Legal framework of the digital assets market.

Metaverse is not a product or a game. It was not created by a single company. Rather, it is a worldwide 3D network where companies, information and communication tools are comprehensive and interoperable. - Prof. Scott Galloway, University of New York

Starting from March 23, 2022, Serbian Business Registers Agency (“the SBRA”) has allowed the use of electronic signature in cloud in the Special Information System for drafting and submission of financial statements.

Regulation (EU) 2019/452 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 March 2019 establishing a framework for screening foreign direct investments into the Union (the “Regulation”) has been implemented into Romanian legislation in the form of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 46/2022 on foreign direct investments (“GEO no. 46/2022”). 

On 07 March 2022 two vital laws regulating tax and reporting obligations during martial law in Ukraine became effective: 

It is widely accepted that, due to the increasing pace of today’s life and work, employees’ mental health is deteriorating. This problem has been compounded by the situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many workers complain of difficulty in adjusting to the new situation. For workers who have been (or are) permanently or periodically forced to work from home, personal issues are added to professional problems. This additional stress can be expected to increase the prevalence and intensity of professional burnout in employees. 

One of developments in the artificial intelligence sphere which raised most concerns about potential human rights violations is definitely facial recognition.

Electronic measurement of working hours based on processing of location data is permitted under data protection and labour regulations under the following conditions:

In its recommendation issued at the end of March 2022, the European Commission urges Member States to immediately end their investor citizenship schemes and ensure strict controls to address the security, money laundering, tax evasion and corruption risks of investor residence programs.

The owner’s rights are guaranteed by the Constitution. However, a person can still be restricted or stripped of enjoying its title to the property if so provided by the statutory law passed by Verkhovna Rada. Mandatory transfer of property for the needs of defence or other public emergencies is called requisition and such transfer must be subject to prior and fair compensation, except “where extraordinary circumstances require otherwise”.

Law No. 69/2022 amending and supplementing Law No. 8/1996 on copyright and related rights (“Law No. 69/2022”) was published in the Official Journal of Romania, Part I No. 321 of 1 April 2022 and, with the exception of a few provisions which will become applicable 30 days or 6 months after publication, entered into force on 4 April 2022.

In a recently published decision (OGH 4 Ob 145/21h) the Austrian Supreme Court ruled that an auditor who neglects due diligence and therefore issues an incorrect audit opinion shall be liable for damages to a third party who relies on the correctness of such an audit opinion and suffers damages resulting from such reliance.

After a rather lengthy legislative process, Directive (EU) 2019/633 (the "UTP Directive") was implemented in Romania on 12 April 2022 by Law No. 81/2022 on unfair trade practices (UTPs) between companies within the agricultural and food supply chain (the "UTP Law"). It sets out a new set of rules applicable to food retailers and suppliers that have an annual turnover of around EUR 2m.

On 4 April 2022, the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Serbia published the Explanation on Annual Citizens’ Income Tax for 2021.

The Hungarian tax authority published its annual tax audit guidelines with the clear aim of supporting compliant taxpayers and take firm actions against intentional tax evasion by utilizing various data sources available in the process. E-commerce, real estate industry, data-based risk analysis remain key elements.

The Turkish Competition Board’s (the “Board”) decision on whether undertakings that are active in the welding sector violated Article 4 of the Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (“Law No. 4054”) by way of determining their prices together has been published.[1]

On March 30, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (the AMCU) adopted Recommendations on some issues related to submission and consideration of applications for permission for concerted actions, mergers of economic entities during martial law (Recommendations). 

In May of this year, the new Consumer Protection Act will enter into force, completely replacing the previous Act of the same name from 2014, which has undergone only two significant amendments. According to the Republic of Croatia Government, the main reason for adopting the new Consumer Protection Act is the implementation of Directive (EU) 2019/2161 from 27th November 2019. No less important, the reasoning for adopting the new Act also lies in the continuous development of digital tools, which is why it was necessary to include a digital segment of the conclusion of contracts in the legislation to a greater extent than was the case so far.