Publication of official announcements

The information on this page concerns the official announcements issued by public institutions (notices, procedural acts etc.), which are not legislative in nature or which do not establish generally applicable obligations, but which are published in the Official Gazette of Romania or in other publications, and are available online in electronic form, in accordance with the applicable law. Thus, neither legislative acts nor court judgments are considered, except for those which must be published in order to acquire a certain legal effect (e.g. insolvency-related court judgments).

The material is not exhaustive, as it approaches certain relevant cases from the viewpoint of publication of official announcements, more specifically: acts published in the Official Gazette of Romania, acts published on the portal and website of the National Trade Register (Oficiul Național al Registrului Comerțului) or in the Insolvency Bulletin, and acts published on the Portal of Courts.

On which website(s) are official announcements published?

I. The Official Gazette of Romania

The “Monitorul Oficial” Autonomous Company publishes the Official Gazette of Romania in both printed and electronic format. For details on the published acts, and on their online availability, please see the following sections.

The e-product (e-Monitor) is available at this address.

II. The National Trade Register (ONRC)

a) Before they start their economic activity, professionals have the obligation to apply for registration/listing in the trade register, and during their operation of business or upon termination of business, they must request the addition of notes to the trade register as regards the acts and facts the registration of which is required by the law.

Registration in the trade register means legal publication by ONRC: the records, data and registered acts have effect vis-à-vis third parties as from their registration date or publication in the Official Gazette of Romania or on the website/services portal of ONRC under the law.

Registration and notes have effect vis-à-vis third parties as from their entry to the trade register or publication in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part IV or VII, or in another publication, where otherwise provided for by the law.

• The ONRC website
• The ONRC services portal

b) ONRC also publishes the Insolvency Bulletin in electronic format: the section which provides the public service for the service of documents to parties, the communication of judgments, the convocation and notification of procedural acts issued by courts/insolvency administrators/court-appointed liquidators/other authorised persons under the insolvency proceedings in accordance with Law No 85/2014 on insolvency preventing procedures and insolvency proceedings, as subsequently amended and supplemented, and the section “Debtors - natural persons with obligations not arising from the operation of business” (Debitori - persoane fizice cu obligații ce nu decurg din exploatarea unei întreprinderi) in accordance with Law No 151/2015 on insolvency proceedings for natural persons.

For professionals covered by Law No 85/2014 on insolvency preventing procedures and insolvency proceedings, as subsequently amended and supplemented, the procedural acts served/sent by courts, insolvency practitioners (insolvency administrators/court-appointed liquidators), and by other authorised persons under the law are published in the Insolvency Bulletin, a publication available on the online services portal of ONRC.

The judgment ascertaining the debtor’s (professional’s) reorganisation plan, as a procedural acts, under Law No 85/2014 on insolvency preventing procedures and insolvency proceedings, as subsequently amended and supplemented, is published in Part IV of the Official Gazette of Romania.

For natural persons covered by Law No 151/2015 on insolvency proceedings for natural persons, the procedural acts served/delivered by the insolvency board, the procedural administrator, the liquidator and the court authorities are published in the section “Debtors - natural persons with obligations not arising from the operation of a business” of the Insolvency Bulletin, a publication available on the website http://www.bpi.ro/.

III. The Courts Portal

The Courts Portal is administered by the Ministry of Justice. Each court in Romania has a website on this portal. The information on these websites is entered and maintained directly by the court staff, except for the information about cases and meetings, which is automatically taken from the electronic case management system used at court level.

In order to access a website of a particular court from the home page of the Courts Portal, the region to which that court pertains (which is the jurisdictional area of a court of appeal) and then that court from the list are selected.

Which types of announcements are published?

