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Referring to 2015 in the crediting sector, at the beginning of the year the issue related to the principle of “the put down keys” or the loan with the right to transfer the pledged property was very topical. Responding to the fact that initially the legislator planned to set that principle as mandatory, banks essentially increased the first instalment and applied less favourable first interest rate, thus decreasing the availability of loans to young families. In order to resolve the situation, the legislator was forced to amend the intended regulation of the Insolvency Law by introducing the principle of “the put down keys” as an option. Considering the fact that the terms of the classical loan are more favourable, the borrowers mainly continue choosing those loans
While in the retail sector year 2015 was used by the retailers actively adapting the terms of agreements to the Law on Prohibition of Unfair Retail Practice, which was to come into effect on 1 January 2016, and negotiating further cooperation with the suppliers.Next year will show how that law, the purpose whereof was to limit the power of a retailer towards suppliers in order to balance the interests of suppliers and retailers, will influence the range of products, their prices and product promotion campaigns in supermarkets. There is some concern that the necessity to ensure the above balance might have an adverse effect on the aforementioned indicators.
In September 2015, the case law on declaring a shareholder meeting decision invalid only in cases of material breach in the procedure of convocation of the meeting or adoption of decision was summarised. While, when assessing the materiality of the breach, the court assesses whether the decision would be different in case of compliance with the procedure. The critical assessment of courts reduces the possibilities for indecent minority shareholders to unjustifiably delay adoption of shareholder decisions. However, the necessity to decide in favour of the majority in order to have fast solution in disputes regarding the management and control of a company, provide an option for the shareholders of capital companies jointly holding the majority of votes necessary for adoption of the decision to deliberately ignore the deadlines for convocation of the meeting and the procedure of notification specified in the law.
In October 2015, the European Court of Justice adopted the decision in respect of Facebook case or the case Maximillian Schrems v Data Protection Commissioner, which cancelled the transfer of personal data to the USA as to a country that ensures the same data protection level as the EU member states. Currently, the merchants, who received and transferred data for processing in the USA, are assessing the volume of the received and transferred data and the potential solutions for future data processing in the USA.
In October 2015, the Civil Case Panel of the Riga Regional Court adjudicated the case of SIA Latvijas projektēšanas sabiedrība, thus continuing to assess the topical problems of the potential raiderism. Since the judgement in that case is not final, we will continue following the progress of that case also next year.
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