Recent Articles

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  21/05/2025

  Bulgaria

  Bulgaria to bolster pub­lic-private partnerships

  As outlined by Prime Minister Rossen Jeliazkov in a report on his administration’s first four months, Bulgaria is strategically focusing on state concessions and public-private partnerships (PPPs), reflecting a commitment to the long-term stability and sustainable development of the country’s infrastructure, economy, and public services.By 16 June 2025, each ministry is expected to propose at least three projects that are not financially secured through the state budget. These projects will be included in the Action Plan for State Concessions 2021-2027, with the aim of structuring a...

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  21/05/2025

  United Kingdom

  Ofcom publishes statement of principles and methods to designate television selection services

  Introduction The Media Act 2024 (the “Act”) introduced a new online availability and prominence regime for public service broadcasters’ TV players distributed on connected TV platforms. Such platforms are also referred to as “television selection services” (“TSS”) within the Act and those TSS which are designated by the Secretary of State as subject to “must carry” obligations will be regulated TSS (“RTSS”). Under the Act, RTSS must ensure that public service broadcaster TV players designated by Ofcom and their public service...

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  21/05/2025

  South Africa

  Input tax deduction in respect of accommodation and food costs

  The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) recently delivered a judgment[1] regarding the deductibility of input tax incurred on entertainment expenses.Section 17(2)(a)(i)(bb) of the Value Added Tax Act, 1991 (VAT Act) provides that a VAT vendor shall not be entitled to deduct any amount of input tax in respect of goods or services acquired to the extent acquired for the purposes of entertainment. This general prohibition applies unless such items are acquired by the vendor for making taxable supplies of entertainment in the ordinary course of an enterprise which supplies entertainment to its employees...

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  21/05/2025

  Ukraine

  Ukraine introduces nuanced regulation of FX rules

  On 9 May 2025, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) introduced several critical changes to the martial law-related currency control restrictions that amend NBU Board Resolution No. 18 dated 24 February 2022 “On the Operation of the Banking System under Martial Law”. The changes became effective on 10 May 2025.Incentives for investmentsAccording to the NBU, the goal of the changes is to shift to a policy of “stimulative currency liberalisation” aimed at supporting Ukraine’s economy while simultaneously preventing “unproductive” capital...

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  21/05/2025

  Hungary

  Hungary moves closer to achieving final energy savings target

  On 12 June 2025, Hungary will take a notable step in meeting its energy savings target when the most recent legislative change to Act LVII of 2015 on Energy Efficiency (also known as the Energy Efficiency Act) comes into effect.The background to the enactment of the Energy Efficient Act are as follows: over the past six months, the Hungarian energy efficiency obligation scheme (in Hungarian: energiahatékonysági kötelezettségi rendszer) (EEOS) underwent significant changes. Under the EEOS, obligated parties (i.e. electricity, natural gas and fuel traders selling fuel to...

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  21/05/2025

  Europe

  EU Benchmarks Regulation Overhaul Published

  The long awaited overhaul of Regulation (EU) 2016/1011 (“EU BMR”) was published on the 19th May 2025. Regulation (EU) 2025/914 (the “EU BMR Amending Regulation”)  amends and updates EU BMR to conduct a significant overhaul of the regime.Executive SummaryThe key focus of amendments are changes in-scope leading to a significant net reduction in benchmarks subject to the EU BMR. Notably:reducing the scope of the EU BMR so it only applies to critical and significant benchmarks, EU Climate Transition and EU Paris-Aligned benchmarks (“EU Climate Benchmarks”) and...

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