| In Principle

A communiqué from the European Commission on de minimis agreements exempt from TFEU Art. 101 has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Poland’s rules of civil procedure require the parties to present all their evidence at the very beginning of the case. This is supposed to expedite the proceedings. But is it counterproductive?

The Polish Parliament is working on a bill known as the “Landscape Act,” which is intended to introduce effective mechanisms for protecting the landscape. But an unintended consequence could be to block the construction of aerial masts, power lines and wind turbines, rather than merely regulate their location.

A lawyer who wants to win a tender has to face an exam after the bids are opened. It’s like retaking the bar exam, but the contracting authority scores the exam however it likes. Whoever gets the best score wins.

In contracts, the precise formulation of deadlines and the need for one or both parties to comply with them can prevent surprises in the form of an obligation to take early delivery or make early payment.

An employer cannot admit a drunk employee to work. But may the employer subject the employee to a breathalyser test? What other evidence can the employer use if the employee is fired and appeals to the labour court?

Recent EU case law shows that the owner of a trademark refiling the same mark in order to evade the requirement to use the mark should expect to be accused of acting in bad faith and required to prove actual use of the mark, even if less than 5 years has passed since registration of the mark.

In the SARC case, the Court of Justice of the European Union has held that an advantageous licence from a public university does not necessarily constitute impermissible state aid. The case also provides important guidelines on when an undertaking may seek to annul a decision by the European Commission finding that a competitor has not received impermissible state aid under TFEU Art. 263.

The portal “In Principle”—created through the merger of the Litigation Portal and the Transactions Portal—is designed for managers and lawyers. We write simply about complex legal issues affecting business.

The process of creating virtual currencies depends on the model used for the currency. In some instances it is a centralised process, where it is easy to identify the entity responsible for creation of the currency. In other cases, it is a decentralised process, in which various—often anonymous—users of the decentralised system may be involved in creation of the currency.

The EU’s proposed General Data Protection Regulation has raised issues about the impact that new privacy protections may have on how clinical trials are conducted and information about patients is used for research purposes. Sylwia Paszek of Wardyński & Partners discussed concerns about the draft regulation in an interview by Simon Fuller.

Liability to the contracting authority for payment of subcontractors’ fees is borne by all members of a consortium—even if the subcontract was signed with just one of the members. Amendments to the Public Procurement Law have reinforced this rule.