Dansk

universadvokater.com

Your partner for legal advice in Denmark. - And outside of.

Vi har ...

  • inddrevet et par tusinde kroner i Sverige
  • ført sag ved ICC International Court of Arbitration i Paris mod en mellemøstlig stat for næsten en milliard kroner
  • bistået med GDPR-compliance i små 30 lande
  • hjulpet et hav af internationale klienter med udfordringer i Danmark
  • arbejdet med kontrakter vedrørende Bahrains nationale museum, artefakter fra Egyptens pyramider og med Iraks Nimrod-guld
  • håndplukket de helt rigtige lokale advokater til klienter, der opererer i fx Thailand, Panama og Spanien.

og udført tusinder af andre internationale opgaver.

Så mon ikke vi også kan hjælpe jer, når I har brug for juridisk hjælp på tværs af grænserne ...

Statutory transfer pricing documentation must be submitted on time to avoid fines

Transfer pricing concerns the setting of prices and terms and conditions for the trade that takes place between two or more parties in the same corporate group (so-called "controlled transactions"). Companies are obliged to prepare written documentation that can form the basis for an assessment as to whether the prices and terms and conditions of the controlled transactions are in accordance with what could have been achieved if the transactions had taken place between independent parties.

Previously, the rule was that documentation had to be submitted upon request from the Tax Authority, but under new rules the documentation must be submitted automatically to the Tax Authority no later than 60 days after the deadline for submitting the tax return.

If the documentation is not submitted on time, a decision will be made as to whether the company should be fined for its failure to submit the documentation, and practice in this area is strict. Companies that either intentionally or grossly negligently fail to submit their documentation on time can be fined DKK 250,000 per company per financial year plus an additional fine of 10% of any increase in income derived from the lack of documentation. If the company subsequently submits the documentation, the fine can be reduced to DKK 125,000 per company per financial year, but still with the additional fine of 10% of any increase in income.

International network


universadvokater has global relationships facilitating highly effective multi-jurisdictional work.

universadvokater's partners have several decades of experience in international practice covering the full spectrum from day-to-day cross border business to multi-million dollar projects and dispute resolution.

universadvokater has a unique and close personal network of lawyers in excellent law firms throughout the world.

Vi rådgiver naturligvis også danske virksomheder vedrørende deres internationale forretninger.

Who we are

Working nationally and internationally from our base in the city of Aarhus (known in Denmark as “The city of smiles”) we provide the full range of legal services that our clients and partners across the world need.

Business advisory

We have the expertise to assist clients at every stage of setting up, running and developing their business.

Whatever stage of growth your business is at, and whatever stage of the commercial process you are at, we can assist with commercially focused legal advice and guidance that will help you maximize potential.

Our business advisory team can advise and support you with:

  • Commercial contracts
  • IP/IT issues
  • Data protection and privacy law
  • Consumer protection issues for digital sales B2C
  • Employment law and posting of workers
  • International recruitment issues
  • Commercial litigation and arbitration
  • Debt recovery

Commercial real estate

Our experience in the real estate sector helps us to understand every angle of complex real estate transactions, and we provide practical and efficient solutions to complex real estate problems. Whatever your financial and commercial objectives, we provide advice that is tailor made to help you achieve them.

Our commercial real estate team can advise and support you with:

  • Acquisitions and sales
  • Asset management
  • Leases
  • Property litigation
  • Development and construction
  • Planning law
  • Environmental issues

Corporate

We advise businesses of all sizes and whether it’s a question of buying or selling company assets, setting up or acquiring a new subsidiary or corporate governance. We provide strategic and commercially focused advice to assist you manage your transactions efficiently and quickly.

Our approach is both pragmatic and innovative. We use our experience as well as our creativity to provide strategic advice which will help you find practical solutions to your corporate challenges and assist you to achieve your objectives.

Our corporate team can advise and support you with:

  • Mergers and acquisitions
  • Due diligence
  • Corporate restructuring
  • Private equity transactions
  • General corporate advisory
  • Company secretarial work.

Private client


We are always happy to have a preliminary discussion at no charge.

If you need Danish legal advice on a family law or private matter, our team will be happy to assist you and ensure that you receive the support and guidance you need.

Send an email to mail@universadvokater.dk with a short description of the matter you would like advice about, and one of our private client team will give you a call. We are always happy to have a preliminary discussion at no charge. 

Our team can advise and support you with:

  • Wills and inheritance matters
  • Family law, including nuptial agreements
  • Division of assets
  • Danish summerhouse law and recreational use compliance
  • Conveyancing.

LEGAL NOTICE

Please click here to go to our Legal Notice page.

