The Legal 500

Austrian law distinguishes between composition proceedings in accordance with the Composition Code (Ausgleichsordnung-AO) and bankruptcy proceedings in accordance with the Bankruptcy Code (Konkursordnung-KO). Bankruptcy proceedings have to be opened if the debtor is unable to pay. In particular, inability to pay must be assumed if the debtor suspends payments. Inability to pay does not require that creditors are actively seeking payment. Bankruptcy proceedings are also opened in the event of overindebtedness in relation to commercial companies if no personally liable partner is a natural person, in relation to the assets of legal entities and in relation to the estates of deceased persons.

As of 1 March 2014, a restriction on the deductibility of manager remunerations for tax purposes exceeding EUR 500,000 per person and year was introduced in Austria. Any remuneration exceeding that threshold cannot be deducted for tax purposes on the level of the employer company. This restriction was subject to substantive discussions in media and legal literature, with some experts arguing that the provisions may be unconstitutional. read more

The industry-related generic Top-Level Domain ("gTLD") <.bank> provides new opportunities and new challenges for online activities in the financial services sector.  read more...

The end of 2014 brought with it important amendments to the rules for registering companies in Poland. These amendments are aimed at facilitating the registration procedure, but they also pertain to already existing companies, which will have to adapt to the new rules.  read more...

Representing a year of constant changes and adaptations to (new) food law requirements, national authorities also adopted new guidelines for the definition of products that may simultaneously fall within the definition of medicinal products and products that are subject to other regulations for human use ("Guidelines") in October 2014. These Guidelines shall be observed as (non-binding) guidance in cases of so-called borderline products.  read more...  

 

On 13 December 2014, the Regulation 1169/2011 on the Provision of Food Information to Consumers became directly applicable in Slovenia, repealing previous pieces of legislation such as the Rules on Pre-packaged Foodstuffs and the Rules on Nutritional Labelling of Foodstuffs. The main novelties food business operators will have to comply with when labelling products include emphasizing of allergens in bold or underlined text, the indication of nano-ingredients, and the use of different font sizes. The newly-introduced meas-ures are aimed at ensuring that consumers achieve higher levels of health protection and at guaranteeing their right to information. read more

On 6 December 2014, Council Regulation (EU) No 1290/2014 entered into force. This regulation is the latest in a series of regulations regarding "sectoral sanctions" against Russia.

So far, in Slovakia there has not been in force any regulation specifically addressing whistleblowing situations in which employees report wrongdoings, such as the commission of a crime which they learnt about in connection with the performance of their employment, work or function. Certain partial aspects related to whistleblowing have been regulated by the country's data protection, criminal and labour laws. read more

Croatia's sixth consecutive year of recession

On 3 December 2014, Transparency International, the leading civil society organisation fighting corruption worldwide, released its 20th annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). The index draws on surveys covering the views of business people, provides expert assessments, and ranks 175 countries by the perceived levels of corruption in their public sectors. The scale ranges from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be very clean). The CPI can be found under the following link .  read more...