News

KŠB provided legal advice to BM Management s.r.o. during the acquisition of Centrum Holdings s.r.o., the operator of Aktuálně.cz, Centrum.cz, Atlas.cz and other web portals, by Economia, a.s.

KŠB advised Verdi Capital, a hedge fund, on the acquisition of three Czech solar parks with an overall installed output of 10.8 MWp. Two of the solar parks (which represent almost half of the total installed output) are roof-top installations. The seller was the Enfinity Group, a leading Belgian solar park developer.

KŠB, in cooperation with the law student association ELSA, held a Contract Competition for law school students at the beginning of May. The competition, which comprises simulated contract negotiations, included written and oral contests and culminated in verbal negotiations “between the parties”.

The General Tax Directorate issued information that tax authorities will, for the time being, refrain from calling upon guarantors to pay unpaid VAT.

Registration Proceedings Penalty for Late Tax Statement

In a recent interview for business-focused daily Hospodářské noviny, KŠB Lawyer Tomáš Sequens talked about the current situation regarding energy performance certificates (EPCs).

Renowned British rating company Chambers and Partners recommends KŠB and its lawyers in several categories in “Chambers Europe 2013”.

Data Boxes Regional Offices Unused Vacation Time

Cooperation Persons Solidarity Surcharge & Advance Payments

The renowned British rating company Chambers and Partners recommends KŠB and its lawyers in three law categories in “Chambers Global 2013”.

KŠB helped a major mineral water company win injunction proceedings in a dispute over ads painted on Prague trams.

Law firm Kocián Šolc Balaštík has been nominated for the Chambers Europe Awards for Excellence 2013 in the category of National Firms. This prestigious award is given by the renowned British rating agency Chambers and Partners.

Kocián Šolc Balaštík represented Advanced World Transport a.s. and helped it win a more-than-year-long dispute over the prices for using the Czech railway system.

KŠB Partner Martin Šolc explains in Lidové noviny’s regular supplement “Právo & Justice” why it would be a shame to postpone the recodification of Czech private law, which is due to take force and effect in 2014.

The latest issue of X Lege discusses the upcoming Investment Companies and Investment Funds Bill, which should be enacted by 1 July 2013. This issue also highlights the Supreme Court’s ruling that employers are not required to offer replacement jobs to laid-off employees. The decision, which should be obeyed by all courts hearing labour disputes, inures to the benefit of an employer counselled by KŠB. We also look at the expanded list of supplies for which businesses may be required to guarantee VAT for their suppliers, as well as the European Union’s regulations introducing unitary patent protection in almost all EU Member States under a single application. As always, X Lege features issues regarding the approaching recodification of Czech private law, with this issue focusing on certain temporary provisions. To read the entire X Lege, click here.

KŠB’s legal team was expanded recently by the addition of two new attorneys: Zuzana Císařová and Martin Krčmář. Zuzana is a specialist in intellectual property law, media and advertising, labour law, litigation and arbitration proceedings, while Martin specializes in competition law, unfair competition, and state aid law.

KŠB Institute, a new learning platform tailor-made for managers and lawyers but also available to general public, will be launched in February. KŠB has designed the institute to help ensure its clients are ready for the substantial changes to be introduced by the recodification of Czech private law.

Renowned British rating agency Who’s Who Legal, which has recommended the foremost legal practitioners in 32 categories in over 100 countries worldwide since 1996, lists three KŠB experts in its latest guide.

Following a recent ruling by the Czech Supreme Court, employers will no longer be required to offer another job to employees who are dismissed on grounds of redundancy, not even if a suitable job is open at the same place of employment. This practice was approved by the Supreme Court in order to unify civil and commercial judicial practice and should be followed by all courts charged with settling labour disputes.

On 1 January 2013, Jiří Horník (38) became a new partner at Kocián Šolc Balaštík (KŠB). Jiří specialises in property law and project financing and is one of only a few Czech experts on aviation and aerospace law. KŠB now has nine partners.

