News

In June 2024, the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) ruled that a former chairman of the board of an association can demand 20 years after his departure from said association that his personal data - such as his name, date of birth and place of residence - are only restrictedly accessible in the register of associations (BGH, decision of 4 June 2024 - II ZB 10/23). In theory, this decision strengthens the rights of board members of associations.

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On 24 February 2025, marking the third anniversary of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, the EU adopted its 16th package of sanctions against Russia. This new package aims to intensify economic and political pressure on Russia by targeting key sectors of its economy and entities supporting its military operations and further reduce sanctions circumvention.

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Oppenhoff has advised Hardt Holding GmbH on the sale of Advenius GmbH to the ATTIKON Group.

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Oppenhoff has advised KNDS Deutschland on the conclusion of a joint venture agreement with KNDS France, Rheinmetall Landsysteme and Thales for the formation of the MGCS Project Company GmbH.

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Ticket sales for sporting and cultural events are about to undergo comprehensive re-regulation. The German government is planning measures to protect consumers from excessive prices and fraudulent practices and to give event organisers more control over the secondary ticket market.

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The remuneration systems of key areas of the financial and insurance sectors are extensively reg-ulated. The rules to be applied in a specific case are determined by the supervisory requirements imposed upon the company in question based on its business purpose and, possibly, its size.

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In two articles we analyse the developments and opportunities in the German cannabis market: Franziska Katterbach examines regulatory changes in the medical sector, while Jonathan Sherman highlights how German companies can leverage Canadian capital markets for their expansion.

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The legal classification of driver contracts in motor racing is of key importance - not only from a legal perspective, but also from an economic perspective. A question that especially arises is whether a racing driver is an employee or a self-employed service provider. This distinction has far-reaching consequences, for example for social security contributions, protection against dismissal, liability issues and the structure of labour law provisions and principles as a whole.

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In its decision of 28 January 2025 (see press release), the German Federal Labour Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht, “BAG”) clarified that an employer is not obliged to provide a trade union with the work e-mail addresses of its employees for the purpose of recruiting members. The BAG thus sets clear limits to the freedom of association guaranteed by Art. 9 (3) of the German Constitution (Grundgesetz, “GG”) and restricts the employer's obligations in this context to mere acts of tolerance.

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Oppenhoff has comprehensively advised the Chinese Lange Medtech Group on the acquisition of a majority stake in ErgoSurg GmbH. The previous managing shareholder of ErgoSurg will invested.

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The world of work is increasingly shaped by Digitisation. In this environment, the simplification of bureaucratic processes is constantly gaining in importance in order to relieve the burden on companies and establish more efficient workflows. This goal is also pursued by the Fourth Bureaucracy Relief Act (Bürokratieentlastungsgesetz IV, “BEG IV”), which came into force on 1 January 2025 and with which the outgoing legislator wishes to promote the reduction of administrative hurdles and digitisation in the economy.

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The European Regulation 2024/1689 of 13 June 2024 laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence ("AI Regulation") came into force last year. It will apply in stages. Chapters I and II of the AI Regulation are already applicable as of 2 February 2025, and thus in particular the prohibi-tion of certain practices in the field of artificial intelligence and the obligation of providers and de-ployers of artificial intelligence systems to provide their users with a sufficient level of so-called "AI literacy". Kathrin Vossen, Dr. Axel Grätz and Annabelle Marceau explain what this means and what measures need to be taken by 2 February 2025.

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KNDS, a leading European manufacturer of military land systems based in Amsterdam, has renamed its parent company and group companies around Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH & Co. KG and Nexter Systems S. A. and introduced a new, standardised brand identity.

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Oppenhoff has advised the special glass manufacturer SCHOTT AG on the acquisition of QSIL GmbH Quarzschmelze Ilmenau. This is the largest acquisition in SCHOTT’s 140-year history.

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Oppenhoff has advised Bayer AG on the acquisition of HiDoc Technologies GmbH. With the strategic acquisition of HiDoc Technologies planned for Q1 2025, Bayer is expanding its portfolio in the field of digital health and further expanding its involvement in the area of self-medication.

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On December 16, 2024 the Council adopted a 15th package of restrictive measures with the objective of further limiting Russia’s ability to wage its war of aggression against Ukraine. The new measures entered into force on December 16, 2024 respectively December 17, 2024.

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Partner Dr. Markus Rasner appointed Honorary Consul General of the Republic of Singapore in Frankfurt.

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The German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt) recently investigated a significant case involving so-called "Acqui-Hires." The Case concerned the transfer of almost all employees of Inflection AI, Inc. to Microsoft Corporation. Although the specific transaction ultimately did not require notification in Germany, the case illustrates that the transfer of highly qualified employees may, under certain conditions, be subject to merger control.

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Unfortunately, it is becoming more and more commonplace for grid operators to receive a large number of grid connection requests from wind and solar projects. This can sometimes lead to waiting periods (of years) before grid operators are able to connect renewable energy plants to the public electricity grid, which in turn results in significant delays in the completion of wind or solar parks. This fact is unknown to some project developers in its current and sometimes extreme form. In the worst case, where a project developer has already made firm commitments such as to supply electricity under a power purchase agreement (PPA), this can trigger severe (penalty) payments. In short, the economic viability of entire projects can be jeopardised by the backlog of connection requests to the grid operator.

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The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 ("ESPR") replaced the Ecodesign Directive (2009/125/EC) on July 18, 2024. The ESPR aims to make sustainable products the norm in the EU internal market and to reduce their overall environmental and climate impact. Companies can still register until December 5, 2024 to help shape delegated acts.

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Oppenhoff has advised the German project developer Sunovis on the sale of a 102 MWp solar park in the district of Börde in Saxony-Anhalt. The buyer, the CEE Group, which specialises in renewable energies, is expanding its portfolio in the field of photovoltaics with this transaction.

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On 18 November 2024, the German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) issued a judgement that makes it easier to prove damages in the form of loss of control in connection with data protection incidents. At least, the BGH considers the amount of damages to be rather low compared to sums frequently claimed. This will influence a large number of current and future claims for damages.

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On 22 November 2024, the EU Commission finally published its long-awaited guidance on the interpretation of the so-called "best efforts" obligation in Art. 8a of Regulation 833/2014. While the guidance contains some helpful information for EU operators, it generally reiterates the already known and established standards of sanctions compliance without clearly addressing the crucial issue of the scope of extraterritorial effects of EU sanctions.

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Oppenhoff has comprehensively advised SnowWorld on the acquisition of the Ski Dome in Bispingen. The Snow Dome Bispingen, located south of Hamburg, is thus the group's second location in Germany, alongside Alpenpark Neuss, and will be renamed SnowWorld Bispingen.

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This last issue of Focus on Labour Law for the year contains our usual overview of the most important labour court decisions of recent months as well as new legislation. Many of the “traffic-light” coalition government’s labour law proposals that were envisaged in the 2021 coalition agreement were not implemented in the legislative period now coming to an end. What we can expect here in the years to come will largely depend on the outcome of the federal elections in February 2025. As always, labour law remains thrilling! We wish you and your families all the best for 2025!

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