With the advance of new technologies, the market for products and services increasingly transcends borders. International trade is a must not only for large companies, but also for businesses of all sizes seeking access to a wider, more diverse and decentralised consumer. The Internet has democratised the marketplace and it is up to businesses to discover ways to approach consumers efficiently. To this end, one of the traditional methods is through distribution agreements, in which a business can reach a wide audience through all of a distributor’s channels, thus allowing efforts to be focused with increased efficiency.
However, do we know the necessary legal frameworks in the countries in which we conduct business when we sign one of these distribution agreements? Are there specific regulations for these kinds of contracts? Does Europe operate as a single market? Can an agreement be concluded by choosing a different jurisdiction agreed to by the parties?
The second edition of European Corporate Legal Insights, the magazine published by Andersen’s Corporate Legal Service Line in Europe, analyzes all of these issues to be taken into account in distribution agreements in the different European countries.
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European Guide to Support Employers: Teleworking in Europe
by sbarbara
The global spread of Covid-19 is forcing employers worldwide to introduce teleworking. In Europe there are no uniform regulations for the introduction of telework, except for the voluntary European framework agreement from 2002, which only contains a general legal framework. However, this agreement is not binding law for the EU member states.
In the absence of uniform rules, employers who employ workers in different European countries live with the constant risk of violating country-specific regulations. To help employers, make the best decision for their company, the European Employment Group of Andersen have developed a practice guide that provides employers with important information on the introduction and implementation of telework in the individual European countries.
In this sense and on top of that, the Employment Group of Andersen will celebrate a webinar on Thursday November 19th, 2020 (4.00 pm CET), where a general and updated overview of the regulatory situation of teleworking in Europe will be given, focusing on aspects such as its voluntary or compulsory nature, how telework (remote from home) works with the right to digital disconnection, business obligations regarding health and safety during teleworking, as well as other issues of interest such as data protection, confidentiality or the obligation of companies, if apply, to pay the expenses derived from teleworking.
The webinar will serve to provide a general overview of these and other issues of maximum interest in relation to teleworking, as well as explaining the methodology used in the guide (publication on teleworking in Europe) drawn up by the Andersen Employment Law through its lawyers located in the different countries in Europe, so that it can be a useful tool in the face of many of the doubts that may arise in this area in the near future.
To attend this webinar you must reply to this e-mail by clicking on the registration button. Once you have done so, you will receive the data to access it.
We hope that the webinar will be of interest and we will be delighted to have you.
Download the guide HERE
Entry Rules in Passenger Traffic
by sbarbara
As of 21 September 2020, the most important entry rules in passenger traffic are:
1. New piece of legislation is Gov.Decree no. 408/2020. (VIII. 30.). The regulations are based on citizenship, the classification by countries (green-yellow-red) terminates.
Further amendments were enacted by Gov.Decree no. 432/2020. (IX. 18.) which we highlighted in red.
2. Rules applicable to Hungarian citizens:
2.1 She/he is treated in the same way as a Hungarian citizen[1]
– who is entitled to permanent residence in Hungary and a member of his family, if he proves this right by a document, or
– who has a valid residence permit issued by the immigration authority for a period exceeding 90 days, entitling her to stay in the territory of Hungary, and presents the relevant document upon entry.
2.2 The Regulation does not apply to a person who,
– enters in freight traffic, or
– is a diplomat, or
– upon entry into Hungary, provides credible proof that he/she has contracted COVID-19 within 6 months prior to the date of crossing the border.
2.3 A Hungarian citizen arriving from abroad or a family member of a Hungarian citizen who does not have Hungarian citizenship shall undergo a medical examination during his/her entry into Hungary – with the exception specified by law or government decree – , which he/she must tolerate.
If, in the case of a Hungarian citizen, the medical examination reveals a suspicion of infection, it shall be placed in quarantine designated by the competent epidemiological authority or, if it does not pose an epidemiological risk, in official home quarantine.
If the medical examination does not reveal the suspicion of infection, the person concerned shall be placed in official home quarantine for 10 days if he/she has a Hungarian residence or temporary place to stay. If he/she has no such, he/she is placed into designated quarantine.
At the request of the quarantined person, the epidemiological authority competent to issue the quarantine decision may allow the quarantined person to undergo, within 5 days, at least 48 hours apart, twice a molecular biological test in accordance with health professional rules – SARS-CoV-2 PCR test – participate in order to grant an exemption.
The first molecular biological test, i.e. SARS-CoV-2 PCR test, which complies with the professional health rules, shall be taken into account as well, if it was made in one of the countries belonging to the Schengen Area, in the United States or Canada and its results were verified by the person concerned by a document in Hungarian or English
If the two molecular biological tests, the SARS-CoV-2 PCR test, show that the quarantine virus was not detectable in SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus at the time of the test, the epidemiological authority competent to issue the quarantine decision shall grant an exemption from the quarantine.
