark ruling on due process rights in preliminary reference from the Italian Constitutional Court in DB v Commissione Nazionale per le […]
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Gecić Law is currently representing Bosnia and Herzegovina in a procedure with the Energy Community, a landmark case across the Balkans related to alleged state aid in the construction of Block 7 of the Tuzla Thermal Power Plant, a project worth USD 1.1 billion, with co-counsel Marić & Co. Law Firm based in Sarajevo. Launched in 2018 by the Secretariat of the Energy Community against Bosnia and Herzegovina, the process has been marked by violation of due process, complete disregard for the rights of the defense as well as continuous bids of the prosecution to speed up the process and […]
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Diplomacy & Commerce magazine, a syndication of London’s The Economist magazine for Serbia, prepared a special InFocus supplement as part of its February 2021 issue, with the aim of providing the readers a closer insight into the development of bilateral relations and successful cooperation between Serbia and the United Arab Emirates. Bogdan Gecic, Managing Partner at Gecic Law, a founding and exclusive member of the UAE Serbia Business club since 2019, gave an interview, which can be read in its entirety below. As an industry, the legal profession has been changing significantly. We have always believed there is a lot […]
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Our Energy practice team has repeatedly demonstrated its credibility by devising unique opportunities for greenfield and brownfield investments for our clients. We provide comprehensive solutions related to privatization, regulatory compliance and due diligence in cooperation with eminent regulatory, corporate and financial experts. Counsel to Norwegian NBT AS on Wind Farms Project in Serbia Our latest accomplishment in the energy sector is providing counsel to NBT AS, Norway, a utility-scale wind power developer (exceeding 100 KW of power), in partnering with WV International (formerly Windvision). WV International has been developing wind farm projects in Serbia since 2010 and has been active […]
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The Treaty of Nice, a landmark agreement in the history of the European integration process, celebrated its 20th anniversary last Friday. The legislation was signed on February 26, 2001 and came into force on February 1, 2003. The key aim of the Treaty was to introduce institutional changes and decision-making reform, amending the Maastricht Treaty and the Treaty of Rome, which would allow for the ensuing EU enlargement. The Treaty introduced qualified majority voting in the European Council, removed national vetoes in many areas and gave the European Parliament the power to elect the Commission President. It formalized the principles […]
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On December 3, 2020, the Fourth Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) rendered a judgement in the case Star Taxi App SRL v Unitatea Administrativ Teritorială Municipiul Bucureşti prin Primar General and Consiliul General al Municipiului Bucureşti providing some extremely interesting conclusions, to say the least. But let us leave the conclusions for later, and first touch upon the factual bits and pieces of the case. The Romanian company SC Star Taxi App SRL is a manager of an application which places users of taxi services directly in touch with taxi drivers all over Romania. […]
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Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the Internet has been a key factor in driving globalization and economic growth in recent years. Along the same lines, leading internet intermediaries have played an essential role in expediting this growth and providing companies of all sizes with the means to capitalize on all the benefits the digital era has to offer. Thus, it is hardly surprising that many Internet intermediaries, such as Amazon, Facebook, and Google, are among the world’s most successful companies. However, there are genuine concerns that their economic prosperity and progress are indirectly being encouraged by legislation that shields […]
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The Necessity of the Digital Single Market… Not only is the global economy flourishing, it is going digital also. Information and communications technology is no longer a specific business sector but the foundation of all modern innovative economic systems. The Internet and digital technologies are transforming the lives we live, the way we work –personally, in business, and in our societies as they increasingly weave their way into all sectors of our economy and community. Consequently, our lives and, especially, our businesses need to follow global trends such as competitive strategies, marketing techniques, and business models, and that would not […]
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As you already know, we make it our business to bring you news of cases that are out of the ordinary and interesting in so many ways. But this one is a first. It is not new as in recent, because it all began 10 years ago, but new in the context of originality. What you are about to read is the story of probably the most flagrant “abuse of dominant position” ever. Factual originality Providing the backdrop to this story is a business relationship in the Baltics between Lithuanian Railways (“LR”), the state-owned rail company in Lithuania, with responsibility […]
