Business #16 Legislative focus

The law amending GEO 91/2025 by restoring full payment from the first day of medical leave for several categories of insured patients was published in the Official Gazette. The change reverses the previous rule under which the first day of sick leave was unpaid. It applies to patients with chronic diseases included in national health programmes, oncology patients, people with rare diseases, day hospitalization cases, and medical-surgical emergencies. Therefore, the measure ensures full income coverage from the start of medical incapacity for work.

Since the law entered into force yesterday, May 18, companies will now need to apply full medical leave compensation from day one to the affected categories, increasing the predictability of short-term labour costs.

The Ministry of Labour will launch an SME Test* procedure through a roundtable scheduled for 20 May 2026, to discuss the decision on new employment incentives and expanding employer subsidy schemes. It introduces a youth “stability bonus” of RON 1,000 per month in the first year and RON 1,250 in the second year for first-time indefinite contracts. It also expands employer subsidies to include unemployed mothers with at least three children and formerly incarcerated individuals.

*The SME Test is a mandatory pre-assessment tool used to evaluate the economic, social, and administrative impact of new legislation on SMEs.

The proposed decision could lower labor costs for companies hiring eligible groups, particularly in high-turnover sectors, but increases administrative burden due to strict eligibility conditions, reporting obligations, and risk of losing subsidies for procedural non-compliance.

After 5 years, the Chamber of Deputies, as the decisional forum, has sent back to the Industry Committee a long-pending legislative proposal requiring all service and utilities contracts between Romanian residents to be denominated exclusively in Romanian Leu. The bill, previously approved by the committee in 2021, is now being re-examined for a new report. It broadly extends to payments, transfers, and other transactions linked to goods and services contracts between residents. While these payments would generally be restricted to the national currency, certain categories may still operate in foreign currency under specific legal exceptions.

If adopted, the measure would eliminate foreign currency billing for domestic contracts, requiring companies in Romania to switch pricing, invoicing, and payments to RON. This would increase operational constraints, especially for multinational and service companies.