The Legal Notice page is in the Danish language, but you may use the translation tool on the page's top menu to translate the page into a language of your own choice.

Please note that translations may be inaccurate. In case of any difference in meaning between the Danish language original version and any translation thereof, the Danish language original version shall be applicable.

NEWS
Whistleblowing

Danish private sector undertakings with more than 249 employees are required to have adequate whistleblower protection measures in place no later than December 17, 2021.

December 17, 2023 onwards the requirements are extended to include undertakings with 50 to 249 employees.

The Danish bill in question implements the EU Directive 2019/1937, also known as the whistleblower directive. The bill pertains not only to whistleblowing on EU law breaches, but generally on "serious violations of the law or other serious offences".

universadvokater will be happy to assist corporate clients with having all protective measures required in place, timely and adequately, in Denmark only or cross-border.

 

Dispute Resolution

At UNIVERSADVOKATER we work to prevent and resolve many different types of disputes though pragmatic and strategic legal advice that focuses on our clients’ objectives.

We offer a wide range of dispute resolution services and are experienced in assisting our clients with negotiations, mediations, arbitration, litigation, and multi-party proceedings as well as appellate proceedings in many different areas of the law, such as commercial property disputes, construction disputes, corporate & shareholder disputes, debt recovery, employment disputes (including claims of discrimination), intellectual property disputes and IT disputes.

We represent clients in regulatory inquiries and enforcement proceedings as well as related civil disputes and litigation. We are also experienced in advising clients on the wider risk and public relations issues that are often involved in commercial disputes.

Privacy and information security


We advise clients operating across a broad range of sectors including tourism, technology, energy, construction, commercial real estate and entertainment services on the whole spectrum of legal and regulatory issues related to data protection, information security and privacy.

Our team can advise and support you with:

  • Drafting data protection policies, including incident response policies.
  • Navigating the restrictions on collection and use of consumer information.
  • Consumer engagement activities such as marketing and advertising
  • Training on how to handle a data breach, and assistance with actual data incidents and breaches.
  • Regulatory compliance advice including compliance assessment and remediation.

Employment and Human Resources

Whatever the size of your business it is more than likely that you will encounter HR related challenges along the way and will appreciate commercially focused advice and sparring on how best to tackle them.

We can provide you with pragmatic, business-oriented advice and assist with all manner of employment law related queries, such as:

  • Contracts including employment contracts, director contracts and consultancy agreements
  • Employee incentives
  • Change management including workforce reduction, collective redundancies, changes to existing terms and conditions and exit negotiations for senior employees
  • Diversity and equality issues
  • Confidentiality issues including restrictive covenants and business protection
  • Sick leave issues including assistance with the Danish 120 day rule
  • Working environment rules and requirements
  • International recruitment including posting workers internationally and hiring foreign workers into Denmark
  • Discrimination cases
  • Dismissals

Intellectual property

Creating and protecting the intellectual property of your business is often fundamental to creating and protecting your competitive edge. We advise businesses of all shapes and sizes about their intellectual property, and we take care to tailor our thinking and assistance to each particular business and each particular challenge.

Our team can advise and support you with:

  • Strategies for IP protection
  • Intellectual property registrations
  • Marketing law
  • Competition law
  • Protecting trade secrets
  • Domain name issues
  • Intellectual Property disputes
  • Negotiating and drafting agreements, such as licence agreements, transfer agreements, joint venture agreements, distribution agreements and IT contracts.

German formalities for contracts and other documents

When dealing with a partner from a different country, it is always a good idea to keep in mind that there may be specific formal requirements that must be complied with in the country where your partner is established.

This applies when a Danish company does business with a German partner. For example, when entering into a contract with a German partner it is important to note that not every form of contract is legally binding in Germany.

Section 126 of the German Civil Code states that if the written form is prescribed by an applicable law, the physical document must be signed by the issuer himself with a wet signature.

Conversely, this means that the written form can be replaced by the electronic form if the law does not state otherwise.

Its also worth noting that invoices, orders, cancellations and direct debit authorizations can be received digitally in Germany.

Can foreigners buy a holiday home in Denmark?

Not usually is the short answer!

As a general rule, it is not possible for foreigners to buy a holiday home in Denmark, and this applies regardless of whether you are an EU-citizen or not.

However, special permission can be obtained from the Ministry of Justice if the applicant has a particularly strong affiliation with Denmark. When assessing the applicants affiliation with Denmark, the Ministry of Justice will look at any prior periods of residence in Denmark, and any special family, business, cultural or economic connection to Denmark, as well as any special connection that the applicant has to the property that they wish to acquire.

Can foreigners buy a houseboat in Denmark?

