CBAM reporting: A new step in EU environmental policy
What does CBAM reporting involve? The Carbon Boundary Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) was introduced by the EU as part of its ongoing efforts to combat climate change. Regulation (EU) 956, which comes into force in October 2023, aims to regulate carbon emissions from goods imported into the EU and prevent carbon leakage - a phenomenon that occurs when industries relocate their production to countries with less stringent environmental regulations.
Lending in Romania. What is professional lending and when does lending become professional?
This article is the third in our series on lending to/by companies and related issues. It deals with general aspects of lending in Romania and when it becomes “professional lending (creditare cu titlu profesional) subject to authorization. This is particularly relevant for companies that grant loans to other companies or persons in Romania.
Large open-space photovoltaic parks caught between two legal areas
Large ground-mounted photovoltaic parks (i.e. over 50 MW) represent an important solution in the fight against climate change and for achieving the energy targets from renewable sources adopted by Romania. In recent years, the development of numerous large ground-mounted photovoltaic parks has begun, some of which have already received authorisation for connection to the public grid. In Romania, ground-mounted photovoltaic parks connected to the national electricity grid must comply with two types of regulations: those relating to energy and those relating to construction and urban planning. There are therefore two authorisation procedures for the construction of a photovoltaic project: (i) one for the construction project (pursuant to Construction Law no. 50/1991 and Law no. 350/2001 on urban planning and territorial development) and (ii) one for all energy production capacities (pursuant to Energy Law no. 123/2012 and the secondary regulations issued by ANRE).
Managing director contract. Advantages and disadvantages
It is well known that in Romania, board members of public limited companies are not allowed to conclude employment contracts with the company concerned during their mandates, but must be given mandate contracts. Any existing employment contracts are suspended during the term of office. For a Romanian SRL (limited liability company), such a prohibition is not provided for by law, so in practice the parties often waver between a mandate contract or an employment contract. There is often a certain reluctance on the part of prospective managing directors to abandon the known employment relationship, which is reinforced by a current discussion about seniority (vechime în muncă) in mandate contracts. Below we present some basic principles and background information that companies can use when negotiating contracts.
Tax amnesty for outstanding taxes until 25 November
In view of the insufficient collection of contributions for the state budget, but also for the purpose of supporting businesses, the Romanian government has adopted some tax relief for all categories of debtors through Emergency Ordinance no. 107/2024. These measures concern the cancellation of default interest and penalty surcharges (dobanzi si penalitati) that were due on obligations to the state budget outstanding on 31 August 2024 if certain conditions were met.
The heat apparently also paralyses the commercial register
This summer was supposed to bring positive changes for entrepreneurs and freelancers. The authorities had announced a revolution in the commercial register portal and the services offered through it. Among the promises giving hope to those who frequently deal with the commercial register was a reduction in the processing time for company start-ups, simpler and faster issuing of documents and the expansion of information offered. However, entrepreneurs, lawyers and all those affected were confronted with a harsh reality: the revolution began with an obstacle.
Consumer protection in Romania - obligations for manufacturers and sellers
Consumer protection is of great importance throughout Europe, so that European legislation regulates standardised principles in this regard. This concern is based on Articles 169, 114 and 169 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Member States adopt specific and detailed rules to guarantee these rights and safeguards for consumers. Romania is no exception in this matter: some of the general legal obligations to ensure consumer protection in Romania are presented below.
e-VAT - Romanian tax administration introduces pre-filled VAT forms
The Romanian tax authority ANAF will soon be introducing the pre-filled RO e-VAT form. For activities carried out from July 2024 by companies registered for VAT purposes, a new system will be applied, which has been met with concern in practice. Basically, it is based on the fact that ANAF collects information from all tax returns and reports submitted from July onwards and sends taxpayers pre-filled VAT returns based on this information. This information must be adapted to reality by the taxpayers on time. In practice, it is to be expected that the information from the first forms will not correspond to reality, in most cases. The first form pre-filled by ANAF should be expected on September 5th at the earliest.
Standardised money laundering regulations at EU level
The dangers of cross-border financial crime are often reported in the press. Possible cases of money laundering in the crypto sector are no longer a secret either, meaning that the authorities concerned need to respond quickly and efficiently. After long rounds of coordination (three years) between the EU bodies, a new legislative package on money laundering was adopted on May 30, 2024. This contains both directly applicable EU regulations (the EU Money Laundering Regulation, the Money Transfers Regulation and the AMLA Regulation) and the 6th EU Money Laundering Directive, which is to be transposed into national law. The aim is to largely harmonise national regulations and close existing ‘loopholes for fraudsters“.
Obligations as a result of the digitalisation of the tax system - what needs to be done?
The legislative packages recently adopted in Romania require taxpayers to be fully transparent in the disclosure of their business activities. The purpose is to combat non-compliance and tax fraud. The digitalisation marathon is characterised by the introduction of at least 5 electronic reporting systems: RO e-Invoice, RO e-Transport, SAF-T, RO e-Seal and e-Cash register. The introduction of the RO e-VAT system, which pre-fills information on taxable transactions in the VAT return based on data from the above-mentioned systems, is a further massive technologisation of the reporting system. Here are some examples of how these new reporting requirements will cost taxpayers additional resources: