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Law No. 528 Of 25 November 2004

Original Language Title:  LEGE nr. 528 din 25 noiembrie 2004

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LEGE no. 528 528 of 25 November 2004 to amend and supplement Government Ordinance no. 16/2002 on public-private partnership contracts, as well as Law no. 219/1998 on the concession regime
ISSUER PARLIAMENT
Published in OFFICIAL MONITOR no. 1.153 1.153 of 7 December 2004



The Romanian Parliament adopts this law + Article I Government Ordinance no. 16/2002 on public-private partnership contracts, published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 94 of 2 February 2002, approved with amendments and additions by Law no. 470/2002 , as amended and supplemented, shall be amended and supplemented as follows: 1. Article 1 shall read as follows: "" Art. 1. -The present ordinance has as its object the regulation of design, financing, construction, exploitation, maintenance and transfer of any public good on the basis of public-private partnership for the concession of works. " 2. Article 1 shall be inserted after Article 1 with the following contents: "" Art. 1 1 ^ 1. -The public-private partnership contract for the works concession is a contract with the object of execution or, as the case may be, both the design and execution of one or more construction works, as contained in the classifications. official statistics, or the execution by any means of any combination of these construction works, which corresponds to the requirements of the contracting authority and which leads to a result intended to fulfil, by itself, a function technical-economic. In the counterpart of the works carried out the contractor, as a concessionaire, shall receive the right to exploit the result of the works, in whole or in part, which may be added, as the case may be, the payment of an amount. " 3. In Article 2, the letter a) shall read as follows: "" a) concession-private investor selected to carry out the public-private partnership for the works concession; '. 4. in Article 2, points b) and e) shall be repealed. 5. Article 2, after letter h ^ 1), insert letter h ^ 2) with the following contents: " h ^ 2) competitive dialogue-the procedure by which the contracting authority may initiate consultations with pre-selected investors in order to develop one or more variants capable of meeting the requirements of the contracting authority and on the basis of which candidates are invited to bid; '. 6. In Article 2, letter i) shall read as follows: "" i) project agreement-the legal act drawn up as a result of the dialogue that the public authority has carried with each investor in order to establish the technical means and the financial and legal arrangements that best meet the needs of the public authority. " 7. After Article 2, Article 2 ^ 1 is inserted as follows: "" Art. 2 2 ^ 1. -The principles underlying the selection of bidders and the conclusion of public-private partnership contracts are: a) transparency, i.e. making available to all interested parties the information on the application of the procedure for the award of the public-private partnership contract; b) equal treatment for all tenderers, namely the non-discriminatory application of selection criteria and criteria for the award of the public-private partnership contract; c) proportionality, namely that any measure required by the public authority is necessary and appropriate to the nature of the contract; d) mutual recognition, respectively acceptance by the public authority of products and services offered by candidates of other nationality; e) free competition, namely ensuring the conditions for any candidate, regardless of nationality, to have the right to become, under the law, contractor. " 8. Article 3 shall be repealed. 9. Article 4 shall read as follows: "" Art. 4. -The public authority is obliged to publish in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part VI, in the Official Journal of the European Communities and/or in an international journal of wide circulation the intention to initiate a partnership project public-private, in accordance with the methodological norms for the application of this ordinance. " 10. After Article 4, Articles 4 ^ 1 to 4 ^ 3 are inserted with the following contents: "" Art. 4 4 ^ 1. -The public authority, when it is to award a works concession contract, has the right to request: a) the concessionaire to award works contracts to third parties in a percentage of at least 30% of the total works covered by the public-private partnership contract for works concession, while offering the possibility to investors to increase this percentage, the minimum percentage being specified in the works concession contract; b) the investors specify in the offer the percentage value, if any, of the works they intend to assign to third parties, as an effect of the award of a works concession contract. Article 4 ^ 2. --If the concessionaire is a contracting authority within the meaning of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 60/2001 on public procurement, approved with amendments and additions by Law no. 212/2002 , as amended, it will comply with the provisions laid down in this regard to works contracts, if the works are carried out by third parties. Article 4 ^ 3. --(1) Concession of works which are not contracting authorities within the meaning of the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 60/2001 , approved with amendments and additions by Law no. 212/2002 , as amended, and which intends to grant works concession contracts to third parties will make public this intention through an announcement whose content and manner of publication will be in accordance with the provisions of the methodological norms of application of this ordinance. (2) Advertising is not mandatory if the works concession contract meets the conditions provided by art. 11 11 para. ((1) lit. a) and d) and art. 12 lit. a)-f) of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 60/2001 , approved with amendments and additions by Law no. 212/2002 ,, as amended. ((3) Investors who have grouped themselves in order to obtain the works concession contract or the related investors are not considered third parties. The affiliated investor is the investor on which the concessionaire can exercise a determining influence, directly or indirectly, or the investor who can exert a determining influence on the concessionaire, or any investor who, as well as the concessionaire, is influenced determinedly by another investor as a result of the stake held by the latter within them. The determining influence of an investor on another is presumed when, directly or indirectly, it: a) holds the majority of the registered investor's share capital; b) controls the majority of the votes on shares issued by the controlled investor c) has the capacity to designate more than half of the management, management and control personnel of the controlled investor. (4) The full list of all such investors will be included in the tender submitted for the concession. This list will need to be updated following any subsequent changes in investor relations. (5) In the works concession contracts concluded by a concessionaire which is not a contracting authority, the deadline for the submission of applications for participation, established by the concessionaire, shall not be less than 37 days from the date on which the notice of been published, and the deadline for receipt of tenders will not be less than 40 days from the date on which the notice or the request for tender was published. The concessionaire has the obligation to extend these deadlines if, due to the volume and complexity of the works, the offers cannot be submitted within the deadline or cannot be formulated and submitted until after visiting the locations or after consulting the spot of the documents annexed to the terms of reference. The concessionaire has the right to extend the deadline for submitting bids In this case the concessionaire has the obligation to communicate the new term in writing, at least 6 days before the expiry of the original term, to all suppliers of goods and services and contractors who have received a copy of the elaboration documentation and submission of the offer. " 11. Article 5 shall read as follows: "" Art. 5. -(1) Within the period provided for in the public notice, but not less than 60 days from the date of publication of the intention to initiate a public-private partnership project, the public authority shall receive letters of intent, accompanied by the attached document the letter of intent, from interested investors. (2) Not more than 60 days after the expiry of the term provided in par. (1), the public authority shall select the best letters of intent, expressed in technical, economic and financial terms by investors. (3) If no minimum of 3 letters of intent have been submitted or at least 3 letters of intent could not be selected, the project will be resumed only by initiating a new complete procedure. In the event of the launch of a new procedure, the rules contained in this Article shall no longer apply. " 12. Article 6 shall be inserted after Article 6, with the following contents: "" Art. 6 6 ^ 1. --(1) On the basis of the content of the feasibility study and the results of the negotiations carried out in accordance with 6, the public authority will fix the deadline for submitting the technical and financial offer by the pre-selected investors based on the results of the analysis of the letters of intent submitted. The deadline for submission of tenders will not be less than 60 days from the date of communication. ((2) Following the evaluation of the submitted tenders, the public authority shall issue a decision containing the list of investors ranked on the basis of the best offer in technical and economic and financial terms. The decision shall be communicated in writing simultaneously to all investors participating in the selection. (3) Against the decision referred to in par. (2) any investor may submit to the public authority a written appeal, within 10 calendar days from the date of communication of the decision. (4) The public authority is obliged to analyze all appeals submitted within the deadline and to submit to each objector an answer in writing, within 10 calendar days from the date of expiry of the deadline for filing appeals. " 13. Article 7 shall read as follows: "" Art. 7. -(1) During the competitive dialogue, the public authority shall ensure equal treatment between all investors. It is forbidden to transmit information in a discriminatory manner that could offer advantages to investors over others. The public authority shall not disclose to the other investors the proposed variants or other confidential information communicated by a candidate participating in the dialogue without its consent. (2) The public authority will be able to have the competitive dialogue procedure conducted in successive stages to reduce the number of variants to be discussed by applying the selection criteria contained in the notice of intent. (. The public authority shall continue the dialogue until the variance or variants meeting the requirements are identified, comparing them where appropriate. (4) After declaring the completion of the dialogue and after informing the participants in this regard, the public authority will request the submission of final offers on the basis of the variants presented and established during the dialogue. (5) The public authority may request clarifications, clarifications and detail improvements of the tenders. However, clarifications, clarifications and detail improvements cannot involve changes in the basic features of the notice of intent, changes that could infringe free competition or have a discriminatory effect. (6) The public authority may pay or reward the participants in the dialogue. " 14. After Article 7, Articles 7 ^ 1 to 7 ^ 9 are inserted as follows: "" Art. 7 7 ^ 1. -(1) The public authority shall select the most economically advantageous tender, taking into account the criteria stipulated in the notice of intent. Other criteria associated with the object of the contract can be considered, such as technical qualities, aesthetic and functional characteristics, environmental aspects, operating costs, the period necessary for execution. (2) The notice of intent shall contain information on the weight given to each criterion chosen to determine the most economically advantageous tender. In those situations when, in the opinion of the public authority, specifying the share of the criteria is not possible, the public authority will indicate in the notice of intention the criteria in descending order of their importance. (3) All investors will be informed of the decision of the public authority, and the decision to award the contract will be published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part VI and in the Official Journal of the European Communities. Article 7 ^ 2. -(1) Acts issued in violation of the provisions of this ordinance may be appealed administratively and/or in justice. (2) The contracting authority shall be competent to resolve the appeals submitted by administrative means. The contracting authority is required to indicate in the contract notice or, as the case may be, in the invitation to participate the name, address, fax and/or e-mail address of the compartment within the contracting authority where they are transmitted/submitted or, after case, the appeals are resolved. ((3) The legal action is brought to the administrative section of the tribunal in whose constituency the seat of the contracting authority is located. The appeal of the court of appeal may be appealed against the judgment of the tribunal. Article 7 ^ 3. -Any person who has a legitimate interest in connection with a particular public-private partnership contract for the works concession and who suffers, risks suffering or has suffered injury, as a direct consequence of an unlawful act, is entitled to use the remedies provided for by this ordinance. Article 7 ^ 4. -Persons provided in art. 7 ^ 3, which have suffered an injury, can claim compensation by legal action under the law of the administrative litigation. Article 7 ^ 5. -(1) Whenever he receives an appeal, the contracting authority suspends the procedure for the award of the public-private partnership contract for the concession of works in question. (2) The suspension period shall entail the extension, accordingly, of any period affected by suspension, except for the periods provided for in the exercise of the remedies. (3) The suspension decision shall be communicated immediately by the contracting authority to the objector, as well as to all the participants involved in the procedure for the award of the public-private partnership contract for the concession of works on the date Submission of appeal. (4) By exception to the provisions of par. ((1), the contracting authority may refuse to suspend the procedure for the award of the public-private partnership contract for the concession of works concerned, in any of the following situations: a) the appeal is unfounded; b) by suspending the application of the procedure for the award of the public-private partnership contract for the works concession there is the imminent danger of seriously affecting a major public interest. Article 7 ^ 6. -(1) The contracting authority, after receiving an appeal or notification regarding the introduction of a legal action, has the obligation, within 3 days, to notify them about it and its reasoned decision to suspend or not the procedure for the award of the public-private partnership contract for the concession of works to all participants involved in that procedure, enclosing a copy of the appeal or notification received. (2) The contracting authority has the obligation to communicate to all the participants involved in the procedure for the award of the public-private partnership contract for the concession of works all subsequent acts relating to the appeal or the legal action in question, within two working days of their production or receipt. Article 7 ^ 7. --(1) The participants involved in the procedure for the award of the public-private partnership contract for the works concession have the right to associate to the appeal submitted to the contracting authority, by written communication to the contracting authority, within 5 days of receipt of the notice of receipt of an appeal. (2) Those who associate to an appeal have the same rights and responsibilities with the one who initiated the appeal. The participants involved in the procedure for the award of the public-private partnership contract for the works concession, which do not associate with an appeal according to the provisions of this paragraph, lose the right to attack both on the way administrative, as well as in the judiciary the act invoked as unlawful by the original appeal. Article 7 ^ 8. -(1) In the resolution of appeals the contracting authority may decide corrective measures to modify, terminate, revoke, cancel and other such acts of illegitimate or activities in connection with them, in order to comply provisions of this ordinance (. Any corrective action decided by the contracting authority shall be specified in the reasoned resolution. Article 7 ^ 9. -The irrevocable court decisions rendered in the disputes arising from the application of the provisions of this ordinance shall be published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part VI, and the payment of transmission and publication expenses is in charge the party that lost the process; for this purpose, the court will order by the same court decision the payment of these expenses. 