12 Feb 2021

EU Digital Saga – the Beginning of the End for Big Tech Supremacy?

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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09 Feb 2021

“Roam Like at Home” in the Western Balkans as of July 1, 2021

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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05 Feb 2021

Serbia set to allow entrepreneurs to declare bankruptcy: what are the potential solutions and does it set the stage for personal bankruptcy?

The Serbian Ministry of Economy formed a working group to draft an act that will regulate the bankruptcy of entrepreneurs (the “Draft“) following the Program for resolving problem loans for 2018-2020 of the Government of Serbia (the „Program“). Serbian bankruptcy legislation should now be complete since the Bankruptcy Act does not provide for a procedure in which creditors of an entrepreneur could collectively settle their claims. The view of the Government of Serbia stated in the Program, is that bankruptcy in the case of entrepreneurs should be regulated in a way that it could be carried out quickly and efficiently […]

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02 Feb 2021

Removing Competition and/or train tracks?

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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29 Jan 2021

Tax Regime Changes on the Horizon & the Tax Administration Crusade Against the Gig Economy (Fact or Fiction)?

    The subject of adequate and/or fair tax regulation is always a hot topic.  Not only because it affects a country’s economy, but also people`s everyday lives.  Updates to tax regulations are almost always controversial.  This article gives an overview of amendments to Serbia’s Value Added Tax (“VAT”), and the wrangling between members of the gig economy and the Tax Administration.  The Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Serbia published the Value Added Tax Amendment Bill (“Bill”). The main changes are as follows: Open-end investment funds and alternative investment funds will be liable to VAT; VAT on speculative […]

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22 Jan 2021

The WhatsApp Case: The Love & Hate Relationship between Big Tech and Data Protection

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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19 Jan 2021

Act on Digital Assets – creating a new market

Digital assets. A somewhat contradictory notion, but for a short period of time, the digital assets managed to put to question the millennial legal perception of assets as something purely material. And that would not be so interesting if it were not for the digital assets’ ability to financially transform into money. Mining and cryptocurrencies have been filling newspaper columns for years now and the first thing that catches the eye is their monetary value. Behind these terms is a legally unregulated business creating a significant fortune for individuals who, as simple as it gets, just sit in front of […]

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04 Jan 2021

Amazon – One of “The Biggest Deals” for EU’s Antitrust Practice

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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29 Dec 2020

Trading Water – a 21st century inevitability or a cause for concern?

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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16 Dec 2020

PayPal expands its services to cryptocurrencies

After many years of speculations on its interest in cryptocurrencies, this year PayPal finally announced that it will enable its users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies, as well as to safe keep them in crypto wallets on their accounts.  With the money from the sale of cryptocurrencies, users may freely buy goods and services. PayPal, the American company whose main business activity is the provision of payment services related to electronic money, has been long present in the payment services market.  PayPal is not a bank, because it does not use the funds of the users for its own needs, […]

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