I. The Official Gazette of Romania

In terms of official announcements, in accordance with Law No 202 of 9 November 1998 on the organisation of the Official Gazette of Romania, as republished:

• The following are published in Part III, on grounds of legal provisions: legal acts, documents, notifications, announcements and others alike (e.g. staff recruitment announcements; competitions for public job vacancies; judgments concerning the cancellation of the bill of exchange/cheque; the regular activity report of public authorities; notices on the entry competition for the National Magistracy Institute (Institutul Național al Magistraturii), the competence examination for magistrates and the list of vacancies for magistrates; the notice for competition for assistant magistrate job vacancies at the High Court of Cassation and Justice etc.);
• On grounds of legal provisions, legal acts, which concern economic operators and other categories of legal persons, as well as other acts established under legal provisions, are published in Part IV (e.g. the decision for recognition in Romania of foreign non-profit legal persons; judgments approving the modification of the political party statute; the tribunal's decision to initiate bankruptcy proceedings; the auction notices for sale of goods; the end of the validity period of the authorisation of a credit institution and the decision of the National Bank of Romania to withdraw the authorisation; the decisions of the general director of the Romanian Copyright Office to withdraw or suspend the registration certificate etc.)
• the collective agreement concluded at national and branch level, the conventions and recommendations of the International Labour Organisation, and other acts established under legal provisions, are published in Part V;
• contract award notices under public procurement and award notices for public works and services concession contracts, public supply concession contracts and other notices established under legal provisions (e.g. notices under Law No 350/2005 on the regime of grants; concessions – contract notices under Emergency Order No 54/2006 on the regime of public supply concession contracts).

Note: in accordance with Law No 98/2016 on public procurement, notices are published at national level through the SEAP e-procurement system which is used for the purpose of applying the award procedures through electronic means.

• On grounds of legal provisions, legal acts concerning cooperatives and other categories of legal persons established by cooperatives, and other acts related to cooperation, as established under legal provisions (e.g. the delegate judge’s conclusion for registration of the cooperative in the trade register, the liquidators’ designation act, and any other act which might bring changes to their personality etc.) are published in Part VII.

II. The National Trade Register (ONRC)

a) With regard to professionals registered in the Trade Register:

• the extract of the resolution/the registration resolution (Official Gazette of Romania, Part IV or VII);
• acts amending instruments of incorporation and notifications on the submission of the updated instrument of incorporation (Official Gazette of Romania);
• judgments, for the cases provided for by the law (Official Gazette of Romania);
• court decisions ruling on dissolution (in Part IV of the Official Gazette of Romania and on the website of the National Trade Register or on its online services portal);
• liquidator designation resolutions under Article 237(6) of Law No 31/1990 on companies (on the website of the National Trade Register and on its online services portal);
• merger/break-up projects (in Part IV of the Official Gazette of Romania or, at the applicant’s choice, on the own website of the company and, in this case, the trade register where the company is registered will publish the merger or break-up project on its own website free of charge);
• the resolutions rejecting the registration application and the registrations not resulting in the amendment of the instrument of incorporation (on the website of the National Trade Register or on its online services portal);
• the list of companies for which the National Trade Register is to file actions for dissolution in accordance with Article 237(2) of Law No 31/1990 on companies (the website or the online services portal);
• the list of companies for which the National Trade Register is to file actions for removal in accordance with Article 237(9) of Law No 31/1990 on companies (the website of the National Trade Register or the online services portal);
• the list of companies for which the National Trade Register is to file actions for removal in accordance with Article 260(7) of Law No 31/1990 is posted on the website of the National Trade Register or on its online services portal;
• the tribunal’s decisions ruling the removal under Article 237(10) of Law No 31/1990 on companies (on the website of the National Trade Register or on its online services portal);
• the tribunal’s decisions ruling the removal under Article 260(8) of Law No 31/1990 on companies (on the website of the National Trade Register and on its online services portal).

b) For professionals covered by Law No 85/2014 on insolvency prevention procedures and insolvency proceedings, as subsequently amended and supplemented, the following procedural acts issued by courts, insolvency practitioners (the insolvency administrator/court-appointed liquidator) and other authorised persons are published in the Insolvency Bulletin in accordance with the law:

• summons to appear, notices and judgments;
• convocations and notifications;
• other procedural acts provided for by the law.

For natural persons covered by Law No 151/2015 on the insolvency proceedings for natural persons, the following procedural acts served/delivered by the insolvency board, the insolvency administrator, the liquidator and the court authorities are published in Section “Debtors – natural persons with obligations not arising from the operation of a business” of the Insolvency Bulletin:

• decisions of the insolvency board;
• notices;
• judgments;
• other procedural acts provided for by the law.

