On 25 March 2020, the Official Gazette of Romania no. 248, published Order no. 791/2020 (“Order 791/2020”) on granting emergency situation certificates (“CSUs”) to economic operators whose activites are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Order 791/2020 regulates the conditions and procedures for obtaining CSUs from the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Business Environment. CSUs are aimed at supporting economic operators who are facing difficulties in light of the state of emergency in Romania established under Decree 195/2020, so that they can benefit from the measures set out by the Government in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
1. What are CSUs and who can benefit from them
CSUs are supporting documents issued, free of charge, by the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Business Environment for the duration of the state of emergency in Romania (currently 16 March – 15 April) on the request of the following economic operators:
A. economic operators set out in GEO 30/2020:
- employers who interrupt their activity, in whole or in part, following decisions issued by the competent public authorities, as per law (Article XI para. (2) (a) of GEO 30/2020), can obtain the necessary CSUs for the settlement of indemnities granted for technical unemployment.
- employers who reduce their activity due to the COVID-19 pandemic, do not have the financial capacity to pay salaries to all their employees and who record a decrease in revenue by a minimum of 25% compared to the average revenue for January to February 2020 (Article XI para. (2)(b) and para. (3) of GEO 30/2020). For these employers obtaining CSUs is not required in order to benefit from the payment of technical unemployment indemnities, but it is necessary to prepare the affidavit required under GEO 30/2020. However, Order 791/2020 allows them to obtain a Type 2 CSU, if they would find it useful. It is likely that the rules implementing GEO 30/2020 will clarify those situations when a Type 2 CSU can be used by this category of employers.
- other professionals that are not employers but who interrupt their activity, in whole or in part, following decisions issued by the competent public authorities during the state of emergency (Article XV GEO 30/2020). Such professionals benefit from an indemnity equal to the minimum gross base salary guaranteed for 2020. At the moment, there is legal procedure on granting this indemnity, but it is yet to be decided whether obtaining the CSU will be one of the requirements under the procedure.
B. economic operators set out in GEO 29/2020:
- small and medium-sized enterprises that have interrupted their activity, in whole or in part, following decisions issued by the competent public authorities (Article X para. (1) GEO 29/2020) can obtain the necessary CSU in order to benefit from the deferred payment of utilities and rent for premises designated as headquarters and secondary offices.
- small and medium-sized enterprises, other than those mentioned above (Article X para. (2) GEO 29/2020) can obtain a CSU as evidence to invoke the force majeure or hardship provisions in contractual relationships.
- professions that provide public interest services (such as notary publics, lawyers, bailiffs etc) whose activities are directly affected by measures taken by the public authorities (Article X para. (3) GEO 29/2020). In these cases, obtaining the CSU is necessary in order to benefit from the deferred payment of utilities and rent for premises designated as headquarters and secondary offices. The means for establishing the beneficiaries of this measure will be detailed further.
- family doctors’ clinics and dental clinics with a workforce of no more than 20 whose activity is directly affected by the measures taken by the public authorities (Article X para. (9) GEO 29/2020. In these cases, obtaining the CSU is required to benefit from the deferred payment of utilities and rent for premises designated as headquarters and secondary offices. The means for establishing the beneficiaries of this measure will be detailed further.
- national sports federations and sports clubs that hold a sports identity certificate and whose activity is directly affected by the measures taken by the public authorities (Article X para. (10) GEO 29/2020). In these cases, obtaining the CSU is necessary to benefit from the deferred payment of utilities and rent for premises designated as headquarters and secondary offices. The means for establishing the beneficiaries of this measure will be detailed further.
C. other economic operators will be provided for under different legislation that will be adopted for granting economic measures in the context of the state of emergency and COVID-19.
2. Types of CSUs
CSUs are valid without either a signature or a stamp and are issued in the following two forms:
a) TYPE 1 (BLUE) – issued for economic operators applying for a CSU based on an affidavit attesting to the total or partial interruption of their activity, as a result of decisions issued by the competent public authorities, as per the law, during the period of the state of emergency; or
b) TYPE 2 (YELLOW) – issued for economic operators applying for a CSU based on an affidavit attesting to a decrease in revenue for March 2020 by a minimum of 25% compared to the average revenue from January to February 2020.
3. Procedure for obtaining a CSU
The procedure for obtaining a CSU will be exclusively through the website http://prevenire.gov.ro, which will be operational 5 days after the publication date in the Official Gazette of Order 791/2020 (i.e. 31.03.2020). CSUs will be issued automatically and electronically, after the application has been validated by the system.
In this respect, the applicant must upload the following information and documents to the website with all the necessary signatures provided electronically:
a) identification data; and
b) an affidavit of the legal representatives, attesting that all the information and documents included in the request are accurate and observe the applicable legislation regarding the type of certificate that is requested. The form of the affidavit will be published on http://prevenire.gov.ro.
PLEASE NOTE: an economic operator can only request and obtain one type of CSU!
Furthermore, during the validation process, the documents accompanying the affidavit will be subject to verification and, if reasonable suspicions of a violation of the applicable legal provisions for obtaining CSUs are identifed or in cases of the provision by the applicant of misleading information on the factual/legal situation, the relevant competent bodies authorised to sanction such behaviour will be notified.
