How to obtain the emergency certificate in the context of the pandemic caused by the spread of the SARS-COV-2 virus

By the Emergency Ordinances no. 29/2020 and no. 30/2020 the Romanian Government issueda series of measures in an attempt to come to the aid of economic operators whose activity has been affected by the adoption of measures to contain the spread of the SARS-COV-2 virus, but most of these steps have been subjected to the emergency certificate. 

On 25 March 2020 the Order no. 791/2020 was published in the Official Gazette no. 248 of 25 March 2020, which regulates the procedure by which the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Business Environment grants, upon request, emergency certificates (CSU) to the economic operators, whose activity is affected by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. 

I. Who can request the issuance of this certificate?

Article 1 paragraph (2) of the Order no. 791/2020 does not explicitly state who are the persons who can request the issuance of this certificate, however, the provisions of the Order in conjunction with the provisions of GEO no. 29/2020 and no. 30/2020 indicate that there are three categories of economic operators that can request the issuance of a certificate for emergency situations, as follows: 

economic operators whose activity is affected by the measures ordered by the public authorities to prevent and combat the pandemic caused by the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) (the order refers to GEOs no. 29/2020 and no. 30/2020); 

economic operators whose activity is directly affected, more precisely those who interrupt their activity, in whole or in part, based on the decisions issued by the competent public authorities according to the law (for example, the situations in which the military ordinance ordered to suspend the activity); 

economic operators whose activity is indirectly affected, i.e. those that reduce their activity as a result of the effects of the pandemic caused by the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) (for example, those whose activity has not been directly suspended but whose employees cannot work from home or telework). 

II. Categories of emergency certificates

1. Certificate TYPE I (blue) – issued to the applicants requesting it based on the declaration on oath showing the total or partial interruption of their activity as a result of the decisions issued by the competent public authorities, according to the law, during the state of emergency;

2. Certificate TYPE II (yellow) – issued to the applicants requesting it based on the declaration on oath showing a decrease of revenues in March 2020 by at least 25% compared to the averagerevenues in January-February 2020.

The emergency certificate can be used both in the interaction with public institutions for obtaining facilities / support measures, deferral of payment for utility services, electricity, natural gas, water, telephone and Internet services, rent for the immovable property used as registered office and secondary offices, as well as the interaction with trading partners. 

It is important to note that an economic operator may request the issuance of only one type of emergency certificate.

III. The issuance procedure of the emergency certificate

The application for the issuance of the emergency certificate (CSU) shall be submitted by the applicant, only electronically, through the platform http://prevenire.gov.ro, and the issuance of the certificates will be done automatically and electronically, after the validation of the application by the system. 

In order to obtain this certificate, the applicant shall provide a series of information and submit a set of documents, such as: 

a) the identification data;

b) the declaration on oath of the legal representative, attesting that all the information and documents underlying the application for obtaining the certificate are true and comply with the legislation in force regarding the type of certificate requested, with reference to the total or partial closure of the business or to the decrease of the receipts in the indicated amount. If the legal representative does not have an electronic signature, he/she can apply the handwritten signature and then all the documents will be uploaded on to the platform http://prevenire.gov.ro (including the declaration on own responsibility) to be electronically signed by the proxy appointed for this purpose. The model of the declaration onoath will be uploaded on to the platform http://prevenire.gov.ro.

The emergency certificates are valid without signature and stamp and their verification can be performed on the platform http://prevenire.gov.ro, by series and number.

Moreover, the Order no. 791/2020 provides that within the inspection and control actions carried out by the competent bodies, they also verify the documents underlying the issuance of the declaration on oath by the applicants. Thus, in case of identifying any reasonable suspicions regarding the obtention of the emergency certificate (CSU) by non-complying with the applicable legal provisions or by not attesting the actual legal and/or factual situation of the applicant, the competent bodies shall be notified in order to establish the applicable measures. 

IV. When can the applications for the issuance of the emergency certificate (CSU) be submitted

The Ministry of Economy, Energy and Business Environment will ensure the adaptation and operation of the electronic platform http://prevenire.gov.ro within 5 days from the approval and publication of the order.

Andreea Plăian, lawyer at Iordăchescu & Associates