ESIS extension / Romania / Regulatory Developments / Update Memo 6

The following report outlines new developments in the past three months and the state of on-going developments.

After December 1989, the Romanian regulatory environment is specific to a state of transition. The legislation has been amended and completed for the last ten years. Romanian legislation has passed since 1991, has liberalised significant segments of the telecommunication system, and free competition for the telecommunication market will be opened in 2003 (1^st January).

The status of deregulation is described as it was at the end of June 2000. The main sources were official publications (e.g. Official Journal of Romania), Romanian legislation related to telecommunications, Phare Regulatory Observatory (www.ispo.cec.be/peco/phare) and information collected through other public sources.

Prior to the December Revolution (1989), the telecommunication and the postal services in Romania were state-owned and Ministry of Communication controlled and managed together.

In 1991, the Romanian government made a major decision concerning the development of the whole telecommunication sector, launched a 15-year (1991-2005) program (Telecommunications Development Programme - Master Plan) to expand and modernise the country's telecommunications system. This programme was adopted by the Government Decree No. 500 in July 1991.

Quantitative objectives for the year 2005 are defined in the Tele-Communications Development Programme, like raising the line penetration to 30 lines per 100 inhabitants, 8 new national digitally transit centres inter-connected by fiber-optic cable and digital radio-relays.

The Government, or the Ministries, tried to solve the current affairs by adopting a series of orders. The areas targeted are: granting broadcasting licenses, modification of the level of taxes for authorizations and licenses in the domain of audio-visual and satellite communications, financing of R&D domain of the National Computer Network.

During the April-June 2000, the legislative activity is focused on economic laws and to local elections (4 June). In the next months (July-August 2000) in Romania Parliament have vacation. No important laws regarding the IT sector were adopted by the parliament.

The draft law for IT - the "Code for Information Technologies Development and Use", finalised by ANCI is still on the Parliament agenda to be debated.

The draft was submitted to the European Commission – DG XIII, and observations were received in March 1998.

The second revised Code was approved by the Government and forwarded to Parliament in 1999. But unfortunately has not been yet solved by the Parliament of Romania. At end of past legislature (June 2000) Varujan Pambuccian deputy proposed project of "Electonic signature" law.

The National Research, Development and Innovation Programme (RDI) was adopted through Government Order no. 562/1999.

Even if there is no specific reference to the Information Society (IS) research activities (the most dynamic and rewarding), it is expected that there will be tenders from the research organizations and other companies trying to apply the IS particular methods to attend the goals of the national RDI.

However, since the term IS is no longer explicitly present in the RDI, specific care is anticipated from the part of the regulating body (National Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation) to promote the projects with significant impact on the IS aspects.

In March 17, 2000, Romania presented at Brussels The National Medium-term Development Strategy of the Romanian Economy.

In this strategy the Information Society is not presented in a separate chapter (http://www.guv.ro). The Information Society is reflected in various chapters:

In May 2000, the Substantiation Commision of the National Strategy of Romania's Economic Development (www.cdep.ro), proposed a National Action Plan for 2001-2004. The Substantiation Commision of the National Strategy of Economic Development was established through Government Resolution no 88/3 February 2000. However, it is not a government commission and will not elaborate a government strategy.

The main result of the activity of this Commission (the co-presidents are prof. Mugur Isarescu-Premier Minister and prof. Tudorel Postolache-member of the Romanian Academy) is the elaboration (by the deadline of May 15, 2000) of a strategy for the period 2001-2004. The status of the elaboration of the strategy was examined on May 3, in a meeting organized with the participation of the representatives of the 25 subcommissions. The report of the subcommission 2 "Information Society" was presented by prof. Dan Dascalu- coordinator of the subcommission.

