Current Legislation
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
No . 322020 Current Legislation Coordinator: Rosana Hallett Of counsel at Gómez-Acebo & Pombo Contents I. Environment ....................................................................... 3 II. Agri-food ......................................................................... 4 III. Intellectual property ............................................................... 4 IV. Foreign investments ................................................................ 5 V. Tax ............................................................................... 7 VI. Accounting ........................................................................ 9 VII. Real Estate ........................................................................ 9 VIII. Insolvency ......................................................................... 10 IX. Employment and labour ............................................................ 13 X. Energy ............................................................................ 16 © Gómez-Acebo & Pombo Abogados, 2020. All rights reserved Disclaimer: This digest is provided for general information purposes only and nothing expressed herein should be construed as legal advice or recommendation. Design: José Á. Rodríguez Ángela Brea, and layout Rosana Sancho Muñoz • Translation and adaptation: John Woodger Current Legislation No . 32 | 2020 2 I. Environment1 In this field, we consider the following to be of interest: 1. Regulation (EU) 2020/741 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 May on minimum requirements for water reuse. The regulation applies whenever treated urban waste water is reused, in accordance with Article 12(1) of Directive 91/271/EEC, for agricultur- al irrigation. It sets out minimum requirements for water quality and monitoring, as well as risk management provisions to ensure that reclaimed water is safe for agricultural irrigation. The principles underlying this Regulation are the protection of the environment and of hu- man and animal health, and the promotion of a circular economy to cope with water scarcity and the resulting pressure on water resources throughout the Union. 2. Royal Decree 553/2020, regulating shipments of waste within the territory of the State2. The purpose of this piece of legislation is to regulate, clarify and increase the control of waste shipments within the Spanish territory, in application of Article 25 of the Waste and Contaminated Soils Act 22/2011 of 28 July. Among other changes, the persons that, in accor- dance with EU legislation, may have the status of shipment operator are specified in more detail. Also noteworthy is the implementation of a common electronic information sys- tem that allows for harmonization of said information throughout the State’s territory, thus guaranteeing the traceability and control required to ensure correct waste management. 3. Decision of the Cabinet, of 2 June 2020, approving the Spanish Strategy for the Circular Economy: “España Circular 2030”3. The strategy lays the foundations for promoting a new model of production and consumption in which the use of materials and resources is opti- mised and waste generation is reduced. The strategy is consistent with the instruments adopt- ed by the European Union - mainly the Green Deal - to achieve a sustainable, decarbonized, efficient and competitive economy. The document provides strategic guidance of a transversal and multidisciplinary nature along three sustainability axes - economic, social and environmental - and lays down the following objectives for the year 2030: 1) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to below 10 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent; 2) to reduce the generation of food waste throughout the food chain; 3) to 1 We will not delve into an analysis of the numerous pieces of legislation published as a result of the situation caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) as this would lead to an unusual length for this newsletter. You can, nonetheless, access all our comments on these laws on our website at the following link: www.ga-p.com. 2 Real Decreto 553/2020, por el que se regula el traslado de residuos en el interior del territorio del Estado. 3 Acuerdo del Consejo de Ministros de 2 de junio del 2020, por el que se aprueba la Estrategia Española de Economía Circular: España Circular 2030. Current Legislation No . 32 | 2020 3 reduce national consumption of materials by 30% in relation to the gross domestic product; 4) to reduce waste generation by 15% by 2010; 5) to improve water use efficiency by 10%; and 6) to increase the reuse and preparation for reuse of municipal waste to 10%. Ignacio Álvarez Serrano and Paloma Tuñón Matienzo II. Agri-food On this occasion, we refer to Royal Decree 429/2020, of 3 March 3, approving the Access to Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and those Cultivated for Other Purposes Regulations, and amending various royal decrees on plant products4. This piece of legislation culminates the implementation of Title IV of Act 30/2006 of 26 July (already initiated previously, with regard to its Part III, by Royal Decree 199/2017 of 3 March). It also incorporates the provisions necessary for compliance with two international treaties: the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ratified by the King- dom of Spain on 17 March 2004), and the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity (ratified by the Kingdom of Spain on 9 August 2012). José Luis Palma Fernández and Yago Fernández Darna III. Intellectual property The following legislation should be considered in this field: 1. The European Union Intellectual Property Network has published the Common Practice “Distinctiveness of three-dimensional marks (shape marks) containing verbal and/or figurative elements when the shape is not distinctive in itself”; it applies from 1 April5 . 4 Real Decreto 429/2020, de 3 de marzo, por el que se aprueba el Reglamento sobre acceso a los recursos fitogenéticos para la agricultura y la alimentación y a los cultivados para utilización con otros fines, y se modifican diversos reales decretos en materia de productos vegetales. Current Legislation No . 32 | 2020 4 It is a document that aims to unify the practice of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) with that of the national offices. Among other things, it states that if a non-dis- tinctive shape contains an element that is distinctive on its own, it will suffice to render the sign as a whole distinctive. In any case, the size and proportion of the verbal/figurative ele- ments, their contrast with respect to the shape and their actual position on it, are all factors that may affect the perception of the sign when assessing its distinctiveness. 2. The European Union Intellectual Property Network has also published the Common Practice “Criteria for assessing disclosure of designs on the Internet”. This document acknowledg- es that designs may be disclosed on the Internet and indicates the evidence that must be provided to prove disclosure depending on whether it has taken place on a website, in an app, by e-mail or by a file sharing system. Attention is also given to the date on which the disclosure will be deemed to have taken place6. Ángel García Vidal IV. Foreign investments With regard to this matter, Royal Decree-law 8/2020, of 17 March, on extraordinary urgent measures to deal with the economic and social impact of COVID-197, is noteworthy. Despite the fact that it derives from COVID-19, we comment on it because of its transcendence and possible extension in time. This law amends the Capital Movements and Financial Transactions with For- eign Countries (Legal Regime) Act 19/2003 of 4 July to decree the suspension of the deregula- tion of certain foreign direct investments in Spain (new Article 7 bis of Act 19/2003), to classify as a very serious infringement the failure to comply with this new body of rules (Article 8(2) of Act 19/2003) and to introduce changes in the conduct of the sanctioning procedure (Article 12(2)), with effect from 18 March 2020. Furthermore, Royal Decree-law 11/2020, of 31 March, adopting additional urgent measures in the social and economic field to deal with COVID-198, in turn amends Article 7 bis and introduces transitional procedural rules for transactions already un- derway when the new Article 7 bis comes into force and for those between 1 and 5 million euros; these rules exempt transactions of less than 1 million euros from the necessary prior administrative authorisation (second transitional provision of Royal Decree-law 11/2020). 5 https://euipo.europa.eu/tunnel-web/secure/webdav/guest/document_library/News/cp9/CP9_en.pdf 6 https://euipo.europa.eu/tunnel-web/secure/webdav/guest/document_library/News/cp10/CP10_en.pdf 7 Real Decreto Ley 8/2020, de 17 de marzo, de medidas urgentes extraordinarias para hacer frente al impacto económico y social del COVID-19. 8 Real Decreto Ley 11/2020, de 31 de marzo, por el que se adoptan medidas urgentes complementarias en el ámbito social y económico para hacer frente al COVID-19. Current Legislation No . 32 | 2020 5 Article 7 bis(1) defines these foreign direct investments as “all those investments as a result of which the investor holds 10% or more of the share capital of the Spanish company, or when as a result of the capital transaction, act or lawful business the investor effectively participates in the man- agement or control of that company,