04 Nov 2020

Montenegro Airlines: The Next Accession ‘Shipyards’ Case?

Here we bring you a more detailed overview of the State aid package granted to Montenegro Airlines A.D. Podgorica, Montenegro’s national airline. We touched on the topic a few weeks ago. Introduction To recap, just days after announcing a EUR 133 million aid package for Montenegro Airlines the country’s national competition and state aid authority, the Protection of Competition Agency (“Agency“), launched an investigation into the State aid package. The Agency’s investigation found that the MEO test conditions had not been fulfilled, therefore qualifying this boost to Montenegro Airlines as State aid. On foot of that finding the Agency ordered […]

Details
27 Oct 2020

Independence and impartiality of experts in arbitration and court proceedings

Do experts in arbitration and court proceedings help tribunals in making decisions or they are just instruments a party? Experts in arbitration and court proceedings have the task of assisting arbitrators and judges, in connection with complex issues related to a particular field. These experts possess specialized knowledge in various fields and help the arbitral tribunal and judges to better understand the problem that is being adjudicated. Experts make an exceptional contribution to the accurate assessment of the facts of the case since the tribunal itself often does not have the necessary expertise in a certain field. Even in the […]

Details
22 Oct 2020

One-stop-shop for registering Healthcare Services with SBRA

From October 11, 2020, the Serbian Business Registers Agency (“SBRA”) will start keeping the Register of Healthcare Institutions (“Register”) as a single record of healthcare service providers, in accordance with the Healthcare Act (“Act”). The Register is a unified record of healthcare service providers, which includes data about healthcare institutions and private practices throughout the Republic of Serbia. Therefore, data about public and private healthcare institutions have been consolidated in the Register. Before the introduction of the Register, healthcare institutions had to register with the competent commercial courts.  Now, the Register, as an electronic, central, public database of registered healthcare […]

Details
21 Oct 2020

What are the advantages of having a folio extract issued by a notary public?

The new Decree on Conditions for Issuing Extracts from the Ordnance Survey, Real Estate and Land Registry Information System, by Notaries Public and Surveyors (“Decree“) cuts through another piece of red tape – the need to apply exclusively to the Republic Ordnance Survey Authority for folio extracts.   However, the Decree is a source of some controversy in terms of application.  Will the Decree see us spend even more time queuing at counters and in consultation with experts? The main innovations under the Decree are: When disposing of real estate and concluding other transactions before notaries, parties will no longer have to obtain a folio […]

Details
12 Oct 2020

The New Public Procurement Act: How Does it Help in the Fight Against Bid-rigging

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 […]

Details
06 Oct 2020

A new stage in the development of the judiciary in Serbia between 2020-2025

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 […]

Details
01 Oct 2020

TerraLex & Gecić Law Featured in CorD Magazine September 2020 Edition

One of the foremost business publications in Serbia, CorD Magazine featured in its latest edition, a joint interview with Terri Peper Gavulic of TerraLex and our managing partner Bogdan Gecić, revealing all the innovative initiatives we’ve been continuously working on, to offer our clients the utmost benefits and global support in a pandemic stricken world. Our story with TerraLex begins in 2017, when we joined this elite legal network as the only local member for Serbian and Montenegrin jurisdictions, taking a step forward in our global aspirations and business standards. Since then, we have collaborated on a variety of exciting projects, such as […]

Details
28 Sep 2020

Digital Nomads: It Is Time to Hit the Road!

Traveling the world, being part of the global digital community, earning a living in far-flung destinations…  Almost everybody has at least once fantasized about living the life of a digital nomad.  However, is it as simple as it seems at first glance? Catching Up with a Term… Digital nomads are location-independent workers that avail of amazing technological innovations and modern culture to work remotely.  As technology has dramatically reshaped the work environment, swapping the office for some distant destination is becoming a reality for many.  Key to this digital nomad lifestyle is the ability and the flexibility to work remotely. […]

Details
22 Sep 2020

DFC, US premier development finance institution to set up its first permanent outside of US office in Belgrade

The amazing results of the US-brokered economic normalization talks between Belgrade and Priština in Washington DC on September 4 made major political (and legal) waves, but one specific point made the Balkans and broader European business community hopeful, even in these dire and uncertain pandemic times. The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) “is opening its first and only office outside of the United States in Belgrade”, according to Damon Wilson, the Executive Vice President of the Atlantic Council. As announced in a tweet by Adam Boehler, DFC’s CEO, his team is set to arrive in Serbia on September 21 […]

Details
10 Sep 2020

Apple Pay set to become king of the hill in Serbia (also)?

Everyday life in the 21st century is awash with change, change mostly dictated by modern technologies and their constant evolution. Mobile payment apps are the latest (and most innovative) addition to the stable of convenience services, allowing users to pay quickly and securely.  The COVID-19 pandemic has pressed home the advantages of paying through mobile phone apps, considering that this method of payment minimizes physical contact between merchants and customers, Apple Pay, a mobile payment application, was launched in Serbia at the end of June 2020. We spoke with Nikola Mehandžić, Business Development Director for the Western Balkans at MasterCard, […]

Details