15. Article 8 shall read as follows: "" Art. 8. -(1) Upon completion of the procedure for filing and resolving appeals, the public authority shall enter into the final negotiation of a public-private partnership contract for the concession of works with the highest-ranked investor. (2) If the public-private partnership contract for the works concession is not concluded with the highest ranked investor, the public authority will conclude the contract with the following selected investor, in order of registration on the list Selected investors, until a favourable outcome is achieved. ((3) Nephinalisation of a public-private partnership contract for the concession of works with none of the selected investors obliges the public authority to resume the entire procedure. (4) The agreement of the parties on the creation of a project company or the establishment of another form of association between the parties shall be included in the content of the public-private partnership contract for the works concession. " 16. In Article 11, paragraph 2 shall read as follows: "(2) The private property of the state resulting from the implementation of the project and the land occupied by the project may not be alienated, mortgaged, pledged or may not be constituted in guarantees for third parties, except with the consent of the owner." 17. Article 11 (1) shall be inserted after Article 11: "" Art. 11 11 ^ 1. -(1) This ordinance does not apply when the public authority aims to acquire additional works, which were not included in the original works concession project or the works concession contract previously awarded. a contractor, but which have become, as a result of contingencies, necessary for the completion of the initial works and these additional works were awarded to the original concessionaire only if: a) the additional works cannot be separated, from a technical and economic point of view, from the original contract, as otherwise it would cause major damage to the public authority; b) although separable from the original contract, are strictly necessary in order to fulfill it. (2) The value of the contract for additional works shall not exceed 50% of the present value of the public-private partnership contract for the works concession, initially awarded. " 18. Article 13 (2) shall be repealed. 19. in Article 13, after paragraph 3, paragraph 4 is inserted as follows: "(4) In order to settle any disputes arising from the performance of the contract, the parties may stipulate in this clause the compromise, being able to assign the jurisdiction of the disputes to the Romanian or international arbitral courts." 20. In Articles 12 and 13, the expressions "public-private partnership projects" and "public-private projects" are replaced by the expression "public-private partnership projects for works concessions". + Article II Article 3 (f ^ 1), Article 4 (3), Article 43 ^ 1 and Article 45 ^ 1 of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 60/2001 on public procurement, published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 241 of 11 May 2001, approved with amendments and completions by Law no. 212/2002 ,, is repealed. + Article III Government Ordinance no. 16/2002 on public-private partnership contracts, approved with amendments and additions by Law no. 470/2002 , with subsequent amendments and completions, including those brought by this law, will be republished in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, giving the texts a new numbering. + Article IV Law no. 219/1998 on the concession regime, published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 459 of 30 November 1998, shall be amended and supplemented as follows: 1. Article 1 shall read as follows: "" Art. 1. -The object of this law is the regulation and organization of the assignment of the concession of activities, services and goods, as follows: a) public activities and services of national or local interest, in exchange for a royalty; b) other services, in exchange for remuneration; c) public or private property of the state, county, city or commune, in exchange for a royalty, except for the concession of works, as it is regulated by Government Ordinance no. 16/2002 on public-private partnership contracts, approved with amendments and additions by Law no. 470/2002 ,, as amended and supplemented. " 2. After Article 1, Articles 1 ^ 1 and 1 ^ 2 shall be inserted as follows: "" Art. 1 1 ^ 1. -(1) Assignment of the concession of public activities and services of national and local interest and of goods referred to in art. 1 lit. a) and c) is made on the basis of a contract by which a person, called concedent, transmits for a fixed period, not more than 49 years, to another person, called a concessionaire, who acts at risk and on his/her responsibility, the right and the obligation to operate or carry out an activity or a public service of national or local interest or of a good in exchange for a royalty. (2) Assignment of the concession of services provided in art. 1 lit. b) is made on the basis of a contract by which a public authority, referred to as concedent, transmits for a fixed period, no more than 49 years, to a private investor, referred to as concessionaire, acting at risk and on its responsibility, the right and the obligation to provide services on its behalf, the remuneration for the services provided consisting of either the amounts obtained from the right of exploitation of the services, or from this right accompanied, in addition, by remuneration. Article 1 ^ 2. -The principles underlying the selection of bidders and the conclusion of concession contracts are: a) transparency, i.e. making available to all interested parties the information on the application of the procedure for the award of the concession contract; b) equal treatment for all tenderers, meaning that all the criteria for selection and award of the concession contract apply in a non-discriminatory manner; c) proportionality, namely that any measure required by the public authority is necessary and appropriate to the nature of the contract; b) non-discrimination, namely the acceptance by the public authority of the services offered by candidates of other nationality, under the conditions provided for in the agreements and conventions to which Romania is a party; e) free competition, namely ensuring the conditions for any candidate, regardless of nationality, to have the right to become a concessionaire under the law, conventions and international agreements to which Romania is a party ". 