The Legal 500

Bulgaria: The Bulgarian Parliament marks the first anniversary of the Renewable Energy Law of 2011 with its first amendment

The Bulgarian Parliament approved the effective Renewable Energy Law in April 2011. A year later, the regulatory framework introduced by the law underwent its first serious revision, as the amendment of the law, which had been discussed for months, entered into effect on 10 April 2012.  

This 2012 Wolf Theiss Guide to Generating Electricity from Renewable Sources in Central, Eastern & Southeastern Europe is intended as a practical guide to the general principles and features of the basic legislation and procedures in countries included in the publication.

Country Reports
Poland
NEW, MORE INVESTOR-FRIENDLY GEOLOGICAL AND MINING LAW TO COME INTO FORCE IN POLAND
Romania
RENEWABLES SUPPORT SCHEME LIKELY TO BE AMENDED

Most renewable energy projects in Bulgaria are being developed on agricultural land. This land can be used for non-agricultural purposes, such as Renewable En-ergy plants, after a change of its designation pursuant to the Law on Protection of Agricultural Lands (“The Law”).

Author: Monica Cojocaru

For the last few months, all attention in the Romanian renewable energy sector has been centered on the outcome of the authorisation of the support scheme regulated by Law 220/2008 on the promotion system for the energy generation from renewable energy sources by the EU Commission. The uncertainty surrounding the support scheme has led to a slowdown of investments in renewable energy projects.

At the end of 2010 the Competition Protection Commission initiated an investigation into the milk sector. Its main areas of investigation were:

Regulatory Overview: Please give a brief overview of the regulatory framework for medicinal products/pharmaceutical products/drugs (as they are called in your jurisdiction) including the key legislation and regulatory authorities. If biotechnology products are treated differently, please specify the differences.

As our teams in the various Wolf Theiss offices were putting the final touch to this Guide, many parts of Europe were hit by the heaviest snowfalls for decades, which reminds us of the more frequent extreme weather conditions to come with climate change. For some time now, climate change as well as concerns about the security of the security of our energy supplies has pushed the energy industry away from the traditional fossil fuels towards low-carbon sources. The increased use of renewable energy sources will play a central role in this decarbonisation movement.

Main climate regulations, policies and authorities

A practical cross-border insight into product liability work

As a new directive promotes the use of renewable energysources in central, eastern and south-eastern Europe,Bryan Jardine and Jacques Isabelle present a guide outliningthe framework of this sector and warnings for applicants 

Medicinal products are heavily regulated in Austria. In particular, the Medicines Act (Bundesgesetz über die Herstellung und das Inverkehrbringen von Arzneimitteln, BGBl No 185/1983, as amended) contains rules regarding:

The domestic natural gas sector was fully opened to competition as of 1 October 2002, before Directive 2003/55/EC was passed. In Austria, around 9 billion m³ of natural gas is sold per year. About 20 per cent of this volume is covered by domestic production by two companies: OMV Exploration & Production Austria GmbH and Rohöl-Aufsuchungs AG. One-third of Austrian yearly domestic consumption can be stored in the underground storage sites (depleted gas fields) of the above-mentioned two companies.

Europe needs major investments into the energy-infrastructure to cope with declining European hydrocarbon reserves, climate change requirements and aging infrastructure. Investments in energy projects are long-term with payback periods of more than 15 years.

The domestic natural gas sector was fully opened to competition as of 1 October 2002, before Directive 2003/55/EC was passed. In Austria, around 9 billion m³ of natural gas is sold per year. About 20 per cent of this volume is covered by domestic production by two companies: OMV Exploration & Production Austria GmbH and Rohöl-Aufsuchungs AG.