The subcommission 2 "Information Society" conducts its activity under the aegis of the Romanian Academy, with the consultation of several organizations (including employers' associations, professional associations, ministeries, political parties, trade unions and SME's) and specialists. On May 2, it sent the central strategy commission a "record of the information society" which presented the entire situation in a new light. According to the subcommission, the evolution towards an information society will represent an essential aspect of the national strategy and will also be (together with economic-financial measures) the shortest way towards European integration.

A series of problems of the "record of the information society" are: the awareness of the political factors and the general public; the importance of access to public information; decentralization and democratization; the communication infrastructures and regulation; the assistance to be granted to the high technology industry; a very high-speed network for electronic scientific communications linking research institutions and universities, as well as scientific libraries, scientific centres and, progressively, schools.

The priorities of this record can be found at the following address: www.imt.ro/socinfo2000.

The subcommission 10 "Communications and Information Technology" presented the report for communications and IT. The priorities of this record can be found at the following address: www.rnc.ro/strategie2000.

The record of the information society was included in Chapter 4 "Education and Innovation" at 4.3. Information Society, Communication and Information Technologies.

On July 31st, 2000 the Government of Romania approved the files 17 (POSITION PAPER CHAPTER 17 - SCIENCE AND RESEARCH), 18 (POSITION PAPER CHAPTER 18 - EDUCATION, TRAINING AND YOUTH), 19 (CHAPTER 19 - TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY) and 20 (CHAPTER 20 - CULTURE AND AUDIOVISUAL) of Romania preparations for accession to the European Union. The files are available on http://servernt1.exec.gov.ro/die/NEGO/pp/Docpos.html

IT&C utilisation in the reform in public administration is represented by the followed examples:

the information system of the State Ownership Fund and the information system of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the integrated information system of the Ministry of Finance, the custom's supervising and control system (the General Directory of Customs), the population's evidence system (the Ministry of Internal Affairs), the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection information system (the social assistance, the manpower and unemployment evidence, pensions and social insurance), as well as systems of specialized agencies, the Ministry of Health information system (preventive actions and health protection statistics); the system of statistical inquiries and reports (The National Commission of Statistics).

Many web-sites were developed at central and local public administration, which are offering useful information for citizens and companies, with regard to the legal frame, administrative procedures, general-use documents, etc;

Applications designed to the management of the local resources and budgets are implemented in the local public administration

An interest is accorded to the setting up information centers network for the citizens (at municipal level) for public regulations, administrative procedures, issuing of authorisations and approvals, social aids, contact persons, appointment agenda, and other issues (for example, the municipality of the city of Sibiu: "InfoCet-Citizens’ Information Centre" www.primsb.ro/internet/ro/start.html, Ialomita, Targu-Mures, Alba-Iulia, etc). These information centres were also set up with USAID funding.

At the end of 1999 the National Agency for Communications and Informatics initiated a feasibility study (Under a Grant Provided by United States Trade and Development Agency -TDA) for the data communication network of the public administration. The study are available on web page: http://ir2.ici.ro/siap/sfrtdap/task3.html

The feasibility study (drawn up by the American Company Teleconsult International Services, LLC and being 250,000$ worth) for the data communication network of the public administration (named "NetPAd") was concluded and we look now for the financial resources needed for the implementation of this project.

Because of the changes in the local council structure as following the local elections of June 2000, actions and projects initiated before the elections have been delayed.

Prof. Sergiu Iliescu, president of the National Agency for Communications and Informatics (ANCI), stated at the V^th National Convention of APRCC that the nucleus of the public administration communication network would be the information structure of the Ministry of Finance.

According to Telecommunication Law (L74/1996), the role of state authority for developing policies and regulations in the communication sector was assigned to the Ministry of Communications (reorganised in 1997 by Decree No.129). In December 1998, this role was assigned to the National Agency for Communication and Informatics (Agentia Nationalã pentru Comunicatii si Informaticã-ANCI).

RomTelecom, history operator (partially privatised), retains exclusive rights until December 31, 2002 to provide local, long distance and international voice telephony services and networks.

