On April 27th members of the AmCham Romania Board of Directors engaged in an insightful dialogue with the President of the Romanian Senate Ms. Anca Dragu, focused on the business related legislative priorities on the Senate's agenda.
Ms. Dragu was joined by Senator Claudiu Mureșan, Chair of the Senate Commission for Budget, Finance and Capital Markets and Senator Silvia Dinică, Chair of the Senate Commission for Economy, Industry and Services.
AmCham’s views were shared by President Ionuț Simion and Board Members Alex Milcev, Cristian Agalopol, Alex Reff, Ionuț Sas, Sevan Kaloustian and Roberto Musneci.
The topics touched during this introductory discussion – capital market development, Romania’s accession to OECD, education reform, National Cancer Plan, PNRR, mechanisms for improving access to financing – are to be followed up in focused discussions with the relevant Senate Commissions.
- On April 23rd members of the AmCham Romania Board of Directors welcomed Minister of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism Claudiu Năsui for discussing joint priorities and the implementation status of relevant projects for the AmCham business community.
AmCham’s priorities were presented by President Ionuț Simion, VP Cristian Sporiș, Board Members Cristian Agalopol, Alex Reff and Ciprian Laduncă, and included measures to attract investments in Romania, through: continuing the capital market development, the nearest objective being the market upgrade by MCSI, consolidating the corporate governance of SEOs, building an active and effective Invest Romania agency, reduced bureaucratization, transposition of the New Deal for Consumers Directive, the National Strategy for Circular Economy and State-Aid Scheme for Near Shoring projects.
Minister Năsui welcomed the recommendations and ensured AmCham that responsible State Secretaries within the Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism will further engage in practical follow up discussions.
- Insolvency Law: Update through Transposition of Directive 2019/1023 – Call for Input
AmCham Romania is currently reviewing and providing observations on the draft law amending the Romanian Insolvency Law (Law 85/2014). The draft law is currently being processed and reviewed at the level of the Ministry of Justice and will be forwarded towards the Romanian Parliament for adoption after the 5th of May, 2021. If you are interested to contribute during this review phase or wish to know more, please contact our colleague Ovidiu Croitoru at ocroitoru@amcham.ro.
- On April 20th the AmCham Digital Economy welcomed Minister of Reserach, Innovation and Digitalization Ciprian Teleman for a dialogue on the implementation status of the leading priorities for Romania’s digital transformation and the opportunities for financing projects and reforms through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). The discussion focused on the pillars of the digital transformation such as the importance of a single coordinating authority and a framework for interoperability, the government cloud and digital public services, broadband infrastructure, cybersecurity or digital skills.
On April 20th, AmCham was represented by President Ionut Simion and Co-Chair of the Health Committee Sevan Kaloustian in a meeting with Prime Minister Florin Citu, President of the National Committee for COVID-19 Vaccination (CNCAV) Col. Dr. Valeriu Gheorghita and State Secretary Dr. Andrei Baciu (Ministry of Health/Vice-President of CNCAV) regarding vaccination at the workplace. On behalf of our members, AmCham was among the early supporters of facilitating the immunization of employees to accelerate the nation-wide vaccination campaign and we are pleased that companies now can (and already started) to operationalize such centres for their employees and family members. We encourage you to check out the final version of the CNCAV norms for private centres and the address from DSP to economic operators (attached).
- On April 20th AmCham participated to the Social Dialog Commission meeting at the Ministry of Finance to discuss and clarify the fiscal treatment of the early education expenses for the period January 1 - March 31, 2021.
- The AmCham members participated to the SAF-T survey run via CDR, and the resulting conclusions have been shared with the authorities in the attached letter. Further meetings and technical discussions on SAF-T implementation, to follow.
- On April 19th, AmCham was represented by the Chair of the Energy Committee, Mr. Valeriu Binig, to the public consultation on the future carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) organized by the Ministry of Environment, the World Bank and the European Roundtable on Climate Change and Sustainable Transition (ERCST). The event was an opportunity for the ERCST to present its analysis regarding the potential implementation of the CBAM in Romania and to stimulate a public-private debate on the topic.
- On April 16th, the AmCham Energy Committee had a technical meeting with the Competition Council regarding the state-aid schemes for the energy sector. The context of the discussion revolved around the funding available through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and the Modernization Fund and the opportunities for financing critical investments in the energy sector.
- On April 14th, the AmCham Digital Economy had a constructive dialogue Mr. Iulian Popescu, State Counsellor on Digitalization to the Prime Minister, about AmCham’s priorities and recommendations regarding the digital transformation and the Government’s views on this key topic, including the opportunity to finance digital investments through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).
- On April 12th, AmCham met AmCham met Minister of Justice Stelian Ion to discuss AmCham’s priorities related to the rule of law. AmCham’s views were shared by AmCham President Ionuț Simion, VP Cristian Sporiș and Board Members Alex Reff, Dorin Pena and Ciprian Lăduncă. Discussion topics included: Romania’s OECD membership, increasing the administrative capacity and digitization of courts, transposition stage Directive (EU) 2019/1023, measures to increase the efficiency of procedures concerning restructuring, insolvency and discharge of debt, elaboration of the National Anticorruption Strategy 2021 - 2024.
Minister Stelian Ion welcomed AmCham's recommendations and expressed openness for continuing a sustained dialogue going forward.
On April 9th AmCham submitted a letter regarding vaccination at the workplace, highlighting the key operational aspects to be addressed by the Ministry of Health in the elaboration of the instructions for economic agents wishing to create such centres within their premises in order to facilitate the vaccination of their employees. The letter was drafted as a follow-up to the webinar with Dr. Andrei Baciu (State Secretary – Ministry of Health & Vice-President – National Committee for COVID-19 Vaccination) and attempts to support authorities in the development of these norms in order to streamline the rapid operationalization of centres that fit both the needs and requests of AmCham members and the goals of accelerating the vaccination campaign.
- On April 8th the AmCham Corporate Governance Committee attended the public debate on the transposition of the EU Directive on the Protection of Whistleblowers at the invitation of the Ministry of Justice. The representatives of the committee presented AmCham’s observations on the draft Bill transposing the Directive, elaborated by the committee.
- On April 8th the AmCham Digital Economy Committee submitted a position paper regarding the project of the electronic ID card (eID) to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalization. The paper advocates for the inclusion of a qualified certificate for the electronic signature attached to the eID card as means to accelerate the development of the digital economy, in the context of the awaited issuance of electronic IDs for RO citizens by this summer.
