News

Law firm Kocián Šolc Balaštík organises the traditional Charity Concert for the Good Will Committee – Olga Havlová Foundation. This year is the concert’s thirteenth year, taking place on Sunday 25 November 2007, 7:00 p.m., at the concert hall of the Church of St. Simon and Jude in Prague Old Town.

Aleš Váňa is the latest member to join the team of attorneys at KSB’s Karlovy Vary branch. He joined the firm in November and is a specialist in civil and commercial law, litigation and real estate law. Aleš Váňa graduated from the Law Faculty of Charles University in Prague in 2003 and subsequently obtained experience and knowledge in advising regional entrepreneurial entities, first as a junior lawyer and then as an attorney in 2007.

Kocián Šolc Balaštík advised Gordon Ramsay in connection with the opening of a new MAZE restaurant at the Hilton Prague Old Town (formerly Renaissance Hotel Prague). KSB's advice covered corporate and commercial, real property and labour law matters.

Kocián Šolc Balaštík (KSB) fought off most of the mixed volleyball competition at Nymburk (5-7 October 2007) at the 10th Bar Games to come second.

Kocián Šolc Balaštík acted for participants in KSK BONO and Bono Servis on the sale of their 100% interests to MISPOL S.A., a Polish company listed on the Warsaw stock exchange and a market leader in the manufacture and distribution of canned meat, spreads, ready meals and animal feeds. The value of the transaction, also involving interests in other members of KSK BONO Holding in Poland and Slovakia, was 10 million EUR.

Kocián Šolc Balaštík advised <a href="http://www.sabic.com/" title="Saudi Basic Industries Corporation" >Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) on the Czech involvement in the world-wide acquisition of the plastics division from General Electric. The acquisition was completed on 31&nbsp;August 2007. The deal is worth more than 11 billion USD.

Kocián Šolc Balaštík (KŠB) law office represented Brau Union AG, a member of the multinational Heineken Brewery Group, before the Czech Anti-trust Office on an application for approval of the acquisition of Královský pivovar Krušovice. KŠB's wide-ranging services were instrumental in securing unconditional approval for the merger, granted by the Office on 3&nbsp;August 2007. With the acquisition of Krušovice brewery, the Heineken Group has a major player on the market for beer production and distribution in the Czech Republic.

Václav Rovenský and Tomáš Sequens prepared the article on legal regulations and rules for the Czech gas market business. The contribution is part of the publication Getting the Deal Through – Gas Regulation 2007, issued by the London based analytical company Law Business Research. The publication summarizes national gas markets in 36 world-wide jurisdictions. The chapter covering the Czech gas industry was included in the publication for the first time since 2003, when the publication started. The contribution can be downloaded from here.

Helena Navrátilová contributed to the publication Freeman’s Guide to European Property 2007 with an article focusing on tax issues in the field of real estate in the Czech Republic. The publication analyses the details of the property market in more than thirty European countries. The contribution can be downloaded from here.

Law firm Kocián Šolc Balaštík (KŠB) successfully represented Eurotel Praha (currently Telefónica O2 Czech Republic) before the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic against the Supreme Administrative Court’s decision in favour of the Antimonopoly Office for alleged abuse of a dominant position.

Law firm Kocián Šolc Balaštík represented FONTERON HOLDINGS LIMITED in sale of a majority block of shares in HELI FOOD FRESH a.s., a leader on the Czech ready-made meals market, and in establishment of a joint-venture between shareholders of this company. Bakkavor Group, a major UK provider of cooled precooked food, bought the shares and became partners with FONTERON HOLDINGS LIMITED in the joint-venture.

Law firm Kocián Šolc Balaštík was the exclusive legal partner for the seminar “Use of Extra-Budgetary Financing for Regional Projects” organised by regional offices of the Czech Republic in Brussels. The seminar took place on 6&nbsp;June 2007 on the premises of the Prague House as part of an extended meeting of the national delegation at the Regions&rsquo; Committee.

Law firm Kocián Šolc Balaštík provided full legal services to Heineken Group member Brau Union AG in its acquisition of a wholly-owned share in Královský pivovar Krušovice&nbsp;a.s., the biggest recent transaction on the Czech beer market.