As the deadline for liberalization of the public telecommunication network is set for January 1^st, 2003, it might be expected minor legislative activity in this area for the moment.

The state has kept a low profile in regulating the tariffs policy not only of the public telecommunications area, but also in other sectors (like mobile communications, VSAT).

The good aspect is that where is competition (mobile communications), the rates are lowering and a variety of services and subscriptions are offered to the public.

From the dark side, the privatized RomTelecom operator, being in a monopolist position, increased the tariffs well over the dynamic of the exchange rate ROL/USD.

The Parliament of Romania has set up an investigation commission concerning the privatisation of the National Telecommunication Company RomTelecom SA.

In June 2000, the Chamber of Deputies of the Romanian Parliament extended up to September 15th, 2000 the date established by Decree 6/2000 of the Chamber of Deputies, published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, nr. 63 of February 14th, 2000, modified by Decree 18/2000 of the Chamber of Deputies, to hand in the Report drawn up by the commission of industry and services referring to the investigation concerning the privatisation of the National Telecommunication Company "RomTelecom" SA.

RomTelecom's CEO, Vassilios Tsakoniatis announced in September the company's decision not to apply another tariffs adjustment, although the current legislation allows price adjustments every three months. RomTelecom's intention is to cover the future investments in the company from a traffic increase. RomTelecom committed to invest heavily-500 million USD in 2000 and 2001 with investments oriented mostly to the increase of the telephone penetration rate to 23.2 percent and of the digitalization rate to 69.4 percent, by 2003. The last tariff adjustment as made in July, when the prices were increased by 7 percent, due to the ROL's devaluation. In the first quarter of 2000, the traffic has increased by 7 percent, overall. Tsakoniatis was also keen to point out RomTelecom's new orientation from a voice-only telephony company to a modern telecommunication group, announcing the company is ready to launch in November its new voice-mail service, with a country-wide coverage. In a short time other new services will follow - ISDN and Intelligent Network services, by the end of the year (The equipment provider for the Intelligent Network services is Siemens).

The mobile telecommunication market was opened in 1992 for analog communication (NMT-450 Mhz, one operator-Telefonica Romania), GSM digital (900 Mhz, two operators-Connex and Dialog) and DCS 1800 (two operators- Cosmorom and the second licence is subject to public tender). The second DCS 1800 licence is open for tender at 1^st January 2003 ( Romtelecom retains exclusive rights by privatisation contract) told Sergiu Iliescu-president of ANCI (June- Mediafax Press Agency),

CosmoRom SA will have the monopoly on 1800 services in three major cities (Bucharest, Brasov and Constantza) until early next year. CosmoRom has targeted a subscriber base of 200000 by the end of this year, while the two GSM 900 operators, MobilRom and MobiFon SA, together have more than 1.8 million users and a national coverage (72-92%)

RomTelecom sued the National Agency for Communication and IT (ANCI) for violating its exclusive rights over the DCS 1800 frequency after they announced it would give another frequency to the National Radiocommunication Company (SNR), currently in the privatization process. This license will be operationally starting with January 1^st 2003, when the RomTelecom/CosmoRom monopoly in the 1800 MHz frequency will be finished.

Also to make it more attractive, the management of SNR has recently announced that it will invest around 2.3 million USD from its own resources. The decision was taken as the money received from the budget this year proved not to be enough.

The Romanian Education Network (RoEduNet) was created in July 1993, once the installation of the P.U.B. Local Area Network was accomplished and the P.U.B. Central Node got connectivity with the international data networks and services. From the very beginning RoEduNet was conceived as an open structure, offering free access to the academic, scientific and cultural nonprofit institutions; once the first institution was connected - the University of Bucharest, August 1993 - the nucleus of the academic data communication infrastructure was created.

The RoEduNet data communication infrastructure covers the national territory, connects and offers services to more than 150 institutions, offers international connectivity through two high speed channels - 1.5Mbps with TaideNet and 4Mbps with LoralOrion; the measured traffic figures shows a data exchange volume over the international channels of 0.8-1 Tbytes/month. The structure remains open to all universities as well as to non-profit scientific and cultural institutions.

