Across the globe, more and more companies are looking into ways to strengthen their environmental, social and corporate governance ("ESG") profile as investors realise that a strong ESG profile is the key to safeguarding a company's long-term profit and growth. Besides pressure from investors, the importance of sustainability has also been driven by public debate and consumers using spending power to signal their priorities.

The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia has decided to repeal provisions of the third and fourth paragraph of Article 68.a the Slovenian Tax Procedure Act. These provisions implemented taxation of undeclared income at 70% tax rate, which exceeds regular maximum 50% personal income tax rate and enables the taxation of undeclared income originating from the periods before January 1, 2009.

Advertising is no easy task for law firms in the former Yugoslavia, and law firm marketing and business development specialists in those legal markets face unique challenges in their attempts to promote their firms and obtain new clients.

The adoption of Directive 2014/104/EU ("Damages Directive"), which introduced a level playing field for the private competition law enforcement regime among EU Member States, has paved the way for private enforcement to gain more traction in the EU.

As it is in many other countries, the reemergence of Covid is the dominant issue in Slovenia. “With restrictive measures on movement and businesses back in place, everybody is trying to just make it through the whole thing,” says Kavcic, Bracun, & Partners Partner Aleksandra Mitic. “Everything else has taken a backseat – all the politicizing and bickering have faded into the background.” 

DLA Piper and Kirm Perpar have successfully represented the Slovenian municipality of Kranjska Gora in an arbitration proceeding adjudicated at the Vienna International Arbitration Center against WTE Wassertechnik GmbH, a German supplier for municipal and industrial water management.

Due to considerable variations in the prices of medicine within the EU, parallel trade –  cross-border resale of trademark-protected pharmaceutical products by a third party without the authorisation of the IP rights holder – is common in the pharmaceuticals market.

In addition to the effect of the newly introduced FDI rules, the upcoming post-epidemic period in Slovenia will see extensive efforts to revive the economy. On May 29, 2020, Slovenia’s Parliament adopted the Intervention Act to Remove Obstacles to the Implementation of Significant Investments to Start the Economy After the COVID-19 Epidemic to restart economic activity and growth in key investment sectors.

It was nineteen years ago, but I remember it vividly as if it were yesterday: fresh out of law faculty and green with excitement, I was sitting in my very first job interview when the question fell: “Do you know anything about mortgages?” I started reciting: “A mortgage is a real right of a third person …,” when my future mentor smiled and exclaimed: “Ah, never mind, you will learn!”

Although, like many other CEE jurisdictions, Slovenia experienced major COVID-19-related market turbulence in the first half of 2020, the market has nonetheless seen some interesting developments as well – and more activity is likely to follow in Q3 and Q4.

On 23 September 2020, the Slovenian government decided that price control measures in the field of fuel products are no longer necessary, meaning that the retail fuel market will be fully liberalised from October 2020.

On July 9, 2020, CEE Legal Matters reported that ODI Law had advised Hranilnica Lon on a new issuance of shares. CEEIHM spoke with Imre Balogh, President of the Management Board at Hranilnica Lon, to learn more.

According to Andrej Kirm, the Managing Partner of Ljubljana’s Kirm Perpar law firm, things are going pretty well in Slovenia. “It’s pretty much business as usual, apart from the Covid-19 crisis,” he says. Indeed, he says, while most larger transactions were put on hold from March to June, “now a lot of things are progressing, and we hope this will continue through the end of the year.” According to him, “we are quite optimistic, and business is surviving better than we expected back in March.

Former Karanovic & Partners Partner Patricia Gannon has announced the establishment of Gannon Advisory, which she describes as "a holistic strategic advisory business."

Eisenberger & Herzog, Milbank, and Rojs, Peljhan, Prelesnik & Partners have advised the Sartorius Group on its acquisition of BIA Separations and the merger of is into its subgroup Sartorius Stedim Biotech. Schoenherr advised the unidentified majority shareholder on the sale.

ODI Law and Praljak & Svic have advised Tokic, a Croatian auto parts retail chain, on the acquisition of all shares in Slovenian tire distribution company Bartog from private individuals Jasna Bartolj Kotar and Darija Bartolj Umek. The sellers were advised by solo practitioners Mihael Prcic and Janez Tekavc.

The SEE Legal law firm alliance has announced the formal launch of two new practice groups, one dedicated to Employment and Immigration, headed by Kolcuoglu Demirkan Kocakli Counsel Maral Minasyan, and one dedicated to Intellectual Property, headed by Selih & Partnerji Partner Natasa Pipan Nahtigal.

Karanovic & Partners has announced the withdrawal of Founding Partners Patricia Gannon and Dejan Nikolic, after a prolonged process.