ROMANIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Manuela Guia, Otilia Vîlcu, Violeta Geru and Cristina Badea, GNP Guia Naghi & Partners
high-profile competition and consumer protection cases, including challenges against regulatory sanctions and advises clients operating in the FMCG, banking, insurance and e-commerce sectors on complex contentious and regulatory matters.
GNP Guia Naghi and Partners 93-95 Emanoil Porumbaru Park Avenue Building, 3rd floor District 1, Bucharest Romania
Tel: +40 743 269 995 Email: office@gnp.ro Web: www.gnp.ro
1. Introduction 1.1 Current Framework for Private Antitrust Litigation The Romanian Antitrust Litigation Legal Framework The primary legal framework governing antitrust infringements in Romania is Competition Law No 21/1996. Under this law, the Romanian Competition Council investigates and sanctions infringements of both the domestic competition rules and Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). Law No 21/1996 also forms the basis for challenging the Competition Council’s decisions before the courts under the public antitrust litigation regime. Private antitrust litigation in Romania is governed by a combination of EU and national law. The core sub - stantive and procedural framework for private dam - ages actions derives from Directive 2014/104/EU (the “Damages Directive”), which was first transposed into Romanian law by Government Emergency Ordinance No 39/2017 (“GEO 39/2017”). After GEO 39/2017 was declared unconstitutional on procedural grounds in 2020, Government Emergency Ordinance No 170/2020 (“GEO 170/2020”) replaced it and remains
the primary source of law for competition damages claims. GEO 170/2020 includes a rebuttable presump - tion that cartels cause harm equal to 20% of the value of the affected products or services. Otherwise, GEO 170/2020 is virtually a verbatim adoption of the Dam - ages Directive. This special regime operates as lex specialis alongside the general tort liability rules of the Civil Code and the general rules of civil procedure under the Civil Procedure Code. Furthermore, Competition Law 21/1996 also provides for the right to compensation following an antitrust infringement. In addition to GEO 170/2020, the Com - petition Law also allows consumer associations to bring damages claims on behalf of consumers, as well as professional or business associations to pursue such claims for their members. Private damages claims also frequently include requests for damages under the substantive rules governing unfair competition, under Law No 11/1991 on combating unfair competition. Although this frame - work sits outside the strict antitrust domain of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU, conduct such as the abuse of a superior bargaining position may nonetheless be relevant to practitioners in this area. The Competi - tion Council also ensures public enforcement of rules
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