ROMANIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Cosmin Vasile and Alina Tugearu, Zamfirescu Racoți Vasile & Partners Attorneys At Law
of representative actions will enable litigation to proceed more rapidly and cost-effectively, especially against large companies, which could potentially change business in Romania through its approach to consumer disputes. Up to this point, in the absence of class actions, the national courts frequently issued different rulings in similar disputes between businesses and customers. The FSR gives the European Commission pow- ers to intervene to tackle foreign subsidies dis- torting competition in the EU internal market. The FSR imposes mandatory notification and approval requirements for M&A transactions with significant turnover in the EU and large public tenders in EU member states. The impact of the FSR is starting to show in the Romanian market, given the nationality of many contractors tender- ing for big infrastructure projects financed by the EU (ie, Turkish and, to a lesser extent, Chinese). The FSR requires the submission of information and a series of declarations with respect to for- eign financial contributions received from third countries. Investments – the Romanian FDI screening regime Impact of the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) on tenders for big infrastructure projects in Romania The end of 2023 was marked by a significant shift in the FDI regime with the passing of new legislation formally designated to implement the ECN+ Directive (Directive (EU) 2019/1). With the latest changes to the FDI screening regime, Romania has reconfirmed its overly cau- tious approach in terms of assessing and review- ing investments with a local connection. The previous wording in the FDI law dealing with EU investors was quite ambiguous and led to many
debates and uncertainty on the market. The scope of screening has now been clarified, with it being made clear that EU investors (including Romanian investors) fall under the scope of FDI screening. At the same time, and in line with the authorities’ position that screening would not be too much of a burden for investors, the latest FDI amendment hints towards an expedited pro- cess for EU investors. In terms of sanctions, the government may decide to cancel an investment made in breach of the FDI legislation and restore the status quo before implementation. Romania’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan The NRRP includes an ambitious programme of reforms and investments, currently organised under 17 thematic components. Approved in November 2021, Romania’s recov- ery and resilience plan was revised in December 2023 to introduce a REPowerEU chapter, con- sisting of two new reforms and seven invest- ments to deliver on the REPowerEU objectives to make Europe independent from Russian fos- sil fuels well before 2030. These new measures focus on accelerating green energy production, promoting the energy efficiency of buildings, and re- and up-skilling the workforce in the field of green energy production. All measures must be implemented within a tight timeframe, with a completion date set for August 2026 for all milestones and targets within the national plans. This has put significant pressure on national authorities to tender and implement all necessary investments funded by this facility to the maximum extent possible, which is cur- rently an important source of business in Roma- nia.
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