Romania's egaming laws to be overhauled
Draft legislation expected to reach government agenda as early as this week
Romania’s online gambling laws look set to be relaxed after the country’s regulator revealed it was preparing to finalise new draft regulation by the end of the month.
Odeta Nestor, president of the recently formed National Gambling Office (NGO), last week told a national gambling forum that she had been working intensely with both industry representatives and government officials in order to produce an attractive framework that will be fully compliant with European law.
Initial doubts regarding Romania’s gambling laws were first raised by the European Commission in 2010, with the advertising restrictions placed on companies operating within Romania but based outside of its borders judged to breach internal market rules.
More recently, last month Romania, along with six other countries, received a formal letter of notice requesting it submits observations on identified problems regarding the application of EU law.
The new draft is also expected to propose changes to the 25% level of income tax on gambling revenues as well as addressing operating costs associated with licensing in the country.
“Expectations are that the proposed changes will address the level of taxation on gambling activities and gambling revenues and the level of fees for authorizing gambling activities in Romania,” Cosmina Simion, Romanian gaming lawyer and associate at DLA Piper, told eGaming Review.
“This would allegedly make the Romanian market more accessible to gambling operators. It may also be that the same legislative act would answer to the recent questioning received by Romania from the EC on how the freedom of services principle throughout the Union is applied in the gambling sector in Romania,” she added.
Although legislation was first passed in 2011, remote gambling licences have yet to be awarded, mainly due to a lack of a recognised national regulator. However, this was corrected in April with the formation of the NGO.
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