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Is there another earthshattering change in the tech sector that will be making headlines for the next few weeks? Tech behemoths have certainly kept journalists and bloggers on their toes lately due to many recent dramatic changes and major decisions. WhatsApp, a company owned by Facebook, wanted to go the whole nine yards to become the most successful messaging and calls application, so its executives have quite recently reached a decision to update its privacy policy. As it rolled out the latest updates for Android and iOS, the internet exploded with claims that this encrypted messaging app, whose major selling point […]
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Unbelievable numbers: 840,000 employees, USD 280 billion in revenue for 2019, USD 11.5 billion profit (for the same year) and first centi-billionaire owner ever. Today, one of the biggest undertakings in global trade. But, on the other side, one of “The Biggest Deals” for the EU, ever. We bring you a story of to-ings and fro-ings between Amazon and the EU Commission. Short Recap Rewind to July 17, 2019. On that day, the Commission opened an investigation into possible anti-competitive conduct by Amazon. More precisely, an investigation was opened to assess whether Amazon’s use of sensitive data from independent retailers […]
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Although it has been more than a year since the new Personal Data Protection Act (“Act”) entered into force in Serbia, some of its provisions are not yet fully applicable. One clear-cut example is Article 44 of the Act, which requires foreign companies (therefore those who does not have a registered business seat in Serbia) to appoint a Personal Data Protection Representative for Serbia (“Representative”). Who is the Representative? This provision, (as well as the majority of the Act’s provisions), was adopted from Article 27 of the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and refers to any personal data controller and […]
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The New Public Procurement Act (“new Act”) was adopted in December 2019 and came into force on January 1, 2020. The key objectives of the new act are increased transparency within the public procurement procedure, elimination of the administrative burden and increased competition between the participants in the procedure. If conducted legally, the public procurement process should result in the acquisition of the highest possible quality of goods or services for the lowest possible price. However, collusion between bidders, i.e. “bid-rigging”, eliminates genuine competition and hinders the interests of both purchasers and taxpayers. Bids can be rigged through secret coordination […]
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The development of the judiciary is one of the key priorities for the Republic of Serbia. It is a permanent process of modernization and harmonization of the judiciary with the needs of the state and society, in order to ensure rule of law and enhance legal certainty. In line with this, on July 10, the Government of the Republic of Serbia, adopted Judicial Development Strategy for the time period between 2020 and 2025 (“Strategy”), as well as the revised Action Plan for the Chapter 23 (“Action plan”). We would also like to point out that AmCham Serbia, of which Gecić […]
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On July 29, 2020, the Slovenian Supreme Court (“Court“) reached a decision by which it ordered that the Slovenian Competition Protection Agency (“AVK“) shall restore the Croatian Agrokor d.d.’s shares in the Slovenian retailer Mercator. In its press release, the AVK stated that the decision by which it ordered the withdrawal of shares held by Agrokor was rendered in accordance with Article 201 of the Slovenian Misdemeanor Act (Zakon o prekrških) in 2019. Article 201 enshrines that anyone’s property may be confiscated in cases there is likelihood of the perpetrator hiding or fleeing the country during the procedure before the […]
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For some reason May is THE month for competition. Mays of yesteryear have witnessed many intriguing courtroom battles: May 2016, May 2019 and finally in May 2020. True to form, merger control is making the headlines again. The General Court (GC) annulled the European Commission’s (Commission) decision in Hutchison 3G UK (Hutchison) and Telefónica UK (Telefónica) merger on May 28, 2020. If you have not seen it yet, the underlying reason behind the annulment is quite thought-provoking: in a nutshell, the GC held that the Commission made errors in law and manifested errors of assessment, and to boot, infringed essential […]
