Romania

There have been two major reforms in Romania in secured transactions law since the fall of the communist regime in 1989. First, the Law No. 99/1999 regarding certain measures for speeding up the economical reform (“Law No. 99/1999”) in its Title VI on Legal Treatment of Security Interests in Personal Property introduced considerable flexibility in structuring a secured transaction. A functionalist approach to security was taken as the same regime applied to security interests and to assignments of accounts receivable, conditional sales, leases for more than a year, consignment contracts, warrants and deposit receipts. An electronic registration system was created (Electronic Archive – Arhiva Electronica de Garantii Reale Mobiliare) with priority ranking being based on registration.

The second wave of reforms saw the introduction of the Romania’s New Civil Code (Monitorul Oficial no. 505 of July 15, 2011). The Code came into force on 1st October 2011, replacing the 99/1999 Law in relation to transactions entered on that date or later. It introduced the concept of a  mortgage encompassing security encumbering both movable and immovable assets and made it possible to create an advance mortgage before the loan it secures is extended. Priority continues to be determined by the date of registration. The functional approach is maintained but has been limited: retention of title clauses, re-purchase arrangements, assignments of receivables for security purposes are governed by a distinct set of legal provisions whilst their publicity and enforcement are subject to the same rules as mortgages.

See further:

S Cristea, ‘Mortgage Regulations in the New Romanian Civil Code. Practical Aspects’ (2012) 1 Perspectives of Business Law Journal 96

Ileana M. Smeureanu & Florentin Giurgea, ‘Enforcement of Contracts in Romania’, in: Stefan Messmann & Tibor Tajti (eds.), The Case Law of Central and Eastern Europe (European University Press, Bochum-Germany, 2009), in particular at 726-731.

Klaudia Fabian, Alexandra Horvathova and Catalin-Gabriel Stanescu, Is Self-Help Repossession Possible in Central Europe? 4 Duke Journal of Eurasian Law 83