American Chamber of Commerce in Romania

Bucharest, June 30, 2010: The American Chamber of Commerce in Romania (AmCham Romania) expresses its concerns regarding the adoption and implementation of measures impacting the business environment, and calls for the involvement of the private sector in the decision-making process related to the economic sector.

AmCham considers that the current economic context requires a economic recovery plan in order to overcome the crisis without losing the current investors and moreover, extending and attracting new investments.

In AmCham’s view, such a plan needs to ensure minimum requirements for building trust in the Romanian investment climate, such as:

- predictability, by urgently preparing a medium to long term clear strategy for the development of key national economic sectors correlated with the implementation of multi-annual budgets.
- transparency, by aligning public policies with this strategy and adopting them based on consultations with all stakeholders and impact evaluations.
- stability, by keeping decision makers commitment beyond political cycles and observing the legislation (i.e. legal provisions related to amending the Fiscal Code).

“We are witnessing numerous attempts of the authorities to solve deep economic issues, however we perceive the lack of coordination and alignment at the decision-making level, as well as the delay of resolutions as these are not politically supported. Through this message we would like to signal that such a working pattern affects the trust of existing and potential investors in the local economy, and already has economic and social consequences. We believe that this requires the preparation, with the involvement of the business community, of an economic recovery plan, as a first stage of a larger development medium to long term strategy for Romania” stated Sorin Mîndruþescu, AmCham Romania President.

Some of the measures AmCham Romania recommends for overcoming the economic crisis include:
 maintaining the flat tax, revision of the VAT increase, or, at least limiting the increase to 2010,
 aligning the structures of agencies to the EU administration,
 decreasing the volume and rigorous control of public procurements through the bodies created for this purpose,
 increasing the capacity to collect incomes to the state budget through reforming the responsible structures and implementation of integrated information systems,
 modernization of the fiscal code,
 fighting fiscal evasion by simplifying compliance and tax payment procedures,
 creating a framework for increasing absorption of EU funds,
 revision of the labor legislation for more flexible labor relations.

In all of the above, AmCham emphasizes the importance of correlating Romania’s economic recovery measures with the similar policies in other EU member states.

AmCham Romania will continue to militate before the authorities for genuine consultations with the business community before adopting measures with high impact on the economy, without excepting urgent measures.

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About AmCham Romania

The American Chamber of Commerce in Romania (AmCham Romania) is one of the leading professional business organisations in Romania with a significant contribution as partner of the central authorities in elaborating legislation and directives impacting the business environment in our country. During its 17 years of activity, AmCham Romania remained firmly engaged in facilitating an open dialogue between the authorities and the business community it represents. Our members’ expertise is provided to the authorities through the working groups dedicated to areas such as taxation, healthcare, energy, environment, competition, information technology and communications, labor market, human resources and education, public procurement, tourism, infrastructure and corporate governance.
AmCham Romania represents more than 300 members – U.S., international and local companies with total investment over 10 billion USD, and more 150.000 jobs created. AmCham Romania is affiliated to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a member of the European Council of American Chambers of Commerce.
For more information, please contact :

Andreea Roman, Communication Manager
E: aroman@amcham.ro
T: 021 312 48 34, 031 264 24 26
www.amcham.ro