In the context of the global health crisis, the Romanian State took several measures dealing with the economic, financial and social consequences of the spread of COVID-19, including a series of stimulus measures, mostly temporary, to protect the business environment.

Of particular interest is Decree No. 195/2020 of the President of Romania (the “Decree”), which declared the state of emergency and announced that the Government is empowered to take measures of support for all economic agents affected by COVID-19 crisis. Among others, the Decree provided that the affected economic agents may apply for “state of emergency certificates”, that the Government may adopt exceptional measures to support employers as well as employees etc.

Following the Decree, the Government adopted a number of regulations in the commercial, banking, social security and taxation fields. We note, for instance, that a “technical unemployment” indemnity for the employees whose labour contracts were temporarily suspended against the background of the COVID-19 crisis will be paid from the State budget; that payment of the instalments for bank loans, including financial leasing contracts, may be suspended upon request; that no interest and penalties will accrue or be charged for the late payment of certain tax obligations. The Government also enacted several measures applicable for the SMEs badly hit by the crisis.

This material is meant to offer you a synthetic view on the most important regulations establishing stimulus measures relevant for the business environment, issued since the beginning of the state of emergency in Romania. Many of these regulations have already been amended and may be further amended or supplemented. This material is an update of the prior version, published on 9 April 2020. We will keep updating it with any significant amendments.

Commercial

Banking

Social Protection

Tax

Gambling

Anca Pușcașu, Partner ȚUCA ZBÂRCEA & ASOCIAȚII