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Cryptocurrency, big data, artificial intelligence, data theft, cloud, virtual, augmented, or mixed reality, cyber warfare, telemedicine, social media, autonomous driving, Industry 4.0, Criminal Law 4.0, NFTs – these are not the only issues that are bringing about the era of the fourth so-called digital revolution. Each of these digital changes is bringing new challenges to all facets of society – the link between law and technology is one of the biggest. An example that illustrates the special relationship between legal and digital technologies very well are NFTs (non-fungible tokens).

The "current turning point" in connection with the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine has not only a political but also perhaps an even greater economic dimension. The sharp rise in the price of raw materials and energy has led to a dramatic increase in costs for companies. The interruption of supply chains often causes production downtimes in industry. Despite all the harmonisation of laws that has taken place in the last 20 to 30 years, especially in the European legal sphere, this issue has remained untouched by efforts at legal standardisation. The reason for this was apparently a lack of topicality. Therefore, with this article, we provide an overview of how this topic is handled legally with regard to three key questions in the respective countries of our partner law firms.

The Supreme Court in China has taken a clear position against crypto trading in its recent legal interpretation of criminal law. This means that trading in cryptocurrencies is classified as a means of illegally raising money. To consider cryptocurrency trading illegal, four conditions must be met. These are public fundraising, unspecified fundraising objectives, promised capital and interest income, and violation of laws and regulatory requirements. As a result, cryptocurrencies cannot play a usual role in NFT trading.

The debtor may be released from the obligation to perform the contract in full (1) if a contract cannot be performed in full due to force majeure and if the purpose of the contract cannot be achieved by delayed performance or possible partial performance, or (2) if, after the conclusion of a contract, a material change in the conditions underlying the contract occurs which could not have been foreseen by the parties at the time of the conclusion of the contract and which does not constitute a typical business risk of the party concerned and if the continued performance of the contract is manifestly inequitable for one of the parties.

In keeping with our good and longstanding cooperation with the University of Warsaw, Schindhelm has given a lecture on the topic of “Energy market liberalization between the EU and China” in the conference “Between China and Europe - Energy for Future Earth” organized and hosted by Warsaw-Beijing-Forum on April 11^th, 2021.

In keeping with a good tradition, Schindhelm has given a lecture and workshop on the topic "Foreign Direct Investment in China" organized and hosted by the School of Law and Economy of China of University of Warsaw on Saturday, January 16th, 2021. 

On November 27, 2020, Schindhelm participated in a hybrid seminar of the German Centre Beijing and the German Centre Shanghai on the topic "How to prepare for the new Individual Income Tax and Social Security Insurance rules". 

Schindhelm held a workshop on Tuesday, November 17th, 2020 on the topic "Investment in Germany " organized and hosted by the German Centre for Industry and Trade Taicang.

Amid the outbreak of the Wuhan coronavirus, China´s central government implemented immediate emergency measures to gain control over its spread, including the extension of the Chinese New Year holiday period.

State and corporate compliance obligations to combat money laundering and terrorist financing remain an utmost priority for EU member states. Companies (“legal entities”) have therefore been obliged to disclose their “beneficial owners”, among other things, for quite some time. In Austria, a separate database - the “Beneficial Owners Register” - was set up for this purpose. In course of the implementation of the 5th EU Money Laundering Directive, further tightening measures have now been adopted.

State aid is granted on the basis of various criteria. The region or the economic sector in which the investment is made is decisive, but also the strategic importance of the investment and the level of the investment volume. Investments in structurally weak regions receive higher subsidies than investments in industrial areas. For the award of grants, a distinction is made between six different regions.

According to Sec. 1118 ABGB (Austrian Civil Code), the lessor can terminate a lease unilaterally prematurely if the lessee makes a “considerably detrimental use” of the leased object. The scope and content of these legal provisions is a constant source of discussion. The mere performance of structural alterations by the lessee without the consent of the lessor does not in itself justify a good cause for the termination of the lease.

The new “Law on Trade Secrets” now implements the so-called “EU Trade Secrets Directive”. This adopts the European legal requirements for the protection of confidential know-how and secret business information. Moreover, the new legal provisions contain limitation periods and important procedural provisions for the protection of trade secrets in court proceedings.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) recently ruled on the long-discussed question of whether and how website operators can integrate the Facebook Like button (so-called “social plug-in”) in accordance with data protection requirements.Th ECJ’s investigation results from a legal dispute between the Consumer Association of North Rhine-Westphalia and a subsidiary of Peek & Cloppenburg KG.

A new law on company crises has significantly changed the rules applicable to limited liability companies in this respect Among other things, the liability of the company’s management was tightened. Furthermore, the tasks of the supervisory body were expanded. The reform’s true impact remains to be seen: Will there be a change in corporate culture or will there be an increase in corporate crises?

“Whistleblower” - people who point out violations of the law - will be protected even more in the future. This is the aim of a new law that came into force a few months ago. The new regulation adds to already existing provisions on the protection of whistleblowers in the employment relationship.

Schindhelm held a workshop on Thursday, November 7th, 2019 on the topic "Investment in Germany " organized and hosted by the German Centre for Industry and Trade Taicang.

The law 11/2018 dated 28 December has been in force since the beginning of the year. This selectively modifies the Commercial Code, the Stock Corporation Act and the Law on Auditing.

Justified by the goal of solving legal disputes in a fast and economical manner without filing lawsuits and thus relieving the overloaded Turkish courts, a mediation procedure is implemented as a mandatory pre-condition for filing a lawsuit according to Turkish labour and commercial law.

Companies invest in know-how, from which there are important competitive advantages. Valuable information is the currency of the knowledge-based company. Maintaining confidentiality of business secrets is therefore a management instrument for competitiveness and research innovations. The loss of secrets can result in serious consequences, in particular, and generally can no longer be reversed.

Since May 2014, ownership rights for land and soil can only be acquired by natural and legal persons who have resided or been established in Bulgaria for longer than five years.

In the business world, situations often arise in which the only existing managing director wants to leave the company.

In Romania, law no. 190/2018, and thus the national implementation of the GDPR, took effect as of 31/07/2018. In comparison with other EU countries, law no. 190/2018 was rather short.

Due to the low unemployment rate in Slovakia, employers have recently been confronted with a lack of available workers.

The residual debt discharge (RDD) was introduced in 2015 as an exception from the princip-le of general asset liability of the debtor in the insolvency code.

In the Czech Republic, as of 01/07/2019, employees should already be entitled to sick leave from the first day of their inability to work.

In the budget planning for 2019, companies should prepare for the expected increase in Po-lish labour costs.

The presidential decree no. 32 issued on 12/09/2018 to protect the value of the Turkish cur-rency ("Decree") sets the limitation of foreign currency and foreign currency indexed contracts and stipulates that these contracts must be converted within 30 days into Turkish Lira (“TL”).

In view of the rapid growth of online trade, the Chinese government adopted the first e-commerce law on the comprehensive regulation of online business on 31/08/2018, which will enter into force on 01/01/2019.

At the end of 2017, in the legal case C-42/17, the ECJ issued a much publicised decision on the question of the primacy of application of Community Law.

The EU Directive on the regulation of confidential know-how and business information (know-how directive) was implemented in Hungary in July 2018.

When a new shareholder list must be submitted in the commercial register due to a change, it must satisfy the requirements of § 40 I GmbHG [Limited Liability Companies Act] in the version of 23/06/2017 according to the decision of the BGH [Federal Supreme Court] dated 26/06/2018 – II ZB 12/16.

If a Gmbh makes payments after it becomes insolvent, the Managing Directors are personal-ly liable vis-à-vis the company, regardless of the internal allocation of responsibilities.

With the large-scale reform of the company law from the year 2003, Italian legislators had simplified the regulations on the Governance of limited liability companies.

Throughout Europe, approximately 80% of smartphones are equipped with the Google oper-ating system, Android...

Nestlé is a holder of a 3D EU trademark that corresponds to the "KitKat" bar marketed by it and protects its design.

As in the past, in the case of company sales, the seller has repeatedly neither paid salaries due nor paid social security contributions due for employees, the Bulgarian Commercial Code was amended accordingly by three successive amendments in December 2017, February and March 2018.

Online platforms and search engines dominate Internet trading. Unilateral business conditions, non-transparent algorithms and rankings are unfortunately not uncommon.

The electronic transmission of tenders in the award procedure is nothing new and was already standardised in the Federal Procurement Act 2006 both for the classical area and for the area of sector contractors.

International business transactions often involve cross border transfer of personal data. This is the case for instance where the data is stored on a server located in a third country (a country outside the EEA) or a third country IT service provider has access to the data processed by a company within the EU. If personal data is to be transferred to a third country specific provisions of the GDPR will apply.

As of 25 May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) introduces harsh sanctions for data breaches with extended scope of applicability.Companies and other data processing entities become potential subjects not only to the data subjects’ claims for damages, the enforceability of which has been enhanced, but also to increased administrative fines to be imposed by supervisory authorities.

The General Regulation on Data Protection (GDPR) which will apply from 25th May 2018, introduces the position of the Data Protection Officer (DPO).The DPO shall be the contact person for and shall be involved in all data protection related issues of the given entity. The DPO is an organ within the company which liaises with the authority, the company and the data subjects.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) adopted by the EU Parliament in 2016 provides a higher standard of protection of personal data for EU citizens. The GDPR will have direct effect in all member states as of May 25, 2018 and it will affect businesses all around the world that are engaged in activities with individuals in the EU.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) adopted by the EU Parliament in 2016 provides a higher standard of protection of personal data for EU citizens. The GDPR will have direct effect in all member states as of May 25, 2018 and it will affect businesses all around the world that are engaged in activities with individuals in the EU.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the EU will come into force on 25 May 2018 and it will affect organisations worldwide working with or within the EU. The GDPR promotes accountability and governance. Organisations are required to put into place comprehensive governance measures to ensure compliance. Non-compliance can lead to heavy fines up to EUR 20 million or 4 % of the global annual turnover, whichever is higher.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) adopted by the EU Parliament in 2016 provides a higher standard of protection of personal data for EU citizens. The GDPR will have direct effect in all member states as of May 25, 2018 and it will affect businesses all around the world that are engaged in activities with individuals in the EU.

On Saturday, 8th of July, the Second Chinese Germany Friendship Cup in table tennis took place in Taicang.

Simultaneously with the 10th anniversary of the Schindhelm Office in Shanghai, Schindhelm Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH opened another office in the city of Taicang, which is located about 50 kilometres away from Shangha

Schindhelm Shanghai is delighted to invite you to the presentation Termination of Employment in PRC: Guideline for Employers Our lawyer, Ms. Pyn-An Sun, will provide you with an overview of the reasons for a unilateral...

CIETAC announces suspension of Shanghai and Shenzhen Sub-Commissions

Ms. Sun works at our Shanghai office and supports the team in consulting German and Austrian companies in China related investments.

Foreign investment in China is subject to the provisions of the Foreign Investment Industrial Guidance Catalogue. Investments in certain sectors are thus encouraged (by tax benefits), permitted to a limited extent (participation...

Since 1 January 2012 a pilot project has been running in Shanghai which aims at integrating income from certain service industries which was previously subject to a form of corporation tax (“Business Tax”, “BT”) into the VAT...

Foreign businesses may establish their German operations as companies, partnerships or branches of the parent entity. The most commonly used company form in Germany is the Limited Liability Company (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter...

The employer is obligated to reimburse the medical costs if he has not paid the basic medical insurance for his employee dulyAccording to Article 72 of the Chinese Labor Law and Article 23 of the Chinese Social Insurance Law,...

On November 23rd, 2011 the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) issued a regulation on swap of Debt to Equity. This regulation will come into force on January 1st, 2012.Due to the international financial crisis,...

With our newsletter we like to inform you about recent legal updates and practice in China in the future.