Law firm Kocián Šolc Balaštík represented Indian pharmaceutical company Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. in concluding a deal via its Swiss subsidiary Glenmark Holding SA to acquire a majority shareholding in Medicamenta a.s., a company carrying out business activities in the production, sale and marketing of pharmaceutical products in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Press release: Prague, 9 May 2007 Kocián Šolc Balaštík has been named Czech Republic&rsquo;s Law Firm of the Year 2007 in the Who&rsquo;s Who Legal Awards. This is the second consecutive time the firm has been recognised in this way, having won the inaugural award last year. In addition, Kocián Šolc Balaštík was the first independent national firm to ever win the award.

Professor Jan Dědič, partner of Kocián Šolc Balaštík, is one of top five most influential lawyers in the Czech Republic, according a poll organised by Hospodářské noviny.

A jury of professionals chose Kocián Šolc Balaštík (KSB) partner Professor <a href="./profil.php?id=2" title="Jan Dědič">Jan Dědič as 2006 Lawyer Of Year in commercial law from over 350 nominated lawyers competing in ten categories. KSB scored again in the second year of the competition organized by the Czech Bar Association and epravo.cz under the auspices of the Ministry of Justice. Last year KSB partner Jiří Balaštík won the 2005 Lawyer Of Year Award in real estate.

Kocián Šolc Balaštík (KSB) became a member of the Association for Foreign Investment (AFI) as of January 2007. AFI represents a select group of entities with long-term experience of the Czech business environment and providing services in key areas for investment inflow and implementation thereof. AFI’s main focus is assisting foreign investment inflow to facilitate the entry of foreign investors on the Czech market, and the group cooperates with the government agency for business and investment support, CzechInvest.

The current six partners of Kocián Šolc Balaštík (KSB) elected Pavel Dejl and Václav Rovenský as new partners effective January&nbsp;1, 2007. Both attorneys have been with KSB for a long time and are respected lawyers in their field of expertise.

Decision by European Court of Justice in Case C-173/03 Traghetti del Mediterraneo SpA, in liquidation dated 13 June 2006.

Directive 2006/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 on the retention of data generated or processed in connection with the provision of publicly available electronic communications services or of public communications networks and amending Directive 2002/58/EC.

Judgment of the European Court of Justice in Case C-66/02 Italian Republic v Commission of the European Communities dated 15 December 2005[2].

Judgment of the European Court of Justice in Case C-408/03, Commission of the European Communities v Kingdom of Belgium of 23 March 2006.

Judgment of the European Court of Justice in Case C-406/04 Gérald De Cuyper of 18 July 2006.

New use of Article 21 (4) of the Merger Regulation

Judgement of the European Court of Justice in Case C-341/04 Eurofood IFSC Ltd of 2 May 2006.

Hana Heroldová and Jana Schovancová drafted a chapter dealing with regulation of advertising in the pharmaceutical sector in the Czech Republic for the publication The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Pharmaceutical Advertising 2006. In their article they reply to questions concerning advertising of medicinal products, rules regulating advertisements of health professionals and other experts dealing with health issues, including advertising of health institutions such as hospitals. The article also answers questions concerning Internet advertising in the field of pharmacy, including regulation of advertising of health technology. The publication was issued by the British publishing house Global Legal Group. The article can be downloaded here.

KŠB represented Cyprus-based Torpera Limited, a member of the PPF Financial Group, in preparing a joint-venture agreement with the Chinese company Sichuan Changhong Electric Co., Ltd. for the manufacture of plasma televisions. The agreement sets forth the fundamental parameters of cooperation in the joint venture between the PPF Group and Changhong and was entered into on September&nbsp;12, 2006.

Squeeze-outs pursuant to Section 183i et seq. of the Commercial Code have been a part of the Czech legal system only since July 1, 2005, a relatively short time, but they immediately became in principle a frequent instrument used for solving ownership structures in many important Czech commercial companies.