It is not possible to use 2nd test result which was issued not in Hungary!
3. Rules applicable to foreigners (i.e. who, according to 2.1, are not subject to the same treatment as Hungarian citizens):
3.1 A non-Hungarian citizen – with the exception specified by law or government decree – cannot enter the territory of Hungary in passenger traffic.
3.2 Exception from general rule: Leniency Request
Foreigners may enter within the framework of a leniency request issued by the competent police authority. The conditions and method (see electronic form – Ügyfélkapu, Cégkapu, via the police website) of the leniency request are the same as the previous regulations[2].
A non-Hungarian citizen arriving from abroad shall undergo a medical examination when entering, which he/ she is obliged to tolerate.
In case of COVID-19 infection, he/she cannot enter, otherwise he/she will be quarantined for 10 days at a designated quarantine or in official home.
At the request of the quarantined person, the epidemiological authority competent to issue the quarantine decision may allow the quarantined person to undergo, within 5 days, at least 48 hours apart, twice a molecular biological test in accordance with health professional rules – SARS-CoV-2 PCR test – participate in order to grant an exemption.
The first molecular biological test, i.e. SARS-CoV-2 PCR test, which complies with the professional health rules, shall be taken into account as well, if it was made in one of the countries belonging to the Schengen Area, in the United States or Canada and its results were verified by the person concerned by a document in Hungarian or English.
If the two molecular biological tests, the SARS-CoV-2 PCR test, show that the quarantine virus was not detectable in SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus at the time of the test, the epidemiological authority competent to issue the quarantine decision shall grant an exemption from the quarantine.
It is not possible to use 2nd test result which was issued not in Hungary!
4. Exceptions from general rule:
4.1 Managing Directors and employees of affiliated companies
A person coming from abroad may enter the territory of Hungary without restriction from the territory of the states determined by the Minister of Public Security[3] if he/she is a Managing Director or employee of a domestic or such a company, which registered in one of the foreign states specified by the Minister of Public Security, which is also a registered company in at least one of the states designated by the Minister responsible for public security and in an affiliated business relationship pursuant to Section 4, Clause 23 of the Act LXXXI of 1996 on Corporation Tax and Dividend Tax.
Unrestricted entry may be granted if the person concerned makes the fact of the business trip probable.
4.2 Provisions for travels related to business or economic purposes
If the purpose of the departure from Hungary is an activity related to business or economic purposes, the fact of which is proved by the Hungarian citizen at the return to Hungary, the Hungarian citizen may enter the territory of Hungary without restriction after the departure.
If, during the entry of a Hungarian citizen into Hungary, there is any doubt as to the authenticity of the proof of the reason referred to above upon entry, the procedure shall be conducted in accordance with Section 2.3 of this memo.
If the entry into Hungary is a business or economic activity, the fact of which is proved by the non-Hungarian citizen upon entering the territory of Hungary, he/she may enter the territory of Hungary without restriction.
If, during the entry of the non-Hungarian citizen into Hungary, there is any doubt as to the authenticity of the proof of the reason referred to above upon entry, the procedure shall be conducted in accordance with Section 3.2 of this memo.
5. FYI There are additional rules for military convoys, transit, neighbouring countries (for 24 hours term and within 30 kms from the border), sportsmen and sports professionals, cultural and sport events.
[1] FYI There are 2 more categories related to athletes and sport professionals, employees of cultural institutions (which we don’t detail herein the lack of relevance).
[2] Should you need summary of the detailed rules, please let us know.
[3] 33/2020. (VIII. 30.) of the Ministry of the Interior on the states belonging to the scope of business travel between affiliated companies currently states that the 408/2020. (VIII. 30.) within the framework of a business trip pursuant to Section 9 (1) of the Government Decree, a person arriving from the territory of any state may enter the territory of Hungary. THE SCOPE OF THE COUNTRIES CAN BE CHANGED TIME TO TIME.
The most important legislative changes concerning judicial enforcement
by mikloskaszas
The Parliament adopted Act 92 of 2020 on the amendment of certain acts related to judiciary, which amended, among other things, several parts of the Act 53 of 1994 on Judicial Enforcement as well (hereinafter referred to as: the “Foreclosure Act”). We present the most important developments of the Foreclosure Act as follows.
ELECTRONIC AUCTION – The amendments of Foreclosure Act, entering into force on January 1, 2021, will fundamentally change the structure of electronic auctions, both for movable and real property. The current system, which is based on consecutive auctions, will be replaced by a new system basically consisting of one single auction which is divided into more phases.
