This year will bring big changes, at least when it comes to financial markets. Namely, 2021 is when the long-awaited abolition of LIBOR will take place. Although there was a lot of talk about technical obstacles that need to be overcome, change was seemingly inevitable. LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) is the daily reference interest rate at which banks lend to each other on the interbank market. It gained in importance in the 1990s, when the British Banking Association (“BBA”) settled relevant standards of regulation, the collection and analysis of data obtained, which will serve as a basis for calculating […]
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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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Ognjen Colić, head of Gecić Law’s corporate practice, spoke at the 4th Serbian Public Private Partnership Conference, a hybrid event held today, organized under the auspices of the British-Serbian Chamber of Commerce, the British Embassy in Belgrade, the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Construction, Transportation and Infrastructure of the Republic of Serbia. Opening remarks were delivered by several high government officials and experts, including Tomislav Momirovic, Minister of Construction, Transportation and Infrastructure and Andjelka Atanackovic, Minister of Economy of the Republic of Serbia. Besides high government officials, developers, contractors and service providers engaged in public-private partnerships also attended […]
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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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