The European Commission has launched the infringement procedures against Romania and Hungary, whose new internal regulations for the retail trade of agricultural and food products are contrary to the EU laws.

The procedure against Romania is related to a law the Parliament passed last year which stated that 51% of the products sold by the country’s big retailers needs to be produced in Romania.

Gabriela Cretu, president of the Senate’s committee for European Affairs, said that Romania would reject the infringement. However, she thinks that “we need to accept that it’s necessary to also amend the law”.

The infringement procedure now follows a series of steps. The authorities in Bucharest are obliged to send an answer to the EC’s arguments in maximum two months.

The infringement procedure is a process that involves alerting an EU Member State by the European Commission for breach of duty. If the two parties don’t reach an agreement, the EU member state will be sued at the European Court of Justice.

The EC also launched this procedure for a law in the agriculture sector of Hungary. The Hungarian law provides that local and imported products should be sold with the same profit margin.

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editor@romania-insider.com