Auction of movable properties – In case of auctions of movables, the auction notice will contain the details of the auction in accordance with the new system: each phase of the auction, their terms and the lowest bids will be indicated. Another important change is that the auction of movable property will last until the 60th day from the publication of the auction notice, instead of the 30th.
The multi-phase nature of the auction of movable properties also corresponds with the 60-day auction period in a way that the first phase of the auction lasts until the 15th , the second day lasts until the 30th , the third phase lasts until the 45th and the fourth phase being the last one, lasts until the 60th day of the publication of the auction notice. The amount of the lowest possible bid changes in a way that a valid bid must reach the amount corresponding to the 75 per cent of the starting price in the first phase, to the 50 per cent of the starting price in the second phase, to the 25 per cent of the starting price in the third phase and to the 1 per cent of the starting price in the fourth phase. The auction steps into the following phase only if no valid (reaching the minimum strike price) bid is made in the current phase which happens automatically after the expiration of the given deadline if no valid bid was made (unless a valid bid is made in the last 5 minutes, in which case the phase concerned shall be extended by 5 additional minutes). As a supplementary rule a second auction may be held (within 30 days of declaring the failure of the first auction) if the auction buyer of the first (successful) auction does not pay the auction purchase price. The highest bidder in the first auction who fails to pay the auction purchase price shall be disqualified from the second auction. As a further amendment to the current regulation, if the auction is not successful and the movable property is not taken over by the creditor, the bailiff may not hold another auction but calls upon the debtor to remove the property within 30 days.
Other important changes relating to the auction of movables are that movables with a value reaching the amount of HUF 50,000 may also be auctioned electronically, and, in case of the unsuccessful auction of movables forming one single technological, production or service unit, the parts of the single unit shall be auctioned individually.
Auction of real properties – The amendment of the rules for real property auctions shows a strong relationship to the provisions on the auction of movable properties, with the main difference that real property auctions are divided into three phases instead of four. The term of the auction of real properties is also 60 days, however, the first phase of the auction lasts until the 20th day, the second phase lasts until the 40th day and the third lasts until the 60th day from publishing the auction notice. The lowest possible bid shall correspond to the 90 per cent of the starting price in the first phase, to the 70 per cent of the starting price in the second phase and to the 50 per cent of the starting price in the third phase. In case of residential properties, the lowest possible bid, determined on a percentage basis shall correspond to the 90-80-70 per cent of the starting price respectively for the three phases, while in case of enforcements of claims based on a consumer contract, it shall correspond at least to the 100 per cent of the starting price, provided that, in each case, this is the only residential property of the debtor, his / her residence is located there and it was also located there in the 6 months preceding the initiation of the enforcement proceedings.
The general procedural provisions of the foreclosure against movable properties are also prevailing for the foreclosure against real properties, such as stepping automatically into the next phase in the lack of a valid bid in the current phase within the specified period, in case of a valid bid made in the last 5 minutes, the phase concerned shall be extended by 5 additional minutes, and a second auction may be held (within 30 days of declaring the failure of the first auction) if the auction buyer of the first auction fails to pay the auction purchase price which also results the disqualification of such auction buyer from the second auction.
Takeover of the real property by the creditor – A fundamental change is that the provisions concerning the takeover of the property by the creditor specified by the Foreclosure Act has been repealed and the notice on continuous auction may be published if the first (or, if any, the second) auction was not successful. In case of a bid or upon the request of the creditor, the bailiff shall schedule a new auction within 15 days according to the rules of the first auction. In case of the enforcement of a claim based on a consumer contract, only the bids reaching the 90 per cent of the starting price may be considered to be valid in each phase.
We draw attention to that the above amendments regarding the auctions shall be applied to auctions scheduled after January 1, 2021.
OTHER MODIFICATIONS – As of July 16, 2020, several changes having practical significance entered into force, including:
– the provisions of redetermining the appraised value have been modified: this can be requested after two years instead of the current three years in case of real properties not yet on sold;
– as a new kind of a document providing direct execution the court may issue a certificate of enforcement on the basis of fee schedule issued by the bailiff containing a payment obligation against a third party other than the debtor;
– the auction shall be put on hold in case of the death of the creditor as well, and in case the creditor does not participate in the proceedings (earlier this occurred only if the creditor refused to participate);
– the 15 days deadline for performing the auction purchase price, in case of challenging the sales records, shall be counted from the call of the bailiff instead the day on which the decision has become final – it is also an important amendment that after the auction is finished, the bailiff shall call the auction bidder within 8 days to sign the sales records;
– enforcements against a real property, the claim for evacuation, shall basically remain unchanged as the a claim for the delivery of the property, with the difference that the chattels shall be stored by the creditor for 60 days instead of 30, after that, the creditor may destroy them or handle as waste;
– there are several amendments to the bailiffs’ organization.
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