News Archive 2020

With all the peculiarities and bizarre times triggered by this year´s pandemic context, there is no doubt that all technology related uses have significantly increased, on a global scale. Bearing this in mind and furthermore being constantly in a quest to provide irreproachable top-quality fast paced service to each of its clients, MPR Partners has made important steps, technology wise.

Thus, just recently, the firm took the decision to deploy Luminance, the leading artificial intelligence platform for the legal profession, a premiere entrance on the Romanian market. The firm was consequently able to gain an instant and unparalleled overview of their document set, with the platform instantly surfacing crucial information like key datapoints, clauses, patterns, anomalies and even hidden risks. New products and services offered to the clients are now even more cost-effective, or even feasible, than they previously were, when the firm was relying on manual review methods alone.

On the same technology side of things, at the beginning of this year Cristina Crețu joined the firm, as Senior Privacy & Technology Consultant. With over 15 years of legal experience within the legal departments of two major telecom companies and having previously worked for the National Communications Regulator (ANCOM), Cristina is a valuable addition to the team. She has a vast experience in the fields of electronic communications and technology and is equally known for her expertise in the data protection sector, having acted as DPO (Data protection Officer) for one of the largest telecom companies in Romania, previously held by Liberty Global Group.
Over the past several months, Cristina and other members of the firm´s technology department have been often invited to debates and have published numerous sector-related articles and analysis. For three years in a row, for instance, the team is the exclusive contributor of The Legal 500´s TMT (Technology, Media & Telecom) Guide, providing all major information for the Romanian jurisdiction.

On the world wide web, the firm has consolidated and enriched its presence in a constant and sustained rhythm. Besides the permanently updated website mprpartners.com, a new website for the affiliated tax division was launched, namely mprandtfinance.com. Furthermore, taking into consideration the development and rich activity of several of its key departments, the firm has recently released two blogs, for competition and for environmental matters. A technology blog is close to being launched as well. The two blogs are accessible in the Knowledge tab, on the firm´s website. Even more, in the same tab, the firm has created a Covid-19 section, where numerous articles have been posted, containing useful information in this difficult context, freely accessible courtesy of the firm´s professionals.

There is more to go, until the end of the year, and there is naturally more to come. The firm has ambitious plans to further develop digitally, and one oh this fall’s highlights is its presence on the Cybersecurity stage of the prestigious GoTech World (online) event, that is scheduled to take place this November.

Quick access links: Luminance, MPR&T Finance, Competition Blog, Environment Blog

A draft law on measures relating to information and communication infrastructures of national interest and the conditions for the implementation of 5G networks was launched on August 4, 2020 for public consultation by the Ministry of Transportation, Infrastructure and Communications and slightly revised on September 2, 2020. The Draft Law purports to regulate the authorisation of manufacturers of technologies, equipment and software for 5G networks. Our specialists released a comprehensive material related to the matter, which includes considerations in relation to the EU 5G Toolbox, the infringement of the electronic communications legislation, the draft law’s potential to negatively affect competition and trade between Member States, structure of the competition on Radio Access Network markets and much more. The article is available in full here.

Our Senior Privacy & Technology Consultant Cristina Crețu was invited to Realitatea TV Channel in order to attend the Deschide Lumea (Open the world) TV show. The show depicts the world as it currently is and more importantly, it shows as it should be. The matter in discussion, which Cristina professionally approached, was 5G technology – how it works, what novelties it brings and what we should know about it. The recording of the show is available in full here.

In May 2020, a group of Romanian senators have proposed a legal enactment to prohibit the sale of shares owned by the Romanian state for a two-year period. Such proposal has been motivated based on the erratic economic fluctuations generated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and measures imposed as a result of the same, including the State of Emergency imposed by the President of Romania, in force at the moment when the legal enactment was proposed. As this is of major importance for the M&A sector, our experts have released an article on the above, which is available in full here.

Despite the constant update of the public procurement legal framework, the Romanian authorities have signalled several issues related to the public procurement contracts granted to certain companies, in circumstances which are not able to comply, in all cases, with the general principles of transparency and equal treatment. On July 24, 2020 Law no. 148/2020 for the completion of Law no. 98/2016 on public procurement has been enacted. Consequently, our professionals have released an explanatory material, available in full here.

Since the legislation offers no definition of a computer program, copyright protection of computer programs was subject to many studies and case-law, both on national and on international level. Our professionals released a comprehensive article which discusses the defining elements of the computer program, such as they have emerged from the legal literature and judicial practice, the difference between configuration and customization of computer programs, as well as the case-law generated by the confusion of these notions. The article is available in full here.

