We’ve all encountered bureaucracy in our daily lives, and we’ve all wondered what we could achieve if there were no bureaucratic hurdles. Often, an idea or business plan either fades away or becomes obsolete before you can muster the energy to take action or obtain all the approvals you need to proceed.
I will speak on behalf of my profession, that of a lawyer. As I mention in my personal introduction, I have been practicing business and real estate law for nearly 30 years. I have had the opportunity to navigate the legal regulations in the business sector (commerce, industry, investments, real estate development, etc.) and have witnessed how things have become increasingly complicated over the years, a trend that has ultimately led to the bottlenecks and difficulties entrepreneurs face today.
Years ago, together with my colleagues, we engaged in a comprehensive discussion about the legislation at that time—what wasn’t working, what was overly burdensome and yet unnecessary, and what solutions Romania could adopt to ensure the country’s sustainable development. Our brainstorming revealed that there are feasible simplification methods and that all that is needed are people with energy and dedication to put them into practice. The entrepreneurial sector is the engine of the economy, and the economy ensures the functioning of a state (or its recovery from crisis if it reaches that point due to international circumstances).
Our (ad hoc) brainstorming team concluded at the time that the way to simplify legislation is to enact an “umbrella law” that establishes the new authorization system, sets out the new procedures, and stipulates that all regulations of any kind that contradict the new law are, therefore, repealed.
Emergency Ordinance 140/2022 is the first step toward resolving these bottlenecks, as this legislative act regulates the single industrial license. Part of the administrative logic and institutional simplification strategy underlying the single industrial license was outlined in professional projects carried out in collaboration with European bodies, in contexts subject to confidentiality obligations, but with precisely the same objective reflected in today’s legislation: reducing bureaucracy and creating a predictable framework for industrial investment.
The Single Industrial License (Government Emergency Ordinance No. 140/2022) – an essential legal framework for industry and investment
🔹 What is the Single Industrial License?
The Single Industrial License is a single administrative act, regulated by Government Emergency Ordinance No. 140/2022, which integrates into a single procedure:
- industrial authorizations,
- administrative approvals and agreements,
- sector-specific legal permits,
necessary for carrying out industrial activities in Romania.
👉 A single application. A single procedural flow. A single administrative contact.
🔹 The strategic goal of the regulation
The legislative act expressly aims to:
- simplify the authorization of industrial activities;
- reduce administrative processing times;
- eliminate bureaucratic barriers;
- digitize the relationship between investors and authorities;
- increase legal predictability for the business environment.
It is a structural reform of public administration serving industry, with a direct impact on private investment and European funds.
🔹 Office for Industrial Licensing – expanded and strengthened role
The Office for Industrial Licensing is the central authority that:
- grants, modifies, renews, and revokes the single industrial license;
- coordinates all relevant competent authorities;
- simplifies and standardizes administrative procedures;
- exercises, through subsequent amendments to Government Emergency Ordinance No. 140/2022, the function of a “one-stop shop”.
🔹 Key update: The Office officially serves as the “one-stop shop” for the processing and recycling of critical raw materials, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2024/1252.
🔹 Single Electronic Contact Point (SECP) – 100% digital procedure
The entire process takes place through the Single Electronic Contact Point (SECP), which:
- allows for submitting documents only once;
- ensures exclusively electronic communication;
- integrates the authorities’ IT systems;
- includes a simulator for the single industrial license (documents, deadlines, fees).
✅ The principles of “once-only” and administrative interoperability apply.
🔹 Important legislative update: PCUEL also fulfills the function provided for in Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 for strategic projects concerning critical raw materials.
🔹 Special regime for strategic projects – critical raw materials
For activities involving the processing and/or recycling of critical raw materials, the legislation introduces distinct deadlines and rules favorable to strategic investments:
- 45 days to confirm the validity of the application for a single industrial license;
- a maximum of 15 months to resolve the application (with the possibility of a 3-month extension in the case of an integrated environmental permit);
- a maximum of 12 months in the case of the expansion of an existing strategic project;
- exclusion of the duration of the environmental impact assessment from the calculation of deadlines.
➡️ A clear legal framework, aligned with European legislation on supply chain security.
🔹 Clear deadlines, tacit approval, and elimination of duplicate checks
For all other industrial activities:
- there are maximum processing deadlines;
- incomplete documentation may be supplemented within a maximum of 15 days;
- deadlines are suspended during the supplementation period, avoiding formal rejections;
- under certain conditions, tacit approval of the license applies;
- duplication of controls and administrative requirements is prohibited.
🔹 Why the lawyer’s role is essential in this mechanism
Although the framework is legislatively simplified, the mechanism remains legally sophisticated:
- incorrect classification of the activity or risk;
- errors in documentation;
- divergent interpretations among authorities;
- illegal or unjustified administrative refusals.
A lawyer specializing in: administrative law, industrial investments, licenses and permits, relations with public authorities is an essential factor for acceleration and legal protection.
✅ Conclusion
The Single Industrial License (Government Emergency Ordinance No. 140/2022) represents:
- real reduction of bureaucracy,
- complete administrative digitization,
- alignment with European legislation,
- support for strategic industrial investments,
- reorganization of the administration to support the real economy.
It represents a modern, European, and investment-oriented framework that functions effectively when it is understood, accessed, and managed strategically:
- By establishing clear policies on tacit approval (silence implies consent), which increase the accountability of public institutions and the quality of services,
- by adopting the “once-only” principle, which guarantees investors’ right to provide the same information or documents to public institutions only once and, in return, the obligation of public institutions to share this information with other public institutions that need it,
- by eliminating duplicate controls and requirements regarding industrial and production licensing, such as requirements to undergo similar procedures in multiple public instances (for example, at the national and local levels),
- by eliminating licensing practices that do not add significant value to the public interest and that impose excessive burdens on investors, such as requirements for periodic license renewal or for obtaining stamps that serve only a bureaucratic purpose,
- by creating a taxonomy of industrial licenses that allows the general public to better understand the meaning and purpose of licensing procedures and simplifies the procedures for obtaining them, the entrepreneurial environment—and consequently the country’s economy—can be organically revitalized.
It has been with great pleasure that I have observed that since then (probably 6–7 years ago), Romania, under the supervision and guidance of European institutions, has taken steps toward this progress; however, the pace of implementation needs to be accelerated, taking into account European trends and the international context.