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General Court brings the curtain down on epic court battle between Apple Ireland and the EU/European Commission in a state aid case labelled the ‘Apple Tax case’. On July 15, 2020, the EU’s General Court overturned the Commission’s decision because the Commission failed to prove Apple had broken competition rules. Following an in-depth state aid investigation launched in June 2014, the Commission requested information on any rulings granted by Ireland in favour of the Apple Group companies: Apple Operations International (AOI), Apple Sales International (ASI) and Apple Operations Europe (AOE). The Commission concluded that two tax rulings issued by Ireland to […]
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Serbia – a leader in the Western Balkans Nowadays, we face numerous global challenges such as the extinction of flora and fauna, endangering of ecosystems, the continuous growth of waste, pollution and scarcity of natural resources as effects of climate changes and pollution. Radical changes are more urgent than ever and Serbia is now embarking on the course to implement them. The Ministry of Environmental Protection with the support of the UNDP project “Circular Economy Platform for Sustainable Development in Serbia”, developed a document entitled Roadmap for circular economy(“Roadmap”). The Roadmap is modeled on the type of existing documents in […]
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Whenever you leave your home, buy something, apply for a job or pay bills these days – pretty much almost whatever you do – your personal information is used, collected or processed. In order to protect your right to private life regarding the automatic processing of your personal data, the Council of Europe adopted the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data – ETS No. 108 (“Convention 108”). (No) Need to Modernize the Convention Convention 108 is the first binding international instrument protecting individuals against abuses that may accompany the collection and processing […]
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Self-driving cars are almost a century-old dream. Ever since the concept of autonomous vehicles was presented at the 1939 New York World Fair sponsored by General Motors, the industry’s greats have raced to be the first to manufacture a self-driving car. Now, thanks to the development of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”), this dream is ever closer to reality. Self-driving cars – (not) all quiet on the Western front? The US state of Nevada is (in)famous for its casinos, luxury resorts and the showbiz industry. However, Nevada is also known for being among the first to allow (limited) participation of self-driving cars […]
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One learns early on – if you want to sit at the cool kids’ table, you must do the work and engage in tedious diplomatic battles and quid pro quo bargains. Yet, does the accession to the EU automatically erase ghosts of times past? If one looks at the love-hate triangle between the EU, Romania and the Micula brothers, the answer is not necessarily positive. The Micula phenomenon No international lawyer is likely to ever ask: “Micula – who?” On the contrary, the Micula case(s) have by now generated such notoriety that they represent household terms in law offices around […]
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On May 5, 2020, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany (“Constitutional Court”) delivered a judgment approving several constitutional complaints. The complaints pertain to the Public Sector Purchase Program (“PSPP”) and allege that it violates the prohibition of monetary financing under Article 123 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (“TFEU”) and the principle of conferral provided for in Art. 5(1) of the Treaty on European Union (“TEU”). It is important to note that the European Court of Justice ruled on the matter on December 11, 2018, stating that the PSPP did not violate the funding ban. Two […]
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On April 20, 2020, Serbian and Kosovar* transmission system operators (“TSOs”) finally took a step forward to end a years-long dispute. The breakthrough came on the back of protracted negotiations between the Kosovar* TSO KOSTT and the Serbian TSO EMS, facilitated by the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (“ENTSO-E”). The vote on the draft Connection Agreement was successfully concluded by the Regional Group of Continental Europe. Thanks to this vote and the subsequent deal, KOSTT and Kosovo* will leave the Serbia-Montenegro-North Macedonia control block and form the Kosovo*- Albania control block, as announced a number of […]
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The Economic and Financial Affairs Council (“the Council”) on 18 February 2020 adopted revised conclusions on the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes (“the EU list”). The EU list (Annex I) includes non-EU countries or territories which had not made sufficient commitments in response to the EU‘s concerns about taxation arrangements. The State of play section (Annex II) lists the jurisdictions which had responded with sufficient commitments. Therefore, the jurisdictions that do not yet comply with all international tax standards but have committed to reforms are included in Annex II. These countries need to take effective actions to […]
