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Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Romania

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As part of the European Union, Romania is taking action on the artificial intelligence subject along with all member states. It takes pride not only with its talented minds working in the IT field, but also with its relaxed fiscal policies adopted many years ago for supporting IT professionals to create and develop this industry in the country.

At the end of 2019, Romania will see its first national strategy on artificial intelligence, according to the announcement made by Alexandru Petrescu, the Minister of Communications and Information Society, at the meeting of the Ministerial Council 2019 of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris.

Meanwhile, in the spring of 2019, the Romanian unicorn UiPath became the most valuable startup of artificial intelligence in the world, and the number of companies developing AI is steadily increasing. Also, we can see a growing number of digital events happening in Romania with the aim to raise interest and find solutions to the problems that the stakeholders encounter. All these are good signs that can only make us hopeful.

The Romanian digital landscape still has steps to take until its maturity, but we are seeing an increasing interest for it. At an important digital event in Bucharest, the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, through the voice of Cosmin Marinescu, his Presidential Adviser – Department of Economic and Social Policies, has sent a supportive message for the digital development of Romania. He said that ”in Romania, with 6% of GDP, the digital sector is an important driver of growth and innovation, including the cybersecurity area. Our companies and specialists are internationally recognized and, I dare to say, Romania has the potential to become a regional innovation hub.”

Even though there are voices claiming that AI will take over jobs from humans and will lead to professions being vanished, we believe that the humanity will find its way to tackle this potential issue, being able to use AI for its benefit and as a partner, not to its disadvantage. Of course, this will require a responsible attitude from us, which we encourage by drafting and implementing as soon as possible a coherent and viable legislation, together with strong educational policies.

We’ve seen interest for ethics and legal framework for AI at many levels, from OECD to European Union and EU members, from Beijing to US, like Illinois. We are nothing but happy to see that things are moving forward and we encourage the stakeholders to find their way in getting a common approach on this matter.

We will observe the evolution of AI regulation in Romania and the main international trends in this field, including the AI regulation at the European level. We will write here about the main legal issues on the matter, so stay close for more.

Quick service for accessing information on companies in insolvency

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Free services for checking up companies

Did you know that in Romania you may access free information on companies in insolvency from seven EU Member States? The Romanian Trade Register Office has implemented a quick service for accessing this kind of information.

Furthermore, this service is free of tax. Also, it was developed in a project run by the European Commission in collaboration with the insolvency registers of Austria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Slovenia.

Thus, the free information regards businesses that are subject to insolvency proceedings registered in the national registers of the above mentioned states. The information can be found here.

Check your business partners!

So, if you want to create a start up or if you want to finance a business in the U.E., using this service you may check your potential and current business partners by quickly accessing up-to-date and real-time information.

Also, the Romanian Trade Register Office offers free information regarding the companies mentioned in the Insolvency Proceedings Bulletin.  This information regards:

  • the name of the debtor;
  • the unique tax identification code;
  • the registration number;
  • the name of the procedural document published in the Insolvency Proceedings Bulletin;
  • the procedural document;
  • the number and date of the court file;
  • the court;
  • the bulletin number and the date of publication.

Why is Romania so attractive for investors

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Romania registered the highest annual economic growth in the European Union in the fourth quarter of 2016, according to Eurostat. This performance couldn’t have been reached without the investments coming from international companies that discovered here a very good environment for their businesses.

Even though a recent study of Eurostat shows that Romania has the highest growth of labor hourly cost in the fourth quarter of 2016 in the European Union, according to a study made by the financial group ING, Romania and Bulgaria are the countries from the Central and Eastern Europe that offer very profitable workforce for investors. Beside the fact that they are affordable, the workers from these countries are also handy.

But the workforce in Romania is not only cost-effective. World Economic Forum issued a report where placed Romania on 10th position in a top of Europe’s entrepreneurial hotspots. The report Europe’s Hidden Entrepreneurs: Entrepreneurial Employee Activity and Competitiveness in Europe looked at two forms of entrepreneurship: one beyond the typical start-up – intrapreneurship – and another named total early stage entrepreneurial activity.

The report defines intrapreneurs as entrepreneurs that don’t choose to start their own business using their ideas, but prefer to implement them within the companies they work for. They are called EEAs, which stands for entrepreneurial employee activity. The others are called TEA and are represented by people aged between 18 and 64 either actively trying to start a new business, or managing a business that is less than three-and-a-half years old, in which they have an ownership stake.

In Europe, a greater proportion of entrepreneurship is expressed as EEA than anywhere else in the world: 40% of entrepreneurial individuals are EEA entrepreneurs, compared with 29% in the United States.

The top makes an overall ranking, combining these two types of entrepreneurs, and places Romania on the 10th position.

So the employees in Romania are not only cheap, but very loyal and committed, being able to offer their ideas for improvements and innovation to the employers.

 

Romania wins a trial against European Commission

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Romania gets an important victory in trial case no. T-145/15 before the Tribunal of European Union against European Commission.

The action was submitted on the basis of Article 263 TFEU seeking the annulment in part of Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2015/103 of 16 January 2015 excluding from European Union financing certain expenditure incurred by the Member States under the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD).

Through this Decision the Commission applied to Romania a correction amounting of about 128 million euros, which was contested in principal for lack of motivation.

Although Romania does not dispute the failures in monitoring alleged against it, it does dispute the financial consequences drawn in the contested decision of the deficiencies found.

The Tribunal held that the complaint alleging insufficient reasons for the rejection of the method of individual assessment of the various deficiencies and the complaint alleging a failure to state reasons in so far as it defines the correction rates applied, are well founded.

The decision may be appealed before the European Court of Justice.

Entire decision can be found here.

Romania – the highest annual economic growth in the EU in the fourth quarter 2016

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According to Eurostat (European Statistics Office) Romania registered an economic growth of 4.8% in the fourth quarter 2016 compared to the same period in 2015, which is the highest growth rate in the European Union.

At the end of 2016, the Romania’s economy grew from 4.4% in the third quarter to 4.8% in the forth one.

In comparison, the eurozone economy grew by 1.7% in the fourth quarter 2016 compared to the same period of 2015, while the European Union has recorded annual economic growth of 1.8%, in both cases a smaller increase than the one recorded in the third quarter.