News-Archive

Employment Law23.04.2020Cologne Newsletter

Short-time work - News from the legislator

On 22 April 2020, the governmental coalition agreed to increase short-time work compensation. This and further current changes concerning the receipt of short-time work compensation illustrate the current relevance of short-time work as an instrument of labor market policy.

Read more

Antitrust Law and Merger Control20.04.2020Cologne Newsletter

What corona rules apply to the retail trade?

The “Corona Cabinet” of the Federal Government and federal states has announced new temporary regulations for containing Covid-19. During the concrete implementation of these regulations, many questions have arisen for the trade, which have also reached the Association of the German Nursery Products Industry [Bundesverband Deutscher Kinderausstattungs-Hersteller e.V. – BDKH]. Lioba Hebauer talked to the Cologne lawyers Dr. Daniel Dohrn and Jörn Kuhn of Oppenhoff & Partner about this.

Read more

17.04.2020 Newsletter

Corona Crisis - Virtual Shop Constitution

Works council meetings, economic committee and conciliation board via video and telephone conference

Read more

Employment Law16.04.2020 Newsletter

Occupational safety - "SARS-Cov2 Occupational Safety Standard"

"SARS-Cov2 Occupational Safety Standard" of 16 April 2020 Following the consultation between the federal and state governments on 15 April 2020, the restrictions on public life in order to contain the COVID19 epidemic are now to be gradually lifted from Monday, 20 April 2020.

Read more

16.04.2020 News

Trade fairs, congresses and professional events - what do organizers need to be aware of during the corona crisis?

The event sector has been hit hard by coronavirus and the official event bans. From when and to what extent business can be resumed is impossible to predict. Organizers are being forced to make decisions about the fate of planned events on the basis of uncertain facts, often with far-reaching economic consequences. The "voucher solution" envisaged by the Federal Government will only bring limited relief. These vouchers do not apply to events in a professional context and with a professional audience. In this case, the following legal principles are decisive.

Read more

Simplification rules for tax-privileged corporations

In response to the corona crisis, the Federal Ministry of Finance (Bundesministerium der Fi-nanzen - BMF) has issued a letter of 9 April 2020 granting various simplifications for non-profit legal entities. They shall apply retroactively as of 1 March 2020 to 31 December 2020.

Read more

Protective Shield Proceedings (Schutzschirmverfahren): a special kind of insolvency

Why have Esprit and Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof applied for the opening of so-called Protective Shield Proceedings (Schutzschirmverfahren)? After all, by initiating such proceedings, the two companies are foregoing both the recently adopted suspension of the obligation to file for insolvency and the extensive state "rescue packages" intended to mitigate the COVID 19 pandemic (short-time work compensation, KfW loans, etc.). So what are the advantages of Protective Shield Proceedings (Schutzschirmverfahren)?

Read more

Newsflash: Reform of the German Foreign Trade and Payments Act

As we already reported in our Newsflash of 27 March, the COVID-19 (corona) crisis has brought the regulations for screening foreign investments in the EU and in Germany further into focus. Yesterday, the Federal Cabinet approved the draft bill presented by Federal Economics Minister Altmaier to amend the Foreign Trade and Payments Act (Außenwirtschaftsgesetz - AWG).

Read more

The devil is in the detail

On 7 February 2020, the Regional Court of Munich (docket No. 37 O 18934/17) dismissed the most extensive lawsuit in the truck cartel to date regarding a violation of the German Legal Services Act [Rechtsdienstleistungsgesetz – RDG]. In this guest article, Dr. Vanessa Pickenpack and Dr. Daniel Dohrn discuss the decision of the Regional Court of Munich.

Read more

Antitrust Law and Merger Control07.04.2020 Newsletter

Antitrust law requirements for cooperations and distribution during the corona crisis

The COVID 19 crisis is currently dominating the everyday life of companies and defining the legal issues of current relevance. For example, many companies are asking themselves whether the strict antitrust rules are actually still applicable during the crisis and whether they are allowed to cooperate with competitors, for example in order to ensure the secure supply of products. In view of the sometimes drastic price increases for products in high demand, many buyers will have wondered whether this price hike is still permissible.

Read more