A. Mortages 1. Can security be granted to a foreign lender? Foreign corporate lenders are not restricted from taking mortgages over immovable property located in Slovakia. 2. Can lenders take a mortgage...

In the era of increased environmental awareness, the spotlight on green claims has never been more intense. As consumers are concerned about global heating and ecological sustainability, they are scrutinizing products like never before, seeking eco-friendly options that align with their values. In response, businesses have responded to this concern and consumers’ purchase interest, with brand-owners increasingly highlighting the benign or even beneficial effects their products and services have on the environment fostering a surge in green marketing initiatives. Yet, amidst this push for sustainability, the risk of being accused of greenwashing is omnipresent. As environmental characteristics of products and services are highly technical and the understanding of the various concepts involved is continuously changing, en­vir­on­ment­al/sus­tain­ab­il­ity claims raise a significant risk of confusing and misleading consumers. Many companies have fallen foul of advertising standards in this area recently. Given the high sensitivity of environmental claims and the reputational damage that can result from allegations of greenwashing, it is particularly important to make sure environmental claims are compliant. By ensuring truthful, accurate and unambiguous information is always given to the consumers, companies can avoid the risks and build a reputation for authenticity in their sustainability advertising and communications. CMS guides companies through the maze of regulations and case law and advise on the steps a company can take to ensure their advertising is not only compliant but also authentic and impactful. The priority questions we address are: Which green claims are likely to raise litigation or regulatory enforcement risks?What can businesses do to mitigate these risks?What are the likely claims/en­force­ment that could arise?Who is likely to make a claim?What are the risks in the event of a violation or a complaint? What future regulatory measures are expected and what companies have to do now to be prepared? We offer various solutions to help you be compliant and avoid accusations of greenwashing: Sustainability claim checks including regulatory risk matrix as well as litigation: evaluating the planned claims and mapping their risk as well as developing compliant marketing strategies and claims custom-tailored to your business's unique pro­file;Sus­tain­ab­il­ity-re­lated litigation: providing comprehensive support in legal disputes in the area of advertising with environmental claims;Training sessions: to empower your legal, compliance and sustainability as well as advertising teams with in-depth knowledge of sustainability risks and mitigation strategies; andBoard packs: to equip your directors/board members with actionable insights into greenwashing risks, ensuring they steer the company toward sustainable strategies with confidence and integrity.  For an initial conversation on how we can support you on greenwashing risk, please reach out to the lawyers listed on this page or to your usual CMS contact.

De­veloper­In­vestorOwn­er  De­veloper/Con­struct­or 1. What are the currently applicable emission reduction goals and relevant  provisions for green real estate developments? Currently, there is a bill...

The state of the real estate transaction market in Europe The new CMS European Real Estate Deal Point Study 2023 now includes more than 2,500 transactions. Compiling the study involved comparing all the transactions on which we advised in the period 2010 to 2022, enabling us to highlight developments and trends in the real estate market. The market response to our study indicates that over the years it has repeatedly proved to be a valuable tool when preparing for contract negotiations. CMS’ analysis of the real estate market in 2022 revealed the following key trends

1. Due diligence costs for the purchase of real estate 1.1 Municipal search Cost Variable VAT Nil 1.2 Utility search (each service) Cost Variable VAT Nil 1.3 Land registry search (per search) Cost...

This CMS Guide is designed to shine a light on the wide variety of energy saving laws in selected CEE countries by explaining the most important legal measures and helping you to discover where your opportunities might lie. Political and legal framework Energy transformation requires building up new energy sources and that takes time. Saving energy, however, is the quickest and cheapest way to address the current energy crisis, which is mainly caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Reducing energy consumption cuts households’ and companies’ high energy bills. Building on the “Fit for 55” package of proposals and completing the actions on energy security of supply and storage, the European Commission’s REPowerEU plan put forward a set of five actions, the first of which is energy saving. Union law sets forth mandatory saving goals for Member States but leaves them plenty of leeway to choose between a variety of measures. Applicant countries and many others have passed energy savings laws and targets too – offering additional flexibility. As a framework, the Fit for 55 package and the European Climate Law (REG 2021/1119) sets out a binding, irreversible reduction of anthropogenic emissions. By 2030, 55% of the net GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions compared to 1990 must be saved. By 2050, the mandatory net zero emission goal must be achieved. Regulation 2022/1032 requires that member states fill their gas storage facilities to at least 80-90% or that they store at least 35% of their average annual consumption in European storage facilities. Reducing consumption over the years reduces the filling obligation. Since August 2022, obligatory reductions in gas consumption apply to EU member states (Regulation 2022/1032). The core innovation of this regime is the Union alarm that can be triggered by the European Council if there is a material risk of grave gas supply shortages, extraordinary gas demand or a national alarm pursuant to Directive 2017/1938 in at least five Member States. Once a Union alarm has been triggered and for as long as it remains in force, member states must reduce their gas consumption by 15%. There is a partial exception if this would otherwise cause an electricity crisis in the respective member state. However, the steering measures to be taken and whether certain groups of gas consumers are granted more favourable conditions remain at the member state’s dis­cre­tion. Re­gard­ing electricity, Regulation 2022/1854 on an emergency intervention to address high energy prices aims to reduce electricity consumption by 10% and ease the pressure on electricity prices through revenue caps. Again, Member States are free to choose the appropriate measures to reduce gross electricity consumption and meet the 10% target. Additional rules apply to the fuel consumption of trucks or the energy consumption of district heating/cooling. The CMS Guide The result of these regulations concerning energy saving has been the in­tro­duc­tion of a wide variety of energy saving laws in individual states; and many more measures are still to come. This CMS Guide is designed to shine a light on these regulations by explaining the most important legal measures and helping you to discover where your opportunities might lie. For each jurisdiction, the guide is structured into: (1) a country overview,  (2) national relief measures for high energy prices,  (3) na­tion­al/re­gion­al/com­mun­al energy savings measures, and  (4) energy storage status and incentives. The following measures have been chosen by the states represented in this  guide:  sub­sidies to end-consumers (Austria in general for energy prices; Croatia for gas con­sump­tion), price caps: electricity (Croatia for households, undertakings and certainpublic consumers; Ukraine for house­holds),re­duced VAT rate (Croatia, North Macedonia), tax incentives to privately store gas (Ukraine); exemption from steering measures for privately storing gas (Aus­tria),sub­sidies to compensate for high energy prices (Bulgaria and Slovakia, in Slovenia for enterprises, in Türkiye for agriculture) and energy saving measures: (Croatia for SMEs); the reallocation of EU funds to support energy consumers (Slov­akia); sub­sidies for energy storage solutions (Austria, Bulgaria and Ukraine) or for heat producers (Ukraine),energy efficiency measures incl. digitalisation (Bul­garia),re­duced hours of electricity or heating supply (North Macedonia) or of gas supply (Slov­akia),re­duc­tion of energy consumption by the public administration (Austria, North Macedonia, Slovenia), andobligations on gas storage operators to feed gas into the grid (Austria, Slovakia) or to supply heat producers at preferential prices (Ukraine). rewards for voluntary reduction of gas and/or electric en­ergy con­sump­tion (Slovenia)educed permitting requirements for PV and wind plants (Türkiye).

1. General overview To date, we have listed several decisions relating to this issue. However, not as many disputes involving commercial rent proceedings are currently ongoing in Slovakia as might be...

I. Transactions 1. What are typical structures of transactions concerning PRS projects? In Slovakia, the PRS sector is still developing and PRS transactions are rare. It is more common to have PRS transactions...