The new year often brings legislative changes and this year is no exception. The outline below summarizes the most important acts and amendments taking effect at the beginning of 2013, including new or amended provisions in civil procedure, energy law, pension reform, environmental law, tax, health insurance and the expropriation of real property.

Martin Šolc, one of KŠB’s founding partners, describes his vision as the incoming Secretary-General of the International Bar Association (IBA) in Ekonom No. 46/2012. Martin, who will be the first-ever Secretary-General from Central & Eastern Europe, will assume the office in January 2013.

For the first time KŠB Managing Partner Dagmar Dubecká was recognized in the TOP 25 Czech Business Women poll and was immediately honoured with a spot in the overall ranking.

The latest issue of X Lege highlights the amendment to the Insurance Brokerage Act approved by the Czech government in November. The amendment is a true revolution for how insurance products will be distributed. X Lege also looks at recent price decisions issued by the Energy Regulatory Authority and the state of legal issues regarding regional airports, which face tighter public aid rules following a European Commission decision. As always, X Lege keeps readers up to date on the approaching recodification of private law, this time focusing on changes regarding limited and unlimited partnerships.

Liability for unpaid tax; Collective corrective tax document; Specialized Financial Office

New issue of state bonds Consequences of the Methanol Affair Interest on deferred tax payments Protocols for international double tax treaties

Reference price and burden of proof

This special issue of Tax News provides a brief summary of the basic changes included in the draft bill that is aimed at reducing the public budget deficit. The bill has already gone through the external consultation procedure

V rámci pátého ročníku soutěže Právnická firma roku byla advokátní kancelář Kocián Šolc Balaštík (KŠB) oceněna jako nejlepší tuzemská právní firma. Vedle toho byla vyhodnocena i jako nejlepší právní firma v kategorii Právo hospodářské soutěže.

With considerable help and support from clients and partners, Kocián Šolc Balaštík will organize its annual Advent Charity Concert of Good Will on 25 November 2012 to help support the Olga Havel Foundation. This year the Olga Havel Foundation will once again use the concert proceeds to support its long-term Senior Project.

Andrea Schelleová joined Kocián Šolc Balaštík (KŠB) in November after leaving the Competition Authority, where she was head of the 2nd Instance Decision-Making Public Procurement Department.

Jan Lasák (28) joined the team of lawyers at Kocián Šolc Balaštík (KŠB) on 1 November. Jan focuses on corporate law, mergers & acquisitions, contract law, acquis communautaire, and restructuring.

The International Bar Association, the world’s leading organisation of over 200 bar associations and law societies and over 45,000 legal practitioners, will for the first time ever have a Secretary-General from Central & Eastern Europe. Martin Šolc, one of the founding partners of Czech law firm Kocián Šolc Balaštík (KŠB), will assume the office of Secretary-General in January 2013.

The main topics covered in the latest issue of X Lege include the digital dividend auction launched in mid-July by the Czech Telecommunications Authority and the new Supported Energy Sources Act. Starting in 2013, the act will supersede the current Renewable Energy Sources Act as well as the parts of the energy Act concerning secondary energy sources, cogeneration of electricity and heat, and decentralized power generation. As always, we also provide the latest news on the civil and commercial law recodification process: this issue includes the most substantial impacts holding companies can expect in 2014. There is also a summary related to EU law and information on the anti-discrimination amendment pertaining to the insurance industry.

Estimated items – employee bonuses

Estimated items – employee bonuses

Act on Changes to Tax, Insurance, and Other Acts in Connection with Reducing State Budget Deficits; New Real Estate Transfer Tax Act 

Liability for unpaid tax; Collective corrective tax document; Specialized Financial Office

