BICA Romania
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BICA Romania Business Integrity Country Agenda BUSINESS INTEGRITY COUNTRY AGENDA - report on Romanian business sector integrity - Bucharest 2020 Transparency International Romania implements Business Integrity Country Agenda (BICA) for Romania, a project coordinated by Transparency International - Secretariat and financed by European Bank for Recon- struction and Development. The project set up the necessary framework for key stakeholders in business, public sector and civil society to work together in order to develop a reform agenda aimed to reduce corruption in commercial practices and implicitly promoting integrity in the Romanian business environment. Authors Victor Alistar - research coordinator Irina Lonean - lead-researcher Patricia Berianu - junior researcher Maria Maxim - external reviewer Bucharest, October 2020 Acknowledgments The Business Integrity Country Agenda (BICA) assessment has been made possible through the dedicated work of researchers, partners and donors. Their hard work and expertise have resulted in a comprehensive, informative and invaluable report. We would also like to express special appreciation to the National Advisory Group members, representatives of the Ministry of Economy, the General Secretariat of the Government (SGG), the National Agency for Public Procurement, The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania(CCIR), Romanian Academic Society (SAR), Association of Public Managers in Romania (AMR), National Council of Private Small and Medium Enterprises from Romania (CNIPMMR), International Consulting Group SRL, AECTRA Agrochemicals SRL, DB Global Technology, Sand Hill Petroleum Romania SRL, Soluții Avansate SRL, Honeywell, for their active participation throughout the project and invaluable feedback on the final report. We also wish to extend our sincere gratitude to our Expert External Reviewers, Ms. Nieves Zuniga and Mr. Matthew Jenkins from Transparency International Secretariat (TI-S) and Ms. Maria Maxim and Mr. Victor Alistar from Transparency International Romania, for their objective reviews and significant feedback and last but not least to Ms. Irem Roentgen from TI-S for training, guidance and support. We are also grateful to our donor, the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the EBRD team that provided financial support as well as objective reviews and significant feedback. This report would not have been possible without the support of the TI-Romania team. The researchers would like to thank Ms. Georgiana Ciută for coordination of and significant contribution to the project, as well as Ms. Georgeta Filip for her feedback and reviews and to Ms. Despina Bălășoiu for logistical support. TI-Romania wishes to extend its deepest gratitude to the authors of this report: lead researcher PhD. Irina Lonean, as well as other researchers participating in the process: Ms. Corina Benga and Mr. Marius Lazăr, and assistant researcher Ms. Patricia Berianu, who have worked to make BICA a reality. Finally, we would like to express gratitude for their cooperation and candidness to all those who agreed to be interviewed for the project, including current and former public officials, heads of international and domestic companies, experts and leaders from civil society. 1 Table of Content ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ....................................................................................................................................... 1 LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................................. 5 LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................................... 5 ACRONYMS ......................................................................................................................................................... 6 ABOUT THE BICA ASSESSMENT ..................................................................................................................... 7 THE ROLE OF BUSINESS INTEGRITY IN FIGHTING CORRUPTION ................................................................................. 7 METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................................................. 9 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................... 12 RESULTS OF THE BICA ASSESSMENT ................................................................................................................. 12 General context ......................................................................................................................................... 12 Public Sector Assessment ......................................................................................................................... 14 Recommendations for the public sector .................................................................................................... 15 Private Sector Assessment ........................................................................................................................ 17 Recommendations for the private sector ................................................................................................... 17 Civil Society Assessment ........................................................................................................................... 19 Recommendations for civil society ............................................................................................................ 19 GENERAL CONTEXT OF THE BICA ASSESSMENT IN ROMANIA................................................................ 21 COUNTRY CONTEXT .......................................................................................................................................... 21 Current political situation ........................................................................................................................... 21 Macroeconomic progress in Romania and current economic reforms....................................................... 21 Labour market ............................................................................................................................................ 23 Foreign-direct investment .......................................................................................................................... 25 Technological readiness ............................................................................................................................ 26 Natural resources ...................................................................................................................................... 27 Tax system and informal economy ............................................................................................................ 28 Privatisation ............................................................................................................................................... 28 BUSINESS SECTOR COMPOSITION ....................................................................................................................... 29 Domestic industries and the relationship between multinational and national enterprises ........................ 29 Role of state-owned enterprises ................................................................................................................ 30 Share of small and medium-sized enterprises ........................................................................................... 30 CORRUPTION PROFILE ....................................................................................................................................... 31 Relevant corruption-related data ............................................................................................................... 31 Propensity for corruption in the dominant business and social sectors ..................................................... 32 Anti-corruption public policy and measures ............................................................................................... 33 BUSINESS INTEGRITY ACTIVITIES ........................................................................................................................ 35 BICA ASSESSMENT ......................................................................................................................................... 37 OVERALL SCORES OF BICA INDICATORS ............................................................................................................. 37 2 PUBLIC SECTOR ASSESSMENT ..................................................................................................................... 39 OVERALL ASSESSMENT ..................................................................................................................................... 39 THEMATIC AREA 1: PROHIBITING BRIBERY ........................................................................................................... 40 Laws prohibiting bribery of public officials ................................................................................................. 40 Enforcement of laws prohibiting bribery of public officials ......................................................................... 42 Capacities to enforce laws prohibiting bribery of public officials ...............................................................