ReleaseWire Connect

GRP Rainer Lawyers Tax Advisors, Cologne, Berlin, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart, Hanover, Bremen, Nuremberg Essen and London www.grprainer.com/en explains: In its judgments of 24 January 2013 (Az.: I ZR 58/11 – I ZR 61/11 and I ZR 65/11), the Federal Court of Justice provided a few clarifications with respect to the advertising of companies with the same name.

GRP Rainer Lawyers and Tax Advisors, Cologne, Berlin, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Munich, Stuttgart, Bremen, Nuremberg and London www.grprainer.com/en explain: Right now in corporate groups and firms that operate across Europe or even worldwide, it is highly likely that a worker will be active at a subsidiary company abroad during the course of his career. When this happens, primary residence in the home country is frequently retained.

GRP Rainer Lawyers Tax Advisors, Cologne, Berlin, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart, Hanover, Bremen, Nuremberg Essen and London www.grprainer.com/en explains: In its ruling of 27 September 2012 (Az. II R 9/11), the Federal Fiscal Court (BFH) again presented the German Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG) with the question of whether individual provisions of the ErbStG as amended in 2009 are unconstitutional by reason of infringing the general principle of equality. The reason given for the need for greater clarity from the German Federal Constitutional Court is that the tax allowances from the new ErbStG overlap the earlier Act and could even lead to a complete exemption from the tax. These tax allowances with far reaching financial implications would extend beyond what is constitutionally admissible. With the amending law, tax exemption is the rule and actual taxation the exception.

GRP Rainer Lawyers Tax Advisors, Cologne, Berlin, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Munich, Stuttgart, Bremen, Nuremberg and London grprainer.com/en explain: The trend towards primarily studied specialists who have acquired their expertise in Germany emigrating abroad seems to be ongoing. German businesses are therefore increasingly reliant on not only passively waiting for qualified applications but even actively hiring potential employees.

GRP Rainer Lawyers Tax Advisors, Cologne, Berlin, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Munich, Stuttgart, Bremen, Nuremberg and London www.grprainer.com/en explain: Compliance managers ought to prevent violations of applicable law, in particular criminal offences of the company’s workers. If a compliance manager acts objectively contrary to the law and knew of the illegality of his conduct, then a dismissal may well be permitted according to the Berlin Labour Court in its judgment of 18 February 2010, Az. 38 Ca 12879/09.

GRP Rainer Lawyers and Tax Advisors, Cologne, Berlin, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Munich, Stuttgart, Bremen, Nuremberg and London www.grprainer.com/en explain: In most wills, married couples reciprocally appoint themselves as heirs and subsequently their children as final heirs in equal shares. This appears to clarify the succession. However, it is frequently not taken into account that in the event of the death of one of the parents, one of the siblings can demand their legal share.

GRP Rainer Lawyers Tax Advisors, Cologne, Berlin, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart, Hanover, Bremen, Nuremberg, Essen and London www.grprainer.com/en explain: This also does not therefore have to render a consecutive action inadmissible. In the event of an improper warning notice, the party concerned should not have to definitively accept the infringement.

GRP Rainer Lawyers and Tax Advisors in Cologne, Berlin, Bonn, Dusseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Munich, Stuttgart, Bremen Nuremberg and London www.grprainer.com/en conclude: The Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf decided with effect from September 14th, 2012 (case I-16 U 77/11) that contracts between procurers of mobile phone accounts and providers of mobile phone accounts shall generally be subject to the commercial agency law (Handelsvertreterrecht). An authorised dealer is one who buys goods under a permanent contract and resells them on his own behalf and for his own account. On the contrary, commercial agent shall be one who operates an independent commercial enterprise with his own business risk, who is permanently bound by contract to act as an agent for other entrepreneurs, and in that way arranges or concludes commercial transactions on behalf of and for account of a third party.

GRP Rainer Lawyers Tax Advisors, Cologne, Berlin, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Munich, Stuttgart, Bremen, Nuremberg and London www.grprainer.com/en explain: Investments abroad also appear to be continuing to increase in the banking sector. At the same time, the investor who is least familiar with the sector is grateful for any expert advice. The publications of so-called rating agencies that assess the credit rating of banks are therefore frequently relied upon.

GRP Rainer Lawyers Tax Advisors, Cologne, Berlin, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart, Hanover, Bremen, Nuremberg, Essen and London www.grprainer.com/en explain: If a brokerage agreement concluded between a broker and an interested party is invalid, the broker may nonetheless be entitled to claim commission. This would firstly be conditional upon the broker acting as a salesman for the interested party, who must also be able to discern this. Additionally, the broker’s services have to be justified by the existing relationship between the parties concerned, i.e. the broker may not act without a legal basis from the perspective of the interested parties.