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Voicu & Filipescu launched Changing Laws -- 2013 in Review, a set of articles analyzing the major legislative changes of 2013 in Romania, their impact on the business environment, as well as the main trends for 2014.
Legislative Retrospective
Voicu & Filipescu is a full service law firm, covering all legal areas relevant to your companys activity. This issue of our monthly newsletter provides you with a brief description of some of the recent legal amendments in: Dispute resolution Employment Insolvency Insurance, private pensions and capital market Public procurement Tax and accountancy Following its annual performance appraisal, Voicu & Filipescu promoted to partner Georgiana Badescu, one of the most active members of the firms competition and M&A practices.
Drafts in Laws
In the ever changing economic environment, action rather than reaction is a key answer to your business. So why wait for legal amendments to come into effect, when you can anticipate their impact? Get ahead changes with our guide on legislative projects and find out which one of the turmoil of legislative amendments is more likely to affect your business and how. Read in this issue of Drafts in Laws, our newsletters special feature, about draft laws in the following areas: Private pensions Public procurement
Voicu & Filipescu is recommended by some of the most important legal guides for its activity in the practice areas of interest to your company. Our lawyers practice has received strong international recognition in renowned publications such as Chambers and Partners, Legal500, PLC Which lawyer? and IFLR1000.
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Lack of cross-border access (same services not available in all Member States); Redirection of users (to a portal preferred by the service provider); Lack of portability (no access to services available in ones home country when travelling abroad).
Combining the consumers need for ease of access to internet and authors and distributors need for copyright protection, is what the European Commission is currently seeking to achieve by recasting the copyright regulation. The Commission focuses on feasible ways for portability of online content across borders and increasing crossborder availability of online services in the EU.
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Appling such reasoning to other digital content, such as e-books or music files, is heavily debated. While the Computer Program Directive does not require that a tangible copy of a computer program be released to the market in order for exhaustion to apply with regard to that copy, the Information Society Directive, regulating ebooks or music files, specifically limits the scope of the right to distribute a copyright-protected work, and the principle of exhaustion, to those works that are embodied in a tangible object.
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Decision no. 79 of January 16, 2014 issued by the Superior Council of Magistracy on the amendment and
supplementation of the Internal Regulations of courts of law by the Resolution of the Plenary Session of the Superior Council of Magistracy no. 387/2005 was published in the Official Gazette of Romania Part I, no. 45 of January 22, 2014. Prior to the adoption of such decision, it was set forth that, in civil matters, the court clerk is to deliver to the parties or, as the case may be, to other persons provided by the law, a copy of the decision promptly after being drafted and signed. According to the new provisions, the court clerk will deliver to the parties or, as the case may be, to other persons provided by the law, a copy of the decision, within no more than 3 days as of its drafting and signing.
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The amendment of existing concepts such: form of protection - defined as the international or provisional protection granted by the Romanian state; applicant or asylum seeker - defined as the foreign citizen or the stateless person who manifested his/her will to obtain international protection in Romania, as long as the asylum procedure in relation to his/her application was not completed or the addition of new concepts such as beneficiary of international protection defined as the foreign citizen or the stateless person whose status of refugee was acknowledged or to whom subsidiary protection was granted, pursuant to the provisions of this law or refugee defined as the foreign citizen or the stateless person who meets the conditions in the Convention relating to the status of refugees, signed in Geneva on July 28, 1951, hereinafter referred to as the Geneva Convention, to which Romania acceded under Law no. 46/1991; The addition of a new applicable principle contemplating the situation of vulnerable persons or of persons with special needs; The addition of new rights granted following the acknowledgment of the status of refugee or the granting of subsidiary protection: the right to have access to acquiring a home and the right to benefit from equal treatment with the Romanian citizens; The regulation of access to education of beneficiaries - minors - of international protection, the introduction of new cases of exclusion from the application of the law or the introduction of provisions related to protection within the country of origin.
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To brokers conducting financial instrument operations; to financial investment companies; to collective investment bodies; to investment management companies, insurers, reinsurers and insurance brokers, private pension system administrators, all entities, institutions, market operators and security issuers, as well as to financial operations and instruments regulated by the secondary legislation, etc.