The status of the participating nodes now makes a clear distinction between NSP nodes (Network Services Provider) and End User, client nodes. NSP nodes and the links between them define the RoEduNet backbone, which is level 0 in our model. NSP nodes are also regional POPs, concentrating traffic from their service area. The end user nodes, level 1, connect to the nearest RoEduNet NSP node. The NSP nodes are located at the central nodes of several universities in large academic centers throughout the country: Bucharest, Iasi, Cluj, Targu Mures, Timisoara, Craiova. Even this model has been superseded, by changind the designation of level 1 and moving end users on level 2. Level 1 is now occupied by POPs which will be deployed in each county's capital city.

An other big network dedicated to Research and Development area is The Romanian National Research And Development Network (RNC).

RNC is a national project co-ordinated and established by the National Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation targeted on the following main objectives:

RNC (www.rnc.ro) offer access to 94 institutions connected through leased lines; over 250 research institutions connected by "dial-up"; about 8000-10000 users; total international traffic 300 Gbytes/month; total international&national traffic 500 Gbytes/month;

The World Bank is investigating the potential developing communications market in Romania.

According to Varadarajan Atur, senior financial analyst with the World Bank's energy and telecommunications department, the bank is in the preliminary stages of examination.

This may lead to a further developing of the Internet connections, discouraged at this time by the telecom network (both the quality and the prices).

Estimation shows that for every dollar paid to the Internet service provider, RomTelecom receives three dollars!

The regulations somehow relaxed in the field of Internet but also a strong demand from the part of the public (mainly in the age group of 15-35 years) leaded to increased competition on the ISP market.

The cost of an Internet hour is half than a year ago. The prices of the ISPs are, on average, at 0.6UDS/hour for dial-up.

The same competition between ISPs lead to the declaration of increased figures when coming down to the number of users, just to gain the confidence of the public.

After a six-year partership with Global One, RomTelecom has decided to build its own IP-based data communication network and strike out alone in the Internet market. The Internet operation is 49% owned by RomTelecom and 51% by Global One. Global One, together with RomTelecom, currently services 30 business customers for services in Romania-two third of which are ISPs-plus around 6000 dial-up end users.

The GSM 900 operator MobilRom SA recently publicized plans to establish its own subsidiary ISP.

On August 1, 2000, Mobifon a parent company of Connex launched Romania's first WAP service. The new service will provide Connex customers with a guide to Bucharest, airlines, hotels and the exchange rates of major currencies. Connex users will be able to connect to WAP sites for as little as $0.1 per minute during peak hours and $0.07 per minute off peak. The services will also be available for users of pre-paid services, at a general tariff of $0.2 per minute, no matter the time of the day.

Low purchasing power has also affected the Internet market and telephone costs are prohibitive compared with the average salary of $80-90 a month.

In Romania are more 120 ISP. The major ISPs are: Global One, PC Net, Arexim, DNT, EU Net, FX, ITC, Kappa, RDS, RNC, RoEduNet ( only for academic and education area), SoftNet, Xnet (ISP of mobile operator Mobifon).

In the past few years, financial banking technologies have witnessed a genuine revolution in the field of information technology, in terms of how the range of products and services is managed. In the Romanian banking system, this event becomes ever more tangible in the client-bank interface, which is situated outside the traditional headquarters represented mainly by automatic teller machines-ATMs (known in Romania as "Bancomat"). In 1999, Romanian banks acquired more than 400 ATMs. At this moment in Romania more than 300,000 cards were issued, of which 40,000 MasterCard's. Six Romanian banks (BCR, BRD, Banc Post, Banca Ion Tiriac, Banca Agricola and Banca Turco-Romana) are issuing payment cards ( all of them are principal members of VISA and EUROPAY). All of them issue debit cards in Lei and in USD. Also the American Express Card and Diner's Club are available as credit cards.