MPR Partners supported the organizing of Ziarul Financiar’s technology event, which took place entirely online, due to current pandemic context. The event had an impressive panel of speakers such as public authorities, sector regulators and representatives of local operators. Or firm was represented by Senior Privacy and Technology Consultant Cristina Crețu. Interesting statements were made, such as the one of Mr. Eduard Lovin, Vice-president of the National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (“ANCOM”), who said that “if we want as a country to have the 5G auction by the end of this year so that the mobile operators to enter into the possession of their 5G spectrum licences, it is mandatory that by September, the latest, to be published in the Official Gazette, the Government Decision setting the starting prices and the payments calendar, along with the legislation related to the cybersecurity conditions and the one related to the risk assessment”. Mr. Sabin Sărmaș, President of the Romanian Authority for Digitalisation stated that “We already cohabit with the data transmission technology, but 5G will be more intrusive and it is normal for many other types of risk associated to a technology that will be very present in our lives in the future to appear and to be debated, to pay attention to criteria and to the security of our citizens, because this is what we are talking about. We need to make sure that the citizen, that is the beneficiary of every type of service of this kind, can use it in full safety” and added “I think that the biggest advantage of the 5G technology is the digital inclusion for the Romanian citizens.”. Mrs. Silvia Dinică, member of the Committee for communication and information technology of the Romanian Senate stated that „taking into account the fact that the elections are coming and the political scene is quite turbulent now, any discussions [our note: related to 5G technology] should be held in specialized committees and there should be agreed cross-party. These rules, in order to gain support, must be discussed very clearly and I think it is possible. The Parliament represents the place where we all shall work and ignore the ideology of the parties and look at this issue from a technical point of view and from the perspective of this economic recovery that we want. The arguments are there, they are not political arguments and we just need to roll up our sleeves, sit at the table and agree to this set of rules. The sooner the better.”. Mr. Dragoș Preda, State Secretary in the Ministry of Transports, Infrastructure and Communications concluded that „the augumented reality, the virtul reality, the smart cities – all these new technologies in the 5G area alone have produced an international economic impact of EURO 13 billion and 22 million new jobs so far. I make these clarifications in order to show the entire economic value that this new technology will bring for the Romanian market, somewhere at EURO 4 billion in the coming years. These things can become a reality by interconnecting all areas of Romania”.

Although in 2012 Romania banned the execution of power purchase agreements by direct negotiations, imposing that all wholesale transactions be concluded on the centralized market operated by the Operator of the Electricity and Gas Market Opcom, the Romanian authorities have recently made several important amendments to the PPAs’ regime. The amendments are summarized in an article published by our energy specialists, which is available in full here.

After a long and drawn out legislative process commenced in 2017, Law no. 102/2020 amending and supplementing the Companies Law no. 31/1990 has finally entered into force on July 5, 2020, setting in place major changes to the corporate regulatory framework. Our corporate law team have released an article on the above-mentioned matter, which is available in full here.

As the recent pandemic showed, the modern world fully relies on the good functioning of the electronic communication sector. Communication plays an important part these days for individuals, businesses, public authorities, and the implementation of 5G technology will create the premises for enhancing the way society uses and benefits from the electronic communication sector. However, it is said that the implementation of 5G technology comes with its own risk and, in this respect, our specialists released a comprehensive article, available in full here.

On 11 December 2019, the European Commission presented the European Green Deal, with the aim that European Union becomes the first climate – neutral bloc in the world by 2050. Our environment specialists prepared an article on the subject and it is available in full here.

Besides a richer client portfolio and an increase of the mandates number, this first half of the year added new valuable members to MPR Partners’ team. Cristina Crețu and Mihaela Nyerges joined the firm starting with January and March, respectively.

Cristina Crețu has over 15 years of legal experience and has been, throughout the years, within the legal departments of two major telecom companies, having previously worked for the National Communications Regulator (ANCOM). She has a vast experience in the fields of electronic communications and technology and is equally known for her expertise in the data protection sector, having acted as DPO (Data protection Officer) for one of the largest telecom companies in Romania, previously held by Liberty Global Group.

Cristina Crețu has joined the firm as Senior Privacy & Technology Consultant.

“Besides the undisputed professional experience, Cristina adds value to the high-quality consultancy services we provide to our clients in the fields of technology, electronic communication and data protection. Furthermore, given the wealth of experience she has as in-house, Cristina can liaise efficiently and perfectly understand the needs of our clients. For all these reasons, we are very happy to have her onboard.” stated Alina Popescu, Founding Partner.

