Romania

[RO] Cartels Office Approves State Film Aid

IRIS 2006-3:1/35

Mariana Stoican

Journalist, Bucharest

The Consiliul Concurenţei (Romanian Cartels Office) has approved the proposal that the Romanian State should provide direct credit of RON 74.5 million (EUR 1 = RON 3.6) for film productions. Before taking this decision, it had to verify whether such a loan would infringe the rules on the financial support of film and television productions. The money will be paid to the Centrul Naţional al Cinematografiei (National Centre for Cinematography) and must be repaid interest-free within seven years. According to a statement published by the Cartels Office at the end of January 2006, the state will therefore "support Romanian productions and compensate for the disadvantage suffered by domestic productions competing with films produced outside the European Community". Producers will be allowed to spend at least 20% of a film's budget in an EU member state. State aid may account for up to 50% of the budget, with the remainder to be covered by producers' own resources. The statement explains that, in the case of particularly expensive films with a small budget, state aid may represent up to 80%.

The Romanian National Centre for Cinematography manages the Film Fund and is answerable to the Romanian Ministry of Culture. The system for the granting of state film aid is described in Government Regulation No. 39 of 14 July 2005 (Ordonanţa nr. 39 din 14 iulie privind cinematografia , see IRIS 2005-8: 18) .