Despite a bit of political uncertainty, Lucian Danilescu, Partner at Danilescu Hulub & Partners, is excited over Romania's macro-economic indicators and its potential upcoming infrastructure projects.

The European Data Protection Supervisor has published a case-law digest on the transfer of personal data to third countries¹. The case-law digest aims to clarify the structure of the analysis carried out by the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) in judgments concerning the transfer of personal data to third countries, in particular by highlighting the steps followed and the jurisprudential acquis in relevant case law.

On April 19, 2021, CEE Legal Matters reported that Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii had advised Coca-Cola HBC Romania on its acquisition of 50% of the share capital in the Stockday b2b e-commerce platform from Heineken Romania. CEE In-House Matters spoke with Raluca Alexandru, Legal Manager at Coca-Cola HBC Romania, to learn more about the deal.

The first part of July 2021 marks an important step at the level of the EU in its road towards the European Green Deal objectives. On July 14, 2021, the European Commission (EC) announced the rather complex set of reforms under the Fit for 55 package. Only a week before, the EC issued the Renewed Sustainable Finance Strategy setting forth the main steps going forward towards placing ESG-disclosures and sustainability matters at the heart of financing system and economy in the EU.

Hategan Attorneys has announced that it had internally reconfigured from what the firm describes as a pyramidal structure to a horizontal one. 

CMS' Malgorzata Surdek-Janicka has been appointed as Vice-President of the International Court of Arbitration at the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris. Aside from Surdek-Janicka, 33 lawyers from CEE were appointed as members and alternate members of the court.

The close relationship between data protection and cyber security results from Art. 5 of the European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) which outlines one of the most important principles relating to processing of personal data: “integrity and confidentiality”.

The global pandemic has impacted all markets, with subsequent ramifications for M&A. Investors are now seeking greater protection against general lock-downs and supply-chain disruptions, while governments aim to protect critical supplies and services by imposing new regulations on foreign investment in crucial or strategic industries.

In this article we tackle two major questions for any real estate investor when taking a decision regarding a future real estate project: to what extent is it permitted to erect buildings on land plots designated as green areas upon their acquisition or upon securing those plots for the future project? And what about when a reconversion of such land plots from green areas into other functions, such as commercial, residential, industrial etc., occurred at some point in the past?

The COVID-19 pandemic has boosted digitalization and digital interaction at all levels of European society. Along with increased interconnectivity, however, came greater vulnerabilities and threats from a cybersecurity perspective.

The Health Ministry and the Ministry of Internal Affairs have issued Order no. 1204/99/09.07.2021 to supplement Order no. 874/81/2020, which established an obligation to wear a protective mask, epidemiological triage and mandatory hand disinfection to prevent contamination with the SARS-CoV-2 virus during the state of alert (the “Order”) and have published it in the Official Gazette no. 683 dated 9 July 2021.

The VAT legislation applicable to cross-border e-commerce will be modernised at EU level by new EU e-commerce rules with effect from 1 July 2021. The new rules will allow companies selling goods online to fulfil certain VAT obligations at EU level via a digital online portal (the “One-Stop Shop”, OSS), hosted by their own revenue agencies and in their own languages. These rules have been in place for online sellers of e-services since 2015, when the “Mini One-Stop Shop” or MOSS was implemented.

On April 28, 2021, CEE Legal Matters reported that ACT Legal Romania had advised Founders Bridge on a EUR 600,000 financing round led by Sparking Capital. CEE In-House Matters spoke with Liviu Munteanu, Partner at Founders Bridge, to learn more about the deal.

With a view to eliminate barriers to new investments in renewable power generation capacities, the Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority (“ANRE”) has recently amended the Regulation for the connection of the users to the public interest grid (the “Connection Regulation”) for eliminating a highly debated requirement of the grid connection process. The change was made through Order no. 41/2021 for the amendment of the Connection Regulation which was published in the Official Gazette of Romania on June 23, 2021 (the “Order no. 41/2021”).

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced us to adapt to many new things, among them a shift to remote work. Unsurprisingly, remote work or, as Forbes has described it, “a gift born in tragedy”, has proved to be not only possible and efficient, but also attractive, especially for certain industries. In two simple words, remote work has easily become a freelance accelerator. And we believe it is here to stay.

A recent case brought before a court in Amsterdam has given us the opportunity to call into question the right of access to personal data regulated by art. 15 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and in particular certain aspects related to the difficulties that may be caused to a data controller, in certain situations, by the data subjects’ exercising this right.

Recently, Law no. 146/2021 regarding electronic surveillance within judicial and executional criminal proceedings (“Law no. 146/2021”) was published in the Official Gazette of Romania, for the first time regulating the use of electronic monitoring devices in Romania.

The rapid development of modern information and communication technologies – a sine qua non condition for the edification of the Information Society - has had a major impact on the social environment, marking true mutations in the operating philosophy of economics, politics, and culture, but also in the daily life of the individual. In fact, at present, the easy access to technology information and communication is one of the conditions for the proper functioning of modern society.