Back in July 2020, the Romanian Companies Law was amended to allow entrepreneurs to hold the position of sole shareholder in more than one Romanian limited liability company.

New technologies are all the rage, as law firms adapt to the telecommuting and digitalization realities that accompanied the Covid-19 pandemic. Accordingly, we decided to ask our Law Firm Marketing experts from across the region a simple question: “What is the single most important/valuable piece of software you use?” As always, we asked respondents to focus on the question at hand, rather than – as we put it – using the question simply as an excuse to “tell us that their firms are awesome.” Not everyone was able to resist.

In follow-up to our summary regarding the preliminary evaluation for the banks’ authorisation, as detailed in Regulation no. 12/2020 on the authorization of credit institutions and amendments pertaining to the same (“Regulation 12/2020”), and our summary regarding the information and documentation to be submitted by a bank in order to obtain authorisation from the National Bank of Romania (the “NBR”), we will highlight below the main amendments regarding banks that need to be approved by and registered by the NBR once the bank is authorised.

Cybersecurity is at the forefront of the European Union (“EU”)’s efforts to build a resilient, green and digital Europe. In this respect, on December 16, 2020, the European Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy presented the European Union’s new Cybersecurity Strategy for the Digital Decade (the “EU Cybersecurity Strategy”).

In follow-up to our summary regarding the preliminary evaluation for the banks’ authorisation, as detailed in Regulation no. 12/2020 on the authorization of credit institutions and amendments pertaining to the same (“Regulation 12/2020”), we will shortly review below the information and documentation to be submitted by a bank in order to obtain authorisation from the National Bank of Romania (the “NBR”).

Given the importance of human rights in general and children rights in particular, the European Union (the “EU”) has considered that the international treaties do not offer an adequate level of protection of minors during criminal trials, and therefore, a common legal framework is necessary.

Regulation no. 12 of December 18, 2020 on the authorization of credit institutions and amendments pertaining to the same (the “Regulation 12/2020”) issued by the National Bank of Romania (the “NBR”) was published in the Official Gazette no. 1291 as of December 2020 and is applicable starting with the same date.

In The Corner Office we ask Managing Partners across Central and Eastern Europe about their unique roles and responsibilities. The question this time: “What one ongoing pro bono initiative or project or charity/volunteering project that your firm is involved with has the most meaning for you personally, and why?”

Video games are a form of modern art and certainly number among the most recent forms of creative arts. The major difference between video games and traditional art is the active, rather than passive, participation of the recipient of the art in the process of its delivery.

The last few months have been marked by the challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic which made obviously the need for digitalization and led the competent authorities to adopt several measures in this regard.

In the last years, cybersecurity has become one of the European Commission’s critical priorities. Given that the landscape of threats has significantly expanded, it comes as no surprise that the Commission has proposed a revised version (the “Proposal”) of the Directive concerning measures for a high common level of security of network and information systems across the Union (“NIS Directive”).

Since the Mining Law no. 85/2003 (“Mining Law”) entered into force on March 27, 2003, the economic and social environment in Romania has undergone a major evolution, marked by the increase of investments, especially with the accession to the European Union, in 2007. However, the legislation did not manage to keep up this fastened pace and the Romanian authorities are now trying to adjust the legal framework to the requirements of this continuously changing economic life. In this regard, after three years of debate in the Parliament, Law no. 275/2020 for amending and supplementing the Mining Law no. 85/2003 (“Law no. 275/2020”) entered into force on December 17, 2020.

Law no. 296 of December 21, 2020 for the amendment and completion of Law no. 227/2015 regarding the Fiscal Code (the “Law no. 296/2020”) brought a series of beneficial changes to the business environment, applicable starting with January 1, 2021.

Using the digital environment for work related activities entails risks that are enhanced by the continuous digitisation of the society. Such risks include an increase in the number of cyberattacks that can lead to security breaches, including personal data breaches.

Though not more than two years have passed since the Directive on security of network and information systems (“NIS Directive”) had to be transposed by the Member States into their national legislation, the European Commission (the “Commission”) has announced, early this year, its intention to review the NIS Directive. The initiative comes earlier than planned, due to the fact that there is a dire need to “further strengthen overall cybersecurity in the Union”.

On October 30, 2020, the European Commission sent a reasoned opinion regarding Romania’s failure to notify the national measures allowing for the identification of operators, the number of operators of essential services and the thresholds used in the identification process. The notification process is part of the implementation process of the Directive (EU) 2016/1148 concerning measures for a high common level of security of network and information systems across the Union (the “NIS Directive”). NIS Directive was transposed into the Romanian legislation through Law no. 362/2018 for ensuring a high common level of security of networks and information systems (“NIS Law”).

The second part of the year 2020 was marked by a very intense regulatory activity carried out by the Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority (“ANRE”), aiming to implement in the secondary legislation the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2019/943 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on the internal market (the „Internal Market Regulation”) and the corresponding changes underwent earlier this year by the Energy and Gas Law no. 123/2012 (the “Energy Law”).

The Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority (“ANRE”) issued a new procedure applicable for the settlement by ANRE of the complaints filed by the existing or future final clients of electricity and gas, as well as by the existing and future grid users (both producers and consumers) against the providers of services and activities in the energy field (the “Provider”). The procedure was approved by ANRE Order no. 194 of October 28, 2020 which was published in the Official Gazette of Romania no. 1033 of November 5, 2020.