On 6 October 2017, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia ( hereinafter: the Chamber of Commerce) published a document entitled, “Comments of the Members of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce: Protection of Competition Act” (Comments) resulting from consultations with the representatives of the Serbian business sector on the implementation of the Act on Protection Competition (Competition Act). As expected, in the document, members of the Chamber of Commerce emphasized the need for normative improvements and proposed amendments to the Act, all with the aim of fostering a more competitive business environment. Members of the Chamber of Commerce specifically […]
Details
Following almost 12 months of meticulous research, grueling screening processes, and a series of elaborate meetings and interviews, Gecić Law is excited to announce it has become the exclusive Serbian partner of TerraLex, the world’s leading international legal network and member of The Elite (Band 1) in the Chambers & Partners leading law firm networks global-wide rankings. We are incredibly grateful that TerraLex recognized our quality, reputation, international experience, and dedication to excellence in law practice. This extensive network spans over 100 countries worldwide and provides full-service assistance to clients through its 17 practice groups. As part of the TerraLex global […]
Details
Photo courtesy of Poje Marlo Members of our firm had the great honor and pleasure to visit Zagreb on December 1, 2017 on the occasion of the first anniversary of one of Croatia’s most promising law firm, Marohnić, Tomek & Gjoić (MTG). Similar to Gecić Law, MTG was founded through a merger of a number of prominent law firm spin-offs, joined by other leading lawyers and professionals, all brought together by a shared vision. On behalf of everyone at Gecić Law, we extend our heartiest congratulations to MTG on their first year of success. You can be very proud of the growth […]
Details
Another year, another Chillin’Competition Conference Imagine for a second a conference where a bunch of “suits”, seasoned scholars and world-recognized experts & regulators spend an entire day laughing, exchanging quips & smug comments and trading Ryan Gosling and SpongeBob SquarePants inspired meme mugs. Well that’s exactly what happened when over 350 scholars and practitioners of law & economics came together on October 25, 2017 at the Area 42, the “MOST WOW!” venue in Brussels. Alfonso Lamadrid de Pablo and Pablo Ibañez Colomo, the driving force behind Chillin’Competition blog, world’s favorite source for the latest and greatest in competition law, have once again […]
Details
The Act on Amendments and Supplements to the Companies Act represents one of the largest, if not the largest legislative development expected in Serbian law in 2017. As the public debate on the subject changes came to a close recently, it is expected these revisions will be subject to the parliamentary procedure very soon. Among the proposed amendments and supplements—which have a two-fold aim, i.e. harmonization of domestic law with requirements from the Chapter 6 (Companies Law) for accession to the European Union and Serbia’s progress on the World Bank’s Doing Business List—are those concerning status of minority shareholders of […]
Details
The European Commission has recently concluded that Luxembourg has been granting an undue tax benefit to Amazon in the total amount of EUR250 million. Since Serbian tax authorities have the power to issue binding advance tax opinions—and given that multinationals commonly exploit this option without any consideration of state aid rules—the Commission’s Decision in the Amazon case should raise some eyebrows. The European Commission (Commission) continues its battle against alleged tax avoidance and has recently concluded that Luxembourg has been granting an undue tax benefit to Amazon in the total amount of EUR 250 million. This tax benefit was awarded […]
Details
It is our great privilege and pleasure to announce that Ms. Vesna Živković, a senior at the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Law business law concentration, has been selected as the winner of the second Taboroši Scholarship for the academic year 2017/2018. We would like to use this opportunity to sincerely congratulate Vesna as well as to thank all candidates for their participation and submissions of enviable quality. We are truly pleased with the number of submissions and are certain that Taboroši Scholarship will, in the years to come, motivate an increasing number of students of the business law module […]
Details
The Energy Community, the quintessential energy organization aiming to extend EU’s internal energy market and EU acquis to southeastern Europe and the Black Sea region, and create an integrated & sustainable pan-European energy market, recently published its 2016/2017 Annual Implementation Report (Report) (available for download), where it officially acknowledged our ongoing constitutional challenge against the Serbian Competition Act, secondary legislation and general regulations. The report does a noteworthy job in properly identifying some of the key arguments set out in the constitutional challenge, particularly the criminal nature of competition proceedings, lack of procedural safeguards required by the ECHR, and that the […]
Details
Gecić Law acted as legal counsel to the Government of Serbia and the Železara Smederevo steel mill with respect to an European Commission (EC) investigation on the historical State aid received by the old company, and the potential responsibility of Hesteel Serbia to reimburse it, under the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA). On Wednesday, November 8, 2017, Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, informed the Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, that the European Commission concluded that “the HeSteel-owned steel mill does not have to reimburse any state aid received in the past” (link). […]
Details
A series of interesting developments, unorthodox actions and landmark decisions surrounding the Serbian Protection of Competition Act that took place in recent months seem to be approaching its final resolution in the form of a brand new competition act that will enhance market competition and at the same time protect companies’ human rights. As this peculiar story approaches its final chapter, we analyse the chronological developments and measure expectations on a potentially milestone development for both Serbia, the region and the European antitrust discourse as a whole. The Uprising The first signs of what was to come happened in late […]
Details