In Romania e-commerce is represent by B2B (Business to Business) and B2C (Business to Consumer) application. Many banks develop electronic services (specific web sites, ATM networks, internet-banking, etc.). More 10 websites are dedicated to e-commerce (www.rtcoffice.ro; www.efowers.ro; www.eshop.ro; www.logimax.ro; www.flamingo.ro; www.music.ro, etc.)

The National Bank of Romania (BNR) launched its own website at www.bnro.ro. The site includes the main macroeconomic indicators, data regarding monetary indicators, the Forex, monetary and state security markets and specialized analyses. It will also include main legislative measures regarding the bank, information for coin-collectors and a presentation of the museum. "The use of the Internet will facilitate greater access to the latest information on the central bank's activity and on the trends of the banking system in Romania," said an official BNR statement quoted by Mediafax.

Alpha Bank launched its electronic banking service in June, after finishing all the tests it is undergoing at the moment. The software selected for the service is Fortis, produced by Credo. "We expect to have 400-500 big corporate clients for this service by the end of the year," said the bank’s vice president, Radu Ghetea.

The electronic trade card created by the World Trade Centers’ Association (WTCA) will also be launched in Romania, Antonio Trueba, chairman of the New York-based WTCA, told BBW. "The new system enables commercial exchanges without the need of any written contracts or other written documents. Everything is done on the Internet, at a 150 USD flat fee per tranzaction," Trueba added. The new trade card system based on a Global Universal Internet Portal was developed especially for assisting SMEs and will be launched in every WTC member country. (Bucharest Business Week-BBW)

Resposible for education is the National Education Ministry. The Romanian Education Network (RoEduNet) was set-up for provide Internet services for Universities, High schools, Primary and secondary schools. The National Education Ministry intend to link at Internet 80% of schools in the next two years. The main problem for this action is the tariff for communication lines.

The education programme for the 2000-2001 academic year stipulate the teaching and debating of the history, construction, and enlargement of the European Union and Romania’s integration into the E.U. In keeping with the mandates of the National Education Ministry, pupils in the IX^th form and in vocational schools will take an optional course entitled "Integration into the European Union", the programme for which must be developed by June 1, 2000.

The National Research, Development and Innovation Programme (RDI) was adopted through Government Order no. 562/1999. The main programmes are:

By questioning the discrepancy between the trends in international politics in science and the local realities, the President of National Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof. Dr. Eng. Lanyi Szabolcs said that "it is certainly shocking", but obviously we must ask about the causes that have induced this phenomenon and the approached or approachable strategy to pass beyond this situation.

Among the NASTI's policies under implementation, there are a few trends specific to the field.

The main political instrument to direct scientific research still remains financing, which will be achieved in the future by the following variants:

(a) Participation in the Fifth Framework Programme of the European Union, for researches aiming at the common objectives of the European Community. The acceptance of Romania as a full right member in this programme assures the access of every Romanian research entity to the common research fund (also comprising the contribution from Romania's national budget).

(b) The National RDI plan under promotion, operational beginning with the third quarter/trimester 1999 aims at, on the one hand,

(c) The National RDI Programme "Orizont 2000" is a sequel of the institutional support programme started off 4 years ago, with a prioritary access for public system institutes (R-D National Institutes, Universities, Research Institutes and Centres of the Academy etc).

(d) The grant programme by which fundamental research in the field is further on financed.

(e) Other programmes of stimulating the promotion of the research results (by organising scientific events, subsidising the specialised publications etc).

While all these programmes may be characterised from the point of view of the "Information Society" as "active", the R&D field also being a user of produced effects, the promoting of "passive" programmes for stimulating the applications in the field is also expected.

