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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If you think you have seen “everything” in 2020, well, think again! This is the year that sees water traded on the stock exchange for the first time ever. News from Wall Street that water is to be traded on the stock exchange spread quickly and overshadowed a raft of other, important financial stories. This December the world’s largest financial derivatives exchange, the CME Group, launched futures contracts tied to the spot price of water in California, a market of $ 1.1 billion. The very concept of trading water inevitably gives us all pause for thought about the reasons for […]
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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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On February 1, 2020, a new Trademarks Act („Act“) came into force with a view to addressing shortcomings observed during the application of the previous act, to establish a more efficient system for trademark protection, as well as to align Serbian legislation with the laws of the EU Member States in this field. Placing trademarked goods and services on the market allows the trademark owner to distinguish those goods and services on the market from others that are the same or similar, while simultaneously increasing its responsibility towards consumers. The importance of trademarks calls for an efficient and simple protection […]
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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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Alea iacta est! Serbia is in line for a new State Aid Control Act. Ten years ago, when enacted, the first (and still the only) act was welcomed as a long-awaited and indispensable piece of legislation. Today, and following ten-years’ implementation, we are about to get a new one. What lessons have we drawn from implementation of the current act (apart from the fact that we need a new one)? The reasons for adopting a new act, according to its drafters, are as follows: Harmonization with the EU acquis – Well, that’s a turn-up for the books! Can you think […]
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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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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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