Significant changes to the tax regulations in the Republic of Srpska (“RS”) are expected in the coming months. On March 6, the National Assembly of RS passed amendments to the Law on Fiscal Cash Registries. In addition, Parliament approved the Government’s proposals on amendments to several important tax laws, including corporate income tax, personal income tax, social security contributions and property tax ...
The Parliament of the Republic of Serbia has adopted a Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers (the “Law”). The Law, which was adopted on 25 November 2014, will become applicable on June 5, 2015. This is the first time that Serbia has a law which should systematically and comprehensively provide effective protection to individuals who report suspicions of corruption ...
On 8 December 2014, the Serbian Parliament passed the law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on Planning and Construction (“the Law”). Here are some of the most important novelties: Conversion - The concept of conversion continues to exist under the term “transformation of right of use into the right of ownership of construction land” ...
Bosnia & Herzegovina enacted a new Law on Public Procurement on 28 November 2014. This new legislation aims to improve current public procurement rules through key changes which will increase the level of transparency in Bosnian procurement and through more precise definitions for groups of suppliers, among other changes ...
The Parliament of the Republic of Serbia adopted the Law on Employment of Foreigners (the “Law”) on 25 November 2014. The Law will come into force on the eighth day following its publication in the “Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”, i.e. on 4 December 2014The Law regulates the employment of foreigners in the Republic of Serbia in a different manner than compared with the currently applicable Law on the Conditions for Employment of Foreign Citizens ...
According to the recent amendments of the Labour Law (“Official Gazette of RS” no. 75/2014) (the “Law”) payslips are now an enforceable document. The Law has authorised the relevant Minister to further prescribe content to be contained on a payslip, by adopting the Rulebook on Payslip content (“Official Gazette of RS” no. 90/2014) ...
On 17 May 2011 the National Assembly adopted the Law on Notary Public (“the Law”), which came into effect on 1 September 2014. The new Law introduces the Notary Public into the Serbian legal system, which should help to relieve the judiciary, improve its efficiency, and improve legal security. A Notary Public is an independent and autonomous legal expert, who performs a service of public trust ...
On 5 August 2014, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia enacted the Law on amendments and additions to the Insolvency Law (“New Law”). The New Law came into force on 13 August 2014. It has been specified that insolvency proceedings that have not been completed on the day the New Law comes into force will be completed in accordance with the previous rules ...
On 5 August 2014, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia enacted a new Privatisation Law (“New Law”), which came into force on 13 August 2014. The New Law prescribes for the privatisation process to be completed before 31 December 2015. The four models of privatisation that have been prescribed include sale of capital, sale of assets, transfer of capital without compensation and strategic partnership. It also allows for the possibility to combine these models ...
The Parliament of the Republic of Serbia adopted Amendments to the Labour Law (the “Law”) on 18 July 2014. These amendments are long awaited and have been avidly discussed for some time due to divided public opinion. The Law will come into force 8 days after it is published in the “Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”. Main novelties introduced by the Law are: Definite term employment The maximum duration of definite term employment has been extended to 24 months ...
As of 23 May 2014, the usage fee for the radio frequency spectrum was increased for Croatian operators. As a result of this increase, three of Croatia's largest operators have announced an increase in the price of their mobile network services, as well as the introduction of additional fees for recipients of public communication services. The announced price increase will range from between 10 and 15% ...
Montenegro In the light of recent developments in trademark protection practices and the intensification of EU legislative harmonisation, amendments to the Law on Trademarks (“the Law”) have been adopted. Amendments to the existing Law will mainly serve to improve rules by setting, in certain cases, stricter standards, and will remove certain ambiguities that currently exist in the Law ...
The Serbian Parliament adopted amendments to the Law on Personal Income Tax and the Law on Mandatory Social Security Contributions on 30 May 2014. The amendments primarily prescribe tax relief for the employment of new employees. The incentives will become applicable on 1 July 2014 and will also introduce new contribution rates for pensions, disability insurance and health insurance, but the overall rate for social security contributions will remain unchanged, i.e. 37.8% ...