In The National Strategy for Romania’s Economic Development (http://www.guv.ro) (presented at Brussels by the Prime Minister of Romania) the policies for research and development are presented in the 4^th chapter, section D:

(a) The development of skills and capabilities for scientific and technological know-how generation through

(b) The increase in the quality and efficiency of research and development units;

(c) The microeconomic potential for research development and innovation shall be developed through projects with specialised institutes and centres, and implementation of attractive co-financing schemes.

(d) Starting 2001, the share of resources earmarked for scientific research and technological development in GDP will gradually increase so as to bring them in line with those existing in the EU member states.

The NASTI Consultative Council approved the extension with the news programmes of the RDI plan. The programme "Micro and Nanotechnologies" its approved for the Information Society.

The National Computer Network for research (NCN) was started in 1993 as a PHARE programme and it has been supported further on by the Government (through the Ministry of Research and Technology). At present, more than 90 R-D organisations, about 1300 individual stations respectively, benefit of the NCN services. The main objective was and still is to the scientific community data transfer services and connection to Internet at the lowest possible prices.

A 1999 study of NCN extension supported by interested organisations was drawn up, a study which will substantiate further on the development and investment politics.

The effective law regarding copyright is Law 8/1996 (published on 26 March 1996) on "Copyright and Neighbouring Rights". A special chapter, which refers to the legal protection of software, is included (chapter IX). The copyright law is a special law and will prevail over the general regulations of the civil law.

- The Law regarding the protection of industrial patterns and layouts (L129/1992).

The rights of software producers are protected both by civil and criminal means.

The copyright law provides a satisfactory legal protection system (although the law might be improved). The real difficulties originate in the economic malfunctions which affect the country (E. g.: the Romanian Copyright Office being the national agency to supervise and control the law enforcement across the country, should perform a multitude of raids against software pirates; in fact, due to economic difficulties, just one person performs raids in the name of the agency).

The software producers and other companies offering services related to the information technologies are able to protect their rights by other legal means than copyright: trademark law, design law, competition law, etc.

In 1998 several statutes renewed the legal regime regarding intellectual property issues: Law 4/1998 for the Ratification of the Trademark Law Treaty, Law 5/1998 for the Ratification of the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, Law 77/1998 for the Ratification of the Bern Convention (the amended form), Law 84/1998 concerning marks and geographical appellations of origin. Romania is now a part of all the major treaties related to intellectual property: from the Bern Convention to Geneva Trademark Law Treaty.

In spite of these laws and regulations, the software piracy is at a high level. In BSA 1999 report for Romania software piracy estimate a decrease at 86% (88% in 1998).

There are no important regulations specially issued to ensure the privacy and the protection of the computer-stored data or the consumer protection in this area. The conflicts, which may appear in connection with the above subjects, will be ruled by the appropriate general regulations of the Romanian law.

Because Romania is just beginning to develop the infrastructure and network no regulations have been issued in connection with the encryption or electronic commerce. The economic mechanisms, requiring the use of encryption, electronic commerce or security systems have developed on a de facto basis.

2.10. Freedom of expression and information as far as the distribution via electronic networks is concerned

The lack of special regulation related to the Information Society is not an impediment for the freedom of expression and information. The private companies are free to use and communicate information and the only limit is the protection of the public order (e.g.: racial discrimination, violence, etc). They are also free to develop techniques and means, which can improve the communication and information process.

As a conclusion, Romanian authorities have not taken large steps to improve the information network and infrastructure but at least they do not obstruct the private initiative

According to Telecommunication Law (L74/1996), the role of state authority for developing policies and regulations in the communication sector was assigned to the Ministry of Communications (reorganised in 1997 by Decree No.129). In December 1998, this role was assigned to the newly created National Agency for Communication and Informatics (Agentia Nationalã pentru Comunicatii si Informaticã-ANCI).

The National Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation (formerly organised as Ministry of Research and Technology) is the legal authority for scientific and technological research and development.

Telecommunications laws and regulations are enforced by the General Radiocommunications Inspectorate (a unit co-ordinated by the National Agency for Communications and Informatics) an entity which also monitors licenses and authorisations and controls / certifies compliance with technical standards.

