Romania ranks first among the countries in the region for most legislative changes, with over a quarter (280 acts) of the total of 1,040 acts approved in six countries in Central and Eastern Europe between August 1 2016 and August 1 2017, according to the Grayling AcTrend 2017 report.

Romania thus leads the way in terms of the volume of legislation passed for the fourth year in the row, being followed by Poland and Hungary. All three countries exceeded the 200-act milestone.

The other three countries included in the report are the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Bulgaria. In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the number of acts is between 100 and 200; only Bulgaria is under the 100 mark, according to the report.

Also, the most significant change was seen in Bulgaria, where the number of approved acts decreased by 45% (76 acts) compared with the figures in 2015/2016. “This was due to the “inactive” period after the government’s resignation in which Parliament was dissolved for about two extra months in February and March 2017,” reads the report.

Overall, almost half (45%) of the approved acts had an impact on the business sector, namely 468 acts of the total of 1,040. More than 36% of the adopted acts that had a direct impact on business were related to general business.

Unlike in previous years, when the financial sector was the most regulated area, in 2016-2017 most of the laws adopted with impact on companies affected the service sector (14%), agriculture (12%) and health (11%). The least impacted sectors remained IT&C (4.3%) and energy (4.5%). In Romania, more than half of the 280 laws had an impact on other areas than business, such as education, culture, social, administration, and justice. 123 acts directly affected companies, and almost half of them (50) had an impact on the general business (laws on the state budget, tax code, competition, public procurement, etc.).

Similar to the previous year, most of the approved acts were submitted by government (76.7% vs. 72.2% in 2015/2016). However, compared to the previous year, the most productive MPs were in Romania (36%) and Bulgaria (26%), while Poland recorded a remarkable decrease of minus 30%. In Romania, the number of acts initiated by lawmakers with impact on business has increased for the third consecutive year, doubling over the 2013/2014 period.

Also, the report shows that, in Romania, the proportion of acts passed using an extraordinary procedure is still by far the highest in the region, and it increased from 41% last year to 49% this year.

“Emergency Ordinances submitted by the Government for debate in the Parliament are approved by extraordinary procedure. Last year, many proposals debated in the Parliament were in fact from the executive branch. The technocratic government in power in 2016 lacked political support, therefore the majority of its decisions were made through Government Emergency Ordinances. In the last part of 2016, this government attempted to advance more liberal decisions to support the right-wing parties in the coming elections, which necessitated emergency ordinances. Today, we see a similar approach with the current Social Democrat Government, who are advancing their political agenda,” reads the report.

The full report can be accessed here.

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com