News-Archive

In response to targeted attacks by Russia against civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, the European Union intends to increase pressure on Russia further with the ninth sanctions package. The package entered into force on 17 December 2022 and supplements the existing sanctions.

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A year ago, our Newsletter took a look at the coalition agreement signed by the new so-called traffic-light coalition at the beginning of December 2021. Not much of the labour law aspects of this agreement has been implemented to date. And this, despite the fact that "working time recording” is a most pressing topic for companies. This is fuelled not least by the surprising decision of the German Federal Labour Court [Bundesarbeitsgericht, BAG] of 13 September 2022. As things currently stand, the government is likely to introduce its first draft legislation on the recording of working hours in the first quarter of next year. In the current issue of Focus on Labour Law, you will find the usual overview of the most important labour court decisions, news regarding the minimum wage, and the social security calculation parameters that will apply from 01 January 2023. Finally, we would like to draw your attention to our new Legal Tech Tool, which allows you to quickly and easily check online the compliance risks associated with your company’s use of external personnel. We wish you and your families a relaxing holiday period and all the best for the year 2023!

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Find out more about our IT law & data protection practice group - now regularly summarised for you at a glance! On a quarterly basis, we will be presenting you with the most important developments in IT law and data protection. In addition to informing you of the latest draft laws and developments in the field, we advise you on classic IT law, data protection law and new media. Please also feel free to contact us for audits, IT project support and consulting, including cloud computing, e-commerce topics and social media issues.

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In its ruling of 29 June 2022, the German Federal Supreme Court affirmed that the application of English inheritance law to the estate of a person living in Germany has to be regarded as a violation of German public order insofar as it deprives children of the deceased of their claim to a compulsory portion which, according to the case law of the German Federal Constitutional Court, is irrevocable and independent of need. The decision means that, in future, in cross-border succession planning with a connection to Germany, even more attention must be paid than before to whether beneficiaries of the compulsory portion are being ignored.

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Oppenhoff has appointed new partners with effect from 1 January 2023. Dr. Vanessa Pickenpack has joined the group of equity partners. Edder Cifuentes has been made a partner. In addition, Dr. Carsten Bormann, Robert Fischer-Sonnberg and Sebastian Gutmann have been promoted to junior partners.

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On 3 December 2022, the EU set the expected price cap for oil from Russia as agreed with the G7 partners and Australia. The price cap will come into force for crude oil on 5 December and for refined petroleum products on 5 February 2023. In addition, as of now Russian crude oil may only be imported into the European Union in exceptional cases.

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This is a tiresome topic for companies: the commercial agent leaving the company requests an extract of the books. Only recently, it was decided by case law that - when a commercial agent asserts a claim to in-spect the books in order to check the correctness and completeness of the issued extract of the books - companies are initially not obliged to create any documents (Higher Regional Court [Oberlandesgericht, OLG] of Frankfurt, decision dated 14 April 2022 - 26 Sch 1/22, juris). How-ever, this is based on the fact that the company is not obliged to prepare additional, previously non-existing documents for the inspection. The same applies to the procurement of previously unavailable data and documents from third parties.

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On Friday, 2 December 2022, the eagerly awaited reasons for the BAG’s decision in the time-clock ruling were published. With astonishing clarity, the Senate, under Presiding Judge Inken Gallner, took a stand on previously raised practical issues regarding the recording of working hours. We explain what companies now have to watch out for.

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Because of their huge popularity and reach, e-sports events are now considered an ideal platform for advertising. Because of their huge popularity and reach, e-sports events are now considered an ideal platform for advertising.

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On 28 November 2022, the Council of the European Union adopted the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), following its prior approval by the EU Parliament on 10 November 2022. This already imposes extended reporting obligations on companies as of the reporting year 2024.

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