The Legal 500

The amendments adopted by the Parliament on July 1, 2011 to the Municipal Cleanliness and Tidiness Act bring revolutionary changes to the Polish waste management system. The Act is currently awaiting signing by the President. Once approved, the changes will become effective 12 months from the date the Act is published.

A recent second instance judgment by the Metropolitan Court of Appeal (“Court of Appeal”) provides some interesting insight into the court’s approach in cartel matters. The case before the Court of Appeal concerned the second instance review of a first instance judgment that annulled certain parts of the decision of the Hungarian Competition Office (the “HCO”).

Hungary is the first country in the CEE region to introduce the real estate investment trust (REIT) regime on the back of US and Western European examples. The new REIT regime took effect on 27 July 2011.

After the publication of the Annual Growth Survey (AGS) by the European Commission, the Hungarian Presidency undertook to implement the first ever "European Semester" a six-month period of each year in which Member States' budgetary and structural policies are reviewed to identify any inconsistencies and emerging imbalances, so as to facilitate coordination before major budgetary decisions are finalised.

BANKING & FINANCE  .  REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION  .  PROCUREMENT & REGULATORY  .  EMPLOYMENT & PENSIONS

Government Emergency Ordinance no. 58 (the “Ordinance”) for the amendment and completion of Law no. 571/2003 regarding the Fiscal Code (the “Fiscal Code”) and other fiscal-financial measures was published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I no. 431 of June 28, 2010. The Ordinance shall enter into force on July 1, 2010.

Changes in the court and authority delivery.

This article tries to shed light on an important area of trade mark law in connection with a decision recently handed down by the European Court of First Instance (the "CFI"), more specifically with respect to the complex question of similarity between marks and confusion of the public. This question is naturally an issue of fact and evidence and is - to a large extent - imbued with subjectivity. Therefore, new cases brought before the courts always have to be assessed afresh, taking all the surrounding circumstances into consideration, and the outcome can at times be surprising, even for experienced trade mark lawyers.

TRANSFER BY THE EMPLOYER OF EMPLOYEES' PERSONAL DATA TO THE US FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF HUNGARIAN DATA PROTECTION LAWS: In this article, we briefly address the issue of what requirements prescribed by Hungarian laws on data protection must be complied with by an employer that wishes to transfer the personal data of its employees to the United States.

The Supreme Court's decision in this Sopron underground parking lot case has been one of the hottest topics in the legal playing field in the past few months. We briefly discuss the decision below, and describe a possible way to solve the problems it has raised.

A practical insight to cross-border Environment Law