Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen's Public Procurement team has been running at 115% this year, according to NNDKP Partner and Co-Head of Public Procurement and PPP, Adina Chilim-Dumitriu. And she has reasons to be optimistic that the practice will continue to grow in the foreseeable future.

According to Recital (47) of the GDPR, processing of personal data for direct marketing purposes may be based on a legitimate interest (Art. 6 (1) letter f) of the GDPR). However, where direct marketing is performed through electronic means of communication, the special legislation becomes applicable, in particular, EU Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (the “E-privacy Directive”) implemented in the Romanian legislation under Law no. 506/2004 on processing of personal data and protection of private life in the electronic communications sector (the “E-privacy Law”).

Bondoc & Asociatii has reportedly advised Adient on the Romanian aspects of its global sale of its automotive fabrics manufacturing business, including its lamination business, to Sage Automotive Interiors, an Asahi Kasei company.

Although nowadays there are more and more situations in which legal entities are called to criminal responsibility for a wide range of offences, the criminal liability of a legal entity remains an incomplete and insufficiently regulated institution, which is why the current reality has known numerous practical inconveniences.

The provisions of the Market Abuse Regulation – Regulation 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (MAR) required the European Commission to present a report to the European Parliament and the Council on certain areas of MAR.

BPV Grigorescu Stefanica has helped Forty Management obtain a license from U.S.-based Crystal Lagoons to develop the EUR 100 million Central District Lagoon City in Bucharest.

NNDKP has advised Romanian entrepreneur Daniel Boaje on the sale of his 10% stake in Premier Capital SRL and Premier Assets SRL to the Premier Capital Group. Musat & Asociatii reportedly advised the buyer on the deal.

Cristian Vlaicu has joined Stratulat Albulescu as Head of Banking and Finance in Bucharest.

Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii has helped founders Florin Maxim, Eugen Zbircea, and Daniel Nanboe launch Comarket, a B2B marketplace for the Romanian hospitality industry.

Romania's Mares & Mares law firm and Moldova's Dolea & Co have entered into a strategic alliance aimed at, according to Mares & Mares, “providing integrated legal services in Romania and the Republic of Moldova in the field of white-collar crime, investigations, international disputes, as well as commercial and investment arbitration."

Real estate is undoubtedly one of the sectors affected by the COVID-19 health crisis.  The full economic impact of the pandemic is still unclear, but all real estate stakeholders are anticipating that by end of this year of the first quarter of 2021, they will have a better grasp on the effects and sufficient data in order to be able to discuss mitigating factors and make some predictions. Strong real estate players will begin, or continue to look for, opportunities to expand or diversify their portfolios, while investors on the verge of implementing exit strategies may need to revisit the exit terms and structure.

On September 4, 2020, CEE Legal Matters reported that Herbert Smith Freehills and Reff & Associates had advised NEPI Rockcastle on the sale of six companies owning four Class A office projects in Romania. CEEIHM talked to Robert Ionita, General Counsel of NEPI, to learn more.

New amendments to the Labour Code (Law no. 53/2003) have come into force, including an optional conciliation procedure for individual labour disputes.

Data breach notifications were firstly introduced in 2009 by means of amendments to the E-Privacy Directive, where such data breaches occurred in connection with the provision of publicly available electronic communications service. Further on, GDPR extended data breach notification obligation to all industries. The initial scope was to have a single notification regime, as E-Privacy Directive was intended to be replaced by E-Privacy Regulation, when GDPR became applicable. Since E-Privacy Regulation has a long way until entering into force, an electronic communications provider has difficulties in navigating through two regulatory regimes when it comes to data breach notifications.

Stratulat Albulescu has advised GapMinder Venture Partners on an unspecified investment in Cartloop, an eCommerce conversational marketing platform start-up. Digital 2 Law reportedly advised Cartloop.

Romania launched a call for project proposals from companies interested in attracting financing from the EU Modernisation Fund, for investments in sectors such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy storage or the modernisation of energy networks.

Stratulat Albulescu has advised Bog’Art Residential on the acquisition of two land plots in Bucharest from OMV Petrom S.A.

On September 10, 2020, Advocate General Maciej Szpunar delivered his Opinion in Case C‑392/19 VG Bild-Kunst v Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitzrequest.