A year ago, we wrote that the use of corporate stamps during payment services was abolished. Now, this process has come to an end. Although the Corporate Act of Serbia from 2012 explicitly states that companies are not obliged to use their corporate stamps when conducting their day-to-day business operations, the practical application of this rule had not yet been enforced. Difficulties occurred primarily in dealing with the banking sector, as commercial banks continued to demand from their clients the use of corporate stamps in order to verify payment orders and other relevant documents. Such practice terminated exactly one year ago, on […]
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Recently the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications („Ministry“) declared a decision („Decision “) which forbids requiring within the agreements of telecommunication services the clauses under which the customers have to pay the Operator ( “Operator”) all compensations until the end of the validity of the agreement. This obligation took place even when the consumer or the Operator terminated the agreement, if the reasons that caused termination can be attributed to the customer. The Decision According to their media release, in this way the Ministry declared that it “stopped further unjust treatment” of the customers by the Operators, and inappropriate […]
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If you open the eighth edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Law and turn to page 461, poaching is defined as “taking game without permission from private land or from land on which the killing of game is restricted. Wild animals cannot usually be stolen […]”. Although the current degree of development of human rights and basic human decency forbid referring to employees as “wild animals” (at least publicly), and killing is certainly considered a criminal offence, in the corporate world of today to poach someone means to hire an employee from another, often competing, undertaking. Agreements among companies not […]
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The year 2018 is witnessing a period of constant developments and dynamics in the area of competition law in Serbia. The latest news concerns a constitutional challenge against Article 45(4) of the Competition Act of Serbia (“Competition Act”), submitted by the Commissioner for information of public importance and personal data protection (“Commissioner”). Said provision exempts information gathered for the purpose of conducting competition proceedings, which are considered as ‘protected information’ to be disclosed to the public under the Free Access to Information of Public Importance Act (“Free Access Act”). In Commissioner’s view this provision seems to be in discord with […]
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The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia has adopted amendments and modifications to the Foreign Exchange Operations Act,[1] (“Act”) which entered into force, for the most part, on 28 April 2018.[2] These amendments, amongst other things, intend to ease business dealings for domestic IT companies, reduce restrictions pertaining to credit dealings with foreign countries (which is particularly important to multinational companies), expand possibilities for investing in foreign securities and amplify the supervising role of the National Bank of Serbia (“NBS”). This article aims to clarify some of the said amendments and their effect on the business dealings although we […]
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On 30 May 2018, the European Commission (“Commission”) announced that the European Parliament and the Council have reached an agreement concerning a proposed new Directive, in order to further build on the Regulation 1/2003 and enable the competition authorities (“NCAs”) of EU Member States to enforce EU antitrust rules more effectively. The new Directive, proposed as the “Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council to Empower the Competition Authorities of the Member States to be more Effective Enforcers and to ensure the Proper Functioning of the Internal Market” (“Proposed Directive”), came out as a consensus following numerous consultations […]
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In the second decade of the 21st century, the Internet network (the “Net”) became easily accessible to almost everyone, as well as the most important source of information. This is because, in addition to the availability of reviews and information collection, the Net has become easily accessible to create and upload different information and content by anyone. As a result, the Net has become the most widely used source of information, through which information from the different spheres could be found in the simplest and the fastest way. However, other than information, certain articles, images, photos, audio, audio-visual recordings and […]
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Gecić Law has successfully advised the Republic of Serbia and EPS, one of the largest energy companies in the region, in a probe led by Energy Community Secretariat regarding alleged State support for the multi-million-euro Kolubara B project. On Monday, June 25, 2018, the Energy Community Secretariat announced the parties reached an amicable solution bringing the two-year long case to an end. The Kolubara B power plant project will enable EPS to add 700 MW of electricity annually, constituting the most important investment in the Serbian energy infrastructure in the last four decades. The ruling not only confirmed our team’s […]
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Gecić Law was honored to represent the regional legal services industry at the Business Forum within the 7th Meeting of Heads of Government of the Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) and China which took place on 7 July 2018 in Sofia, Bulgaria. The Business Forum and the Meeting were held at the monumental National Palace of Culture with H.E. Mr. Lee Keqiang, the Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China and H.E. Mr. Boyko Borissov, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria, delivering the keynote address. The meeting focused on strengthening cooperation with China and […]
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General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is currently a global hot topic – and for a good reason. It practically revamps the legal framework concerning Data Protection rules, introduces a whole set of new obligations while imposing massive fines for non-compliance. While the GDPR came into the force recently, it is no surprise that many are worried how it will affect their organizations as the legislation, under certain conditions, is to be applied worldwide —both inside and outside of the EU. Given that compliance with the GDPR will be no mean feat, requiring vast amount of time and resources, no matter how […]
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