According to the Emergency Ordinance no. 52/2016 on
credit agreements granted to consumers for immovable property, the debt
recovery activity can only be performed by entities registered with the NACP
(National Authority for Consumer Protection). The ordinance also sets out the
procedure to be followed for the registration of such entities to the National
Authority for Consumer Protection.
This being said, in accordance to the normative act
mentioned above, the "entity performing the debt recovery" is represented
by a legal person, other than the creditor, with a minimum share capital
subscribed and paid which can not be less than 500,000 lei, that conducts debt
recovery activities and / or that obtains rights to some due debts arising from
credit agreements.
As mentioned, the Emergency Ordinance no. 52/2016
establishes that only will registrants of the National Authority for Consumer
Protection will be able to operate debt
recovery activities.
In order to be registered, such entities must fulfill the
following conditions:
• have their registered office, a branch or
representative in Romania to resolve any disputes and to respond to the
potential disputes and to contraventionally and/or criminally answer before
public authorities;
• the persons responsible for the management and
administration of the business to have a good reputation;
• the manner in which the staff is remunerated and
motivated should not depend solely on the achieving recovery objectives nor nor
to be reported exclusively to the recovered amounts.
The entity in discussion must send the National Authority
for Consumer Protection a request, accompanied by the information and
documentation demonstrating compliance with the above requirements.
The National Authority for Consumer Protection evaluates
and notifies the applicant of its decision regarding the acceptance or
rejection of the registration within 30 calendar days of the receipt of the
request.
In case the National Authority for Consumer Protection
rejects the application for registration, the applicant is entitled to
challenge the decision, and the dismissal of the the application for
registration by the National Authority for Consumer Protection does not limit
the applicant's right to introduce a new application on the same subject.
Debt recovery entities are required to report to the
National Authority for Consumer Protection the number of cases or credit
contracts that are ongoing.
The recovery of debts can be equally held by both
entities which carry out recovery activities and by creditors.
Moreover, the Emergency Ordinance regulates the possibility
of the National Authority for Consumer Protection to radiate the registration
of a debt recovery entity, in cases where the entity:
a) expressly renounces the registration or hasn’t conducted
any debt recovery activities in the last six months;
b) has obtained registration by making false or
misleading statements or through any other irregular means established by law;
c) no longer meets the requirements under which it was
registered;
d) has repeatedly violated legal provisions in the consumer
protection field;
e) seriously or systematically infringed the provisions
of the Emergency Ordinance mentioned above.
For more
information on the new legislative provisions in matters of entities which
carry out debt recovery activities, as well as for legal advice regarding the
procedure for the registration of such entities with the National Authority for
Consumer Protection, you can confidently contact the team of lawyers within the
Darie, Manea & associates law firm.
