Preliminary assessment of the third payment request of Romania (2024)

3 – Provide informative materials and workshops for municipalities and other competent authorities

Recommendation 3 of the EU Connectivity Toolbox calls for the provision of a set of informative materials aimed at municipalities and other competent authorities to speed up and ease permit granting procedures for civil works necessary for the rollout of Very High Capacity Networks (VHCN).

The roadmap (document iii) required ANCOM to expand its information activities, including by developing a specialised technical dictionary where necessary.

ANCOM set up on its webpage a dedicated section on infrastructure law (document xvii). It also published on its website a booklet providing information material on the authorisation of the construction of electronic communication networks (document xviii). This booklet summarises the provisions of Law No. 198/2022 published on 6 July 2022 amending and supplementing certain normative acts in the field of electronic communications and establishing measures to facilitate the development of electronic communications networks. The booklet aims to support central and local public authorities by providing information material on the authorisation of the construction of electronic communication networks.

The booklet was published in September 2022. To support this claim, the Romanian authorities provided an email sent by ANCOM to the attention of the administrative territorial units informing them of the publication of the booklet on 17 October 2022. It can therefore be concluded that this recommendation was finalised in 2022, in line with the milestone description.

11 – Ensure the availability of information from different sources and enhance transparency of planned civil works

Recommendation 11 of the EU Connectivity Toolbox calls for all existing physical infrastructure and planned civil works information from different sources (e.g., competent national authorities at any level, public sector bodies and network operators) to be made available via the single information point (SIP – e.g., web based geographic information system).

The roadmap (document iii) required the organisation and operationalisation of the SIP on planned civil works, as provided for in Article 27 of Law No. 159/2016.

Government Emergency Ordinance No. 140/2022 on the single industrial licence was published in the Official Journal on 20 October 2022 and entered into force the same day. This ordinance provides for the establishment of an electronic system, the electronic Single Contact Point for the industrial license (PCUEL), by 31 December 2023 at the latest according to Article 19 (5). Article 2 provides that the purpose of the Ordinance is, inter alia, to give access to data and information, facilitate the exchange of data between IT systems and increase the transparency of the use of data by the public institutions and authorities involved and facilitate the access of applicants and holders of single industrial licenses to public information held by public institutions.

The Council Implementing Decision required that the recommendation must be implemented as per the draft roadmap. Whilst the fact that no action taken to create a SIP constitutes a minimal substantive deviation from the requirement of the Council Implementing Decision, the adoption of GEO No. 140/2022 ensures the availability of information from different sources and enhances the transparency of planned civil works, thereby fulfilling the objective of the recommendation. As of this, this minimal deviation does not change the nature of the measure and does not affect the progress towards achieving the reform that the milestone represents. On this basis, it is considered