- within Intellectual Property, Immigration and Environment topic(s)
October 2025 – The Romanian Competition Council ("RCC") remained highly active throughout the third quarter of 2025, advancing its enforcement and policy agenda across multiple fronts. Highlights include the adoption of Romania's first foreign direct investment ("FDI") guidelines, the launch of a public consultation on urban utility approvals, and intensified merger control and antitrust activity across the telecom, retail and agribusiness sectors. These efforts are reinforcing the RCC's commitment to safeguarding competition in strategically important markets.
I. Latest Updates
FDI Guidelines
On the FDI screening front, Romania adopted its first set of investment screening guidelines ("FDI Guidelines"), clarifying the method for calculating investment value in various types of transactions, such as share deals, capital contributions, multi-jurisdictional transactions, and loans or financing by investors. This marks a key step forward in enabling investors to assess whether their transactions fall within the scope of Romania's FDI screening regime.
The FDI Guidelines also clarify important exemptions from the notification requirement. Notably, mere passive sales to Romania alone, share capital increases with no change in control or management of the target and loans or financing agreements provided by banks and/or authorised financial institutions during their normal course of business generally do not trigger a filing obligation.
Further guidance is also provided on the timing and documentation required for FDI filings. In particular, the filing should be made once negotiations have reached a stage where the key terms of the transaction are agreed upon. At this point, the notifying parties are expected to submit a supporting document reflecting their clear intention to conclude the transaction, which could also include a preliminary term sheet or memorandum of understanding.
Also, given the very broad scope of screening, the authorities have received a record number of filings throughout the year, most likely to exceed the number of filings in 2024 (of over 500).
Public consultation on the authority's sector inquiry in the urban utility location permits market
The RCC continues to actively monitor market dynamics, recently turning its attention to technical location permits for urban utility infrastructure. In September 2025, the RCC launched a public consultation on its newly published report analysing this market. The report identifies significant inefficiencies and competitive concerns, including non-transparent fee structures, inconsistent procedures among authorities, and delays in enforcing relevant legislation. These issues can obstruct infrastructure development and create unjustified barriers for economic operators. This initiative forms part of the RCC's broader strategy to promote transparency and ensure fair competition across sectors
II. Mergers & acquisitions
In the third quarter of this year, the RCC maintained a high level of merger control activity, continuing to screen a significant number of transactions. During this period, the RCC published more than 20 merger decisions across a variety of sectors, including:
- energy - the acquisition of three companies active in the energy sector by Vinci Energies SRL, a subsidiary of Vinci Group);
- automotive - Mutares SE & Co. KGaA's acquisition of Continental Brakes Italy S.p.A., and
- pharmaceuticals - Fidia Farmaceutici S.p.A.'s acquisition of Meditrina's local subsidiary, Meditrina Pharmaceuticals S.R.L.
The most notable merger decision of the quarter was the conditional approval of the acquisition of Telekom Romania Mobile Communications S.A. by Vodafone Romania S.A., which also involved the transfer of certain Telekom assets to Digi Romania S.A. The RCC announced in July 2025 that, in order to address the competition concerns raised by this merger, Vodafone and Digi committed to a series of structural and behavioural remedies, including maintaining current pricing conditions, improving mobile data services and investing in network infrastructure. The decision reflects the RCC's aim to maintain effective competition and protect consumer interests in the telecom sector.
Moreover, in July 2025, the RCC launched an in-depth analysis of the proposed acquisition of the La Cocoș retail chain by the Schwarz Group, which operates Lidl and Kaufland in Romania. This move comes amid an ongoing wave of consolidation in the Romanian retail sector, notably following the RCC's conditional approval of the Mega Image - Profi merger earlier this year, which required the divestiture of 87 stores to local retailer Annabella to preserve market competition. The La Cocoș transaction is being scrutinized for its potential impact on consumer choice and supplier dynamics.
III. New investigations
In August 2025, the RCC intensified its investigation into the crop seed and plant protection products market by conducting dawn raids at nine major distributors. These inspections expand upon an inquiry launched in 2022, which initially focused on key suppliers suspected of price-fixing and imposing sales restrictions. The latest actions follow new evidence indicating that additional distributors may have engaged in anti-competitive practices.
This long-running case underscores the RCC's continued focus on preserving fair competition in Romania's agribusiness sector amid ongoing market consolidation and regulatory scrutiny.
IV. Key takeaway
The RCC remains one of the region's most active competition authorities, combining robust merger and antitrust enforcement with a broader policy agenda. Its recent actions show a clear focus on transparency, digitalisation, and fair competition in key economic sectors.
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