The amendment to the VAT Act

The General Financial Directorate (the “GFD”) has released information on the new legislation applicable to exemptions from the levy on solar power, which will take effect as of 1 January 2013. The Supported Energy Resources Act[1] supersedes the Act for Support of Renewable Resources,[2] which we have addressed several times in prior editions of Tax News. Newly exempted from the levy is solar power generated from solar power equipment with an installed output of up to 30 kW. The exemption can only be applied, however, to electricity generated from 1 January 2013 until 31 December 2013. Electricity generated and to be generated by the end of 2012 is subject to the existing rules, whereunder the exemption applies to solar power generated from all solar generation equipment with an installed output of up to 30 kW that are installed on rooftops or walls of a single building attached to the ground through a solid foundation, whereas such building is required to be registered in the land (cadastral) register. [1] Act No. 165/2012 Coll., on supported energy resources and on the amendment to certain legislation dated  31 January 2012 [2] Act No. 180/2005 Coll., on support of electricity generation from renewable energy resources and on the amendment to certain legislation, as amended 

Liability for unpaid tax; Collective corrective tax document; Specialized Financial Office

Estimated items – employee bonuses

The latest issue of Finanční management features an article by Helena Navrátilová and Pavla Blažková on important tax-related rulings by Czech courts.

Advokátní kancelář Kocián Šolc Balaštík byla oceněna stříbrnou cenou (tzv. Silver Award) v kategorii Best Central & Eastern European Law Firm při letošním udílení cen The International Legal Alliance Summit & Awards 2012.

The legal routine that many businessmen must go through on a day-to-day basis is featured in KSB lawyer Jaroslav Míkovec’s legal column in weekly magazine Ekonom. Jaroslav contemplates that routine steps such as paying out dividend, disposing of shareholdings and replacing directors are far too difficult in the Czech Republic due to unnecessary bureaucracy and nonsensical requirements.

Team line-ups have been memorized, Czech flags are ready, the European Soccer Championships in Poland and Ukraine are just about to begin. However, the event, which kicks-off on 8 June and ends on 1 July, may, thanks to the immense popularity the game enjoys on the Old Continent, have a negative impact on many an employee’s morale and work attitude.

Value Added Tax Act

Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs)

This special issue of Tax News provides a brief summary of the basic changes included in the draft bill that is aimed at reducing the public budget deficit. The bill has already gone through the external consultation procedure

Advokátní kancelář Kocián Šolc Balaštík (KŠB) byla při udílení cen Chambers Europe Awards for Excellence včera v Amsterdamu už podruhé vyhlášena nejlepší národní právní firmou v Česku.

David Elischer of the Law Faculty of Charles University joins Kocián Šolc Balaštík as an Of Counsel.

Ocenění Patron českého podnikání 2012 získal profesor Jan Dědič, partner advokátní kanceláře Kocián Šolc Balaštík. Odborná veřejnost vyzdvihla především jeho záměr zjednodušit zápisy do obchodního rejstříku i dlouhodobé úsilí o čistotu obchodního práva.

Weekly magazine Ekonom recently mapped out what high profile Czech lawyers think about the hot legislative issues for 2012. Dagmar Dubecká, KŠB’s managing partner, gave her take on the amendment to the Mergers Act, which starting in 2012 aims to make transactions easier and cheaper for corporations and cooperatives by, among other things, allowing the decisive date of a merger to be set either retroactively or in the future. Prior to the amendment, this was not possible.

In the latest Law & Justice supplement to Lidové noviny, KŠB attorney Jiří Horník contemplates how the much-feared Eurozone breakup could affect parties to contracts in euros.

The grand amendment to the Public Contracts Act, which substantially modifies requirements for both contracting authorities and bidders, came into effect on 1 April 2012. Outlining the impact of the amendment, KŠB lawyers Martina Parusová Zímová and Jiří Horník provided commentary in the April 16 issue of Hospodářské noviny’s “Business” supplement.

The March issue of Právo & Byznys features a profile on the rich professional life and career of professor Jan Dědič, a KŠB partner. One of the most experienced Czech experts in commercial law, who also celebrated a birthday at the beginning of this year, professor Dědič reflected on many issues, including the quality of Czech laws. According to him, Czech laws largely suffer from frequent and rash amendments.

New public procurement rules, cross-border employment, and Czech tax news, these were the issues discussed during a workshop held by the Czech-Polish Chamber of Commerce in Ostrava on 28 March 2012.