This article is an excerpt of Producing in CEE, Dentons’ guide to tax and financial incentives for film, television and digital media production.

Pharmacy Law no. 266/2008 (the “Pharmacy Law”) was recently amended by Law no. 243/2020 approving the Government Ordinance no. 4/2018 amending and supplementing the Pharmacy Law no. 266/2008 which was published in the Official Gazette of Romania no. 1042 (“Law no. 243/2020”). The new amendments entered into force on November 9, 2020.

MPR Partners has helped J. Christof E&P Services S.R.L. and Christof Private Firefighting Services S.R.L. provide notification to Romanian and Serbian competition authorities of the economic concentration arising from OMV Petrom’s externalization of several operations and general surface services ancillary to extraction and production of petroleum as well as natural gas, together with the relevant assets and dedicated staff. D&B David and Baias and Karanovic & Partners provided advice to J. Christof E&P and Christof Private Firefighting Services.

Radu Taracila Padurari Retevoescu and Allen & Overy have advised Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets on its acquisition of the CEZ Group’s Romanian assets. 

Law no. 223/2020 on simplifying and eliminating the bureaucracy involved in transfer of shares and payment of share capital by amending Romanian Companies Law No. 31/1990 (“Companies Law”) was published in Issue no. 1018 of the Official Gazette of Romania dated 2 November 2020 and entered into force on 5 November 2020.

Mares & Mares and the Tel Aviv-based Israeli-European Regulatory Consultancy firm have announced they are teaming-up to cooperate in criminal cases in the fintech, cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity industries. 

Radu Taracila Padurari Retevoescu has advised Mitiska REIM on its subsidiary’s sale of an unspecified real estate property in Romania.

Despite the pandemic raging all over Europe, Ileana Glodeanu, Partner in the Corporate/M&A practice of Wolf Theiss in Bucharest, reports that her team has been “the busiest of our practices this year,” noting that “over half” of the office’s lawyers are currently involved in Corporate/M&A projects. 

D'Ornano Partners, Popovici Nitu Stoica & Asociatii, and Norton Rose Fulbright have advised the Orange Group on its EUR 268 million acquisition of a 54% stake in Telekom Romania from the OTE Group. Dechert and Eversheds Sutherland advised the OTE Group and Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii advised Telekom Romania.

Two normative acts have recently been adopted that establish a teleworking obligation:

Kinstellar has advised GTT Communications on the USD 2.15 billion sale of its business infrastructure in Central, Southern, and Eastern Europe to I Squared Capital. Linklaters advised the buyer on the deal.

Law no. 12/1990 on the protection of the population against illicit production, trade or services (“Law 12/1990”) was adopted during Romania’s transition from a socialist economy to a market economy. Thus, the Romanian State was then still involved in the forming of retail prices, as the pattern of forming these prices in accordance with a market economy was not yet well established. However, 30 years have passed and Romania has developed to a full-sized market economy, where prices are formed based on demand and supply.

Former Associate Partner Radu Diaconu has taken over as Managing Partner of Radu si Asociatii, the EY-affiliated law firm in Romania, from Dragos Radu, who led the firm for the past eight years.

“Covid has really sucked all of the air out of everything,” begins Vernon David Partner Charles Vernon. “From a legislative point of view things are a bit boring right now,given the imminent parliamentary elections that are due on December 6, everything has been pretty much at a standstill, except for Covid of course.” 

Kinstellar has re-launched its Restructuring and Insolvency practice, with the new iteration to be co-led by Csilla Andreko, Head of Kinstellar's Banking & Finance practice, and Denise Hamer, Kinstellar Head of C/SEE Asset Solutions.

Banking & Finance expert Costin Teodorovici has left Stratulat Albulescu to join Ionescu & Sava in Bucharest.

In The Corner Office we ask Managing Partners across Central and Eastern Europe about their unique roles and responsibilities. The question this time around: ”What is your single most favorite client matter in your career?”

According to its website, Budapest-based InvestCEE aims to “humanize technology” for lawyers and provides services to law firms and in-house counsel in Hungary, Romania, Croatia, Poland, and the Czech Republic.