At a recently held conference in Singapore the Director of the Cartels Directorate of DG Competition of the European Commission (the “Commission”) addressed the issue of investigative powers of the Commission and collection of evidence during dawn raids. In particular, they emphasized that the Commission has to “keep up with the technology” in order to effectively combat illegal price fixing and market sharing. According to him, that could be achieved by finding ways to collect data from online social networks so to determine whether individuals are involved in infringement of competition rules. In that respect, it was emphasized that the […]
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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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The market for the distribution of airline tickets has recently come under the examination of the European Commission (the “Commission”). Upon receiving the formal complaint from the European Technology and Travel Services Association (the “ETTSA”)1, the Commission has sent questionnaires to carriers, travel agents, online reservation sites and global distribution systems asking for the information on exact contract terms and conditions between airlines, travel agents and computerized reservations systems. The main issue that should be determined is whether airlines are impacting customers to book tickets on their own websites rather than using travel agencies and other available computer reservation systems […]
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As announced by one of our previous publications, the new rules on personal data protection were adopted at the European Union (“EU”) level on April 14, 2016. Referred to as “the culmination of over four years of hard work” in the joint statement of the European Commission (“Commission”) First Vice-President, Vice-President in charge of the Digital Single Market and Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, the new policy aims to extend the citizens’ right to personal data protection, enhance legal certainty for businesses by unifying the regulation within the EU and allow for improved cooperation of Member States’ criminal […]
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Gecić | Law is pleased to partner with Mona Hotel Management in support of the Harvard Club of Serbia’s scholarship initiative. The 2016 scholarship of Harvard Club of Serbia in the field of social sciences and humanities “Čedomilj Mijatović”, named after one of the most prolific Serbian intellectuals in the fields of economics, diplomacy, linguistics, history and theology, was awarded to Jelena Todić, a student of the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Law, while the scholarship in the field of natural sciences “Draga Ljočić“, named after the first Serbian female doctor, a great philanthropist and feminist, was awarded to Mihajlo Novaković, […]
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To create a more favorable business environment for domestic and foreign companies wishing to invest in Serbia, and to enhance the national economy, a new Decree on the Conditions and the Manner of Attracting Investments1 (Decree), announced by the Act on Investments2, has been enacted on 11 March 2016. Relying on the Serbia Investment and Export Promotion Agency’s (SIEPA) 2015 Decree on the Conditions and Manner of Attracting Direct Investments3 (SIEPA Decree), the new Decree provides for incentives in the form of grants or, under certain conditions, exemption from customs duties, both for the investments in new production facilities (greenfield […]
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The European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (the Convention) is a legal document established within the Council of Europe. It is signed and ratified by all 47 member states of the Council of Europe, including Serbia which ratified the Convention in 2003. The significance of the Convention is that it not only outlines the list of rights states are obliged to respect and provide for, but it also introduces the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) whose role is to safeguard the rights guaranteed under the Convention. In other words, individuals and legal entities […]
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On 29 February 2016, the Serbian Parliament adopted the new Act on General Administrative Procedure (the Act), which came into effect on 9 March 2016 and will be enforced as of 1 June 2017, save for certain provisions which will come into effect on 7 June 2016. This is a completely new piece of legislation which will bring significant changes in the field of domestic administrative law. Therefore, a short summary of the most significant provisions of the Act is provided hereafter. The scope of the Act has been significantly extended so as to govern the actions of authorities as […]
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The French Court of Cassation, the highest court in French judiciary, referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union (the “ECJ”) for the preliminary ruling certain questions related to interpretation on the intersection between farm policy in France under the Common Agricultural Policy (the “CAP”) and the EU antitrust legislation. The referral stems from the 2012 case in which the French Competition Authority fined 10 growers of endives and seven associations in France with more than 4 million euros for price fixing, managing volumes of endives put on sale and exchange of information. Namely, according to the Article […]
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On February 25, 2016, in the joined cases Promoimpresa srl v Consorzio dei Comuni della Sponda Bresciana del Lago di Garda e del Lago di Idro, Regione Lombardia, and Mario Melis, Tavolara Beach Sas, and Dionigi Piredda, Claudio Del Giudice v Comune di Loiri Porto San Paolo, Provincia di Olbia Tempio (hereinafter: Promoimpresa and others), Mr. Maciej Szpunar, an Advocate General at the EU Court of Justice of the European Union (the “ECJ”) since 2013, produced a nonbinding opinion for the ECJ stating that the European Union (the “EU”) law precludes national legislation under which the period of validity of […]
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