In The Corner Office, we ask Managing Partners at law firms across Central and Eastern Europe about their backgrounds, strategies, and responsibilities. As we bid farewell to 2023, this time around we turn our attention forward: What is your one main wish for 2024 and what do you see as the biggest potential risk?

Following almost four years of consultations and debates, on March 29, 2023, Romania’s Government has submitted for the adoption of the Senate the draft law on the Code of Land Planning, Urbanism and Construction (the “Urbanism Code”).

MPR Partners has advised EnPower Energy on the development and sale of a 60-megawatt photovoltaic project near Ovidiu, Romania, to Israel's Econergy International.

It is said that every cloud has a silver lining. As unfortunate as the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic were, one of them was in fact positive: Romanian legislators sprang into action to adopt measures accelerating the digitalization of public services.

Romania's markets faced a bit of a slow start to the year but have since overcome it and are back on the right track, according to MPR Partners Partner Daniel Alexie.

In the pursuit of promoting renewable energy sources and achieving goals like decarbonization, as well as more ambitious ones such as energy independence, the European Union constantly both encourages and imposes achieving these objectives on the member states. As the whole world was recently shaken by pandemics and war, we are now facing an energy crisis worsened by these tragedies. In this context, in the second half of last year, Romanian legislators adopted several pieces of legislation aimed at mending various blockages encountered in practice by RES developers.

It is no secret that Romania is the EU Member State with the least digitised services in the public administration. But that is about to change.

In December 2022, the European Parliament and the Council adopted Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 on digital operational resilience for the financial sector and amending Regulations (EC) no. 1006/2009, (EU) no. 648/2012, (EU) no. 600/2014, (EU) no. 909/2014 and (EU) 2016/1011 (the “Digital Operational Resilience Act” or “DORA”).

Former Senior Privacy & Technology Consultant Cristina Cretu has been promoted to a Partner position with MPR Partners in London on March 1, 2023.

MPR Partners has advised V-Ridium on its acquisition of two photovoltaic parks in Romania with a combined production capacity of 6 megawatts. Legalias reportedly advised the sellers.

Contributed by MPR Partners.

Romania benefits from being one of the EU countries with lower cinematographic production costs, and that is why it is on the radar of many international studios. The cumulative annual turnover of the film industry in Romania is approximately EUR 53 million, derived mainly from foreign productions in Romania.

On October 20, 2022, the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 140/2022 on the single industrial licence (“GEO 140/2022”) adopted by the Romanian Government has been published in the Official Gazette.

Romania has recently launched a State aid scheme for the purpose of encouraging investments in the manufacturing industry, with view, on the one hand, to overcome current extensive labour shortages and the diminished trade flows to and from Ukraine caused by the armed conflict therein, and, on the other hand, to facilitate access to new international markets.

On July 26, 2022, Law no. 265/2022 regarding the Trade Registry and for amending and supplementing certain legal enactments impacting the registration in the Trade Registry has been published in the Official Gazette of Romania (“Law 265/2022”). 

On August 4, 2022, Ordinance no. 18/2022 on the authorization and functioning of representative offices of foreign companies and economic organizations in Romania (“GO 18/2022”) adopted by the Romanian Government has been published in the Official Gazette.

The last few years have brought incredible leaps in technology, all fields seeing new and impressive heights that could only be imagined twenty years ago. But the rapid developments in technology came with greater risks in terms of cybersecurity. Romania plays an important role in terms of resources and capabilities in the cybersecurity field and makes ensuring a safe cyberspace a top priority for the country.

MPR Partners has advised GreenVolt subsidiaries V-Ridium Solar 45 and V-Ridium Renewables on their EUR 83 million acquisition of a photovoltaic project from the Samsung C&T Corporation. Schoenherr and, reportedly, Herbert Smith Freehills advised the seller. CMS reportedly advised a consortium of banks on financing the acquisition.