ROMANIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Manuela Guia, Otilia Vîlcu, Violeta Geru and Cristina Badea, GNP Guia Naghi & Partners
against the abuse of a superior bargaining position. Furthermore, disputes are currently pending in which claimants seek damages for such infringements, as alternative claims to requests for damages for abuse of dominance. While the private antitrust damages framework under GEO 170/2020 does not extend to this category of claims, Law No 11/1991 provides, in broadly similar terms, that decisions of the Romanian Competition Council finding infringements of the unfair competition rules carry evidentiary weight before the civil courts hearing the related damages claims. The Romanian framework is complemented by Gov - ernment Emergency Ordinance No 25/2019, which protects trade secrets and confidential business information disclosed during litigation and by Law No 414/2023, which transposes the EU Representative Actions Directive for consumer protection matters but does not extend to competition law claims. Together, these instruments form a still developing but increasingly structured private enforcement ecosys - tem, in which the substantive rules are largely harmo - nised with the rest of the EU, but procedural practice remains shaped by a relatively limited body of case law. Private Antitrust Litigation Cases in Romania In recent years, the Romanian jurisdiction has seen an increase in private antitrust litigation, particularly pri - vate damages claims, especially following the trans - position of the Damages Directive. The bulk of reported case law to date consists of follow-on claims arising out of the European Com - mission’s Trucks Cartel decision (Case AT.39824), as well as follow-on and stand-alone private damages in abuse of dominance cases. There are also cases related to the pilotage market investigation conducted by the Competition Council. Romanian courts have awarded substantial dam - ages in follow-on claims for abuse of dominance, most notably against telecommunications operators, including an award of over EUR10.2 million against one operator for abusive conduct in the telecommu - nications market.
Most recently, in 2026, the Competition Council opened an investigation into an alleged information exchange between several banks concerning the fix - ing of a benchmark interbank interest rate used to price retail and corporate lending; as of the end of July 2026, once finalised, this decision is expected to generate a significant new wave of follow-on damages claims and claims for annulment of related interest- rate clauses. On the legislative front, as of the end of July 2026, two proposals are currently pending before the Roma - nian Parliament that would materially affect the private enforcement landscape. One proposal would introduce a mandatory com - pensation mechanism requiring credit institutions to correct pricing mistakes identified by the competition and consumer protection authorities and reimburse affected consumers directly, without litigation. This proposal has so far received a mixed response from Romania’s advisory bodies. 1.2 Recent Developments Recent Legislative Proposals The second would amend GEO 170/2020 to expressly grant the Ministry of Finance standing to claim dam - ages suffered by public authorities and to make it eas - ier for natural persons to bring joint claims, although it stops short of introducing a genuine class action mechanism. This proposal has also received mixed responses from advisory bodies. 2. Private Antitrust Claims: Basis and Procedure 2.1 Statutory Basis Statutory Basis for Damages Claims Private antitrust damages claims in Romania are brought either as follow-on actions, which rely on an infringement decision issued by the Competition Council or the European Commission or as stand- alone actions, in which the claimant must itself estab - lish the existence of the infringement before the civil court.
142 A NTITRUST LI T IGATI O N 2026
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