Ijdelea & Associates has achieved a landmark victory before the High Court of Cassation and Justice in a precedent-setting case arising from an audit conducted by the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) under Emergency Government Ordinance no. 27/2022.

The firm successfully represented one of Romania’s leading natural gas producers in proceedings with significant implications for regulatory enforcement and judicial oversight.

The dispute concerned a decision issued by ANRE’s Regulatory Committee that established an alleged infringement of a legal obligation and determined the key elements of a turnover-based fine in excess of EUR 4 million. ANRE maintained that the decision was not subject to direct judicial review, notwithstanding the fact that it effectively determined the essential components of the sanction.

Following an extensive legal challenge centered on the principles of the rule of law, legal certainty, legislative predictability and the limits of administrative authority, the High Court of Cassation and Justice fully endorsed the arguments advanced by Ijdelea & Associates team. The Court ordered the case to be remanded to the Bucharest Court of Appeal for a substantive examination of the merits.

The ruling represents an important development in Romanian regulatory litigation, confirming that administrative acts which establish the essential elements of significant financial sanctions must be subject to immediate and effective judicial review.

This outcome concluded a two-year procedural dispute aimed at overcoming a procedural barrier that had prevented substantive judicial scrutiny of the challenged administrative act. Most importantly, the decision safeguarded the client’s fundamental right of access to justice and reinforced judicial protection against the exercise of administrative power.

The matter was successfully handled by Ijdelea & Associates’ multidisciplinary legal team involving Oana Ijdelea, Siranus Hahamian, Ancuta Pop and Bogdan-Alexandru Mihai.