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October 2015 has seen the commencement of implementation of the Payment Services Act (the Act), which was enacted by the Parliament in 2014.

The Act replaced the Payment Transactions Act with the exception of provisions governing enforcement proceedings which will continue to be performed in accordance with the provisions of the Payment Transactions Act.  Two main game-changing possibilities have been introduced by this piece of legislation.

The Act establishes a new Universal Registry of Natural and Legal Persons’ Accounts (the Registry) that will be managed by the National Bank of Serbia (the NBS).  The Registry will include information on when an account is established, terminated, the amount of turnover, as well as information regarding the client.  However, no information on account balance and changes thereto will be available at the Registry. The purpose of the Registry is to facilitate easier enforced collection of debt, so that enforcement officers will be able to obtain injunctions against disposal of funds on personal bank accounts.  Since information on natural persons will not be made publicly available, and are protected under the personal data protection legislation, NBS will authorize access thereto only upon written requests of the Ministry of Interior, courts, public prosecutors, the Tax Administration, Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering, and enforcement officers.

New business opportunities have also been made available in the (electronic) payments sector.  The Act introduces two new categories of payment service providers – payment institutions and electronic money institutions.

The new legislative framework allows companies not incorporated under the Banking Act to issue electronic money (also a novelty in the national payment system) as well as to provide services for facilitating transactions with money orders, transfer of funds between accounts, and issue payment instruments including payment cards as well as a number of services that have until now been reserved market for banks and the postal service.  The prospective payment institutions will be required to file for a license from the NBS, and one of the main conditions will be the amount of their share capital (from EUR 20,000 to EUR 125,000 depending on which activities they wish to engage in).

Electronic money institutions may be operated exclusively by companies having a license from the NBS (among the required conditions is that the amount of share capital may not be lower than EUR 350,000).  Along with issuing electronic money, electronic money institutions may also perform other operations including, but not limited to, granting loans in connection with payment services. Electronic money institutions may not approve such loans from funds received for the issuing of electronic money.

Establishment of the Registry and the required high amounts of minimum share capital are a result of the legislator’s intention to protect users of financial services and to maintain strict control over the country’s financial system.

By Milan Samardžic, Partner and Marija Grujeska, Associate, SOG / Samardzic, Oreski & Grbovic

Miro Senica has advised the French Corum Asset Management investment fund on a retail acquisition from the Supernova Group — which was assisted by CMS Ljubljana.

Supernova was founded in 1994 and has developed more than 40 projects in Austria, Slovenia, and Croatia. It plans to establish projects in Serbia in the future as well.

The Miro Senica team advising Corum on the buyer side consisted of Founding Partner Miro Senica and Partner Mojca Muha. CMS declined to comment on its involvement on the deal. 

Latham & Watkins has announce the election of 25 Associates to the partnership and 31 promotions to the Counsel level, worldwide. Although the firm made no new partners in CEE, Moscow-based lawyer Edward Kempson was promoted to Counsel in the firm’s Moscow office. The change in his title, as with those of the other 55 lawyers, will become effective as of January 1, 2016.

“This diverse group shares a commitment to innovative legal work and premier client service consistent with our core values at Latham & Watkins,” said Bill Voge, Chair and Managing Partner of the firm. “They are leaders in their respective practices and industry groups, while also serving as consummate team players who strengthen our global platform. We are confident in their continued contributions to the success of the firm and our clients.” 

Kempson, in Moscow, is a member of the Corporate department at Latham, where he focuses on advising both banks and issuers on debt and equity capital markets transactions, particularly in the oil and gas and metal and mining sectors. He also advises corporate and strategic investors on cross-border M&A, restructurings, financings, and refinancings. He received an LLB from the London School of Economics in 2004 and a postgraduate law degree from BPP Law School in 2005. He worked at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton for four and a half years before moving to Latham in April, 2010.

Bondoc & Asociatii has advised Immigon on the sale of several land plots in the Romanian cities of Sibiu, Satu Mare, Dragomiresti Vale, and Oradea to an undisclosed set of buyers.

The Bondoc team working on the sales — Senior Associate Claudiu Tampa, Associate Ionut Stircu, and Junior Associates Alexandru Daniliuc and Codrin Mihaila — was led by Partner Serban Patriciu, who joined the Bondoc & Asociatii team at the beginning of this year (reported on by CEE Legal Matters on January 16, 2015). 

Miro Senica has advised Switzerland’s Micro-Motor on the sale of a 51% share to Kolektor. The buyer was assisted by solo practitioner Maja Petric.

For the purpose of the deal, which was announced by Kolector on October 10, a new company was established by Micro-Motor in Slovenia — Kolektor Micro-Motor — into which Micro-Motor entered jointly as a partner with Kolektor. The newly established company is seated in Idrija. The transfer of production of Micro-Motor products to Idrija will be completed by January 1, 2016.

Radovan Bolko, President of the Board of Management of Kolector, stated: “This purchase is a great success for Kolektor. Our strategy is growth and increasing of added value of our products. We pursue this goal through organic growth and acquisitions.”

The Miro Senica team advising Micro-Motor on the sale consisted of Founding Partner Miro Senica and Partner Mojca Muha.

Image Source: kolektor.com

Latham & Watkins has announce the election of 25 associates to the partnership worldwide — including Edward Kempson in the firm’s Moscow office. The firm’s promotion round also involved the promotion of an additional 31 Associates to Counsel positions. All the changes will be effective as of January 1, 2016.

“This diverse group shares a commitment to innovative legal work and premier client service consistent with our core values at Latham & Watkins,” said Bill Voge, Chair and Managing Partner of the firm. “They are leaders in their respective practices and industry groups, while also serving as consummate team players who strengthen our global platform. We are confident in their continued contributions to the success of the firm and our clients.” 

Kempson, in Moscow, is a member of the Corporate department at Latham, where he focuses on advising both banks and issuers on debt and equity capital markets transactions, particularly in the oil and gas and metal and mining sectors. He also advises corporate and strategic investors on cross-border M&A, restructurings, financings, and refinancings. He received an LLB from the London School of Economics in 2004 and a postgraduate law degree from BPP Law School in 2005. He worked at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton for four and a half years before moving to Latham in April, 2010.

Sorainen’s Latvia office has helped event organiser Liva Jaunozola register the word and figure trademarks Andele Mandele and Per?u Medibas. The firm reports having “provided full legal support in preparing and filing the application with the Latvian Patent Board.”

The Sorainen team was advised by Associate Jorens Jaunozols and Senior Associate Ieva Andersone, head of the firm’s Latvia Communications, Media & Technology Sector Group.

The procedures governing the administration of industrial property rights, managed by the Polish Patent Office, have to date been regulated by the Industrial Property Law of 30 June 2000 (“IPL”).

According to the current status (ie as of 20 October 2015), only a patent attorney may act as a party’s representative before the Polish Patent Office in registration proceedings (ie in cases relating to the filing and examination of applications and maintaining protection for inventions, utility models, industrial designs, trademarks, geographical indications, and topographies of integrated circuits). By way of exception, a physical person may be also represented by a co-holder, parent, spouse, siblings, descendant of the party, or person in an adoptive relationship.

Notwithstanding the above, a person originating from outside of Poland (ie a person who or an entity that does not have their place of residence or registered office in the Republic of Poland), may act through the mandatory intermediate, namely the patent attorney.

On 5 August 2015, the Polish Parliament revised the abovementioned provisions of the IPL. Based on the amendment which will enter into force on 30 November 2015, an attorney at law will also be entitled to act as the party’s representative in registration proceedings concerning trademarks.

Furthermore, the abovementioned rules on representation of persons originating from outside of Poland have also been changed. Now, such parties will be divided by the region of origin. Those originating from outside of the European Union, the European Free Trade Association or the Swiss Confederation, will still need to act through the mandatory representative in registration procedure; however, attorneys at law will also be allowed to serve as such a representative. The rules have also been relaxed for entities originating from within of the abovementioned jurisdictions: as of 30 November 2015, they will be entitled to act directly, just as Poland-located persons already are.

By Michal Gruca, Attorney at Law, Schoenherr

Fellner Wratzfeld and Partner (FWP) has advised UniCredit Bank Austria on the sale of the The Mall — a shopping mall located at the Wien Mitte transport hub in central Vienna to an international syndicate of buyers. SCWP Schindhelm advised the buyers.

The FWP team was led by Partner Markus Fellner, and included Partner Paul Luiki and attorneys Georg Huber and Felix Oberdorfer. On the part of UniCredit Bank Austria AG, the transaction was handled by in-house counsel Stephan Lurger.

The SCWP Schindhelm team consisted of Partner Immanuel Gerstner and Attorneys Irene Meingast and Lukas Leitner. 

Image Source: Gimas / Shutterstock.com

Cobalt, acting on behalf of Riga International Airport (RIA) and airBaltic, has persuaded the Latvian Supreme Court to refuse to recognize and enforce provisional measures ordered in a Lithuanian court against RIA and airBaltic.

The measures were ordered in a case involving claims of alleged competition law violations made by the now bankrupt airline flyLAL. The Lithuanian court ruled that RIA’s and airBaltic’s property up to EUR 58 million should be held pending final judgment.

According to Cobalt, “refusal of recognition and enforcement is based, inter alia, on incompatibility of the Lithuanian decision with ‘public policy’ within the meaning of Regulation 44/2001, and on national security interests insofar as the infrastructure of Riga International Airport is concerned.” The decision of the Latvian Supreme Court is final.

Cobalt Senior Associates Sandija Novicka and Ugis Zeltins represented RIA before the Latvian Supreme Court and in a related “preliminary ruling” case before the European Court of Justice (reported on by CEE Legal Matters on October 28, 2014).

Editorial Note: Although CEE Legal Matters initially announced that Cobalt had represented both AirBaltic and the Riga International Airport on this matter, on November 11, 2015, the Vilgerts law firm announced that they had represented AirBaltic on the matter. We apologize for the error.

Image Source: Sorbis / Shutterstock.com