3. in Article 2, after paragraph 1, paragraph 1 is inserted, and after paragraph 3, paragraph 4 is inserted as follows: "" (1 ^ 1) Public services are those services, other than those that constitute state monopoly, established by special laws, and may be public services of national interest or public services of local interest. ........................................................................................... (4) The provisions of this law do not apply to design, financing, construction, operation, maintenance and transfer contracts for any public good that ends according to the procedures provided for in Government Ordinance no. 16/2002 , approved with amendments and additions by Law no. 470/2002 ,, as amended and supplemented. " 4. Article 7 shall read as follows: "" Art. 7. -(1) The initiation of the concession is based on an opportunity study carried out, in advance, by the concedent, which will mainly include the following elements: a) description of the good, activity, public service or service to be leased; b) the economic, financial, social and environmental reasons, justifying the granting of the concession; c) investments necessary for modernisation or expansion; d) the minimum level of royalty/remuneration; e) the method of granting the envisaged concession; if the open public tender procedure with preselection or the direct negotiation procedure is used, this option should be reasoned; f) the estimated duration of the concession; g) the foreseeable deadlines for the implementation of the concession procedure; h) mandatory opinion of the Central State Office for Special Issues and the General Staff on the framing of the object of the concession in the infrastructure of the national defense system, as the case may be ((. The specification of the concession shall be drawn up on the basis of the opportunity study. " 5. Article 10 shall read as follows: "" Art. 10. -The award of the concession of a good, an activity or a public service is carried out by public auction, through direct negotiation or competitive dialogue, according to the provisions of this law. " 6. In Article 13, the introductory part shall read as follows: "" Art. 13. -In the case of the open public tender procedure, the concedent has the obligation to publish in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part VI, in a national circulation daily and in one of local circulation, as well as in the Official Journal of the European Communities and/or in an international journal of wide circulation, in accordance with the methodological norms for the application of this Law, the notice of open public tender, which shall contain: " 7. in Article 13, the letter h) shall be inserted after point g) with the following contents: "" h) the name, address, fax and e-mail address of the contracting authority where they are transmitted or submitted or, as the case may be, shall be contested. " 8. in Article 22, the letter f) shall be inserted after letter f) with the following contents: "f) the name, address, fax and e-mail address of the contracting authority where they are transmitted or submitted or, as the case may be, shall be contested." 9. In Article 27, paragraph 1 shall read as follows: "" Art. 27. -(1) The conceding has the obligation to publish in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part VI, in a national circulation daily and in a local circulation, in the Official Journal of the European Communities and/or in an international journal of wide circulation, in accordance with the methodological norms for the application of this law, the intention to resort to the direct negotiation procedure. " 10. After Article 27, insert the 3rd section with the following contents: " SECTION 3 Concession procedure through competitive dialogue Article 27 ^ 1. -(1) Competitive dialogue is a procedure that provides the possibility for the contracting authority to initiate consultations with candidates in order to develop one or more alternatives capable of meeting the requirements of the contracting authority and on the basis of to which candidates are invited to bid. (2) At the end of the competitive dialogue candidates will be invited to submit the final offer based on the solution/solutions identified during the dialogue. The principles of transparency and equal treatment will be respected. ((3) The conceding has the obligation to publish in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part VI, in a national circulation daily and in a local circulation, in the Official Journal of the European Communities and/or in an international journal of wide circulation, in accordance with the methodological norms for the application of this law, the intention to resort to the procedure through competitive dialogue. (4) The announcement published according to the provisions of ((3) should specify: a) the name and seat of the b) subject to concession; c) the way in which the concedent organizes the negotiations; d) the name, address, fax and e-mail address of the compartment within the contracting authority where they are transmitted or submitted or, as the case may be, shall be resolved. " 11. After Article 27 ^ 1, Chapter III ^ 1 is inserted with the following contents: "" CHAPTER III ^ 1 Remedies and remedies Article 27 ^ 2. -(1) Acts issued in violation of the provisions of this law may be appealed administratively and/or in justice. (2) The contracting authority shall be competent to resolve the appeals submitted by administrative means. ((3) The legal action is brought to the administrative section of the tribunal in whose constituency the seat of the contracting authority is located. The appeal of the court of appeal may be appealed against the judgment of the tribunal. Article 27 ^ 3. -Any person who has a legitimate interest in connection with a particular concession contract and who suffers, risks suffering or has suffered injury, as a direct consequence of an unlawful act, has the right to use the remedies provided by present law. Article 27 ^ 4. -Persons provided in art. 27 ^ 3, which have suffered an injury, can claim