Romania to Forbid China’s Participation in Public Tenders

Romania is about to forbid China’s access to Romanian public tenders. This comes after Romania already cut out China from entering the 5 G tender, a controversial movement which brought protests from Huawei and Chinese Embassy.

The announcement was made by the Romanian Minister of Transport, Mr. Catalin Drula, who presented to the Romanian media the draft of the Government Emergency Ordinance which intends to forbid the participation of the states which whom EU doesn’t have a cooperation agreement, as it is the case with China.

The Government Ordinance modifies the public acquisition law in terms of the national residence of the participants allowed to attend the tenders from Romania. This is done in accordance with the European regulation which says that the member states are not compelled to allow to public tenders but only companies from other member states or from states which have an agreement with the European Union, meaning about 20 states including USA, Canada, Japan, but also states from the European proximity area. Turkey is part of the pre-joining agreement, and it is one of the states whose companies are accepted.

Romanian Minister of Transport on China’s participation to the Romanian tenders

The minister also declared that the goal of this ordinance is to make sure that the companies to enter Romanian tenders respect the same regulations regarding the environment protection, the labor law and the human rights.

Also, he also stated that the rule can’t be applied but for the future tenders, even if some Chinese companies have already entered public acquisition procedures.

There are not many Chinese companies, but there are many that sent offers and contested the results of the tenders. By analyzing the legal context, we concluded that the Ordinance is to be applied only to future tenders, not the ones who are undergoing.

Minister Catalin Drula on Government Ordinance’s application in Romania

On the other hand we have to say that China’s investments in Romania won’t be forbidden by the Government Ordinance, but only attending the public tenders. Of course, if the situation would change and China would sign an agreement with the European Union, it will be allowed once again to attend the public procedures in Romania and all the other EU countries.

According to statistics, China is the 7th trading partner of Romania.