Useful Info

 

Romania –  2011 Facts and Figures 
A selection of  2012 Opportunities

 

Bilateral Trade and Investment Figures (2011)

General Trends
Constant increase of the bilateral trade (14.31% higher than in 2010) and trade surplus since the accession
Total trade: more than 1.557 billion Euros
UK a top trading partner of Romania, (however, the UK is not in top 5 and its share is less than 5% of Romanian imports /exports )
10th place overall ( top 8 EU), the same as in 2010; 2.74% in Romania’s total trade

Romanian Exports: (to the UK)
 grew by 8.95% from 2010 = 826.44 million Euro
 3.2% of total exports go to the UK
 UK is on the 7th place for exported goods from Romania (6th from the EU)
 Sectors and percentages remained constant: machinery /electrical (33.65% of the total exports), textile and clothing (24.03%), vehicles, aircraft, vessels (10.09%), metals (6.62%), chemical products (6.27%) etc.

Romanian Imports: (from the UK)
 increased by 21.05% = 731.40 million Euro
 UK is on the 15th place in terms of imports to Romania, a share of 2.35% in the total imports of Romania
 Sectors and shares remained constant: machinery (27.46% of the total Romanian imports), textiles and clothing (17.71%)

Other economic indicators and rankings

Inflation: the rate declined in 2011, compared to the previous years 
World Bank “ Ease of Doing Business" ranking: Romania ranks 72th out of 183 economies. For 2012, it is down from the 65th place (in 2011) – the easiness of getting credit remained constant, while resolving insolvency improved

Reforms and legislation relevant to the Business Environment

New Labour Code
- against illegal employment (employers can go to prison for one or two years or pay a fine if they have over five employees with no contract)

New Civil Code
- Changes regarding limitation periods (the period of time within which action court must be commenced )- modernising and updated, matching the dynamics of the business world, provide greater flexibility and control to parties
- regulates fiducia, a mechanism similar to some extent to the English common law concept of Trust
= settlors (any individual or legal entity) transfer present or future rights to one or more trustees, with a maximum transfer period of 33 years

The support mechanism for energy from renewable sources (amended Law no. 220/2008)
-the energy produced by high-efficiency systems using renewable sources get additional green certificates
-rules on trading the green certificates and compulsory quotas

Opportunities for Foreign Companies

Oil and Gas – public offer for the state’s 9.8% shares in Petrom
Infrastructure - the government is serious in investing in infrastructure ( the National Arena, the Basarab bridge etc. are symbolic for 2011)

Currently, there are many tender launches, that range from the rehabilitation of wastewater networks to regional roads rehabilitation. 

Additionally, 2012 will see increased external funding through the EU accession funds. In order to show commitment to a better application to European funds, a Ministry for EU Affairs/ Funding was constituted in 2011.

 

Sources:

UKTI
FCO
 (http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/country-profile/europe/romania?profile=tradeInvestment )
Romanian Embassy
(http://londra.mae.ro/en/node/395)
Romania Business Insider newsletters
Law Now- CMS Cameron McKenna newsletter
 

 

BUSINESS GATEWAY - TO EUROPE - TO UK

 

Analysis of the Romanian economy, as a complete universe of companies and some details about who does what type of business in this country.

Q: How many companies are in Romania?

A: There were 934,000 companies in Romania, in September 2011. The total Romanian business market is therefore somewhat smaller than this, considering that not all those companies are actually doing business and some of them have actually stopped their activity in the end of 2010. As a matter of fact in 2010 only 612,000 companies submitted some form of fiscal declaration to the national authorities. The vast majority of these companies are microenterprises.

Q: What is the main type of company present in Romania?

A: The most frequent form of business is the Limited Liability Company. In terms of legal form of incorporation, 97% of all companies registered in Romania are Limited Liability companies, 2.3% are Shares Based companies, 0.7% is referring to other types of legal persons.

Q: What was the impact of the financial crisis on the companies’ status and on their capability to remain functional?

A: In September 2011 there were approximately 13,750 companies, 10% less than the previous year, that changed negatively their status: 4,300 companies fell under the law 85/2006, other 2,800 entered in a liquidation status, 2,000 companies have been radiated and 2500 went into insolvency procedure and bankruptcy.

