[BUYING AND SELLING REAL ESTATE IN ROMANIA]
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The parties will sign only one copy of the agreement which remains in the public notary’s archives. The notary shall provide as many duplicates as necessary, which shall be only signed by him/her. It should be noted that in Romania there are certain pre-emption rights or other statutory limitations imposed by Law 17/2014 regarding certain measures concerning the sale and purchase of agricultural land located outside the city limits, the amendment of Law No. 268/2001 on the privatization of companies that hold public and private agricultural lands owned by the state under management, and the establishment of the State Property Agency, as subsequently amended and supplemented, potentially applicable in relation to some specific categories of real estate properties (outside city limits, agricultural land). The rules for the exercise of the pre-emption right have been changed (the amendments brought by Law 175/2020 entered into force on 13 October 2020), and they have become more cumbersome. In the initial phase of the procedure regulated under Law 17/2014 (Stage 1), agricultural land can be offered for sale to seven categories of legal pre- emptors, in a specified order. Should none of these legal pre-emptors express their intention to purchase the agricultural land, then a second phase of the procedure is to be followed (Stage 2), where such land may be sold to so called „potential buyers” who meet the conditions outlined by Law 17/2014. Subsequently, if both stages mentioned above are completed without an eligible buyer, as regulated under Law 17/2014 (i.e., either a legal pre- emptor, or a “potential buyer”), expressing an intention to accept
the sale offer published by the landowner of the agricultural land for sale, the respective land can be freely sold to any natural or legal person at the same price in the sale offer. The acquisition of land with a value in relation to new investments in excess of 2 million Euro, made by either EU or foreign direct investors in certain sectors of the economy which include inter alia: energy sector, transport sector, supply systems with vital resources, critical infrastructure, industrial security; agriculture and protection of the environment is subject to the procedures for assessing, investigating, clearance, conditioning, prohibiting or unwinding such investment in Romania on grounds of security or public order (“ FDI Screening ”) regulated by Government Emergency Ordinance 46/2022 on measures implementing the FDI Regulation and amending and supplementing the Competition Law 21/1996, the Law no. 164/2023 for the approval of GEO 46/2022 and Government Emergency Ordinance 108/2023 amending and supplementing the Competition Law no.21/1996 and other normative acts (collectively „ FDI Law “). FDI Law defines very broadly the concept of new investment applicable both to EU and foreign direct investments, which, besides an initial investment in tangible and intangible assets that are located within the same perimeter and relate to the startup of a new business, also encompasses: ➢ the creation of a new unit for carrying out the activity in the sensitive sector which is technologically independent from other existing facilities; ➢ the extension of the capacity of an existing establishment (i.e. the increase
ILN Real Estate Group – Buying and Selling Real Estate Series
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