III. The Courts Portal

In accordance with Article 167 of the Coded of Civil Procedure (Law No 134/2010), when the claimant alleges, on a reasoned basis, that, although they had done everything they could, they could not find out the defendant’s domicile or another place where the latter could be served under the law, the court will be able to approve the service of documents with regard to that defendant by publicity. The service by publicity consists in displaying the writ of summons on the court’s door, on the portal of the competent court and at the last known domicile of the person served. Where it deems necessary, the court will order and publish the writ of summons in the Official Gazette of Romania or in a widespread central newspaper.

In this respect, a general section dedicated to service by publicity is operated on the Courts Portal. Also, the website of each court also hosts a section dedicated to service by publicity (see, for example, the website of Bucharest Tribunal).

From which organisation(s) are announcements published?

Depending on the legislation applicable to each type of announcement, the Official Gazette of Romania or the issuing institutions.

With regard to the particular cases presented above: The National Trade Register, the Official Gazette of Romania or the courts.

Is access to the official announcements free of charge?

I. The Official Gazette of Romania

The acts published in Parts III-VII of the Official Gazette of Romania are accessible free of charge on the Internet and available in the reading form for ten days from their publication.

The products in electronic form available online for a consideration (Expert-Monitor and Autentic-monitor), including the charges applied by the “Monitorul Oficial” Autonomous Company, are described on the website thereof.

II. The National Trade Register (ONRC)

a) Yes, the announcements related to professionals registered with the Trade Register on the portal of the National Trade Register.

b) Access to the Insolvency Bulletin, the online publication with published procedural acts of professionals going into insolvency in accordance with Law No 85/2014 on the insolvency preventing procedures and the insolvency proceedings, is granted under a paid subscription.

Access to the section “Debtors – natural persons with obligations not arising from the operation of a business” of the Insolvency Bulletin is granted free of charge to the debtor, the creditors, the insolvency administrator/liquidator, the insolvency board, and the court in the case where they hold such position.

The ONRC online services portal displays a series of free information about the persons published in the Insolvency Bulletin.

III. The Courts Portal

Access to the Courts Portal is free.

What types of searches can be made?

I. The Official Gazette of Romania

In the free version of the Official Gazette of Romania (e-Monitor) no automatic searches of published acts can be performed. Thus, users only have the option of selecting, via a calendar, the publication date and number of the Official Gazette (for each Part).

II. The National Trade Register (ONRC)

a) In regard to the professionals registered in the Trade Register, searches may be performed according to one or a maximum combination of the following search criteria:

• Trade register number
• County
• Company name
• Publication date
• Tax code
• Balance sheet year

b) With regard to the debtors under the insolvency proceedings, the searches may be performed in the Section “Insolvency Bulletin (BPI) Online Services” (Servicii online BPI), in the sub-sections “Persons published in BPI” (Persoane publicate in BPI) and “BPI Number Summary” (Sumar număr BPI), by using the following selection criteria:

• the person published in BPI;
• the bulletin number;
• the case number;
• the tax registration number;
• registered business number;
• publication period;
• year of publication in BPI.

III. The Courts Portal

Writs of summons may be searched on the Courts Portal by the name (forename and name or just one of these elements) of the summoned party.

If the general section of the Courts Portal is used, the search results will be writs of summons published by all courts, and if a section dedicated to a particular court is used (e.g. the Bucharest Tribunal), the search results will be only writs of summons published by that court.

As of which date were the official announcements available in electronic format?

I. The Official Gazette of Romania

e-Monitor – 2008

II. The National Trade Register (ONRC)

a) With regard to professionals registered in the Trade Register, 2012.

b) The National Trade Register published the first issue of the Insolvency Bulletin in electronic format on 1 August 2006 and it can be viewed on the ONRC online services portal.

III. The Courts Portal

The facility regarding the service of documents by publicity has been available on the Courts Portal since March 2013.

Can searches be saved and notifications sent when criteria are met?

Not applicable

Are the official announcements freely available as open data? If so, where can the repository and/or technical information be found?

The Courts Portal allows for scheduled access only to sets of data regarding case files and meetings, not to the service of documents by publicity. The information on the latter is available only in HTML format.