New provisions on industrial parks

Law no. 186/2013 on establishing and functioning of industrial parks (“Law 186”) has been published. Law 186 repeals the previous legislation (i.e. Government Ordinance no. 65/2001) and introduces new provisions, such as: Industrial parks are classified based on the activity performed (greenfield industrial park, agropark, technological, innovative, etc.) and the authorisation method (industrial platform and existing industrial platform). Romanian or foreign private legal entities can be park operators. The previous legislation stipulated that only companies incorporated under Romanian law were qualified to manage industrial parks. Prior to Law 186 entering into force, industrial parks had to have a minimum of 10 hectares of land to be used by or in the property of the association which require the title of industrial park for at least 30 years. Under Law 186, the minimum land area is 5 hectares. The new procedure for granting the title of industrial park and the documents required for the authorisation procedure developed by the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration are regulated in a detailed and exhaustive manner. Industrial park residents have the capacity of (i) counter-party of the industrial park management for administration and related services agreements, (ii) landlord or tenant of one or more of the buildings within the industrial park, as constituted in accordance with the simplified procedure. Benefits derived from the title of industrial park consist of: a) exemption from fees charged for destination change or for removal from farm-use classification of the industrial park land, b) exemption from land fees related to the industrial park land, c) exemption from building tax on industrial park buildings, d) exemption, only with local public authority approval, from local taxes, e) any other benefits that may be granted by local public authorities in accordance with the law. Unresolved applications for the title of industrial park as at the date of Law 186’s entry into force will be assessed under the old legislation. See: Romanian Official Gazette, Part I, no. 421/11.07.2013