The General Radiocommunications Inspectorate (organised by Government Order 129, April 15, 1997, and by orders of the President of the NACI) is mainly responsible for the following regulatory activities:

The competition authority in Romania is the Council of Competition, an autonomous administrative authority, according to the Law of (Economic) Competition no. 21, April 10, 1996. The board of the Council is composed of ten members (one president, three vice-presidents, and six counsellors) with a mandate of 5 years and with the possibility to be re-assigned only twice.

The attributes of the Council regard mainly the application of the Law of (Economic) Competition, the violation of anti-trust decisions, the constitution of economic monopolies, advise the decisions of the Government on the anti-trust policies, represent Romania in relation with corresponding international institutions and organisations.

The same Law of (Economic) Competition provides for the existence of the Office of Competition, a Government co-ordinated authority. The Office has a Bucharest (assimilated with a county) and county inspectorates.

According to the Law of (Economic) Competition, the Council and the Office are co-operating on all the competition aspects of the law.

The Telecommunications Consultative Council (created according to the provisions of Telecommunications Law No. 74, July 12, 1996 (Chapter IV, Art. 50) by the Ministry of Communications Order no. 134/1997) consists of representatives from users, telecommunication equipment producers, telecommunication license holders, authorised network communication operators.

The Council will establish (on its own initiative or at the request of the regulation authority):

The Consultative Council of the National Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation consist of representatives from University, Romanian Academy, Managers of R&D Institutes. The council will establish the R&D programmes.

Romanian Academy of Sciences – Section for the Science and Technology of Information. Founded in 1992 has today 12 corresponding and full members out of a total number of 14 sections and 181 members for the entire Academy. One of the roles of the section is to encourage the domains of science and technology that are at the core of the information society

The main associations involved in the promosion of the IS are: ATIC - Association of Information Technologies and Communications of Romania (http://www.atic.org.ro); ANIS – National Association of Software Enterprises (http://www.anis.ro); ARIES – Romanian Association for Electronic & Software Industries (http://www.aries.ro); ROMINFOR - Romanian Association for Research in Communication and Information Technologies (http://www.cef.pub.ro/rominfor); APRCC – Romanian Cable Communication Professionals Association (Asociatia Romana pentru Comunicatii prin Cablu Profesionale); INFOREC – Romanian Association for Promotion of Higher Education of Economic Informatics (Asociatia pentru promovarea învatamântului superior de informatica economica); ARCA – Romanian Association for Audiovisuals Communications (Asociatia Romana de Comunicatii Audiovizuale)

Forum for the Information Society (since March 1997, under the aegis of the Romanian Academy). The Forum for the Information Society of the Romanian Academy, playing the role of a forum of the civil society, intends to arise the interest in the Romanian society concerning the development of the information society, and to propose and stimulate by specific proposals a series of measures and actions in this direction.

Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania and Bucharest Municipality (since 1990) – keeps informations about the companies registered in Romania (www.ccir.ro). Is a promoter of IT not only inside the organisation, but also in the business field (electronic commerce).

The Europe Agreement, that came into force on February 1, 1995, was signed by Romania on February 1, 1993. According to the Agreement, Romania has had to abide by the principles of the European Union (EU) Treaty. With regard to telecommunications, the agreement promotes the alignment of current standards and practices in telecommunications with those valid in the EU.

Romania joined the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) Basic Telecommunications Services Agreement in February 1997. As a result of this action, two main measures must be taken at the legislative level:

Romania is an active partner in several international telecomunications networks both inside and outside Europe such as:

5. Market: Privatisation, foreign investment, mergers, acquisitions, call for tenders,…

The privatisation of the National Radio-Telecommunications Company is envisaged, as well as setting up an agency for data protection.

The consultants to prepare the company for privatisation will be contracted only after the first quarter of 2000. This will make the sell-off of the radio-communications to take longer.

