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Insights March 2024

Do you want to litigate in Slovakia? From 1 April 2024 you will pay more

At the end of last year, the National Council of the Slovak Republic adopted changes to administrative fees, court fees and fees in other areas of public administration. From 1 April 2024—just a few days from now—not only will it be necessary to pay more for various administrative matters, but court fees will also increase. Click on one of the images below or click on the following links to read the overview covering the respective changes in English or in Slovak.   Downloa d in English: Download in Slovak:

News March 2024

Kinstellar announces new promotions to Counsel

February 2024 – Kinstellar is delighted to announce the promotions to Counsel of: Yerlan Akhmetov, Kuanysh Shekerbekov (Almaty, Kazakhstan), Cătălin Dinu, Cătălin Graure (Bucharest, Romania), Barnabás Sági (Budapest, Hungary), Yulia Eismont, Maksym Tesliar (Kyiv, Ukraine), Michal Forýtek (Prague, Czech Republic),  Andrijana Kaštelan, Vedran Kopilović, Marija Vuchetich (Zagreb, Croatia). ALMATY Yerlan Akhmetov focuses on banking and finance, M&A and capital markets matters. Having been with the Firm for nine years, Yerlan has earned a reputation for cultivating strong client relationships, demonstrating leadership qualities and making significant contributions to our firm's success. He has played a key role

News February 2024

Kinstellar strengthens its team in Kazakhstan with the appointment of Ardak Idayatova as Partner

Kinstellar is delighted to announce that Ardak Idayatova has joined the firm’s Almaty office as Partner. Ardak Idayatova is an experienced practitioner with a career spanning 20 years. She focuses primarily on commercial arbitration (especially construction arbitration) and litigation, as well as on public-private partnerships and real estate. Ardak’s expertise includes providing comprehensive support to major infrastructure projects, primarily representing foreign investors, international development banks and foreign contractors. Additionally, she represents and provides legal assistance to clients in foreign commercial arbitrations, mainly in connection with construction disputes arising out of different

News January 2024

Kinstellar welcomes new Senior Associate, Lenka Petráková, to its highly rated Dispute Resolution Team in Prague

Kinstellar is delighted to announce the addition of Lenka Petráková to its Dispute Resolution team as a Senior Associate in the Prague office. Lenka Petráková brings a wealth of experience and expertise to Kinstellar. With over four years of specialised practice in civil litigation, Lenka has established herself as a formidable advocate in the legal community. Her primary focus remains dispute resolution, a field she passionately describes as her favourite area of practice, as no two cases are the same, which brings the opportunity to always learn new things. Her extensive background includes significant work with both domestic and international insurers, providing Lenka a unique insight into numerous legal

Insights August 2023

Recent ECJ judgement sparks controversies on the Romanian statute of limitations for criminal liability

The Romanian regulatory context In recent years, the statute of limitations for criminal liability in Romania has been the subject of numerous debates among legal scholars and practitioners.  This is because in 2018 the Romanian Constitutional Court rendered a binding decision declaring as unconstitutional, in part, the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code on interrupting the statute of limitations for criminal liability. The Constitutional Court issued this binding decision because the Romanian legislator had failed to amend the respective provisions, and as a result has divided the jurisprudence of Romanian criminal courts into two camps of interpretation, namely: (i) one camp stating that the statute of limitations cannot

Insights August 2023

Ukraine Parliament mandates electronic presence for court proceedings

The Ukrainian parliament has passed the Law “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Concerning Mandatory Registration and Use of Electronic Offices in the Unified Judicial Information and Telecommunication System or Its Separate Subsystem (Module) that Ensures Document Exchange”. The law is due to take effect on 18 October 2023. The Law mandates that each participant in court proceedings in Ukraine register their electronic presence in the system by opening their respective electronic office within it.  The principal purpose of this new requirement is to ensure the quick, flawless and guaranteed exchange of procedural documents among all participants in court proceedings in Ukraine. Key provisions

