On July 15, 2022, in the Romanian Official Gazette No. 716, Ordinance No. 16/2022 for the amendment of Law No. 227/2015 regarding the Tax Code, abolishment of certain normative acts and other fiscal-financial measures (“Ordinance 16/2022”) was published, through which multiple amendments were brought to the fiscal framework.

Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii has advised Electrica on its EUR 600,000 acquisition of Green Energy Consultancy & Investments from shareholders Vlad-Mihai and Tudor-Nicolae Ungureanu.

In Romania, the first legal enactment specifically addressing PPP projects was adopted in early 2002. In the 20 years that followed, four primary pieces of legislation on this topic have been passed, with the declared objective to provide a sound legal basis for the implementation of PPP projects. Nevertheless, each of these successive enactments was adopted not to keep pace with the practical developments in PPP matters, but rather to respond to criticism of the absence of a proper legal basis to structure and implement PPP projects.

Although the Romanian law on transfers of undertakings has no more than two pages, it is notorious for its complexity, while the relevant case law is constantly developing. Briefly, if an undertaking is taken over by, or is transferred to, a new entity, the relevant employees are automatically transferred to the new employer, together with their existing rights provided under the individual employment agreements and the applicable collective bargaining agreement.

An in-depth look at Ioana Hrisafi-Josan of Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii covering her career path, education, and top projects as a lawyer as well as a few insights about her as a manager at work and as a person outside the office.

By most counts, 2021 was a successful year for the Romanian M&A market. Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii Deputy Managing Partner Stefan Damian, Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen Partner Gabriela Cacerea, Dentons Managing Partner Perry Zizzi, and Wolf Theiss M&A Partner Ileana Glodeanu have many reasons to believe 2022 could be a good year as well, but also quite a few to expect a slowdown in activity.

Entering into force on February 19, 2021, the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility aimed, according to the European Commission, “to mitigate the economic and social impact of the coronavirus pandemic and make European economies and societies more sustainable, resilient, and better prepared for the challenges and opportunities of the green and digital transitions.” CEE Legal Matters spoke with lawyers from Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, and Romania to learn what each country focused on, with its Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), and what difficulties lie ahead, now that these plans have been submitted to the EC.

Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii has advised Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing on the EUR 10 million technical and aesthetic refurbishment and modernization process of the America House office building in Bucharest.

Contributed by Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii.

Law No. 129/2019 on preventing and combating money laundering and terrorist financing and amending and supplementing certain legislative acts (“Law 129/2019”) has been amended by the Government Emergency Ordinance No. 53/2022 published in the Official Gazette, Part I, No. 394 of 21 April 2022 (“GEO 53/2002”).

Emergency Ordinance No. 58/2022 amending and supplementing consumer protection acts (“GEO No. 58/2022”) was published in the Official Gazette, Part I, No. 456 of 6 May 2022. The act entered into force on 28 May 2022.

Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii, working with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, has successfully represented the Romanian Rugby Federation before an independent panel appointed by World Rugby in proceedings regarding player eligibility rules for the 2023 Rugby World Cup qualifiers.

Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii has successfully represented WTE Wassertechnik before Romania's National Council for Solving Complaints and a court of appeal in several disputes related to awarding the works contracts for the Cluj-Salaj water pipeline.

Law No. 69/2022 amending and supplementing Law No. 8/1996 on copyright and related rights (“Law No. 69/2022”) was published in the Official Journal of Romania, Part I No. 321 of 1 April 2022 and, with the exception of a few provisions which will become applicable 30 days or 6 months after publication, entered into force on 4 April 2022.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) released its judgement in Case C-333/20 Berlin Chemie on 7 April 2022. This extremely important ruling might mark the turning point in the controversial VAT fixed establishment topic. Although numerous European courts had already passed decisions on this issue, the approach taken by tax authorities in many EU Member States, including Romania, have been aggressive and inconsistent, with significant tax assessments made against companies mainly due to uncertainties in the existing legislation.

Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii has advised a club of local banks, led by arranger, facility agent, and security agent OTP Bank Romania S.A., on a RON 431 million syndicated facility agreement for the financing of Aaylex One group. Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen advised Aaylex One on the deal.

This review was prepared for Ukrainian refugees by the law firm Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii upon request and in coordination with the international legal network Multilaw and Ukrainian law firm Arzinger. The review is as of March 11, 2022. The review is not a legal advice and is for informational purposes only. For updates, please follow www.multilaw.com and/or www.arzinger.ua

Emergency Ordinance No. 20/2022 for amending and supplementing certain normative acts, as well as for regulating humanitarian and assistance measures (“GEO 20/2022”) was published in the Official Gazette No. 231/2022.