The chief economist of American investment bankers CeBourn was in Romania to find software and telecommunications enterprises to invest in over the next few months. "Romania looks to be an emerging market with a very interesting future, good universities and a well educated population - it has a high potential," he said.

CeBourn plans to develop nationwide projects together with other consortiums and to invest up to 350 million USD in high technology programs over the next three or four years, as long as the local economy improves.

"I feel there is tremendous potential for growth of American investment in this sector," said US Ambassador Jim Rosapepe on a tour of software companies in Timisoara. American-owned 8.5 billion USD computer manufacturer Solectron is one of those with programming houses in the western city. It has plans to employ 1,000 more staff over the next year.

Computer peripherals distributor Despec Hellas has announced plans to establish a subsidiary in Romania along with its minority shareholder Fourlis, an electric appliance distributor.

Philips too is reported to be intending to open an electronic equipment factory in Baia Mare by mid 2000, where it will employ more than 1,000 electrical engineering and telecoms graduates.

Newly-formed Fujitsu Siemens Computers has announced its intention to expand aggressively here. "For us, the Romanian market is very important," said Marcus Dekan, director for southern Europe. The company is now number two in Europe but aims to take the lead by 2001, and to become at least number three in the world. "We expect to gain more market share in Romania," said Georg Obermeier, managing director of Fujitsu Siemens Computers Austria & SEE. Here, this will mean developing an extensive dealer network. "The measures that we will take to do this is to increase the number of partners and to get closer to the local market," said Calin Piescu, business development manager for Romania. The company’s main customers here include BancPost, Bank Austria Creditanstalt, Lafarge-Romcim and Romtelecom. Besides its global know-how, local knowledge is important for the new joint company. "We need Romanian specialists," said Obermeier. Fujitsu Siemens has 9,000 employees and branches in 25 countries. (Bucharest Business Week Journal)

Alcatel Romania is to become the Balkan head office of the company. Alcatel Romania last year reported a turnover of around 60 million. Its direct investment in Timisoara was almost 25 million USD.

Romania has been invited to join US President Clinton's Internet for Economic Development (IED) Initiative, which seeks to help emerging countries expand and use the Internet to develop their economies. As part of the IED initiative, USAID will expand its support to promote software development and manufacturing opportunities to American companies and entrepreneurs through the Romanian-American Capital Trade and Development Group (RACTDG). "The program has just been launched here," said Elaine Chestney, IT business development officer for RACTDG. "The next step is to coordinate our activity with all US agencies involved and establish financial details." USAID also assists IT associations in advancing competition worldwide and expanding e-business in Romania. Additional efforts will go towards encouraging a pro-competitive legal environment where the Internet and e-commerce can thrive. According to USAID officials, Romania is especially well suited to IED due to the strength of its emerging IT industry and the existence of highly trained technical expertise.

SNR (National Radiocommunication Company) is supposed to be privatized towards autumn through a consultancy contract with ABN Amro Corporate Finance. ABN Amro is expected to present a report regarding the stage of the privatization by mid-July.

Four companies have filed final offers for the contract to computerize Romgaz. The bidders are IBM, ICL, S & T and SEMA. Siemens was also initially interested in the deal but did not bid because of the timing. The Romgaz contract is part of a 70 million USD project funded by the World Bank in the form of a five-year loan. Sources close to the deal claim the term of the loan expires at the end of the year and warn Romania could lose the money if the project does not go ahead.

Investment surged by 50 percent in 1999 according to latest figures quoted by US Ambassador Jim Rosapepe. "That investment came from over 200 companies - it was not one or two headline deals it was many deals - it was in IT, it was in manufacturing, it was in services, telecommunications and finance," he told the meeting of around 40 US companies.

Please note that this report has been prepared under the sole responsibility of the ESIS II contractors.
It does not necessarily reflect the views of the Commission, nor does the Commission accept responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of information contained herein.
The ESIS Team of contractors welcomes any additional information or corrections.