Tue | 10.05.2022
Legal
Change of the delegation and secondment allowance, including the allowance specific to transnational secondment under Law 72/2022. Thus, although the level of up to 2.5 times the level of allowance set for staff of public authorities was maintained, the allowance was capped at 3 basic salaries.
Thus, starting May 2022, this allowance is deductible if it is not more than:
(i) in Romania, 2.5 times the legal level set for the allowance, by Government decision, for staff of public authorities and institutions, but within the limit of 3 basic salaries corresponding to the position held;
(ii) abroad, 2.5 times the legal level established for daily subsistence allowance, by Government decision, for Romanian staff sent abroad for temporary assignments, within the limit of 3 basic salaries corresponding to the position held.
The ceiling for the value of 3 basic salaries corresponding to the position held is calculated by dividing the 3 salaries by the number of working days in the concerned month, and the result is multiplied by the number of days of the period of delegation/secondment/work in another city, in Romania or abroad.
On 14 April 2022, Government Emergency Ordinance no. 47 was approved, regarding the Price adjustment of public procurement contracts/sectoral contracts/concession contracts/framework agreements in order to create the legal framework for the price adjustment of public procurement contracts, not only for works, but also for products relating to fitting and/or technological and functional machinery and equipment necessary carry out the works and, respectively, to put them into operation and/or intended for the specific equipment and fitting of investment objectives/projects/current maintenance and repair works and for design services for transport infrastructure of national interest.
Government Emergency Ordinance no. 47 lists the contracts to which the adjustment applies, the method of adjustment and the procedure to be followed by the contracting companies in order to benefit from the adjustment granted.
Law 81/2022 transposes Directive (EU) 2019/633 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on unfair trading practices in business-to-business relationships in the agricultural and food supply chain.
Objective: business-to-business relationships between suppliers and buyers in the supply chain, on unfair trading practices which occur in relation to sales of agricultural and/or food products, related to sales that have effect on Romanian territory, irrespective of the place where these took place, respectively of the services provided by the buyer to the supplier.
Law 81//2022 lists the unfair trading practices that are prohibited, the exceptions and the applicable sanctions.
Emergency Government Ordinance No. 46/2022 (FDI Law) implementing the Regulation (EU) 2019/452 of 19 March establishing a framework for the screening of foreign direct investments (FDI Regulation) into the Union was officially published on 18 April 2022.
to screen foreign direct investments (FDI) in their territory on the grounds of security or public order, taking into account the comments of other Member States to such FDI pursuant to the FDI Regulation, as well as the opinions of the European Commission.
I. FDI subject to the screen mechanism and to clearance requirements before their implementation
FDI / new investments subject to the screen mechanism and clearance requirements are those complying with the following conditions:
Definition of FDI and new investments
FDI = an investment of any kind by a foreign investor, including investments which enable effective participation in the management or control. An FDI consists also in a change of control if the control is undertaken by a foreign investor.
Foreign investor = a natural person of a third country or an undertaking of a third country or an European based company controlled by a natural person / undertaking of third country.
The screen mechanism also applies to new investments = greenfield investments, investments for the extension of the current capacity productions, diversification of the production or for significant changes to the current production processes.
Sensitive sectors include the following:
Special transparency rules are foreseen for investments in media companies (i) with audio-visual licences or that (ii) produce a regular publication with an average of at least 5,000 printed copies/day in the last calendar year or that (iii) hold a web portal with a minimum of 10,000 views/month. Such investments will be subject to a public consultation process of at least 30 calendar days.
II. Competent Authorities
The FDI Screening Commission will be formally set up within 30 days as of publication of the FDI Law and should become operational within 60 days.
The FDI Screening Commission will be directly subordinated to the Romanian Government. It will consist of representatives of the Prime Minister, the Romanian Competition Council and representatives of other ministries. Representatives of the Romanian Intelligence Bureau and Foreign Intelligence Bureau will be permanent invitees to the FDI Screening Commission.
At the same time, the FDI Law sets out that the Competition Council might make a referral to the FDI Screening Commission when receiving a merger control filing to check if further screening is necessary or not.
III. Screening mechanism
The FDI filings will be submitted with the Competition Council, having clerical functions for the FDI Screening Commission.
In determining whether a foreign direct investment is likely to affect security or public order, the FDI Screening Commission may consider its potential effects on, inter alia: critical infrastructure, critical technologies and dual use items, supply of critical inputs, access to sensitive information, including personal data, or the ability to control such information, or the freedom and pluralism of the media. On the same time, the FDI Screening Commission will check
Based on its review, the FDI Screening Commission may issue:
IV. Sanctions and fines
The FDI Law sets out pecuniary sanctions up to 10 % of the total worldwide turnover for (i) procedural gun-jumping, (ii) providing inaccurate or misleading information or (iii) failure to observe the commitments set in a conditional clearance decision. The competent authority for applying the sanctions is Competition Council.
In the case of enterprises newly established as a result of foreign direct investment, which have not earned a turnover in the year preceding the sanction, these will be sanctioned with a fine between EUR 2 Million (RON 10,000,000) and EUR 10 Million (RON 50,000,000).
V. Transitory regime
The new regime came into force on 18 April 2022. However, the FDI Screening Commission has not been set up. The FDI Law applies to all “ongoing transactions”, including investments in relation to which the parties announced their intention to conclude an agreement. The transactions occurring during the interim period, i.e. until the FDI Screening Commission shall be set up, should be notified to the Competition Council for the attention of the former review authority.
Disclaimer: The information provided herein is in no way exhaustive and does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. Readers of this Article should contact their attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular legal matter.
This article is provided by our Legal Partner BBW LAW l BORA BANU van de WAART.
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