New provisions regarding environmental studies

In 2012, Romania banned the execution of power purchase agreements (the “PPAs”) by direct negotiations, imposing that all wholesale transactions be concluded on the centralized market operated by the Operator of the Electricity and Gas Market Opcom S.A. (“OPCOM”). The measure was imposed through article 23 of the Electricity and Gas Law no. 123/2012 (the “Energy Law”), law newly adopted at that time.

After a long and drawn out legislative process commenced in 2017, Law no. 102/2020 amending and supplementing the Companies Law no. 31/1990 (“Law 102/2020”) has finally entered into force on July 5, 2020, setting in place major changes to the corporate regulatory framework.

As the recent pandemic showed, the modern world fully relies on the good functioning of the electronic communication sector. Communication plays an important part these days for individuals, businesses, public authorities, and the implementation of 5G technology will create the premises for enhancing the way society uses and benefits from the electronic communication sector.

On 11 December 2019, the European Commission (the “Commission”) presented the European Green Deal (the “Green Deal”), with the aim that European Union becomes the first climate – neutral bloc in the world by 2050. To this purpose, European Union will be transformed into a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy where there will be no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050 and the economic growth will be decoupled from resource use.

On 27 May 2020, Order of the Minister of Environment, Water and Forest no. 1.134 from May 20, 2020 was published in the Official Gazette no. 445. (the “Order no. 1.134/2020”).

On January 29, 2020, the European Commission adopted the Communication that endorsed the Cybersecurity of 5G networks EU Toolbox of risk mitigating measures (“5G EU Toolbox”).

The former MPR Partners | Maravela, Popescu & Roman law firm in Romania has announced "the cessation of the professional partnership with attorney Ioan Roman," and its consequent rebranding as MPR Partners | Maravela, Popescu & Asociatii.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Romanian authorities enacted several tax measures in order to prevent the business environment from collapsing. By way of example, some of the already implemented measures are the following: (i) recalculation of the specific annual tax in order to reduce the impact on cash flow; (ii) granted tax benefits to certain categories of employees; (iii) extension of the deadlines for submitting the annual financial statements, etc.

As a direct consequence of the COVID-19 outbreak and the consequent measures implemented by the Romanian State, the economic growth process has experienced a short to medium term slowdown, impacting the labor market and subsequently household income.

The evolution of the national and international epidemiological situation determined by the COVID-19 outbreak, along with the establishment of the state of emergency within the territory of Romania on March 16, 2020 and the subsequent extension for another 30 days of the same, determined the Romanian Government to adopt a series of new tax measures, mainly aimed at increasing the cash flow both at the level of public and private entities.

In the context of the new Covid-19 pandemic spread worldwide, the need to ensure medical equipment services is among the priorities in Romania. In this respect, on April 8, 2020, was published the Order of the Minister of Health no. 566/2020[1] (“Order 566/2020”), which approves the Methodological Norms for the application of Title XX of Law no. 95/2006 regarding the reform in the health system, for the authorization of activities in the field of medical devices (the “Methodological Norms”).

Recently, a decision following a dispute resolution between an electronic communication provider and an electricity distribution provider was issued in Romania. This is a premiere and its origins sit with the provisions of the Directive 2014/61/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on measures to reduce the cost of deploying high-speed electronic communications networks (“Directive 2014/61/EU”).

Considering that the Draft Emergency Ordinance on certain measures related to corporate law (the ”Draft Emergency Ordinance”) has been launched for public debate and proposes various measures aiming to help Romanian companies in the Covid-19 outbreak context (for example, the possibility for holding virtual shareholder meetings even if such possibility is not reflected in the company’s articles of incorporation), MPR½Partners has proposed further amendments in this regard, for the purpose of assisting companies with other formalities that are difficult to achieve in the current context.

The issue of the protection of airline passengers has been an international priority ever since air travel has become the fastest and safest way to travel long distances.

Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down measures concerning open internet access and amending Directive 2002/22/EC on universal service and users’ rights relating to electronic communications networks and services and Regulation (EU) No 531/2012 on roaming on public mobile communications networks within the Union (“Net Neutrality Regulation”) has as a main scope to safeguard equal and non-discriminatory treatment of traffic in the provision of internet access services and related end-users’ rights.

In the context of constant evolution of regulations in the aviation field at European level, Romania enacted Law no. 21/2020 regarding the New Airline Code on March 19, 2020 (“New Airline Code”). The New Airline Code is by far one of the most important national regulatory instruments, being designed as an integrated civil-military air code, flexible enough to allow the application or implementation of the present and future European regulations.

Pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (“General Data Protection Regulation”), controllers must only use processors that provide sufficient guarantees regarding their capability to implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure that all processing activities are performed and protected in line with the legal requirements.