How Far Does the Employee’s Non-Compete Obligation Extend?

November 2024 Nino Bostic Sluga, Attorney at Law Selih & partnerji One of the essential obligations of an employee towards his employer is that, in view of the nature of the work performed for the employer, the employee refrains from conduct which materially or morally harms or is likely to harm the employer’s business interests (Article 37 of the Employment Relationships Act (the “Act”)). Such obligations include the non-compete obligation laid down in Article 39 of the Act. During the employment relationship, the employee may not, without the written consent of the employer, carry…
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April 2024 Reasons for the dismissal decision by reference to the temporary nature of the employment contract and the primacy of European Union law in...

April 2024  The Court of Justice of the European Union (the “Court of Justice of the EU” or the “Court”) delivered a judgment, on 20 February 2024, in Case C-715/20 (K.L. v X sp. z o.o.), in which it ruled as follows: Clause 4 of the Framework Agreement on fixed-term work concluded on 18 March 1999 (the “Framework Agreement”), which is included in the annex to Council Directive 1999/70/EC of 28 June 1999 concerning the framework agreement on fixed-term work concluded by ETUC, UNICE and CEEP (OJ 1999 L 175, p.43, Special edition, 05/vol. 5, p. 129) must be interpreted as precluding…
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How to Handle Disciplinary Dismissals Situations

January 2024 Employment contracts can only be terminated on specific grounds listed in the Bulgarian Labor Code. There are over 50 grounds for termination, each with its unique facts, documents, and procedures. Disciplinary dismissal is both a disciplinary sanction and grounds for employer-initiated termination without notice (Art. 330, Para 2, item 6 of the Labor Code). This is regarded as one of the most problematic and risky grounds for termination under the Labor Code. This overview provides guidance on the procedure and highlights key considerations. 1.       General guidelines and…
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NNDKP Assists Holcim Romania With the Acquisition of Stones Business Development SRL

April 2023 Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen (NNDKP) assisted Holcim Romania, one of the leaders in the construction materials industry in Romania, with the expansion of its aggregates division through the acquisition of 100% of the shares of Stones Business Development SRL, which operates an aggregate station and a sand and gravel mining exploitation. NNDKP assisted Holcim Romania in all phases of the transaction, from performing the due diligence analysis on the target company and its mining activities, to advising the client in the negotiation of the share sale-purchase agreement,…
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NNDKP Successfully Assisted Grupo Bimbo with the Acquisition of Vel Pitar

March 2023 NNDKP confirms that Grupo Bimbo has included Romania in its global growth strategy and has completed the acquisition of Vel Pitar as a nation-wide development platform. NNDKP acted as local legal counsel for Grupo Bimbo, advising on all aspects of the acquisition of Vel Pitar, from transaction structuring to negotiation and completion. NNDKP assigned a multidisciplinary team specializing in agribusiness and food M&A (as well as day-to-day) assistance to advise on the transaction. The team was coordinated by Adriana I. Gaspar (Senior Partner), and included Corina Dumitru (Partner), George…
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ESOPs in Serbia

February 2023  Employee share-based incentives are still relatively rare in Serbia, compared to more traditional cash bonuses. The Serbian Companies’ Act was updated in 2018 to provide, for the first time, a basic framework for implementing share incentive plans in a limited liability company, which is by far the most popular corporate form in Serbia. Share-based incentives in public joint-stock companies have not gained prominence due to undeveloped capital markets. Salary tax and social security contribution exemption were introduced in 2019 for stock options and underlying shares offered…
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Use of Cookies and Its Practice in Turkiye

January 2023  Kolcuoglu Demirkan Kocakli Attorneys at Law's partner Maral Minasyan and associate Baybora Gokbora, LL.M. wrote an article on the use of cookies and its practice in Turkey. It is available here.
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From This Year Serbian Exports to Germany Should Comply With International Human Rights and Environmental Standards

January 2023 Author: Relja Radovic, BDK Advokati Another foreign law overflowing to the Serbian market On 1 January 2023, the German Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains (“Supply Chain Act“) entered into force (an English translation is available here). The Supply Chain Act is a product of a long-term and global aspiration to introduce international human rights standards, often in combination with environmental standards, into the corporate world and throughout supply chains. (We wrote earlier about other examples of such legislation.) However, considering that…
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Update on the Montenegrin Rules on Special Residence Regime for Digital Nomads

December 2022 After the Foreigners’ Act announced in August 2022 new temporary residence permit regime for digital nomads, the Ministry of Interior has now enacted a bylaw which regulates the details of the procedure and documents required for the permit. Entry into Montenegro While the Foreigners’ Act remained ambiguous as to whether an applicant must enter Montenegro with type D visa (long term visa) in order to apply for temporary residence permit even if from a country to which Montenegro applies a visa-free regime, the bylaw makes it clear that the type D visa is not necessary in such…
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Merkur Osiguranje d.d. Acquires Wustenrot Zivotno Osiguranje d.d.

December 2022 DTB is proud to announce that after obtaining all regulatory approvals, one of the leaders in the Croatian insurance sector, Merkur osiguranje d.d. Hrvatska, completed the acquisition of a well-known life insurance company Wusternot zivotno osiguranje.  DTB’s Corporate, Regulatory, Employment, Dispute Resolution, IP, and Real Estate teams jointly performed comprehensive legal due diligence on the target company. DTB’s acquisition team consists, among others, of Senior Partner Mario Krka and Attorney Dominik Glavina.
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DTB Assists PPD in Selling 50% Shares in TMF, Majority Shareholder of Petrokemija d.d.

November 2022  Divjak Topic Bahtijarevic & Krka (DTB) has assisted Prvo plinarsko drustvo, the leading subsidiary of the largest Croatian private company ENNA, in the disposal of its participation in joint venture company Terra Mineral Fertilizer Ltd. (“TMF”). TMF is the largest shareholder of the only Croatian fertilizer company - Petrokemija. The majority stake in Petrokemija has been sold to Turkish conglomerate Yildrim Group, and the completion of the transaction is subject to customary approvals of regulators in several jurisdictions. DTB has assisted Prvo plinarsko drustvo with…
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Montenegro – Soon to Become a Destination for Digital Nomads?

May 2022  Author: Jelena Brajkovic, BDK Advokati  On 18 May 2022, a group of MP’s proposed amendments to the Foreigners’ Act to introduce the possibility of obtaining a temporary residence permit for digital nomads. The parliamentary debate on the amendments is expected to start at the beginning of June 2022. The amendments are designed to attract foreigners from IT and other mobile sectors to Montenegro. Digital nomads The proposed amendments to the Foreigners’ Act define digital nomads as foreign individuals (whether they are registered as entrepreneurs or not) who provide Montenegro…
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