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.

In a Sale & Leaseback transaction, a property used for business purposes is sold and simultaneously made available for use by the seller under a lease or rental agreement.

With the Banking Regulatory and Supervisory Authority’s [“BRSA”] decision numbered 10250 and dated June 24, 2022 [“Decision”], Turkish Lira borrowing by companies, other than banks and financial institutions, which are subject to independent audit [“Companies”] has become subject to a foreign currency asset [“FX-Assets”] restriction.

More than two years after the expiry of the deadline for the transposition of Directive (EU) 2018/1972 establishing the European Electronic Communications Code ("Electronic Communications Code"), Romania has adopted for this purpose the Law no. 198/2022 amending certain regulatory acts in the electronic communications sector and for the establishment of measures meant to facilitate the development of electronic communications networks ("Transposition Law").

Ever since the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (the "Directive") was adopted back in April 2019, its contents, especially regarding the liability of certain service providers, have sparked many controversies. According to the explanations provided by the European Council, the Directive's main goal was to protect press publication and reduce the "value gap" between the profits made by two main "entities": internet platforms and content creators. The Directive aimed to enhance collaboration between these two groups and to create copyright exceptions for text- and data-mining. However, Article 17 of the Directive proved difficult to accept within the internet sharing platform environment, as it replaces the "mere conduit" exemption from copyright infringement of online content sharing of the platform with a conditional exemption. Article 17 prohibits internet platforms from sharing and displaying unlicensed copyrighted contents on behalf of users.

The Turkish Competition Authority (“Authority”) published its Final Report on the E-Marketplace Sector Inquiry (“Final Report”) on April 14, 2022, after a period of almost a year after publishing its Preliminary Report on the E-Marketplace Sector Inquiry (“Preliminary Report”) on May 7, 2021.

The term "whistleblowing" means a procedure for reporting unlawful, harmful for public interest, potentially damaging or simply morally questionable behaviour at work, which helps to identify inappropriate behaviour or situations in organisations where normal channels of communication would not work or would be difficult to use, mainly because of the fear from sanctions. Reportable wrongdoing can take many forms: corruption, fraud, professional misconduct or negligence.

Regulation on Amendments to the Regulation on Establishing the List of Technical Devices and Objects subject to Mandatory Payment of Special Fee to Holders of Copyright and Related rights was published in the Official Gazette of RS no. 49/2022 from 21 April 2022, and it entered into force on 29 April 2022. The respective piece of regulation has extended the list of technological devices for reproduction of audio and visual contents from the domain of copyright and related rights, i.e., for which, upon their purchase, a certain fee shall be paid (“the Regulation”).

On 29 June 2022, the Council and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on the text regarding the European Commission's proposal for a recast of Regulation (EU) 2015/847 (also referred to as the Transfer of Funds Regulation ("TFR")).

The Government of the Republic of Serbia enacted the Decree on Establishing the Investment Program “Recovery and Development” (the “Program”) to establish a new credit line for the allocation of favourable credit funds to entities for the implementation of new investments, which will accelerate the recovery and growth of economic activity in the Republic of Serbia in difficult economic conditions caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Under the CIT Act, taxpayers are normally required to file the TPR form and a statement on the preparation of the local file for 2021, by the end of the ninth month after the end of the financial year.

The board of the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (“the Board”) has announced macro-prudential measures over the course of this weekend, consisting of (i) the Board Decision regarding prohibition of commercial Turkish Lira loans to corporate borrowers subject to independent audit dated June 24, 2022 (“Board Decision”) and (ii) press release determining the scope and implementation of the Board Decision dated June 26, 2022 (“Press Release”). Accordingly, until a new decision to the contrary is introduced by the Board or the Central Bank, corporate borrowers being subject to independent audit and holding foreign currencies above certain thresholds will no longer be allowed to borrow commercial cash loans in Turkish Lira.