“After so many years as in-house, I am glad to have the opportunity to use the amassed experience to offer consultancy services to clients. The decision to join MPR Partners came naturally, furthermore since I thus have the chance to work with former university colleagues, with whom I share the same values and desire to provide top quality services to clients.” said Cristina Crețu

Mihaela Nyerges has over 15 years of experience in mergers and acquisitions, corporate and commercial law, regulatory and compliance as well as in niche sectors such as energy and natural resources. She has assisted major energy operators in developing major investment projects in the energy generation (from conventional and renewable sources) and has been involved in the in the drafting of legislation in the electricity trading and generation of power from renewable energy sources. Throughout her career, Mihaela assisted governmental authorities, publicly held companies as well as domestic and international private entities in a wide variety of legal matters and coordinated multidisciplinary teams in complex projects. Prior to joining MPR Partners, Mihaela worked at Țuca, Zbârcea & Asociații and Mușat & Asociații.

Mihaela Nyerges has joined the firm as Managing Associate.

“Mihaela is an excellent professional who joined our firm at the perfect moment when the requests for those practice areas she excels in have started to multiply. We are happy to have her by our side for working in major projects together.” added Gelu Maravela, Founding Partner.

“I am thrilled to enter a new professional stage alongside lawyers that have as essential values professionalism, rigor and close attention to clients’ needs. I am convinced that together we will strengthen the firm’s position in the fields of energy and natural resources as well as mergers and acquisitions.” declared Mihaela Nyerges.

The experts of MPR Partners’ IT & Telecomm team have prepared an article concerning the legal challenges in implementing the 5G EU toolbox and potential damaging effects on electronic communication providers and consumers. The article is available in full here.

MPR Partners announces the cessation of the professional partnership with the attorney Ioan Roman, as well as the consequent change of the firm´s name and logo. The rest of the team, the irreproachable quality of the services, client care and orientation remain unchanged. The official pages of the firm remain equally unaltered.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Romanian authorities enacted several tax measures in order to prevent the business environment from collapsing. Our professionals put together a comprehensive article concerning Government Emergency Ordinance no. 90/2020, which focuses on addressing the potential economic blockage caused by Romania’s decision to suspend certain activities so that the spread of COVID-19 could be slowed down. You can access the entire article, courtesy of our firm, here.

MPR Partners’ affiliated Tax Advisory House has just finalized and launched its new website. MPR&T Finance is led by Felix Tapai and Gelu Maravela, internationally reputed professionals who coordinate a team of specialists in tax advisory and legal matters. They provide state-of-the-art advice in tax advisory and compliance matters and due to the significant experience possessed, tailor-made tax advice is provided to all clients in a flexible and timely manner, constantly bringing a competitive advantage in transactions unfolding at an international level. Further information about MPR&T Finance is available here.

Founding Partner Alina Popescu is happy to have been one of the speakers in a webinar focusing on one of the most important topics of the industry: Legal Technology. Given the current difficult and uncertain circumstances due to the worldwide pandemic context, the use of technology is of paramount importance. Legal professionals are faced with the challenge of adapting and reinventing the business models and procedures, thus a webinar detailing current legal tech opportunities was a subject warmly welcomed by the audience. The webinar was hosted by International Business Law Consortium (IBLC) for its members and two other professionals from top firms were speakers alongside Founding Partner Alina Popescu. Further information about the IBLC is available here.

As a direct consequence of the COVID-19 outbreak and the consequent measures implemented by the Romanian State, the economic growth process has experienced a short to medium term slowdown, impacting the labour market and subsequently household income. Nowadays, the Romanian Government claims that a declining tendency has been noticed regarding wholesale prices for electricity, especially in the short term. In order to address this issue, inter alia, the Romanian Government enacted Government Emergency Ordinance no. 74/2020. Our professionals prepared the attached article, detailing the main legislative changes generated by the said Ordinance and you can access it in full here.

Our competition experts have contributed to this year´s edition of Lexology Getting the Deal Through Competition Compliance Guide, providing all key information for the Romanian jurisdiction. As scrutiny from competition authorities intensifies and fines for non-compliance reach record levels, Competition Compliance ensures that the legal toolkit necessary to plan, implement and maintain the robust compliance programme organisations need in complex multinational marketplaces. Topics covered include: standards and guidance for compliance programmes; how to demonstrate commitment to competition compliance; risk identification, assessment, mitigation and review; managing risk when dealing with competitors; leniency programmes; market dominance; competition compliance in mergers and acquisitions; investigations; implementing or amending a compliance programme in settlement negotiations; corporate monitorships; and infringement notification duties. The complete guide (currently covering 20 jurisdictions) is available here.

