Time flies, right? We have barely managed to welcome the year 2022, yet we are about to bid it farewell. The end of the year is usually quite hectic, but also a time to look back at all that has been done.
Lawyering is a pretty specific service. The client comes with an assignment that needs to be solved. He expects a simple solution. However, behind such a "simple" solution lies several hours of research, analysis and thought process. And in many cases, we want to share that with others. Because sharing the acquired know-how is intrinsic to us. We are not scientists. We interpret the law that everyone should know.
That is why we have invested a lot of time in media in 2022. We wanted to share with you what's going on, what we're dealing with and how we're dealing with it. Here is our SEDLAKOVA LEGAL media rewind 2022.
We opened several topics in January, and some of them were, let's face it, quite ridiculous.
A more serious issue was addressed by David Šupej, who commented for Novinky.cz on the use of corporate/business credit cards. Do you control how your employees use corporate/business credit cards? As he stated in the article: „If an employee uses company money without the employer's approval, it is a serious violation of the Labour Code. Such an act allows the employer to terminate the employment without any notice period, i.e. immediately.“
In January, however, we also got to comment on a decision, the content of which we are still enjoying today. A Czech porn company succeeded at the CJEU and Jiří Hradský commented on the possibility of claiming damages in the case of defamation on the internet.
And the headline alone made the article one of the most read on E15: Česká pornofirma uspěla u Soudního dvora EU. Má otevřené dveře k odškodnění ↗
February was all about the protection of personal data. For some time now, the EU has no privacy shield, which would allow transfers of personal data to the USA. Although both continents want to agree on a new legal framework (which is already on the way), Mark Zuckerberg said in February that he plans to shut down Facebook and Instagram for Europeans.
And this is exactly the topic we commented on for the Czech Crunch portal.
This month was a turning point for us. We have launched a new website. And you have viewed it more than 100 000 times! A big thank you to all of you for that and we are glad you like the content.
As our marketing department was very busy at that time, it was also evident in our media outputs. My colleague Jiří Hradský atleast gave an interview to Marketing & Média about what it is like to do marketing in a law firm. The article was published for subscribers.
The war in Ukraine has also affected the law. In April, a deepfake video of Zelenskyj declaring that the soldiers should lay down their arms went viral. We covered the criminal liability of such videos for CNN Prima News. My colleague Radka Špačková said the following:
„The creation of such a video does not necessarily give rise to criminal liability. However, if the video depicts, for example, child pornography, the possession itself may be considered criminal. However, the problem would arise once the creator decides to distribute the video he or she has created. This would interfere with the rights of the person in the video to informational self-determination, not to mention the interference with the rights to protection of personality, reputation and honour.“
We have fully launched the IP Scan ↗ service, which is provided by our colleague Tereza Formanová ↗. No idea what that is? At EU level, there was a grant that allowed SMEs to get money to control and protect their intellectual property. We wanted as many people as possible to have the opportunity to receive funding. We are glad that Seznam news were interested in this topic.
Companies, corporations and corporate lawyers know this all too well. June is the last month for approval of the financial statements ↗. How to do it, what happens if you don't make it and what effect does it have on profit payouts? We have opened exactly these topics for the servers Finance.cz and Investujeme.cz.
„We recommend that you remember this obligation and file the financial statements in the collection of documents. The registry court can give you penalties for not filing the financial statement. In practice, the registration court will first call for completion and set a deadline for the company to comply. Should the company be inactive, the registry court will apply sanctions (a fine of up to 100 000,- CZK, for long-term inactivity, it may decide to dissolve the company).“
If you need to deal with the approval of financial statements, incorporation in 2023, or perhaps a profit distribution, please do not hesitate to contact Michaela Garajova ↗.
Remember when Elon Musk said he was pulling Twitter employees out of home office? He broke the news in June this year. We prepared a statement for Novinky.cz in July with regard to the various benefits. Yes, the home office isn't so popular anymore. The next big hit is unlimited time off. How does the Labour Code see it?
This month, our partner accounting firm TaxCounting ↗, along with David Šupej, focused on the new weapon of the Internal Revenue Service - the ability to get camera footage to check mileage sitting. And connected to it, so even a journey log:
"If an employee is obliged to keep a journey log when using a company vehicle (the choice of form and method is entirely up to the employer) and the employee fails to comply with this obligation, he is liable for the damage he causes to the employer."
Vendor-lock. One of several topics we discussed together with the Economia publishing house at the Digital Health conference.
Following the conference, we also contributed to an article for the weekly Ekonom ↗ newspaper, where we've summarized the most important thing - how to avoid vendor-lock.
We have also prepared our own article ↗ on the topic of vendor-lock, written by our colleague Pavel Čech ↗.
In addition, in September we were able to give a big interview to the iDNES portal. In the interview, Jiří Hradský talked about how data protection works for employers.
This month has been much calmer. We've spun the topic of part-timers and insurance discount in the media a few times. For example for Novinky.cz our colleague David Šupej commented as follows: "The amendment introduces a five percent discount on the insurance premium paid by the employer. Thus, instead of 24.8 percent of the employee's assessment base, the employer will now pay only 19.8 percent. However, this discount will only be applicable to certain groups of employees."
In October, my colleague Roman Tomek also commented on the issue of presidential campaigns. Specifically, how it is possible for a bailiff to affect the transparent account of a presidential candidate: "As such, it has no special protection from an enforcement of a money judgement, and a disqualification of a transparent account, like any other account, can occur under the Code of Civil Procedure."
E-commerce. This one word can be used to describe the n1 topic of this month for both us and the media. The forthcoming amendments to the Civil Code and the Consumer Protection Act bring changes to reviews, discounts, complaints and terms and conditions.
Jana Sedláková gave an extensive interview to the server iDNES, which you can read here ↗
We have also dedicated our blog to the issues related to the changes in e-shops.
In 2023, we will see a major amendment to the Consumer Protection Act and the Civil Code. We have summarised all the changes in the following articles:
We haven't been very active in this month. That's because we are preparing something big. In the next year, you can expect large changes.
We wish all of you only the very best in 2023, and thank you for being with us!