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“Saying goodbye to everyone at a party and then proceeding to stick around“ – meaning of Brexiting as branded by the Urban dictionary to describe a specific social faux pas. Though, as of today, it represents an expression not very up-to-date. Namely, Presidents of the European Council Charles Michel and of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen signed the Agreement on the Withdrawal of the UK. The EU Parliament’s plenary is on the move and will vote on the agreement on January 29. Respectfully, the last step is the adoption by the Council of the reached decision, on behalf […]
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Is bad stronger than good? It is a fact that people are far more inclined to remember negative criticism or comments, than praise. It takes so many positive events to make amends for just one negative event. The Court of Justice of the European Union issued a Press release on October 3, concerning judgement in the case in which Mme Eva Glawischnig-Piesczek sued Facebook Ireland before the Austrian courts. She requested the removal of the notably harmful comment by a Facebook user which Austrian courts found insulting and defaming. The news immediately hit the headlines! The plain and simple truth […]
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“I want to get away, I want to fly away”, Lenny Kravitz sang. Ok Lenny, but which airline will you choose? The cheapest one? Way to go! But let’s check something first. Have you noticed the disparity in ticket prices between EU and non-EU airlines, which in turn has a knock-on effect on who you chose to fly with, Lenny? Oh, so, you haven’t noticed? Who cares, right? You usually take to the skies in your private jet so matters as trivial as these don’t concern you. Well, guess what Lenny – THE EU CARES! Aviation is widely regulated throughout […]
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Friday is widely regarded as a day marked by joy and happiness. However, last Friday did not produce such emotions for data protection officers working in the online streaming services (“OSS”) industry, that is in Amazon, Apple, DAZN, Flimmit, Netflix, SoundCloud, Spotify and Youtube. Namely, the Austrian campaign group None of Your Business (“NOYB”) filed 10 complaints with the Austrian Data Protection Authority and asked for an investigation of an alleged breach of Article 15 of the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). NOYB accused OSS for violating the “Right to access by the data subjects” (which provides that the data […]
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As recent events suggest, the harmony and tranquility (of the most wonderful time of the year) in the UK audit market, dominated by the Big Four[1], is soon to be interrupted. The UK Competition & Markets Authority (“CMA”) has published an updated paper outlining serious competition concerns and proposing legislative changes in order to improve the audit sector for the sake of both savers and investors. After conducting a market study into the statutory audit market, the CMA reached the following conclusions: Since the companies are free to choose their own auditors, there has been too much evidence of them […]
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A rainy tale of two e-mails The former Foreign Secretary and Mayor of London, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, also known as “Boris Johnson”, was sitting on his chair in front of his laptop on a rainy February day in 2016. He had two word files in front of him. With a scent of political mysticism, and a flash of destiny overwhelming his Etonian eyes, he had to choose which file to send to the Sunday Times, to file that will turn into an article that will grant him the key to his favorite immovable property – 10 Downing Street […]
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Bogdan Gecić, managing partner at Gecić Law, a top tier law firm from Belgrade, gave a lecture on the importance of social media and communication at the Law Firm Marketing Summit held in London. “Social media are an important tool to cement presence on the Internet and share the values of your firms with the public”, said Mr. Gecić. “We do not only embrace social media as a medium of promotion of our firm and corporate life within the office, but we also share the successes of our partners and clients because we believe in the idea, as we dubbed […]
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Not so long ago, on May 25, 2018 the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force. The GDPR has been a subject of great interest and discussion, even prior to its implementation, due to its application on entities all over the world – inside or outside the European Union (EU). Although the GDPR has, practically, changed the legal framework in relation to the rules on data protection, and introduced a whole set of new obligations while imposing massive fines for non-compliance, the real implications of the application of the GDPR are yet to be seen, especially on non-EU entities. […]
