A multidisciplinary team of lawyers and tax advisors from Reff & Associates and Deloitte Romania has successfully assisted an organization implementing extended producer responsibility obligations (OIREP) in a complex litigation with the Environment Fund Administration (AFM), having as its object the cancellation of additional financial obligations of over 10 million lei.

The dispute concerned the application of the legislation on the traceability and recovery of packaging waste for 2018, in a context marked by legislative changes applicable from mid-year, and by the lack of unitary judicial practice in this area. Following an audit, AFM imposed significant additional financial obligations on the organization, based on an extensive interpretation of the newly introduced legal obligations, respectively for the entire year 2018.

The Bucharest Court of Appeal admitted the client's action and established that the legal obligations must be analysed differently, depending on the form of the law applicable in each period of the year. The court held that, for the second half of 2018, the organization's obligations were limited to documenting the delivery of collected waste to authorised operators, in line with the legislative changes applicable as of June 30, 2018.

AFM appealed, but the High Court of Cassation and Justice definitively rejected this appeal, confirming the favourable solution pronounced by the Bucharest Court of Appeal.

Reff & Associates | Deloitte Legal team involved in the project was coordinated by Mihnea Galgotiu-Sararu, Partner, and included Ovidiu Balaceanu, Counsel, Laura Epure and Stefan Mihartescu, Managing Associates, while the tax practice was represented by Adrian Teampau and Alexandru Stancu, Directors at Deloitte Romania, who contributed to the analysis of the tax and substantive implications of the dispute.

"The High Court's decision is particularly relevant for the waste management sector and for the taxpayers affected by obligations to the Environment Fund, as it clarifies the way the law is applied in time and strengthens a judicial practice that becomes the majority at the level of the supreme court, while ending a period of legal uncertainty," said Mihnea Galgotiu-Sararu, Partner, Reff & Associates | Deloitte Legal.

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Deloitte Romania is one of the leading professional services organizations in the country providing, in cooperation with Reff & Associates | Deloitte Legal, services in audit, tax, legal, consulting, financial advisory, risk advisory, business processes as well as technology services and other related services, through 3,300 professionals.

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Reff & Associates | Deloitte Legal is recognized as a leading law firm in Romania for the quality of services and ability to deliver solutions on complex legal matters. The areas of practice include banking and finance, competition, employment, energy and environment, insolvency, legal management consulting, litigation, corporate, mergers and acquisitions, public sector and real estate, as well as optimization of legal processes and the adoption of new technologies. The firm represents in Romania Deloitte Legal, a global network with more than 2,500 lawyers in 80 countries.

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