OECD Competition Assessment Reviews: Romania
During the past few years, Romania has recovered well from the global financial crisis. However, the country still faces structural problems, including poor competitiveness, that limit economic growth. Against this background, the OECD Competition Assessment Project analysed legislation in three sectors of the Romanian economy: construction, transport and food processing. Using the OECD Competition Assessment Toolkit to structure the analysis, the OECD identified 227 problematic regulations and made 152 specific recommendations on legal provisions that should be amended or repealed. This report identifies the sources of those benefits and, where possible, provides quantitative estimates. If these recommendations are implemented, there should be benefits to consumers in Romania and to the Romanian economy in all three sectors.
Food processing
The food processing sector generated EUR 1.4 billion of GVA in 2013, representing approximately 10% of total GVA generated by manufacturing and 1% of Romania’s total economy. Although food prices are relatively low in Romania, regulatory reforms could bring efficiency gains that would benefit Romanian households. Constraints that could be addressed are over-training of staff that do not pose a threat to food safety, reducing the separate areas for sale of baked goods in shops, excessive requirements for licences and control measures for food market operators, discrimination against importers and undue competitor collaboration (as in the milk industry) and ambiguous and outdated legislation.