On the 1^st of November 2012, Regulation (EU) No 236/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2012 on short selling and certain aspects of credit default swaps (hereinafter referred to as “Short Selling Regulation” or “SSR”) became directly applicable in all Member States.

The EU Commission has also adopted a number of delegated acts. See these documents at the European Commission's website on short selling: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/EN/legal-content/summary/short-selling-of-securities.html.

At the national level, the law which sets out the measures for implementing the provisions of SSR is Law No. 276/2015 establishing measures for implementing the Regulation (EU) No. 236/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on short selling and certain aspects of credit default swaps, published in the Official Gazette of Romania, no. 847/13.11.2015, which entered into force on 18 November 2015 (hereinafter referred to as “Law No. 276/2015”).

According to Article 2 para. (1) letter b) of the above-mentioned law, the NBR is the national competent authority for coordinating the cooperation and the exchange of information with the European Commission, European Securities and Markets Authority and the competent authorities of other Member States, and as the case may be, with the competent authorities of third countries.

Article 2 para. (3) of Law No. 276/2015 provides that NBR will cooperate with the Ministry of Finance and with the Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA), which shall communicate NBR the necessary data and information to ensure that the NBR fulfills its task conferred to it by the aforementioned national law.

According to Articles 5-8 of the Short Selling Regulation, the entities who hold significant net short positions in shares, significant net short positions in sovereign debt or uncovered positions in sovereign credit default swaps must comply with certain notification and disclosure obligations.

Notifications of net short positions are to be sent by investors to the relevant competent authorities.

In Romania, the national competent authority in relation to sovereign debt and sovereign credit default swaps is the National Bank of Romania (NBR), according to Article 2 of Law No. 276/2015. In conclusion, notifications on significant net short positions in sovereign debt or uncovered positions in sovereign credit default swaps, as well as any related queries shall be submitted directly to the NBR, at ssrep-office@bnro.ro.

Notifications containing net short positions in shares will be sent to the FSA’s webpage, which is the national competent authority in Romania as regards the net short positions in shares. The FSA will route such notifications to the NBR for data aggregation purposes, considering that, according to the provisions of Law No. 276/2015 the NBR is the national competent authority for ensuring the coordination of cooperation and exchange of information with the European Commission, ESMA and the competent authorities from other Member States and third countries as regards the Short Selling Regulation.

Full information on the implementation of Short Selling Regulation can be accessed via the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) webpage.