Whilst several restrictions apply to foreigners' purchases of real estate (including holiday homes) in Denmark, the same restrictions do not apply to the purchase of houseboats.

As a general rule, EU citizens are able to buy a houseboat in Denmark and use it as a holiday home. However, as always when buying a home, there are many factors that should be investigated before signing the purchase agreement.

We advise you to reserve the right to consult a Danish lawyer before finalising a purchase agreement (tage advokatforbehold).

European Commission proposal for a new directive to combat greenwashing

The European Commission published its proposal for a green claims directive on March 22, 2023. In recent times European countries, including Denmark, have also been developing their national laws and taking steps to accelerate the process at a national level.

The European Commission's proposal is known as the "Directive on substantiation and communication of explicit environmental claims", and it aims specifically to regulate green claims and protect consumers from greenwashing and misleading environmental claims.

If the Directive is implemented, it will impose new obligations on businesses when making green claims. These obligations will apply in addition to general obligations under already existing advertising laws that claims must not be misleading.

The Directive provides, among other things, that before making any green claims, businesses must carry out a life-cycle assessment based on widely recognised scientific evidence (where possible). The assessment must then be made available to consumers and for independent verification.  Businesses must keep the life-cycle assessment under review and update it either when the science evolves or, as a minimum, after 5 years.  There is also a new provision related to the regulation of mission statement claims which, if implemented, will mean that when a business decides to make a mission statement claim about how it intends to improve its environmental impact, it must set a deadline for when it intends to complete the mission.

In Denmark, the Marketing Practices Act already regulates this area and violation of the relevant provisions of the Act is punishable by fine. The Consumer Ombudsman plays an important role in enforcing the rules in the Act that regulate greenwashing. In 2021 the Consumer Ombudsman published a Quick Guide for businesses on environmental marketing as part of its efforts to combat misleading greenwashing in Denmark.

The Consumer Ombudsman investigated several companies use of green claims in 2022 and emphasised that when a company uses green claims in its marketing, for example by claiming that its products are less harmful to the environment than other products, the company must be able to document its claims.

Whilst the Consumer Ombudsman has responsibility for investigating alleged greenwashing cases in Denmark, financial sanctions can only be imposed by the Courts following a police investigation and trial. Whilst the Consumer Ombudsman did not report any greenwashing cases to the police in 2022, the increasing focus on the regulation of environmental marketing means that it can only be a matter of time before a police report is made in a greenwashing case in Denmark.

You can access the Consumer Ombudsmans Quick Guide in Danish here:

https://www.forbrugerombudsmanden.dk/media/56731/kvikguide-om-miljoemarkedsfoering.pdf

 

 

 

Det nye direktiv om cybersikkerhed, NIS2

Cybersikkerheden har i stigende grad været truet i den seneste tid. Dette hænger tæt sammen med den digitale omstilling.

Derfor har EU for nyligt vedtaget et nyt direktiv, NIS2, som har til formål at sikre et højere og mere ensartet niveau af cyber- og informationssikkerhed på tværs af EU. Derudover skal der med det nye direktiv nu føres skarpere tilsyn, og såfremt ledelsen i virksomheder ikke lever op til direktivets krav, kan den gøres ansvarlig for brud på loven.

 

Er din virksomhed omfattet?

NIS2-direktivet finder anvendelse på offentlige og private enheder, der kategoriseres som vigtige enheder eller væsentlige enheder, og som udøver aktivitet eller leverer ydelser inden for EU.

Vigtige enheder er eksempelvis enheder, der beskæftiger sig med fremstilling af elektronik og maskiner, eller enheder, der beskæftiger sig med fremstilling af fødevarer eller kemikalier, hvorimod væsentlige enheder eksempelvis er bankvirksomhed, energi og offentlig forvaltning.

Små virksomheder, der har en omsætning på mindre end 10 mio. euro og færre end 50 ansatte, bliver som udgangspunkt ikke omfattet af lovgivningen, idet der dog er visse undtagelser.[1]

 

Hvilke krav stiller direktivet til din virksomhed?

Hvis man er omfattet af direktivet, betyder det, at ledelsen i organisationen skal kende til de regler, der findes i direktivet. Ledelsen har nemlig ansvaret for, at cyberrisici bliver forebygget.

Der er i direktivet krav til risikostyring og generel robusthed. Det vil sige, at virksomheden skal bekæmpe og mindske risikoen for skade. Det nuværende NIS-direktiv, der bliver byttet ud med det nye, bestemmer, at de enheder, der er omfattet af direktivet, skal have rimelige regler og procedurer til sikring af cybersikkerheden.