We are happy that the activity and team of our dispute resolution department have yet again been recognized by the researchers of Benchmark Litigation, as our firm has been shortlisted for this year’s Awards. Benchmark Litigation is the definitive guide to the world’s leading litigation firms and lawyers, that provides law firm and lawyer rankings based on extensive interviews with litigators, dispute resolution specialists and their clients as well as analysis of the market’s most important cases and firm developments. Although this year due to the coronavirus outbreak the Awards are not organized live, we look forward to the moment when the winners are revealed. The complete shortlist is available here.

The evolution of the national and international epidemiological situation determined by the COVID-19 outbreak, along with the establishment of the state of emergency within the territory of Romania on March 16, 2020 and the subsequent extension for another 30 days of the same, determined the Romanian Government to adopt a series of new tax measures, mainly aimed at increasing the cash flow both at the level of public and private entities. Our tax experts have prepared a comprehensive article about the aforementioned measures, which you can read in full here.

In the context of the new Covid-19 pandemic spread worldwide, the need to ensure medical equipment services is among the priorities in Romania. To this end, our pharmaceuticals and healthcare team drafted an article regarding the norms for the authorization of activities in the field of medical devices, which you can read in full here.

Considering that the Draft Emergency Ordinance on certain measures related to corporate law has been launched for public debate and proposes various measures aiming to help Romanian companies in the Covid-19 outbreak context (for example, the possibility for holding virtual shareholder meetings even if such possibility is not reflected in the company’s articles of incorporation), our specialists have proposed further amendments in this regard, for the purpose of assisting companies with other formalities that are difficult to achieve in the current context. The said amendments are contained in an article, accessible here.

For yet another year, five distinct practice areas of MPR Partners are ranked in The Legal 500 EMEA 2020 edition, that has just been launched, mid-April. Thus, the Corporate/M&A, Dispute resolution, Real estate & construction, Restructuring & insolvency and Tax departments have been all acknowledged, in terms of work performed and team members’ skills. The client feedback obtained by the researchers of The Legal 500 is impressive and compliments the expertise, timely feedback and highly specialized advice provided. Furthermore, in this edition of the reputed guide, all of the firm’s partners are acknowledged and praised. Further information about this year’s rankings is available here.

The New Airline Code is by far one of the most important national regulatory instruments, being designed as an integrated civil-military air code, flexible enough to allow the application or implementation of the present and future European regulations. By enacting the New Airline Code, Romania seeks to establish which are the attributions of the authorities responsible for civil and military aviation, as well as the competences of other institutional bodies in the field of aviation safety and security. In addition, clear regulations regarding the national airspace have been implemented, as well as obligations related to the operation of unmanned aircrafts and environment protection in the field of civil aviation. The complete article, courtesy of our regulatory department, is available in its integrity here.

In view of the evolution of the international epidemiological situation caused by the spread of Coronavirus, which determined the pandemic declared by the World Health Organization, on March 11, 2020, the Decree no. 195/2020 on imposing the state of emergency on the territory of Romania has been adopted. By Decree, a series of urgent measures with an exceptional character were taken in the social, economic and justice fields, on one hand, in order to limit the infection with Coronavirus and, on the other hand, to diminish the negative effects on the economy. Our insolvency specialists thus prepared a comprehensive material on the subject and you can access it, in its integrity, here.

MPR Partners’ both founding partners have been awarded in the 2020 edition of the prestigious Lexology Client Choice Awards.

Established in 2005, Client Choice Awards recognize those law firms and partners around the world that stand apart for the excellent client care they provide and the quality of their service. The criteria for this recognition focus on an ability to add real value to clients’ business above and beyond the other players in the market.

Unlike other awards, you can be nominated for the Client Choice Awards programme only by corporate counsel. This year, according to the organizers, over 2,500 nominations were received.
Alina Popescu was designated as the exclusive winner of the Competition & Antitrust category for Romania. Alina was praised by her clients for offering excellent customer care and tailored advice as well as for her responsiveness.

Gelu Maravela was recognized as the exclusive winner of the M&A category for Romania. He was praised by his clients for his ability to develop close and efficient working relationships, being known on the market for his expertise and great project management skills.

The Client Choice 2020 Awards Ceremony took place last week in London.

Further information about this year’s awards can be found at https://www.clientchoice.com/