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As concerns public procurement, the European Union changed its standpoint in relation to the
procurement procedure, placing more emphasis on the best quality/price ratio, durability, environmental matters, social aspects and innovation criteria, than on the lowest price. Therefore, the compulsoriness to award a contract to the entity tendering the lowest price is to be eliminated. A new concept was introduced, i.e. innovative partnership, allowing contracting authorities and tenderers to work together to find the best solution for a call for tender from a contracting authority. In this case, the contracting authorities will not impose any solution in relation to the tendered solution.
First directive on public concessions. The newly adopted directive on the award of concession contracts
will unify even more the EU common market. The legal framework will allow small and medium enterprises to participate in international public procurement procedures and will considerably reduce the administrative burden which they are currently facing. The European Commission estimates that the new public procurement and concession rules will stimulate the European and global commerce.
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Form 200 Statement of income from Romania; Form 201 Statement of income from abroad; Form 204 Annual statement of income for associations without legal personality and entities subject to tax transparency; Form 205 Informative statement on withholding tax and gains / losses on income beneficiaries.
The amended forms will be used for declaring the income starting January 1, 2013.
Order no. 2067/2013 of the Minister of Public Finance of December 24, 2013 for the amendment and
completion of accounting regulation was published in the Official Gazette of Romania no. 6 of January 7, 2014. The Order amends mainly the accounting regulations referred to in the annex of the Order of the Minister of Public Finance no. 3055/2009 for approving the Accounting Regulations compliant with European directives. The main amendments set out by the present normative act include the following: (i) (ii) (iii) Introduction of set of accounting records applicable by the renewable energy producers who are entitled to receive green certificates issued by the transportation and system operator; The accounting of the operations of connecting users to the utility networks; Amendments brought to the chart of accounts (new accounts) or function of accounts:
New accounts and functions: 1491 Losses resulting from reorganization activities and caused by the cancellation of the titles held (A), 1495 Other losses related to own equity instruments (A), 266 Deferred green certificates (A), 507 Granted green certificates (A) and 6455 Entitys contribution to life insurance (A). Amendments of the accounts function: 438 Other personnel-related debts and claims, 645 Expenses related to insurance and social security contributions.
The amendments of the Order apply beginning with the annual financial statements, namely the accounting reporting corresponding to the financial year 2013.
Order no. 3854/2013 of December 20, 2013 for approving the model and content of form 014 Notification regarding the change of the fiscal year was published in the Official Gazette of Romania no. 10 of January 8, 2014.
The Order approves the model, content and filling in instructions for the form 014 Notification regarding the change of the fiscal year which is used by the taxpayers who opt for the modification of the fiscal year and it must be submitted to the tax authorities at least 30 calendar days before the beginning of the changed fiscal year.
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Order no. 3884/2013 of December 24, 2013 for approving the model and content of form 097 Notification regarding the application / termination of the use of VAT cash accounting system was published in the Official Gazette of Romania no. 10 of January 8, 2014.
The Order approves the adjustments to model, content and filling in instructions for the form 097 Notification regarding the application / termination of the use of VAT cash accounting system which were the result of changing the application of the VAT cash accounting system from mandatory to optional.
National Bank of Romanias Circular no. 1 of January 8, 2014 regarding the National Bank of Romania
reference interest rate was published in the Official Gazette of Romania no. 14 of January 9, 2014. Starting with January 9, 2014 the National Bank of Romania annual reference interest rate is of 3.75% per year.
Law no. 4/2014 of January 8, 2014 for supplementing the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 44/2008 on the economic activities carried out by authorized individuals, sole owners and family businesses was published in the Romanian Official Gazette no. 15 of January 10, 2014.
The Law brings amendments aiming at the registration/authorization process for the authorized individuals, sole owners and family businesses. Thus it is established the obligation of registering at the Trade Registry the mentions on the participation of the spouse of the sole owner/authorized individual on the process of carrying out his or her activity, as well as the possibility of paying a contribution to the public pension system, social security, as well as health contributions under the provision of the law.
Order no. 35/2014 of January 14, 2014 on amending the Order of the Minister of Public Finance no. 262/2007 for the approval of the registration forms for taxpayers was published in the Official Gazette of Romania no. 36 of January 16, 2014.
