Thought Articles

Romania has recently seen a surge in the number of cases brought against it by foreign investors, acting under bilateral investment treaties (BITs) — as has been the case in many of the neighbouring Central and Eastern European countries. Several disputes ended spectacularly, with multi-million euro awards against the host state of the investment, such as the case between CME and the Czech Republic, which has been ordered to pay approximately $350m (£176m) or, more recently, another case lost by the Czech Republic, which will have to pay damages of E225.4m (£17.3m) to a company based in the Netherlands.

In Romania, before the initiation of the European Union accession progress, the main statute that regulated product liability was Government Ordinance No. 21/1992 on consumer protection ("GO No. 21/1992"). Currently still in force, GO No. 21/1992 underwent subsequent amendments in order to update its contents with stricter consumer protection standards.

Prior to initiating any construction works, certain stages have to be undertaken in view of obtaining the necesary approvals from the local public administration bodies. The legislation underlying the issuance of such administrative deeds is Law no. 50/1991 on the authorization related to the performance of construction works, as republished in Official Gazette no. 933/13-10-2004 (thereinafter referred to as "Law no. 50/1991").

Subject Matter : An investor contemplates acquiring a complex of buildings with the destination of retail & office, erected on a private land, while the exterior parking places are located on a land conceded by the local council. The lease agreements on both the retail premises and the office premises have already been concluded by the vendor during the construction phase and shall fully come into force (the actual occupancy by the tenants shall occur) after the completion of the construction. What steps should the investor take before concluding the transaction?

The article contains practical information on leniency applications in Romania, including: the regulatory framework (see Regulation), the availability of leniency for civil and/or criminal sanctions (see Availability of Leniency), the application procedure (see Application Proceedings), the scope of protection (see Scope of Protection), confidentiality and disclosure (see Confidentiality and Disclosure) and many more.

During the course of 2006, the Romanian legal background applicable to the advertising of medicinal products has undergone several changes due to the need to transpose the provisions of Directive 2001/83/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 November 2001, on the Community Code related to medicinal products for human use (Directive 2001/83/EC).