Anri Leimanis, attorney of TRINITI, a pan-Baltic alliance of  law firms, writes on the subject of franchising.

The EU has started making efforts to create a unified European patent system which is likely to enter into force in the first half of 2014, writes Vilija Viesunaite, partner and attorney at law of pan-Baltic law alliance TRINITI.

Settlement of cross-border cases and problems related to enforcement of judicial decision in another Member State has become increasingly more significant, writes Anni Prants from TRINITI, a pan-Baltic cross-border legal practice.

Several international corporations have established branches in Estonia and the number of such branches is expected to grow in the future. Therefore it is apparent that the matters of applying the Estonian labour law to alien employees need to be explained in a short format, writes attorney Ramil Pärdi.

Little has been said about bankruptcy as an option for exit although it is an option that should be considered seriously for quite a number of companies.

Linas Sabaliauskas, attorney-at-law and partner of TRINITI, a Baltic alliance of law firms, writes that in the near future venture capital markets in the Baltic States are going to expand even more rapidly, providing new opportunities and opening new possibilities to the players of the private equity and venture capital markets.

E20 is a west to east route covering some 1800 km spanning Northern Europe from Limerick (Ireland) to St Petersburg (Russia). The total size of the „E20 economy“ is estimated at around 150 billion euros with a market in excess of 22 million people, writes Tõnis Tamme, partner of TRINITI, an allience of Baltic commercial law firms.

Last week, yields on 10-year US government bonds declined almost to 2%. That is the lowest level since 1954. This could indicate a bubble, and countries like China, Japan and Russia could be about to lose some of the value of their currency reserves.

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The following article is written by Relika Mell, lead auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers:

Swedish banks have financed the Estonian banking system for years. Today they pay Estonian savers 5% interest rates, while receiving only 4% on some of the loans issued a couple of years ago. Credit-losses are building.

<STRONG>In BBN Taxblog PricewaterhouseCoopers' consultants Erki Uustalu and Ain Veide are introducing interesting tax points.

The following article is written by Girts Ruda, Sorainen partner:

The rapid worldwide economic slowdown means a rapid decline of Estonian inflation. And a rapid decline of Estonian inflation could lead to a rapid adoption of the euro in Estonia.

<STRONG>In BBN Taxblog PricewaterhouseCoopers' consultants Erki Uustalu and Ain Veide are introducing interesting tax points.

The Estonian labour-market had a strong third quarter. But now starts the big test of its flexibility.

The following article is written by <XEM>Paulius Koverovas, lawyer at Sorainen:</XEM>