Through the bill (PL-x No. 527/2022), all bilateral chambers must be registered in the National Register and submit an annual activity report confirming the fulfillment of the purpose and tasks, under pain of dissolution.

The American Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Romania (AmCham Romania) signals a new attempt to subordinate associative structures assimilated to bilateral chambers of commerce and industry to the National Chamber and calls for the rejection of this approach, which distorts and limits the associative environment in Romania.

• These provisions represent a restriction of the right to free association guaranteed by the Romanian Constitution, as well as the European Convention on Human Rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, AmCham said in a press release.

• AmCham Romania believes that this deeply undemocratic and unfair approach, which gives a private entity a privileged position and discretionary powers compared to other private entities, is a dangerous precedent and has a negative impact even on the stated goal of supporting the business environment and investment attraction.

As the project has been approved by the Romanian Senate and is being analyzed by the committees of the Chamber of Deputies, AmCham Romania, along with 10 other business associations, have requested the removal of any provisions that jeopardize the functioning of free association. environment by granting some powers that go beyond the scope of the National Chamber.

According to the current legislation, associative structures operate on the basis of a statute approved by the courts, which establishes clear reporting mechanisms.

At the same time, they are subject to control by public authorities in many areas, so the provisions in question do not meet the needs, but on the contrary, lead to inappropriate over-regulation, without real benefit, to excessive bureaucracy and unhealthy subordination.

AmCham: I have not identified any other state in which the National Chamber plays the role of supervision and control of other associative structures of the business environment

In other countries, Romania’s bilateral chambers of commerce and industry are in no way subordinate to national chambers.

Unfortunately, and in contrast to the commitments made by Romania regarding governance, transparency, de-bureaucratization, such initiatives are reappearing and gaining such a scale, and we call on all decision-makers to stop this new attempt to subjugate the associative environment.

The joint letter, signed by AmCham along with 10 other organizations, details the arguments for rejecting these provisions and could be consulted here.