Client Alerts: Wolf Theiss - One of the Leading Law Firms in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe (CEE/SEE)

18.04.2019 Austria: encouragement of long-term shareholder engagement

Directive (EU) 2017/828 as regards the encouragement of long-term shareholder engagement (the "Directive") to be implemented in Austria until 10 June 2019 aims to create a more attractive environment for shareholders and to improve corporate governance for companies the shares of which are admitted to trading within a Member State.

05.04.2019 Poland adjusted over 150 Polish Sectoral Acts to GDPR

On 3 April 2019, the President of Poland signed the Act of 21 February 2019 on amending certain acts in connection with ensuring the application of the GDPR (the "Act"). The Act amends over 150 sectoral acts, including the Tax Ordinance, the Public Procurement Law, the Investment Funds Act, the Payment Services Act and the Telecommunications Law. However, some of the most noticeable changes were introduced to the Labour Code and to the Banking Law.

03.04.2019 Poland has imposed the first Fine for Infringement of GDPR

On 15 March 2019, the Polish supervisory authority issued the first decision imposing an administrative fine in the amount of PLN 943,000 (approx. EUR 220,000) for the infringement of the information obligation stipulated in Article 14 of the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) (the "GDPR").

01.04.2019 EU Parliament approves controversial EU Copyright Law Directive

On 26 March 2019, after three years of negotiation, the EU Parliament voted in favor of the full implementation of the draft Directive on the harmonization of copyright in the "Digital Single Market" (Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market (COM(2016)0593 - C8-0383/2016 - 2016/0280(COD)). The aim of the Directive, which despite considerable concerns and Europe-wide protests was ultimately accepted by a narrow majority, is to ensure fairer remuneration to authors for the use of their works on the Internet, particularly on major platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Google-News.

29.03.2019 Poland regulates the legal situation of certain financial market participants after a hard Brexit

The President of Poland signed the Act on the rules of conduct of business of certain financial market entities in relation to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the "UK") from the European Union without agreement referred to in Article 50 section 2 of the Treaty on European Union (the "Act").

28.03.2019 GDPR: The Czech Republic has finally adopted National Legislation

On 12 March 2019, the Czech Republic approved a legislation incorporating the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation ’GDPR’ (Regulation (EU) 2016/679). The Chamber of Deputies approved the final version of the Data Processing Act repealing the previous Act No. 101/2000 Coll. (Personal Data Protection) that was partly inapplicable from the day the GDPR came into force (25 May 2018). Along with the Data Processing Act, minor changes to dozens of statutes concerning personal data processing were also passed.

12.03.2019 Poland: New Rules for the Filing of Financial Statements for 2018

The Act amending the Polish Accounting Act and the National Court Register Act ("Act") has introduced changes that significantly affect the obligations of entrepreneurs, particularly with regard to the filing of financial statements. In this edition of Wolf Theiss' newsletter, we highlight the most important of these changes and provide you with a practical guide for implementing the new rules in your company.

06.03.2019 CJEU rules against Croatian Legislation on Retroactive Nullity of Loan Agreements

The Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU"), with its recent judgement, has set the course for the Croatian legislator attempting to intervene into existing contractual relationships. On 14 February 2019, the CJEU delivered a judgment concluding that a national law of an EU Member State cannot retroactively invalidate loan agreements that were deemed valid at the moment of execution. This is a rather expected outcome of recent controversial legislative intervention by the Croatian Parliament.