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If you open the eighth edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Law and turn to page 461, poaching is defined as “taking game without permission from private land or from land on which the killing of game is restricted. Wild animals cannot usually be stolen […]”. Although the current degree of development of human rights and basic human decency forbid referring to employees as “wild animals” (at least publicly), and killing is certainly considered a criminal offence, in the corporate world of today to poach someone means to hire an employee from another, often competing, undertaking. Agreements among companies not […]
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The year 2018 is witnessing a period of constant developments and dynamics in the area of competition law in Serbia. The latest news concerns a constitutional challenge against Article 45(4) of the Competition Act of Serbia (“Competition Act”), submitted by the Commissioner for information of public importance and personal data protection (“Commissioner”). Said provision exempts information gathered for the purpose of conducting competition proceedings, which are considered as ‘protected information’ to be disclosed to the public under the Free Access to Information of Public Importance Act (“Free Access Act”). In Commissioner’s view this provision seems to be in discord with […]
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On 30 May 2018, the European Commission (“Commission”) announced that the European Parliament and the Council have reached an agreement concerning a proposed new Directive, in order to further build on the Regulation 1/2003 and enable the competition authorities (“NCAs”) of EU Member States to enforce EU antitrust rules more effectively. The new Directive, proposed as the “Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council to Empower the Competition Authorities of the Member States to be more Effective Enforcers and to ensure the Proper Functioning of the Internal Market” (“Proposed Directive”), came out as a consensus following numerous consultations […]
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General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is currently a global hot topic – and for a good reason. It practically revamps the legal framework concerning Data Protection rules, introduces a whole set of new obligations while imposing massive fines for non-compliance. While the GDPR came into the force recently, it is no surprise that many are worried how it will affect their organizations as the legislation, under certain conditions, is to be applied worldwide —both inside and outside of the EU. Given that compliance with the GDPR will be no mean feat, requiring vast amount of time and resources, no matter how […]
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In December 2017, European Added Value Unit of the European Parliament published the Fourth edition of its report “Mapping the Cost of Non-Europe 2014-2019” (the “Study”). The Study is especially relevant if placed in the context of challenges the EU is facing today such as: impact of Brexit on the EU Budget and the consequences for the EU’s political and economic interests, the rise of populist parties within the EU Member States and rather sluggish European economic growth. The aim of the Study is to analyze potential increases in annual EU GDP, if different policy initiatives made by the European […]
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At the end of last year, the Act on Ratification of the Treaty Establishing the Transport Community (“Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia – International Agreements“, No. 011/2017) (the “Act”), concluded by and between the European Union (the “EU”) and the South East European Parties—i.e. the Republic of Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the Republic of Albania and Kosovo [1] (the “South East European Parties”)—came into force, which effectively implies that Serbia has already joined the EU, at least with respect to rail, road, inland waterway and maritime transport sectors. The aim of […]
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(Update: 02.25.2022.) CJEU Reaches Final Decision in Landmark Anti-Dumping Case The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) reached a final decision in a landmark anti-dumping case, with far-reaching implications for HBIS Serbia and the Serbian economy. The CJEU sided with the General Court’s ruling which confirmed the European Commission’s (EC) decision not to impose anti-dumping measures on steel producers from Serbia in 2017, simultaneously imposing these measures on products originating from Brazil, Iran, Russia and Ukraine, following months of investigation into alleged anti-competitive practices (link). Gecić Law was legal counsel to the Government of Serbia and the Smederevo […]
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Gecić | Law advised Železara Smederevo and the Government of Serbia on EU, regulatory and corporate matters in connection with the €46 million ($52 million) sale of assets of Železara Smederevo’s through a public tender procedure to the Chinese company Hebei Iron and Steel Company Limited (HBIS). Under the transaction, HBIS pledged to invest at least $300 million in a new company and to utilize the acquired assets to develop its global layout and to provide better service for its customers in Europe. Leading Serbian Steel Manufacturer Železara Smederevo is Serbia’s leading producer of steel and is the second-largest Serbian […]
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