Presentation
Legislation (organisation and functioning of the institution)
The National Trade Register Office (NTRO) is a public institution with legal personality, subordinated to the Ministry of Justice, entirely financed from the state budget, whose activity is regulated by the Law no. 26/1990 on trade register, as republished and subsequently amended and supplemented.
Law no. 26/1990 on trade register, as republished and subsequently amended and supplemented
Order of the Minister of Justice no. 1082/C/2014 for approval of the Organizing and Operating Code Regulations of the National Trade Register Office and trade register offices attached to the law courts
Order no. 2207/C/2016 for amending the Organizing and Operating Code Regulations of the National Trade Register Office and trade register offices attached to the law courts approved by Order of the Minister of Justice no. 1082/C/2014
The National Trade Register Office carries out the following activities:
- keeping the trade register;
- providing documents and information;
- archiving documents based on which the registrations in the trade register are made;
- assisting legal and natural persons subject to registration in the trade register;
- editing and publishing the Insolvency Proceedings Bulletin.
Regarding the services provided by NTRO, these can be grouped as follows:
- assistance granted for interested persons to register in the trade register;
- identification of a company (unique registration code, company name, registered office);
- statistics structured on different criteria;
- information on a company's evolution from its registration up to date;
- confirmation of whether or not a company exists in the register or attesting its strike off.
The first records of traders (today’s professionals) date all the way back to the Middle Ages, when the information about the traders and artisans were held by their guilds. After the unification of the Romanian Principalities, at the same time with the foundation of the modern Romanian state, the importance of keeping records regarding the structure and activity of companies continued to grow.
In 1864 a law is voted and passed on organizing the Chambers of Commerce and Industry, which was amended in 1868. Article 3 included the provision that no registration could be done at the courthouse unless the traders first registered at the local Chamber of Commerce and Industry within their jurisdiction.
In 1884, the "Law on companies’ registration" was passed, which organized the records of companies in a modern way and the “Rules for organizing and maintaining trade registers” were adopted.
In 1931, the new "Law regarding setting up a trade register", published in the Official Gazette no. 84 from April 3rd, provided keeping a trade register for registration of documents whose disclosure was required by law through a special office under the control of a delegated judge. Registrations and registry amendments were published in the "Bulletin of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry". By the end of 1945, 157.626 companies were registered - 147.038 individual companies and 10.588 social companies.
In 1950, the Trade Register Office was abolished, as its functions were considered incompatible with the socialist economy, and it was re-established in 1990, as part of the Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Beginning with 2002, the National Trade Register Office has been functioning under the Ministry of Justice, according to the provisions of the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 129/2002 (approved by Law 505/2003, amending Law no. 26/1990 regarding the trade register).
NTRO became a full member of several international organizations such as the European Commerce Registers' Forum - ECRF in 2004, the Corporate Registers Forum – CRF in 2010 and the International Association of Insolvency Regulators – IAIR in 2010.
Working permanently to facilitate the exchange of information regarding the functioning of the registers, as well as in order to improve administrative procedures and to implement new services, in 2012 the National Trade Register Office launched the on-line services portal – “portal.onrc.ro”, a project funded with European funds. More details can be found here.