Cartels in Romania

Government Emergency Ordinance 39/2017 of May 31 2017 transposed the EU Directive on Antitrust Damages Actions(2014/104/EU) into national law and made a number of other amendments to the Competition Law (21/1996),including as follows:

• The definition of an undertaking has been modified;
• Undertakings that engage in the modern trade of foodstuffs and non-foodstuffs must submit the prices of theirtraded goods to the Competition Council on request. Failure to comply may result in fines of up to Lei 50,000 (approximately €10,890);
• The Competition Council can make recommendations to the competent authorities to modify legal enactmentsthat adversely affect competition;
• Express provisions have been added to the effect that, during a dawn raid, information stored or archived inelectronic format can be copied and collected. Sampling of the relevant information must take place at theCompetition Council’s premises in the presence of the concerned undertaking.

In early 2017 the Competition Council amended the rules concerning the calculation of fines. As such, the fines whichapply to new undertakings involved in cartels have been reduced by up to 25%.

Overall, the abovementioned changes are likely to have a moderate impact on existing enforcement activity.