On 29 May 2014, INTELEKTIV 2014, an international conference on intellectual property was held in Zagreb. The event gathered leading intellectual property experts from Croatia and Europe to discuss their challenges in dealing with the protection of IP rights in business. Public officers, customs officers, state attorneys and SEE enforcement protection officers assembled to create an open platform for open dialogue ...
On 1 April 2014 amendments to the Contributions Act increasing the general rate for health insurance contributions from 13% to 15% came into force. The new contribution rate will be applied to salaries beginning in April 2014. Receipts related to previous periods will be grandfathered in at the previous applicable rate. Unused vacation for 2013 will be calculated at the 13% contribution rate and the new rate will apply to unused vacation in 2014 ...
New Regulations Governing Consumer Claims and Language Use in Consumer Information The Croatian Consumer Protection Act has recently updated how customer claims are to be handled. The receipt of complaints must now be confirmed in writing without delay ...
“Desperate times call for desperate measures”. We are all aware that the global crisis is impacting employers worldwide. Companies have been forced to close production lines, non-core activities have been transferred to outsourced service providers and numerous workplaces have been forced to close all together. It has become a struggle to merely hold onto one’s job. Such circumstances have facilitated the increase of workplace harassment (i.e. mobbing) ...
SerbiaIncreased number of applications for industrial property protection It seems that the promotional efforts of the Intellectual Property Office of Serbia have been effective. According to statistics from the IP Office for 2013, the number of trademark applications increased by 40%, the number of patent applications increased by 5% and industrial design applications increased by 42% compared to last year ...
A New Collective Bargaining Agreement (“GCBA”) was signed last week in Montenegro. The new GCBA introduces a broader scope of existing labour rights and has also included several additional rights. Subsequently, many questions have come up and are expected to be answered through their application in the upcoming period. The GCBA comes into force on 30 March 2014 and Montenegrin employers must take care of the entire set of new employment rights and employers obligations ...
A new Consumer Protection Act is currently in the process of being adopted in Croatia, and has revamped areas of the Act dealing with the sale of products at reduced prices and obligations for public service providers.The new Act imposes traders the obligation to point out two types of prices – regular and reduced. This obligation is related to seasonal reductions in prices, which may be applied up to three times a year and may last no longer than 60 days under the provisions of new Act ...
As of February 2014, Amendments to the Gas Market Act have become applicable in Croatia. The amended Act defines the new role of wholesale supplier of natural gas. Supplier should be company that domestic natural gas producers will sell the gas under regulated price and conditions and who will then resell the natural gas at another regulated distribution price to local suppliers that ultimately supply end users with natural gas ...
Strategic Investment Act: The new Act on Strategic Investment in Croatia has achieved its goal of reducing administrative procedures and ensuring the speedy realisation of strategic projects in Croatia. In order to declare a project “strategic,” it must meet several criteria. Foremost, the project must be in accordance with spatial planning regulations. Also, the total amount of capital expense must be HRK 150 million (approx. EUR 19.6 million) or more ...
The new Act on Strategic Investment in Croatia has achieved its goal of reducing administrative procedures and ensuring the speedy realisation of strategic projects in Croatia. In order to declare a project “strategic,” it must meet several criteria. Foremost, the project must be in accordance with spatial planning regulations. Also, the total amount of capital expense must be HRK 150 million (approx. EUR 19.6 million) or more ...
The Serbian Government has taken first steps of implementing a new court system with the passing of a new Law on Seats, Jurisdictions of Courts and Public Prosecution Offices (Official Gazette RS no. 101/2013), and amendments to the Law on Organisation of Courts (Official Gazette RS no. 116/2008, 104/2009, 101/2010, 31/2011, 78/2011 101/2011, 101/2013), which came into force on 1 January 2014 ...
What is a PPA? The purpose of a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) is to set out the terms and conditions for the sale of electricity between a producer (seller) and the take-off entity (buyer), particularly regulating important matters on timing and the initiation of production, the terms of delivery of electricity, payment mechanisms, force majeure clauses and the termination of sales and purchases. The PPA represents a crucial project document in a renewables project ...
