На 21 май 2015 г. Народното събрание на Република България прие на първо четене Законопроект за изменение и допълнение на Закона за защита на потребителите ("Законопроектът"). Със Законопроекта се транспонира Директива 2013/11/ЕС1 ("Директивата") и се улеснява приложението на Регламент (ЕС) № 524/20132 ("Регламентът")....

2015 brought significant changes in the field of corporate law. The two most important laws for the operation of businesses, the Act on the National Commercial Register and the Commercial Companies Code, received long-awaited amendments in December 2014 and January 2015. Additionally, two rulings important for entrepreneurs have been delivered: the Supreme Court ruling on a joint irregular proxy, and the European Court of Justice ruling on imposing a tax on civil-law transactions of partnerships limited by shares. The first has fuelled discussions over the widespread use of this form of a company`s representation and the latter enables partnerships limited by shares to reclaim overpaid tax on civil law transactions....

On 21 May 2015 the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria adopted at first reading an Act amending and supplementing the Consumers Protection Act (the "Act"). The Act implements primarily the provisions of Directive 2013/11/EU (the "Directive") and facilitates the application of Regulation (EU) No 524/2013 (the "Regulation")....

На 20 Май 2015 г. Европейският парламент прие на второ четене четвъртата директива за преодоляване заплахата от изпиране на пари, а именно Директива на Европейския парламент и на Съвета за предотвратяване използването на финансовата система за целите на изпирането на пари и финансирането на тероризъм (`Директивата`). Очаква се Директивата да бъде публикувана в Официалния вестник до края на юли 2015 г. и да влезе в сила двадесет (20) дни след публикуването й....

On 18 June 2015, the President of Romania promulgated an insolvency law for individuals, which was previously approved by the legal commission of the Chamber of Deputies on 20 May 2015 (the "Law"). The Law outlines a legal framework aimed at protecting consumers as good faith borrowers, who have partially repaid outstanding amounts owed under a loan, against uncontrolled growth of loan instalments. While the insolvency of a company is meant to free-up the market from bankrupt companies and provide a rescue mechanism for those companies that can survive, insolvency for individuals offers the possibility for individuals to be released from their debts, provided that they comply with certain mandatory requirements set forth in the Law....

On 20 May 2015 the European Parliament adopted on second reading the fourth directive addressing the threat of money laundering, i.e. the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering and terrorist financing (the `AML Directive`) which is expected to be published in the Official Journal by the end of July 2015 and will enter into force twenty (20) days after publication....

After lengthy debate, on 10 June 2015, law no. 133 amending the Romanian Forestry Code was published in the Official Gazette ("Law no. 133"). Certain of the principal amendments introduced by Law no. 133 are analyzed below....

Ukrainian law concerning the requirement to disclose beneficial owners of Ukrainian companies has been amended. The general requirement to disclose beneficial (controlling) owners of companies was introduced in Autumn 2014 with effect from 25 November .2014. In this regard, the law defined the beneficial (controlling) owners of a company as a person (persons) exercising (directly or indirectly) decisive influence on the management or business activity of the company, irrespective of possessing a formal right thereto, including through direct or indirect holding (personally or jointly with related legal entities / individuals) 25% of shareholding or voting rights in such company...

Recent amendments of the Public Offering of Securities Act (`POSA`) introduced a new regime for ownership of agricultural land by Bulgarian REITs with non-EU/EEA shareholders - such REITs are now allowed to own agricultural land in Bulgaria....

2015 brought significant changes in the field of corporate law. The two most important laws for the operation of businesses, the Act on the National Commercial Register and the Commercial Companies Code, received long-awaited amendments in December 2014 and January 2015. Additionally, two rulings important for entrepreneurs have been delivered: the Supreme Court ruling on a joint irregular proxy, and the European Court of Justice ruling on imposing a tax on civil-law transactions of partnerships limited by shares. The first has fuelled discussions over the widespread use of this form of a company`s representation and the latter enables partnerships limited by shares to reclaim overpaid tax on civil law transactions....

On 5 April 2015 the Law of Ukraine "On the Introduction of Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on the Simplification of Conditions for the Conduct of Business (Deregulation)" No. 191 dated 12 February 2015 came into force. The Law improves regulation of the status of agricultural land, administrative procedures, seizure of electronic media in the course of criminal proceedings, etc....

The legal regulation of franchising caught close attention of Ukrainian state authorities during the past twelve months. The developments introduced into the legal framework have been of positive nature, which should be helpful for parties to franchising ar-rangements. We are happy to let you know that Olena Vardamatska, Associate of the Wolf Theiss Kyiv office, was involved in working on these legislative changes....