A popular way for contracting authorities to avoid a time-consuming and costly award procedure is a so-called direct award. In such a procedure, contracting authorities decide in favour of a supplier without publishing a tender. If a direct award is unlawful, affected competitors often lack legal protection in the absence of timely knowledge of an infringement. What many do not know is that, even if the deadline for a review procedure under public procurement law has expired, there are still opportunities to take action against illegal direct awards.

Since 12 October 2023, the notification obligations under the EU’s new Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) have been in force. Meanwhile, a number of cases were notified to the European Commission (Commission) and practical experience gathered. The Commission has recently announced its first in-depth investigation concerning a Chinese railway company. This case shows that the Commission is determined to use its new powers under the FSR. This briefing summarizes once again companies' obligations pursuant to the FSR and provides some practical guidance from the first months of application.

Lobbying is an everyday reality in politics and constitutes an integral part of democracy. However, in the recent past, several lobbying scandals have revealed deficits in the transparency of lobbying – also in Germany. In particular, lobbying was often not subject to public scrutiny. To counteract the deficits, the German Bundestag has passed the German Lobbying Register Act in 2021. It obliges lobbyists to sign up in a Lobbying Register and publish certain information in connection with their lobbying activities. Recently, the German Bundestag has amended the Act, inter alia by extending the scope of the obligation to register. The changes will come into force on 1 March 2024. They constitute additional obligations both for companies which are already registered in the Lobbying Register as well as new obligations to register for companies which do not have a Lobbying Register entry yet. As violations of obligations under the Lobbying Register Act can be sanctioned with harsh fines up to EUR 50.000 and there is also a risk of considerable reputational damage, it is crucial for companies to ensure compliance with the new rules.

BLOMSTEIN hat Fastned bei dem erfolgreichen Angebot im Rahmen der Autobahnlose-Ausschreibung beraten. Die Autobahn GmbH hat am 9. Februar 2024 den Zuschlag auf das Angebot von Fastned in dem bereits 2021 eingeleiteten Vergabeverfahren erteilt. Fastned wird im Rahmen des Deutschlandnetzes in den nächsten Jahren an 34 Standorten an unbewirtschafteten Autobahnraststätten Schnellladeinfrastruktur errichten. Der Autobahnlose-Ausschreibung kommt eine maßgebliche Bedeutung für die Entstehung eines flächendeckenden Schnellladenetzes zu.

As announced mid-January, BLOMSTEIN is publishing a series of briefings introducing into European and German legal defence matters. In our last briefing, we discussed our take on hot legal topics for the defence industry for the year 2024.

As announced last week, BLOMSTEIN is publishing a series of briefings introducing into European and German legal defence matters. In preparation for the new year, our defence team got together and identified the topics that we believe will be relevant for companies in the security and defence industry in the EU and Germany in international trade law, ESG, antitrust law and public procurement law:

In Summer 2023, the Act in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP) was adopted. ASAP marks the final stage of a three-track plan for the delivery and joint procurement of ammunition for Ukraine. While the first two tracks concerned the intended supply of 1 million rounds of stock ammunition to the Ukraine (track 1) and the promotion of joint procurement by EU member states (track 2), ASAP aims to strengthen the supply-side by increasing the European defense industry’s production capacities of ammunition and missiles (track 3). In contrast to the first two tracks, which responded to an immediate need for military supply following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, ASAP focuses on longer-term objectives.

On 12 October 2023, the notification and declaration obligations of the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) will finally start to apply. The new review procedures for M&A transactions and bids in public procurement procedures are aimed to address distortions caused by foreign subsidies and thus ensure a level playing field for all companies operating in the EU Single Market. While the European Commission has recently provided further clarity on some of the procedural aspects of the FSR (see our latest briefing), there is still significant uncertainty about the actual compliance requirements for companies. This briefing aims to alert businesses to the pitfalls to watch out for and to provide practical guidance on how to successfully navigate these new regulatory waters.

BLOMSTEIN hat Helsing, wie schon bei der vorherigen Series-A-Finanzierung 2021 (EUR 102,5 Mio.), zusammen mit dem Team von YPOG bei der kürzlichen erfolgten Series-B-Finanzierungsrunde mit einem Gesamtvolumen von EUR 209 Mio unterstützt. BLOMSTEIN hat Helsing zu den Fragen der Investitionskontrolle beraten. Ein großer Dank geht an Helsing sowie an das gesamte YPOG-Team für das in uns gesetzte Vertrauen!

Am 10. Juli 2023 erlies die Europäische Kommission auf Basis eines mit den USA ausgehandelten Datenschutzrahmens einen neuen Angemessenheitsbeschluss für die Übermittlung personenbezogener Daten. In diesem Beschluss wird Unternehmen in den USA, die sich den Vorgaben des EU-US Datenschutzrahmens unterwerfen und dies vom US-Handelsministerium zertifiziert bekommen, ein mit dem Europäischen Wirtschaftsraum vergleichbares Datenschutzlevel bescheinigt. Es handelt sich dabei um den nunmehr dritten Angemessenheitsbeschluss für Datentransfers in die USA, nachdem der EuGH zwei vorangegangene Beschlüsse wegen einer Unvereinbarkeit mit den europäischen Datenschutzgrundrechten aufgehoben hatte (Urt. v. 06.10.2015, C-362/14 Schrems; Urt. v. 16.7.2020, C-311/18 Schrems II). In dem neuen Datenschutzrahmen wurden die Beanstandungen des EuGHs adressiert und unter anderem Beschränkungen behördlicher Zugriffsrechte sowie zusätzliche Rechtsschutzinstrumente geschaffen. Gleichwohl ist auch der neue Angemessenheitsbeschluss Kritik ausgesetzt und der Datenschutzaktivist Max Schrems hat bereits eine neue Beanstandung vor dem EuGH angekündigt.