In the Czech Republic as well as in other EU countries, the first events from application of Council Regulation (EC) No.&nbsp;1346/2000 on Bankruptcy Proceedings have appeared pursuant to which courts of the member state in which the debtor’s main interests are concentrated are competent to commence bankruptcy proceedings. In case of a company or another legal entity, the registered office is considered to be the place where main interests are concentrated, unless the contrary is proven. A court of such member state can newly declare bankruptcy with effects in the Czech Republic in respect of a Czech entity with a registered office in the Czech Republic but with main interests on the territory of another EU member state without the necessity of undergoing the procedure for recognition of an insolvency decision. This also applies in the opposite case in which Czech courts can declare bankruptcy in respect of a debtor from another EU member state under the same conditions.

On March&nbsp;8, 2006, two legal regulations became simultaneously valid and effective which significantly amend the Commercial Code and the Accounting Act and have considerable practical impact in the area of law for commercial companies.

Negotiations concerning the draft order titled REACH, which regulates in particular the registration of chemicals by their producers and the effectiveness of which is envisaged in 2007, is in the final phase. This is a very significant legal regulation concerning de facto all companies involved in the chemical industry. All documentation concerning these issues is available at http://ecb.jrc.it/REACH/.

In the case of a lease agreed upon for entrepreneurial purposes, the lease agreement must newly contain information on the type of business carried out on the leased commercial premises. If the lessee wishes to change the type of business and if such change significantly affects the use of the commercial premises, the lessee may do so only subject to the lessor’s previous consent, unless agreed otherwise. The lessee’s failure to do so constitutes grounds for the lessor’s notice of termination, unless agreed otherwise. Neither the lessee nor the lessor may terminate the lease on the grounds of change in ownership of the building in which the leased commercial premises are located, unless agreed otherwise. In the case of the lessee’s dissolution as a legal entity, the lease newly terminates only if such legal entity was dissolved without a legal successor, unless agreed otherwise. (Effective as of October&nbsp;19,&nbsp;2005.)

The regulation introduced the so-called European Enforcement Order for uncontested claims, i.e. receivables recognized by creditors on the basis of a payment order or a judgment for recognition. The basic idea of this regulation is that if investigatory proceedings correspond with a certain standard, the claim arising from the proceedings can be confirmed in the state where it was issued as an European enforcement order. Such claim can be executed in another member state without the necessity of exequatur, i.e. recognition proceedings. The regulation brings evident advantages to creditors who have the possibility of fast and effective resolution in a foreign country without involving the court power of the member state in which they seek the claim, i.e. without delays and higher costs. The regulation is a part of a set of measures for further development of the principle of mutual recognition of judgments and other decisions by court bodies in the EU. (Effective as of October&nbsp;31,&nbsp;2005.)

On March&nsbp;17, 2006, the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic approved an important amendment to Act No.&nbsp;189/2004,&nbsp;Coll., on Collective Investment. Besides certain amendments of a technical nature, this amendment brings about three fundamental changes with significant importance for investment companies and funds, developers, real estate dealers and risk capital investors.

The European Union prepares a fundamental reform of the existing European telecommunication policy. For this purpose, the General Directorate of the European Commissions’ Information Company opens an expert public discussion. For details see http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/06/874. Potential standpoints can be sent until October 30, 2006.

On March&nbsp;14,&nbsp;2006, Act No.&nbsp;107/2006,&nbsp;Coll., on Unilateral Increase of Apartment Rent and on Amendment to Act No.&nbsp;40/1964,&nbsp;Coll., the Civil Code, as amended (called the “Four Years Act”) was announced in the Collection of Laws becoming effective March&nbsp;31,&nbsp;2006. The regulation of increasing the rent is valid until December&nbsp;31,&nbsp;2010.

The General Directorate for the Economic Competition of the European Commission addressed the expert public and asked for a standpoint concerning issue connected with retail banking, specifically issues concerning current accounts and associated services. The base for an expert discussion should be the Commission’s Report concerning these issues issued in June 2006. Expert standpoints can be presented until October 9, 2006. For details on these issues see the European Commission’s web page http://ec.europa.eu/comm/competition/antitrust/others/sector_inquiries/financial_services/public_consultation_2.html.