Det nye direktiv supplerer med krav om visse sikkerhedstiltag, som en virksomhed som minimum skal have. Dette indebærer bl.a., at der skal være procedurer, som skal hjælpe med håndtering af hændelser. Det kunne f.eks. være et konkret cyberangreb.

Derudover skal organisationen havde generelle retningslinjer for at vurdere og analysere trusler mod cybersikkerheden. Hertil kommer endvidere, at den interne kommunikation, korrekt brug af kryptering, forsyningskæder mv. skal sikres i organisationen.

Direktivet indeholder også regler om sanktioner. Den primære sanktion mod organisationer, som ikke opfylder direktivets krav, vil være bødestraf.

Hvad er næste skridt, hvis din virksomhed er omfattet af direktivet?

Som virksomhed, der er omfattet af direktivet, er det for det første vigtigt, at man sætter sig ind i direktivets regler. Dette kan ske ved, at ledelsen inkorporerer de minimumskrav, der findes i direktivet. Derudover bør ledelsen danne sig et overblik over de nuværende tiltag, som sikrer cybersikkerheden i virksomheden, og hvordan disse kan bringes i overensstemmelse med de nye krav.

Medlemsstaterne skal implementere NIS2-direktivet senest den 17. oktober 2024.

Som med meget andet EU-retlig lovgivning kan kravene virke overskuelige og omfattende. Derfor kan det være nødvendigt at søge advokatbistand eller teknisk bistand, så man sikrer sig, at kravene i direktivet efterleves.

 ------------------------

NIS2-direktivet kan ses i EU-tidende. 

The European Commission introduces a new “right to repair” for consumers

On the 22 of March 2023 the Commission adopted a proposal on rules to promote the repair of goods.

Historically, replacement has often been prioritised over repair whenever products became defective. The new proposal will make it easier and more cost-effective for consumers to get their defective products repaired as opposed to replacing them.

The proposal introduces a new right to repair' for consumers, both within and beyond the legal guarantee period.

Within the legal guarantee period, sellers will be required to offer repair except when it is more expensive than replacement.

 

 

Beyond the legal guarantee period, a new set of rights will be available to consumers to make repair' an easy and accessible option.

The proposal is part of the European Commission's broader goal of becoming the first climate neutral continent by 2050. From an environmental perspective, repair is seen as an important element of a circular economy, as it can slow down the use of resources and the flow of materials and this, in turn, can mean fewer greenhouse gas emissions and less waste. According to the Commission, discarded products are often viable goods that could be repaired but instead are thrown out prematurely, resulting in 35 million tons of waste, 30 million tons of resources and 261 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU every year. The Commission also estimates that the loss for consumers of opting for replacement instead of repair is almost EUR 12 billion per year.

The Commission's proposal has still to be adopted by the European Parliament and the Council and the final form of the directive has still to be decided.

Aarhus - City of Smiles

The British Institute for Quality of Life has just named Aarhus as the city with the happiest inhabitants in the world. Helsinki ranks 8th.

In 2023, the UN report World Happiness Report named Finland as the country with the worlds happiest citizens, while Denmark came in second.

Modtag en e-mail, når der er nyt på siden:
Jørgen Pedersen
Advokat (H), partner (Attorney)
Gitte Nedergaard
Advokat (H), partner (Attorney)
Claus Olsen
Advokat (H), partner
David Kjær Hermansen
Advokat (Attorney)
Andreas Peter Olesen
Advokat (Attorney)
Alexander Hoyer Olsen
Advokatfuldmægtig
Alexander Møller-Heuer
Advokatfuldmægtig
Jeanette Stage Pedersen
Advokatfuldmægtig
Sara Nielsen
Socialrådgiver, cand.soc.
Puk Jespersen
Juridisk sagsbehandler
Gitte Meyer
Secretary
Trinh Nguyen
Secretary
Lisbet Lüthi Schultz
Juridisk sagsbehandler
Birgitte Hegaard Højer
Juridisk sagsbehandler
Julie Pilegaard Pedersen
Receptionist, kontorassistent
Pia Bidstrup
Chief accountant
Kathrine Pilgaard Dolberg
Studentermedarbejder
Alvin Lee Kuiper
IT-supporter
Mikail Özer
Advokatstuderende (stud.jur.)
Janni Føste Andersen
Advokatstuderende (stud.jur.)
Søren Hartmann
Advokatstuderende
Victor Larsen
Advokatstuderende (stud.jur.)
Rasmus Fredensborg Madsen
Advokatstuderende (stud.jur.)
Joachim Hoyer Olsen
Advokatstuderende (stud.jur.)
Jonathan Larsen
Studentermedarbejder
Jonas Duedahl Kristiansen
Salgschef, Fyn og Jylland
Dudal Webdesign