Insights July 2023

Class actions to protect collective interests of consumers in Slovakia

The new Act on Actions for the Protection of the Collective Interests of Consumers and on Amendments and Additions to Certain Acts (the "Act") was adopted by the Slovak Parliament on 21 June 2023 and will enter into force on 25 July 2023, with the exception of some special and temporary provisions, which enter into force on the date of the Act’s publication in the Collection of Legislative Acts. The Act, which transposes the Representative Actions Directive (EU) 2020/1828, introduces a new legal proceeding—class actions—into Slovak legislation. The most significant elements of the new Act include: The introduction of two types of actions / proceedings available under the Act: a proceeding

Deals June 2023

Kinstellar dispute resolution team in Bratislava successfully defends its client in commercial litigation

Kinstellar’s dispute resolution team in Bratislava, led by Michal Hrušovský, has successfully defended its client in commercial litigation before Slovak courts against the “alleged” owner of a receivable. The dispute contained various foreign elements. The claimant asserted that a receivable of the original owner (the client’s former supplier of automotive components) was assigned to it based on an assignment agreement governed by foreign law. Despite the fact that the District Court in Banská Bystrica had issued a payment order, on behalf of the respondent we appealed and sufficiently evidenced to the competent court in subsequent proceedings that the “alleged” assignment was not valid and that the receivable

Insights May 2023

Reform of the “judicial map” of the Slovak Republic

From 1 June 2023, the so-called reform of the “judicial map” of Slovakia enters into force, which according to its proponents should bring faster and better decision-making by the courts and ensure better working conditions for judges. The basic premise of the reform is the specialisation of judges and courts under five main agendas—family, civil, criminal, commercial, and administrative justice. The reform is intended to increase the efficiency of the administration of justice and will lead to several changes: the dissolution of several existing courts, the creation of new courts, and the transfer of agendas between individual courts. The reform of the “judicial map” consists of two laws: (i) Act no. 150/2022 Coll.

News April 2023

Kinstellar announces new promotions in Bucharest, Romania

Kinstellar is delighted to announce the promotion to Managing Associate of Mădălina Perțe (Corporate M&A), Andrei Covaliu (Dispute Resolution) and Răzvan Constantinescu (Banking and Finance), and to Senior Associate of Raluca Constantin (Dispute Resolution). These promotions come as a recognition of their contribution to our office’s recent development and their commitment to delivering exceptional value to our clients.   Mădălina Perțe specializes in Corporate / M&A matters where she has dealt with various assignments. She has also been involved in multiple due diligence exercises and  regularly advises companies on daily housekeeping matters. Mădălina’s expertise extends to capital

Insights March 2023

Slovak court orders public health insurance provider to pay EUR 2 million for the medicinal product Zolgensma, citing discrimination

Zolgensma[i] is an orphan medicinal product designated by the European Medicines Agency for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy (“SMA”), a long-term debilitating and life-threatening disease that causes breathing difficulties and paralysis that worsens over time. Zolgensma, which has been authorised in the EU since 18 May 2020, was developed by AveXis EU, Ltd. and later acquired by Novartis. On 13 March 2023, the Bratislava V District Court issued an injunction against public health insurance provider Všeobecná zdravotná poisťovňa (General Health Insurance, "VsZP"), ordering it to pay for Zolgensma, which is not reimbursed by the Slovak public health insurance system. This is the first court decision ordering

Insights January 2023

Top five decisions of Ukraine’s Supreme Court relating to land disputes in 2022

Case law cannot be overestimated. It adapts to changes faster than legislation. Case law in Ukraine evolved during peacetime and continues to do so during martial law. Diana Malysh, Associate at Kinstellar’s Kyiv office, analyses current case law and reviews the top five decisions of Ukraine’s Supreme Court adopted in 2022 relating to land disputes in an article published on the legal information platform Liga Zakon. Read the full article (in Ukrainian only):