The COVID-19 pandemic has boosted digitalization and digital interaction at all levels of European society. Along with increased interconnectivity, however, came greater vulnerabilities and threats from a cybersecurity perspective.

With a view to eliminate barriers to new investments in renewable power generation capacities, the Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority (“ANRE”) has recently amended the Regulation for the connection of the users to the public interest grid (the “Connection Regulation”) for eliminating a highly debated requirement of the grid connection process. The change was made through Order no. 41/2021 for the amendment of the Connection Regulation which was published in the Official Gazette of Romania on June 23, 2021 (the “Order no. 41/2021”).

Recently, Law no. 146/2021 regarding electronic surveillance within judicial and executional criminal proceedings (“Law no. 146/2021”) was published in the Official Gazette of Romania, for the first time regulating the use of electronic monitoring devices in Romania.

On September 10, 2020, Advocate General Maciej Szpunar delivered his Opinion in Case C‑392/19 VG Bild-Kunst v Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, where a request for a preliminary ruling was lodged with the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU” / “Court”) on May 21, 2019. In one of our previous articles, we have analysed the opinion of the Advocate General Maciej Szpunar, mentioning that it will be interesting to see whether the CJEU will follow the reasoning of the Advocate General or whether it will stay faithful to the principles already established in its previous jurisprudence.

Law no. 83/2021 amending and supplementing Government Ordinance no. 51/1997 on the leasing operations and the leasing companies (“GO no. 51/1997”) was published on April 16, 2021 in the Official Gazette no. 401, Part I (“Law no. 83/2021”). Importantly, the provisions of Law no. 83/2021 may only be applied for leasing agreements concluded after its entry into force.

Romanian MPR Partners has announced it is opening an office in London, to be headed by Co-Founder and Co-Managing Partner Alina Popescu.

Last summer, Romania’s Parliament adopted the controversial Law 175/2020 for the amendment and completion of Law 17/2014 on certain measures to regulate the sale of agricultural lands located outside the built-up area and to amend Law 268/2001 on the commercial companies’ privatization that hold in administration lands of public and private property of the State with agricultural destination and the establishment of the State Domains Agency.

In the recent years, cybersecurity has become one of the crucial areas that the European Union (“EU”) decided to invest in to get fit for the digital era. In order to acquire leadership and autonomy in this field, the EU takes steps to develop competencies, capacities and capabilities.

The Draft law on the adoption of certain measures concerning informatics and communications infrastructures of national interest and the conditions for deployment of 5G networks (the “5G Draft Law”) initiated by the former Ministry of Transportation, Infrastructure and Communications (“MTIC”) has undergone a new series of examinations from the relevant public authorities as part of the legislative procedure.

On December 15, 2020 CEELM gathered legal experts from across the region for its annual Year-in-Review Round Table conversation. In a wide-ranging discussion, participants shared opinions and perspectives on their markets, on strong (and less-strong) practices across the region, and the effect of the COVID-19 crisis on both, as well as on how technology is changing the legal industry, and what the industry will look like in 2021.

Before the advent of cinematography, fictional characters were portrayed in literature and the traditional visual arts, such as painting and sculpture.

The beginning of 2021 seems to be under the auspices of numerous amendments incurred to the Law no. 227/2015 regarding the fiscal code (the “Fiscal Code”).

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.