This article has been drafted to follow-up to the 2016 Comparative Report on Minor Disputes, which was drafted by the World Bank in cooperation with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The latest amendments to the Civil Procedure Code of Albania (CPC) which will enter into force in November 2017 are designed to increase the efficiency and performance of the country’s judicial system.

MOTTO: No judge writes on a wholly clean slate.

Long and costly court procedures resulting in enforceable verdicts remain the norm in Dispute Resolution in Montenegro.

The digital era brought us new ways of distribution of media content, one of them being the performance of services of online media platforms. Since this is a relatively new kind of business activity, it is necessary to analyze the way it fits within the provisions of Serbian legal system. The major question in this respect pertains to potential copyright and related rights infringement.

The burden of costs in litigation has always been of great importance to people and companies deciding whether to bring a civil action. 

Russia is undergoing a rapidly-developing process of judicial reform aimed at unifying the different procedural rules of the two systems of Russian courts: those with so-called “common” jurisdiction and the “arbitration” courts.

Prior to initiating a civil court procedure, parties may try to solve a dispute through out of court negotiations. When these out of court negotiations are not successful or when the relevant statute of limitations is about to expire, in order to protect their rights, the parties can initiate a procedure in the competent court.

“Parallel proceedings” are disputes between the same and/or related parties in the same or related disputes in different forums. Parallel proceedings usually arise when court and arbitration proceedings are commenced simultaneously to resolve the same case or a case that will in some way affect the other. Disputes arising out of shareholders’ agreements and articles of association, in particular, come under the spotlight in Turkey in the context of parallel proceedings.

Preserving confidentiality is always a top priority for a successful business, especially if you have an advanced R&D department. Taking into account the need to freely transfer information on the one hand and the strict necessity to preserve the safety of personal data and databases on the other, the issue of confidentiality becomes even more important.

Leasing of employees – a situation in which employment agencies hire employees and act as their formal employers and then lease them to perform actual work for their client companies – has become a frequent phenomenon in Serbia the past few years. 

In the present economical context, which often favors the migration of the employees from one company to another, the only tool left for employers seeking to prevent em-ployees from working for competitors after leaving their companies is to include non-competition clauses in employment contracts.

Employment relationships require special protection both at European and national levels. Although largely enshrined in European legislation, those protections remain subject to modifications to ensure efficiency and security of the employment process. 

The National Assembly of Slovenia has adopted the new Transnational Provision of Services Act regarding the posting of workers (the “Act”). The Act, which is scheduled to come into force on January 1, 2018, implements European Enforcement Directive 2014/67/EU and imposes new conditions for employers posting workers to and from Slovenia.

An extensive amendment to the Labor Code currently under discussion in the Czech Parliament is scheduled to become effective on July 1, 2017, although the effective date might be postponed due to certain delays in the legislative process. 

The Turkish Law on Human Rights and Equality Institution of Turkey (the “Law”) entered into force on April 20, 2016, replacing its predecessor (the Law on Turkish Human Rights Institution).

In pursuit of solutions to the problem of unemployment and the flexibility of the labor market, Lithuania has endorsed a new Labor Code, which will come into force on July 1, 2017. The main objectives of the new legislation are to adapt the country’s laws to reflect progress in the market and to allow more liberal labor relations between employers and employees. The changes are intended to facilitate job creation, reduce the unemployment rate, ensure clarity in labor relations, and make the Lithuanian market more attractive to investors. 

On January 1, 2017, a number of new provisions in Polish labor law came into force introducing some sig-nificant changes for employers and employees and, to a certain degree, for persons hired on the basis of contracts for work and service contracts.