State of Alert...What Is New

Tue | 19.05.2020

Legal

The state of alert being declared in Romania on May 14 entailed new restrictive measures and new rules to be complied with set under the Decision of the National Committee for Emergency Situations no. 24/2020, published in the Official Gazette no. 395/15.05.2020 (in force) and the Law n° 55/2020. The law no. 55/2020 on the measures for prevention and fight against the COVID-19 pandemic enacting the declaration of the state of alert was published in the Official Gazette no. 396/15.05.2020 and becomes effective as of today, May 18, 2020.

The law institutes the state of alert for a 30-day period, with possibility of extension, if necessary, for 30-day periods.

Here below you can find an overview on the rules to be abided by in several working fields, amongst which the most important concern economics, health, labour and social protection and the regime of sanctions.

Free movement: restrictions on some travels

Cultural, scientific, artistic, religious, sportive or entertainment gathering in closed premises, or gatherings, demonstrations, concerts in open spaces remain banned or subject to restrictions …
Travelling outside the locality of domicile / residence remains strictly supervised… Thus, such voyages are allowed conditional upon producing a declaration on sole responsibility and having a strictly defined reason : professional, humanitarian or volunteering, for agricultural works, commercialisation of agro-alimentary goods by the agricultural producers, for running a property owned in another locality, for medical care, for individual sportive activities with the participation of maximum 3 persons, etc.

The model of declaration to be used from now on is available at : https://www.mai.gov.ro/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Declaratie-proprie-raspundere-stare-de-alerta.pdf.

Leaving domicile / home for travelling in the domicile locality is allowed, conditional upon observing prevention conditions and the obligation of avoiding creating groups of more than 3 persons who do not belong to the same family ;
When coming back to Romania, quarantine measures must be observed : asymptomatic persons shall be isolated at domicile, if this is not possible or unwanted, then quarantine is possible in the facilities provided by the authorities ; inobservance of this obligation entails placement under 14-day institutionalised quarantine with the accommodation and food expenses at one’s charge. As until now, continue to be exempted from quarantine, transporters, on-duty technical personnel, foreign companies’ representatives, cross-border commuters, etc.
Regular commercial flights and terrestrial collective transports from and to numerous European countries, such as: France, Germany, Italy, remain suspended until May 28.

Economy, labour and social protection

Provided that strict sanitary measures, such as mask wear, social distancing, etc. are observed:

Alimentary, pharmaceutical or cleaning products facilities who are allowed to resume activity, commercial centres exceeding 15.000 m2 remain closed
Restaurants and bars may open but only for food to be consumed outside and take away, drive in, etc.
The employer may decide to pursue telework, but from now on, the employee’s agreement is necessary (whilst during the state of emergency telework was an unilateral decision of the employer) ;
The validity of the collective labour contracts and agreements shall be extended during the state of alert and 90 days after, but the employer shall start the renegotiation of those to expire within the 45-day term since the cessation of the state of alert ;
Public or private companies employing more than 50 people must set up working schedules with shifted hours : an hour by groups of 20% of the personnel ;
The measure concerning state paid leave for parents who care for children under 12 years, laid down by the GEO no. 30/2020, has been extended to cover the state of alert and until December 31, 2020 at the latest.
During the state of alert, the competent authorities shall undertake special protection measures for the Romanian employees who work abroad.

Health measures

Mask wearing is mandatory in closed public places, commercial facilities, public transportation and at the work place
Public authorities shall perform an epidemiological triage of employees and visitors : temperature check, symptoms associated to Covid-19, hand disinfection ;
Ceiling of the prices of medical products needed in the fight against the pandemic of Covid-19, such as masks and hydro-alcoholic gel

SANCTIONS

Any inobservance of the Law shall be subject to sanctioning by fines starting from LEI 500 to LEI 10,000.

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