The European Parliament has approved five orders regulating project financing from structural funds for 2007- 2013. EUR 308 billion has been allocated for the Solidarity Fund, European Social Fund, Regional Development European Fund and for the new European Association for Territorial Cooperation in the EU’s seven-year budget. The approved legislation defines targets and in particular the criteria for drawing on the funds and for their distribution in the extended EU. The means for drawing on the funds is opening in the amount of almost EUR 308 billion for 2007 through 2013, which is more than one third of the total financial framework. EUR 23.6 billion (i.e. more than CZK 773 billion) is allocated for the Czech Republic from the funds. For allocation of the funds from structural funds and the Solidarity Fund among operation programs in the Czech Republic in 2007-2013 and other details see http://www.strukturalni-fondy.cz/operacni-programy-2007-2013/.

In the European Union a public discussion has just ended on the proposal for a change of the existing order No. 69/2001 on application of Articles 87 and 88 SES (state support) for de minimis public support in the area of transportation and coal industry. Therefore, it is possible to expect that this proposal will be negotiation in a short time. Quite interesting is the fact that the Commission also made available full texts of standpoints of certain entities concerning this proposal, such as those of Scottish Coal, CoalPro, IG Bergbau Chemie Energie, Eurelectric, etc. The proposal is available at http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/energy_transport/state_aid/consultation/2006_04_15_en.htm.

Public administration is newly understood as a service to the public. In comparison with the original administrative rules, the new administrative rules concerns all public administrative proceedings, i.e. the procedures of state administrative bodies and of self-governing bodies (municipalities, regions, profession self-governance).

The General Directorate for Energy Industry and Transportation of the European Commission published on its web page a fundamental document “Annual Report on Energy Industry and Transportation for 2004“. The full text of this publication can be obtained free of charge on the European Commission’s web page – see http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/energy_transport/figures/energy_review_2004/index_en.htm.

On May 19, 2006, Act No. 214/2006, Coll. was announced in the Collection of Laws, which amends Act No.&nbsp;455/1991, Coll., the Trade Licensing Act, as amended, and certain other acts; this act became effective on August 1, 2006. The aim of the amendment is to simplify procedures during registration of an entrepreneur in the area of small trade business activities; such simplification is to be achieved by reduction of the number of acts and visits that the entrepreneur is obliged to perform in connection with commencement of its business activities. The act also concentrates certain acts that the entrepreneur had so far to perform separately into a single location. The Trade Register is newly pronounced by the act as a public administration information system. The Trade Licensing Office of the Czech Republic is its administrator and the Trade Register is operated by municipal and regional trade licensing offices in the extent set forth by law.

The Labour Code (LC) cancels fifty-eight valid legal regulations with effect as of January&nbsp;1, 2007 and is drafted as a labour-law code containing, save for certain exceptions, complete labour-law regulations. As up to now, the legal regulation of collective bargaining remains outside the Labour Code.

On July 1, the new Public Procurement Act No. 137/2006, Coll. (the "Act") became effective, which became to exist as a part of a legislative package creating a legal framework for public procurement and concessions (which are newly regulated in a separate Act No. 139/2006, Coll.). It can be stated that adoption of this act represents apparent improvement of the existing legislation, since it brings legal precision of the conditions for orders with simultaneous guaranteeing a more free attitude to the orderers procedures and starts from consistent respecting the proportionality principle in the sense of balancing the achievable degree of the formality of the applied rules (generally contributing to higher transparency) with a practically tolerable amount of administrative costs and time of the prescribed procedures. Read more here/p&gt;

This project was realized within the PPF Group in which a part of the assets from Česká pojišťovna a. s. was spun-off to establish the new company Home Credit Grand Holding a. s.

In a pioneering legal move, the first ever Cypriot European company (societas europea) - RPG Industries SE - was registered by the Cypriot authorities on 3 August 2006. This European company was formed by a merger of two significant Czech companies Karbon Invest and Charles Capital into their Cypriot parent. European company is a new type of corporation introduced recently by the EU law. It is for the first time that important Czech companies have participated in a true cross-border merger.

Judgement by the European Court of Justice in Case C-302/04 – Ynos kft v Janos Varga, dated 10 January 2006

Judgment by the European Court of Justice in Case C-330/03 Colegio de Ingenieros de Caminos (Institution of Civil Engineers), Canales y Puertos v Administración del Estado (State Administration), dated 19 January 2006