Order of the Minister of Economy, Energy and Business Environment no. 791/2020 regarding the granting of State of Emergency certificates to the economic operators whose activity is affected by SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (Official Gazette no. 248 / 25 March 2020) .

The procedure for obtaining State of Emergency Certificates was published yesterday, March 25, 2020, in the Official Gazette of Romania by way of the normative act mentioned above. We present below the summary of the latest legislative changes in the context of the pandemic due to SARS-CoV-2, as well as the procedure for obtaining the State of Emergency certificates.

A.   Incentives related to SME financing - Emergency Ordinance no. 29/2020: implementation according to a state aid / de minimis scheme;

B.   Incentives regarding technical unemployment financed by the State Budget - Emergency Government Ordinance no. 30/2020

I.   Eligibility for technical unemployment incentive

The incentive may be applied in the following situations, due to the state of emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic:

(i) The company has totally or partially ceased its activity due to the decisions of the public authorities (military Ordinance) or

(ii) The company has reduced its activity and it does not have the financial capacity to pay the salaries to all its employees.

II.   What is financed by the State?

The State will reimburse:

• 75% of the basic salary corresponding to the job occupied, but no more than 75% of the average gross wage, for the situations in point (i);
• 75% of the basic salary corresponding to the job occupied, but no more than 75% of the average gross wage for the maximum 75% of the employees who have individual active employment contracts, for the situations in point (ii).

III.   Eligibility conditions

According to the Emergency Government Ordinance:

• Companies from point (i) must hold a blue emergency certificate issued by the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Business Environment , as follows:

TYPE 1 CERTIFICATE (BLUE) - issued for the applicants requesting the incentive based on the sworn statement mentioning the total or partial interruption of the activity, as a result of the decisions issued by the competent public authorities , according to the law, during the period of emergency.

• Companies from point (ii) shall hold a yellow certificate of emergency based on the sworn statement attesting the following:

- the cash collections recorded during the month before filing the sworn statement were lower with at least 25% compared to the average cash collections during January-February 2020 and

- financial incapacity to pay all employees. We mention that the Sworn Statement template does not contain any reference to this condition.

TYPE 2 CERTIFICATE (YELLOW) - issued for applicants requesting the aid based on the sworn statement attesting that the cash collections in March 2020 have decreased with at least 25% as compared to January – February 2020.

IV. Procedure for obtaining the certificates

• The request shall be submitted by the applicant, exclusively electronically, through the platform http://prevenire.gov.ro/; the certificates will be issued automatically and electronically, after the request has been validated by the system.
• The certificates are obtained based on the following documents and information:

a) identification data;

b) the sworn statement of the legal representative, by which he/she attests that all the information and documents underlying the request for obtaining the certificate are according to the reality and complies with the legislation in force in relation to the type of the requested certificate, with reference to the total or partial closure of the activity or to the reduction of the cash collections. In case the legal representative does not have an electronic signature, he/she can holography sign, while the documents will be then uploaded on the http://prevenire.gov.ro platform (including the sworn statement) and will be signed electronically by the authorized representative for this purpose.

• The documents must be uploaded to the platform http://prevenire.gov.ro, under the electronic signature of the legal representative of the economic operator or of his proxy, holder of electronic signature.
• During inspections carried out by authorized bodies, the justifying documents based on which the certificates were requested may be checked.

V. Reimbursement procedure .

• Companies will submit by e-mail to employment agencies the request for reimbursement - standard templated provided via EGO 30/2020 attaching the following:

- companies from point (i): blue emergency certificate + list of employees;

- companies from point (ii): yellow emergency certificate + sworn statement + list of employees.

• Applications will be submitted in the current month for indemnities related to the previous month.
• The payment from the unemployment insurance budget of the indemnities shall be made within 30 days after the submission of documents.

VI. Fiscal treatment of the allowance

• The gross indemnities granted are subject to social contributions and income tax (health insurance, pension fund contribution and personal income tax).
• Work insurance contribution is no due.