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The Chinese Government has officially deposited with the “Hague Conference on Private International Law” the instruments of accession to the Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, also known as the Apostille Convention abolishing the requirement of legalization for Foreign…

As an immediate response to Russia’s massive attacks on civil infrastructure in Ukraine, the EU adopted its ninth sanctions package on Russia on 16 December 2022.

The new Vertical Block Exemption Regulation 2022/720, which replaces the previous, now expired, Vertical Block Exemption Regulation 330/2010, contains some significant innovations as well as clarifications. The following is an overview of the rules now applicable to distribution contracts.

The German Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains, which came into force on 1 January 2023, will have a major impact on M&A transactions in Germany moving forward.

On 28 December 2022, Germany’s Second Sanctions Enforcement Act [Sanktionsdurchsetzungsgesetz II – SDG II] entered into force.

The provisions of the German Packaging Act have been tightened significantly.

With the tense situation on the gas market that has been seen for some months following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the German government announced its Early Warning Level on 30 March 2022 before moving to the Alarm Level of its “Emergency Gas Plan for the Federal Republic of Germany” on 23 June 2022.

Things are still very much in flux in Germany in the area of taxation of remuneration for the transfer of rights entered in a German register (e.g. patents or other industrial property rights).

Communiqué No. 2022-32/66 Amending Communiqué No. 32 on the Protection of the Value of Turkish Currency (“Communiqué”) was published in the Official Gazette on 19 April 2022 and numbered 31814. The Amendment Communiqué entered into force on the date of its publication.

To mitigate the negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, the German legislature early in 2020 introduced a moratorium on terminations (Art. 240 Sec. 2 Introductory Act to the German Civil Code [Einführungsgesetz zum Bürgerlichen Gesetzbuch – EGBGB]).

The “tried and tested” public enforcement measures known from data protection legislation under the EU’s GDPR are now being enlisted in civil and unfair competition law: since 28 May 2022 infringements of consumer protection regulations have been subject to fines of up to 4% of annual revenues.

It’s the buzzword on everyone’s lips: ESG (environmental, social, governance). This article gives an overview of current and upcoming changes in legislation relating to properties.

Following Russia’s unlawful recognition of the Ukrainian territories calling themselves “Donetsk People’s Republic” and “Luhansk People’s Republic” and Russia’s unlawful invasion of Ukraine, sanctions were announced against Russia and Belarus first and foremost by the EU and the US, but also by many other countries as well.

Russia has adopted countermeasures through various presidential decrees and government orders, which are mainly aimed primarily aiming at protecting the capital market, but also at restricting the export of goods.

With exchange rates skyrocketing and inflation in the Turkish economy running high, many citizens have entered the cryptocurrency markets to protect the value of their cash and thus their purchasing power.

The Law on the Approval of Ratification of the Paris Agreement numbered 7335 was passed on October 6, 2021, published in the Official Gazette numbered 31621 on October 7, 2021 and entered into force on the same date.

In order to strengthen consumer rights, the legislator has promulgated the German Fair Consumer Contracts Act [Gesetz für faire Verbraucherverträge] by making some significant changes to the German Civil Code [Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch – BGB] concerning the structuring of obligations arising from legal transactions by way of general terms…

To promote the digital economy in Europe, the EU is further developing the legal framework for digital services and markets. The provisions of the Data Governance Act on data spaces and other platforms for data exchange are an important part of this framework.

This is about trademarks: Shoelace tips are the last 2 cm of shoelaces, i.e. shoelace ends. Think Schuhwerk, a shoe manufacturer in Austria, thought that the market can distinguish its shoes from those of other manufacturers by the shoelace tips – although we are talking about special shoelace tips here.

By amending the German Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act [Elektro- und Elektronikgerätegesetz – ElektroG], the aim is to increase the collection rate for waste electrical and electronic equipment (“WEEE”). That is because up to now the collection rate of 65% set by the EU has not been reached. What these changes mean, among other…

The new Act on Corporate Due Diligence in Supply Chains [Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz, LkSG] requires companies to ensure the protection of human rights and environmental standards in their international supply chains. With our new online tool, clients can identify and assess risks along their supply chain free of charge.

For some time now, the introduction of CO2 duties or a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) has been discussed in the EU as part of the European Green Deal. The intention is to internalize the externalities of greenhouse gas emissions into the prices on imported goods. On 15 July 2021, the EU Commission presented a proposal for a…

The German Packaging Act [Verpackungsgesetz – VerpackG] has been in force since 1 January 2019 and replaced the German Packaging Regulation [Verpackungsverordnung – VerpackV] in force up to then. It applies to all forms of packaging and is a special law (lex specialis) clarification of responsibility for products enshrined in Sec. 23 of…

The recast of the Dual-Use Regulation is expected to be published in the Official Journal of the EU at the beginning of June 2021. Given the various changes this recast version brings for the economic operators, they will have to prepare themselves in good time before it will enter into force 90 days after its publication.

On 1 May 2021 the 17th Amendment [17. Änderungsverordnung] to the German Foreign Trade and Payments Ordinance [Außenwirtschaftsverordnung – AWV] entered into force, which in particular broadens the scope of application of transactions subject to a mandatory filing to include further sectors, notably high-tech. The Amendment will apply to…

Trade marks have to be used, either by their owners or by a licensee. Otherwise they "lapse", i.e. cannot be enforced against third parties and can be cancelled upon request. However, there is a grace period of 5 years. What if, instead of using a trademark, a new one were to be registered? - In a judgment of 21 April, the Court of…

The impact of Covid-19 is continuing to evolve in Turkey and businesses need to update their knowledge to keep up with the ever-changing regulations. For this purpose we provided various reports in our earlier newsletters concerning legal changes in Turkey relating to the pandemic. Our new update includes the recent shifts in legislation…

In the event of a merger, the absorbing entity is generally obliged to grant shares to the shareholder of the transferring entity (so-called obligation to grant shares). If this is not desired by the shareholder of the transferring entity, it may waive its right to receive shares pursuant to Sect. 54 (1) sentence 3 German Transformation…

Dual-use items concern a variety of goods, software and technology that can be used for both civilian and military purposes and whose export from the EU is controlled. The relevant provisions for the control of such items are currently laid down in the Dual-use Regulation 428/2009. These rules are being comprehensively revised and…

When reorganising a business out of insolvency proceedings, it used to be necessary to reach some form of agreement with creditors to compromise the payment of their debts. However, this did not apply to reorganisations under English law (i.e. by way of a scheme of arrangement) which allowed forced arrangements to be entered into with the…