New tool or burden?

Against the background of energy transition and of the states’ need to ensure their energy security in the current geopolitical context, offshore renewable energy technologies have gained increased attention. Today, they have been included in renewable energy policies both in the European Union ("EU") and in the EU Member States, whether we are talking about wave energy, tidal energy, energy produced by floating photovoltaic panels, floating wind turbines and wind turbines attached to the seabed.

Recently, non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”) have become the subject of significant public attention, primarily due to the high amounts of money allocated for their purchase. For example, it is estimated that the worth of the global NFT market in 2021 was about 41 billion dollars, which is more than the value of the market of classical works of art. For the sake of comparison, that is approximately twice the amount of the budget of the Republic of Serbia for 2022. Bearing in mind the nature and manner of functioning of NFTs, the nature of things raises the question of their relationship with intellectual property law, and above all, the relationship with trademark law​.

The Competition Board (the “Board”), the competent decision-making organ of the Turkish Competition Authority, no longer has the quorum required to render final/executable decisions as the tenure of three (3) members came to an end as of the beginning of August 2022. Final decisions, including merger clearance decisions, closure of pre-investigation and investigation procedures, are currently pending while the Board is awaiting official assignment of new board members to re-establish final/executable decision quorum.

We are four months into the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and still a long way from a conclusion awaited by so many people. Beyond the reasons of this conflict and potential outcome lies the dramatic change in the lives of the Ukrainian population. Daily updates in the proportion of displaced Ukrainians paint a vivid picture of the unfolding drama that affects not only Ukraine, but Europe and much parts of the world.

Indicating a patent number on the product or, when in the course of issuing such, the “patent pending” indication applied on either the packaging or the product itself, is typically understood in IP terms as “patent marking”. Patent marking is not mandatory in Romania and, in consequence, there is no standard format for the patent marking to be applied on the patented products.

This article provides an up-to-date overview of the currently existing FDI regimes in Croatia.

As the main trends of the transaction market in the first half of 2022, the boom of startups and the changes in their valuations, the undiminished confidence of foreign investors despite the geopolitical situation, and the ongoing consolidation of the health care and renewable energy sectors can be singled out.

The first half of 2022 has not (yet) yielded such high profile deals as seen in 2021 (like Printful becoming the first Latvian “unicorn”) but there has been a steady trickle of transactions following the larger wave of 2021.

The Laws of Ukraine "On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine Regarding Priority Reform Measures in the Field of Town-Planning” No. 2254-IX, dated 12 May 2022 (“Law 2254”) and "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding Regulatory Peculiarities of Land Relations under Martial Law” No. 2247-IX, dated 12 May 2022 (“Law 2247”, hereinafter together with Law 2254 – “Laws”) came into force more than a month ago.

Functioning in an information society generates a number of challenges that both economic operators and private citizens must face. The foundation of a healthy system relies on the ability to sift true information from false, which today is becoming increasingly difficult in an increasingly complex and technological world.

The Law on whistleblowers’ protection was approved on 29 June 2022 by the Chamber of Deputies. 

New Covid regulations are in effect from 1 August 2022, raising many questions for employers. The biggest changes are that quarantine for SARS-COV-2 infected persons is no longer mandatory according to Austrian law and the reinstatement of the risk group exemption ("Risikogruppenfreistellung").

Bosnia and Herzegovina does not have a foreign investment screening regime comparable to those now emerging in the European Union in light of the EU FDI Screening Regulation. However, it operates an authorisation system covering the defence and media sectors.

On 13 October 2022, the Act amending the Commercial Companies Code and certain other acts (“Act”) will come into force. Companies, especially those operating under a management agreement between a parent company and a subsidiary, will have to reorganise their structures to some extent in order to comply with the new regulations.

Grid connection in Romania is mainly regulated by ANRE Order no. 59/2013 approving the public grid connection regulation (the “Connection Regulation”), which has already been amended twice in 2022 (under ANRE Orders no. 17/2022 and 81/2022) and will soon be amended for a third time. Hence, the legal regime governing grid connection is quite a carousel of changes and reshapes.

The resilience of the transactions market and the trust of investors in the Baltic region has proved remarkable, although figures show a 15% decrease in global mid-market M&A deals (according to the Refinitiv published M&A Review of the first half of 2022). Despite the Ukraine war and mounting global challenges the deal flow, although at a much calmer pace, continues and remains promising for the second half of the year. Looking back on the first six months, COBALT experts highlight the main trends in each of the Baltic countries.

Romanian DPA case studies – our top 5 picks.