We are thrilled to announce that NSTLAW will be participating in the forthcoming South Eastern Europe Arbitration Conference to be held on 12 October in Vienna. Our Senior Partner, Mr. Nenad Stankovic, has been chosen as a key speaker at one of the event’s major panel sessions entitled “Transformation of Disputes in the Region”.

Mr. Stankovic will be in distinguished company, sharing the stage with eminent personalities like Khawar Qureshi KC, Jennifer Morison Ersin, Lazar Tomov, Eric Leikin, and Dr. Johannes P. Willheim. The panel session promises to provide some insightful observations, with Ms. Deger Boden taking the role of moderator.

With a robust track record of acting as counsel before well-respected bodies like ICSID and ICC, our regular involvement in arbitration cases makes this conference particularly relevant. We are looking forward to continuing our role in shaping future discussions in the arbitration arena. More information about the conference can be found by clicking on the following link.

Independent ratings publication IFLR1000 recently announced the launch of its 2023 rankings covering the best law firms and lawyers in Europe. We are delighted that Stankovic & Partners has once again been ranking as a leading firm across the board. Our team was ranked in Tier 3 of the Financial and Corporate tables, as well as in Tier 4 for Project Development.

It is even more satisfying to know that feedback to the researchers included the fact that our clients value our “attention to detail and profound understanding of the business needs and analysis of the issues”, as well as commending the team at Stankovic & Partners for being “highly responsive in tight deadlines”.

Nenad Stankovic, Senior Partner at Stankovic & Partners, was also recognised as a highly regarded lawyer in the IFLR1000 rankings, marking him out as one of the elite practitioners in Serbia.

For more information please see the full rankings at: Serbia – Jurisdiction Rankings | IFLR1000.

The Republic of Serbia is adopting the “Rulebook on amendments to the Rulebook on documentation and methods for importing drugs that do not have a medicine licence, i.e. medicines not registered in the register of medicines (Official Gazette of the RS no. 75/2023)” – something that is leading to a number of key changes from 14 September 2023. These include:

• Structured Import Procedures – The Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (ALIMS) has established a structured process for initiating import requests, ensuring transparency and efficiency.
• Documentation Requirements – Importers must now provide comprehensive documentation, such as product details, manufacturer certifications, and clinical trial data as appropriate to the product in question.
• Research Imports – Scientific research related imports also require detailed research plans and permits to promote responsible research practices.
• Humanitarian Aid – For humanitarian purposes, importers must specify donor and recipient details, further ensuring transparency in aid efforts.
• Ethical and Medical Compliance – Importers must comply with appropriate ethical and medical standards, obtaining approval from relevant ethics committees and healthcare professionals to justify their activities.
• Agency Approval – The Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (ALIMS) will review and approve import requests, prioritising key healthcare needs.
• Strict Control – Imported products must adhere to strict packaging and storage requirements in order to guarantee safety and efficacy.

These new provisions will help to improve Serbia’s commitment to addressing current healthcare challenges effectively while maintaining ethical and medical integrity.

We are very pleased to announce that the team at Stankovic & Partners, working closely with global law firm Squire Patton Boggs, recently secured a notable victory for Canadian national Mr William Rand in an ICSID arbitration against the Republic of Serbia.

In its decision of 29 June 2023, the arbitration tribunal awarded our client damages of EUR 14.5 million plus interest as a consequence of the unlawful termination of a privatisation agreement.

The case stems from a 2005 transaction in which Mr William Rand purchased a 70% beneficial stake in one of the largest dairy farms in Serbia, BD Agro, involving a privatisation agreement concluded between Mr Djura Obradovic and the Privatisation Agency. The Agency decided to terminate the privatisation agreement in 2015, expropriating the title over the company’s shares and establishing corporate control over BD Agro. Our client, Mr William Rand, then filed a request for arbitration in 2018 with ICSID, seeking protection for his beneficial stake and investment in BD Agro.

The tribunal recognised that, as Mr Rand was the one bearing the financial burden of the investment, in exchange he had acquired an interest in the beneficially owned shares in BD Agro and therefore exercised control over BD Agro’s operations and management. It was ultimately concluded that the Republic of Serbia had breached the fair and equitable standards envisaged in article 6 (1) of the Canada – Serbia bilateral investment treaty by unlawfully terminating the privatisation agreement and seizing Mr Rand’s beneficially owned shares, which had been effected through the exercise of sovereign powers by the Agency. The Tribunal stated that a privatisation agreement could not be terminated after the purchase price had been paid by a buyer for an alleged breach that had occurred before the transaction had taken place.

The team […]

Introduction

In our increasingly interconnected world, where international trade, cross-border transactions and global mobility are the norm, establishing an efficient and co-ordinated system for recognising and enforcing foreign judgments has become of paramount importance. However, the diversity of legal systems and lack of a unified framework often pose considerable challenges when it comes to enforcing judgments across national borders. That means that introducing a global system to facilitate the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments is a pressing matter that could provide greater certainty in relation to legal outcomes, as well as facilitating international commerce and promoting improved access to justice.

The end of August 2023, therefore, could mark the end of an era in private international law as the Hague Convention of 2 July 2019 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters (“2019 Hague Convention”) comes into force on 1 September 2023. This should provide the long-waited global legal framework for the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments.  It isn’t that solutions have not been proposed before – on the contrary there have been several concerted efforts to put in place an appropriate recognition and enforcement system. Two of these are of particular note: one resulted in the successful 1958 New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, which established a now aging but reliable system for the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards; the other was the unsuccessful Convention of 1 February 1971 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters (“1971 Hague Convention”).

Previous global initiatives

The recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments were formerly governed by a patchwork of international conventions, bilateral treaties, and national laws. The abovementioned 1971 Hague Convention was an ambitious effort […]