Natural gas as a ‘transition fuel’ for Europe on its path towards a zero-carbon economy was supposed to help gradually reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, this environmentally-sound objective now needs a second look, particularly when gas market developments may affect the viability of new gas-fired generation projects, and when permanent impediments to gas availability may even prevent their uninterrupted and efficient operation.

Today, perhaps more than ever before, commercial use of Software is of great value and many Software developers design and develop Software for licensing or sale to end users, or those serving a commercial purpose in an ever-growing market.

With the “Act Amending Banking Law, Some Other Laws and the Decree no. 655” [“Amending Act”], Banking Law no. 6411 [“Banking Law”] and Act no. 6758 on the Approval of a Decree with Amendments [“Act no. 6758”] was amended with respect to the articles regarding the authorities and responsibilities of the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund – the so-called “TMSF” [“SDIF”].

On July 15, 2022, in the Romanian Official Gazette No. 716, Ordinance No. 16/2022 for the amendment of Law No. 227/2015 regarding the Tax Code, abolishment of certain normative acts and other fiscal-financial measures (“Ordinance 16/2022”) was published, through which multiple amendments were brought to the fiscal framework.

On June 3, 2022, the Turkish Competition Board (“Board”) published its reasoned decision dated September 9, 2021 and numbered 21-42/611-298, rejecting Solgar Vitamin ve Saglik Urunleri Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S.’s (“Solgar”) exemption application for its dealership agreements (“Board’s Decision”).

Due to the armed conflict and humanitarian disaster in Ukraine and in order to avert the consequences of such conflict in Hungary, the Government has adopted a decree that entered into force on 29 June 2022, on the basis of which, in order to safeguard the public interest of continuity and security of supply, the Government may place under the supervision of the Hungarian State the operators with significant or dominant market power in the energy industry, in particular in electricity, natural gas, petroleum, district heating and mining industry, including e.g. FGSZ Foldgazszallito Zrt. and the Hungarian Hydrocarbon Stockholders Association.

Government Ordinance no. 16/2022, published in Official Gazette no. 716/15.07.2022 on 15 July 2022, entails important amendments to the Romanian Fiscal Code.

EU businesses are free to cross borders and relocate their headquarters to another Member State. The amended EU directive and the corresponding new Hungarian rules aim to help companies doing so. In order to make it easier for companies to establish themselves in another Member State and to make cross-border operations more attractive, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, the European Union decided back in 2019 to amend the EU directive on cross-border mergers, divisions and mergers.

Earlier this year the European Banking Authority (EBA) published the final Guidelines on the limited network exemption (LNE) under the Payment Service Directive 2 (PSD2). Following the consultation phase initiated by the draft, further clarifications were added which are relevant to all service providers who plan to rely on the exclusion as well as those who already do.

March 2022 was a breakthrough month for the virtual assets market in Ukraine. With the help of Ukraine‑based Everstake and Kuna, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine set up a fund to accept donations in crypto assets to primarily support Ukraine’s military needs. According to the Ministry, Ukraine’s government has raised over USD60 million in crypto donations to date. Also, Unchain Ukraine, a project of Ukrainian blockchain activists, launched a card that has been marketed as ‘the first charitable cryptocurrency card’ powered by Weld Money and Unex Bank. The crypto assets raised are exchanged into UAH and made available to women and children in need using Unchain Help Card, a virtual card issued by Unex Bank.

The amendments to the execution government decree of the Land Registry Act entered into force on 1 May 2022, which introduced a new definition of parking space. A parking space is an area serving for the placement of a motor vehicle created in the motor vehicle storage room of a building, one side of which is connected to the access road to the parking spaces and the other three sides of which are delimited by a permanent physical marking or wall on the floor of the room. The definition also specifies the size of the parking space. This is important, since as a result, a parking space in a car storage room of a condominium may be registered as an independent property in the land registry. This only requires a proof of existence of a car storage room in the building.

The Law Amending the Law on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce [“Amending Law”] was adopted on July 1, 2022 by the General Assembly of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and subsequently published on the Official Gazette on 07 July 2022 as Law no. 7416. The Law no. 6563 on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce [the "Law"] published on the Official Gazette no. 29166 dated November 5, 2014 has undergone many changes with the Amending Law. Accordingly, new obligations and restrictions have been introduced onto intermediary service providers, including obtaining and renewal of an e-commerce license, restrictions on advertisement and promotions, and a ban on the sale of platform-owned brands; and new definitions have been to the Law.

At the end of 2021, a public debate was held in the National Assembly on the Draft Law on Work Practice. The Draft itself is a reaction to relatively unfavourable basic labour market indicators, which predict that young people in Serbia lag behind their peers in the EU by 10%.

The Turkish Competition Board (“Board”) published its latest reasoned decision concerning the acquisition of joint control over the industrial sewing machine business (“Target Business”) of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (“Melco”) by Juki Corporation (“Juki”) and Melco. The Board evaluated that the transaction concerning the acquisition of joint control by Juki over the Target Business, which was under the sole control of Melco pre-transaction, is an “acquisition” within the meaning of Article 7 of Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (“Law No. 4054”) and granted its unconditional approval.

On 27 May 2022, Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine and Other Laws of Ukraine Regarding the Peculiarities of Tax Administration of Taxes, Fees and Unified Social Contribution During Martial Law and the State of Emergency” No. 2260-IX, dated 12 May 2022 (the “Law”), entered into force. The Law introduced several changes to the taxpayers’ rights and obligations during martial law.

These past years have been challenging for companies, authorities and data subjects, who had to keep pace with the evolving regulatory requirements. On this occasion, we take a look at some of the most important decisions rendered by the Court of Justice of the European Union to date and analyze their practical implications. We also look to the future and examine several upcoming judgements which are expected to have a major impact in the field. So here are our top picks.

It is truly remarkable that in the year 1874, Jules Verne imagined that “water will one day be employed as fuel, that hydrogen and oxygen which constitute it, used singly or together, will furnish an inexhaustible source of heat and light, of an intensity of which coal is not capable”. After 148 years, Jules Verne’s dream is slowly becoming reality as it is actively acknowledged by global companies, governments and world leaders.

In Hungary the Government recently issued a decree introducing extra profit taxes affecting several sectors, among others the aviation sector. Pursuant to the Governmental decree, as of 1 July 2022 an extra profittax is payable by ground handling companies based on the number of passengers departing from Hungary, with the exception of transit passengers. The new special tax is HUF 3,900 (approx. EUR 10) or HUF 9,750 (approx. EUR 25) per passenger depending on the passenger's final destination.