Q: How much do the Romanian companies currently owe to the state budget?

A: In Q3 of 2011, 33.30% of the companies registered debts to the state. It’s interesting to note that 4.60% of all indebted companies owe more than 10,000 euro each, while 5.10% of them owe less than 250 euro each.

Q: Which are the sectors with the largest number of registered companies?

A: In Romania, out of all commercially active companies, the industry with the largest number of companies is that of Retail sale in non-specialized stores with food, beverages or tobacco predominating (7.50%). Construction of residential and non-residential buildings (less than 3.60%) and Freight transport by road (less than 3.30%) are the followers on the list according to the number of registered companies.

Q: Which are the counties with the largest number of active companies?

A: Bucharest is highly disproportionate in terms of both number of companies and value of businesses. Approximately 151,000 companies are legally registered in all 6 districts of Bucharest (not counting Ilfov adjacent area) while in all other counties, the number of registered companies ranges from 29,240 to 4,260. The county seconding Bucharest is Timis, located in the west part of the country. The county with the smallest number of companies is Teleorman.

Sources: ICAP Romania

 

Government Positions

UK GOVERNMENT CABINET	ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT CABINET
Prime Minister - David Cameron MP (Conservative)	Prime-minister - Emil Boc
Deputy Prime Minister - Nick Clegg MP (Liberal Democrat)	Viceprime-minister - Markó Béla
Foreign Secretary - William Hague MP (Conservative)	Minister of Foreign Affairs - Cristian Diaconescu
Chancellor of the Exchequer - George Osborne MP (Conservative)	Minister of Public Finance - Gheorghe Ialomitianu
Secretary of State for Justice - Kenneth Clarke MP (Conservative)	Minister of Economy, Trade and Business Environment - Ion Ariton
Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities - Theresa May MP (Conservative)	Minister of Administration and Home Affairs - Traian Igas
Secretary of State for Defence - Dr Liam Fox MP (Conservative)	Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure - Anca-Daniela Boagiu
Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills - Dr Vincent Cable MP (Liberal Democrat)	Minister of Environment and Forests - László Borbély
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions - Iain Duncan Smith MP (Conservative)	Minister of Regional Development and Tourism - Elena Udrea
Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change - Chris Huhne MP (Liberal Democrat)	Minister of National Defence - Gabriel Oprea
Secretary of State for Health - Andrew Lansley CBE MP (Conservative)	Minister of Culture and National Heritage – Kelemen Hunor
Secretary of State for Education - Michael Gove MP (Conservative)	Minister of Justice - Cătălin Marian Predoiu
Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government - Eric Pickles MP (Conservative)	Minister of Communication and Information Society - Valerian Vreme
Secretary of State for Transport - Philip Hammond MP (Conservative)	Minister of Labour, Family and Social Protection - Sulfina Barbu
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs - Caroline Spelman MP (Conservative)	Minister of Education, Research, Youth and Sports - Daniel Petru Funeriu
Secretary of State for International Development - Andrew Mitchell MP (Conservative)	Minister of Public Health - Ladislau Ritli
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland - Owen Paterson MP (Conservative)	Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development - Valeriu Tabără
Secretary of State for Scotland - Michael Moore MP (Liberal Democrat)
Secretary of State for Wales - Cheryl Gillan (Conservative)
Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport - Jeremy Hunt MP (Conservative)
Chief Secretary to the Treasury – DannyAlexander MP (Liberal Democrat)
Leader of the House of Lords - Lord Strathclyde MP (Conservative)
Minister without Portfolio (Minister of State) - Baroness Warsi MP (Conservative)
OTHER KEY POSITIONS IN UK GOVERNMENT
Minister for thhe Cabinet Office and Paymastre General - Francis Maude MP (Conservative)
Minister of State Cabinet Office - Oliver Letwin MP (Conservative)
Minister of State (Universities and Science) Department for Business, Innovation and Skills - David Willetts MP (Conservative)
Leader of the House of Commons - Sir George Young MP (Conservative)
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury and Chief Whip - Patrick McLoughlin MP (Conservative)
Attorney General - Dominic Grieve QC (Conservative)