The Order amends and supplements the model and content of form 010 Statement of tax registration / Statement of specifications for legal entities, associations and other entities without legal personality and form 030 Statement of tax registration/Statement of claims for foreign natural persons, as well as the filling in instructions for such forms. Thus the regulatory document updates the permanent tax liabilities that are registered in the tax vector by excluding the tax on constructions and authorization fee/license fee for the field of betting and gaming.
Order no. 3851/2014 of January 14, 2014 on amending the Order of the Minister of Public Finance no.
262/2007 for the approval of the registration forms for taxpayers was published in the Official Gazette of Romania no. 36 of January 16, 2014. The Order amends and supplements the model and content of form 013 Statement for fiscal registration / Amending statement for non-resident taxpayers that perform activities in Romania through one or several permanent establishments.
Order no. 3853/2013 of December 20, 2013 on amending the Order no. 1.994/2012 of the ANAF President for the approval of the model and content of form 012 Notification regarding the change of the annual / quarterly system for reporting and paying the corporate income tax was published in the Official Gazette of Romania no. 41 of January 17, 2014.
The Order amends and supplements the model and content of form 012 Notification regarding the change of the annual / quarterly system for reporting and paying the corporate income tax.
Order no. 24/2014 of January 13, 2014 on the approval of the Norms regarding the establishment of the procedure and conditions for the authorization of the VAT warehouse referred to in art. 144 paragraph (1) letter a) point 8, second indent of Law. 571/2003 regarding the Fiscal Code, as well as the establishment of the Commission
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for the authorization of the VAT warehouses and their organization and operation regulation was published in the Official Gazette of Romania no. 47 of January 21, 2014. The Order approves the norms on establishing the procedure and conditions for the authorization of the VAT warehouse, the Commission for the authorization of the VAT warehouses is established and the organization and operation regulation of the Commission for the authorization of the VAT warehouses is approved. Upon entry into force of Order no. 24 on January 21, 2014 the provisions of Order no. 2219/2006 are repealed.
Order no. 59/2014 of January 2014 on amending the Order no. 3/2010 of the ANAF President for the approval of the Procedure for receiving VAT reimbursement requests paid by taxable persons established in Romania for the imports and acquisitions of goods/services performed in another member state of the European Union was published in the Official Gazette of Romania no. 68 of January 28, 2014.
The Order was issued in order to align the provisions of Order no. 3/2010 together with the amendments brought to the Fiscal Code according to which the reimbursement of the VAT is no longer conditioned by the payment of the tax for the taxable persons established in Romania who make imports and/or acquisitions of goods/services in another member state of the EU.
Order no. 93/2014 of January 21, 2014 for approving the form and content of the informative statements was
published in the Official Gazette of Romania no. 76 of January 31, 2014. The Order approves the model, content and filling in instructions of the following forms which must be submitted to the tax authorities no later than February 25 of the year following the reporting:
Form 392A Informative statement regarding the delivery of goods and the provision of services performed during the year...; Form 392B Informative statement regarding the delivery of goods, provision of services and acquisitions performed during the year...; Form 393 Informative statement regarding income obtained from of the sale of international road transport of persons with Romania as point of departure during the Year ....
Upon entry into force of Order no. 93 on January 31, 2014 the Order no. 1081/2011 of the ANAF President is repealed.
Order no. 79/2014 of January 21, 2014 on the main aspects regarding the preparation and submission of the
annual financial statements and the annual accounting reports of the economic agents to the territorial units of the Minister of Public Finance was published in the Official Gazette of Romania no. 70 of January 29, 2014.
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Norm regarding the accounting regulations applicable to the private pension system (proposals and comments in relation to the draft norm may be submitted at ASF until February 15, 2014); Norm regarding the storage and custody activity related to the assets of privately administered pensions funds (proposals and comments in relation to this draft may be submitted at ASF until February 21, 2014); Norm regarding the storage and custody activity related to the assets of optional pension funds (proposals and comments in relation to this draft may be submitted at ASF until February 21, 2014).
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Voicu & Filipescu SCA 26-28 Stirbei Voda Street Union International Center II 5th Floor, Bucharest 1 ROMANIA Tel: +40 21 314-02-00 Fax: +40 21 314-02-90 E-mail: office@vf.ro
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