compensation by legal action under the law of the administrative litigation. Article 27 ^ 5. -(1) Whenever an appeal is received, the contracting authority shall suspend the procedure for the award of the concession contract in question. (2) The suspension period shall entail the appropriate extension of any period affected by suspension, except for the periods provided for in the exercise of the remedies. (3) The suspension decision shall be communicated immediately by the contracting authority to the objector, as well as to all the participants involved in the procedure for the award of the service concession contract at the date of submission of the appeal. (4) By exception to the provisions of par. ((1), the contracting authority may refuse to suspend the procedure for the award of the concession contract in question in any of the following situations: a) the appeal is unfounded; b) by suspending the application of the procedure for the award of the concession contract there is an imminent danger of seriously affecting a major public interest. Article 27 ^ 6. -(1) The contracting authority, after receiving an appeal or notification of the introduction of a legal action, has the obligation, within 3 days, to notify about it and its reasoned decision to suspend or not the procedure for the award of the concession contract to all the participants still involved in that procedure, appending a copy of the appeal or notification received. (2) The contracting authority has the obligation to communicate to all the participants involved in the procedure for the award of the concession contract all subsequent acts relating to the appeal/legal action in question, within two days working from their production/receipt. Article 27 ^ 7. --(1) The participants involved in the procedure for the award of the concession contract have the right to associate with the appeal submitted to the contracting authority, by written communication lodged at the premises of the contracting authority, within 5 days of upon receipt of notice of receipt of an appeal. (2) Those who associate to an appeal have the same rights and responsibilities with the one who initiated the appeal. The participants still involved in the procedure for the award of the concession contract, which do not associate with an appeal according to the provisions of this paragraph, lose the right to appeal, both administratively and in justice, the act invoked as unlawful by the original appeal. Article 27 ^ 8. -(1) In the resolution of appeals, the contracting authority may decide corrective measures to modify, terminate, revoke, cancel and other such acts of illegitimate or activities in relation to them, in order to comply with provisions of this law (. Any corrective action decided by the contracting authority shall be specified in the reasoned resolution. Article 27 ^ 9. -In the event of suspension or cancellation of the concession award procedure, the service subject to concession shall be carried out under the conditions prior to the concession procedure, without thereby exceeding the period of time. Maximum concession. Article 27 ^ 10. -Irrevocable court decisions, rendered in disputes arising from the application of the provisions of this law, shall be published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part VI, and the payment of transmission and publication expenses is in charge the party who lost the trial; for this purpose the court will order by the same court decision the payment of these expenses. 12. Paragraph 1 of Article 29 shall read as follows: "" Art. 29. -(1) Upon the expiry of the concession period the concessionaire shall be obliged to refund, in full ownership, free of any charge, the concession, including the investments made, in accordance with the provisions of the concession contract. " 13. In Article 30, paragraph 2 shall read as follows: "(2) In order to settle any disputes arising from the execution of the concession contract, the parties may stipulate in the contract the compromise clause, being able to assign the jurisdiction of the disputes to the Romanian or international arbitral courts." 14. Article 40 shall read as follows: "" Art. 40. -(1) The concession contracts concluded until the date of entry into force of this Law shall retain their validity. ((2) Until the privatization of national companies or national companies or companies established by the reorganization of autonomous regions, they may be awarded by direct award goods belonging to public property or private state, related to the field of activity, for the realization of new public infrastructures. ((3) In the privatisation of national companies or national companies or companies established by the reorganisation of autonomous regions, private investors must be selected on the basis of a competitive procedure as defined in the present law. " + Article V Law no. 219/1998 on the concession regime will be republished in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, giving the texts a new numbering. + Article VI Government Ordinance no. 30/1995 on the concession regime for the construction and operation of sections of land-highway communication routes-highways and railways, published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 203 203 of 1 September 1995, approved and amended by Law no. 136/1996 , as amended, shall be repealed. + Article VII Within 60 days from the date of publication of this law in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, the Ministry of Public Finance elaborates and proposes for approval to the Government to amend the methodological norms for the application Law no. 219/1998 on the concession regime and the Government Ordinance no. 16/2002 on public-private partnership contracts. This law was adopted by the Romanian Parliament, in compliance with the provisions of art. 75 75 and art. 76 76 para. (1) of the Romanian Constitution, republished. CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES PRESIDENT VALER DORNEANU SENATE PRESIDENT NICOLAE VACAROIU Bucharest, November 25, 2004. No. 528. --------