In line with the international trend of rising awareness on environmental aspects, the Romanian business arena constantly improves its thoughtfulness when it comes to environmental aspects. Whether we are talking of businesses that voluntarily engage on a (more) environmentally friendly path or of activities that have to comply with stricter regulations (in order to obtain a “license to operate”) or just of activities concerning the removal of previous impact on the environment, they all have in common one fact: the ultimate goal of a clean environment. That is why here at Vlasceanu and Partners we have put forward a particularly strong team for our Environmental Practice!

Our team encompasses the unique expertise of several highly experienced lawyers that have been exposed (from within) for more than 10 years to an industry that leaves its mark on the environment: the oil and gas industry.

We have dealt with environmental projects on a standalone basis (e.g. we have provided advice on decontamination project and European funds absorption initiatives, we have supported the preparation of the detailed regulatory permitting plan for the largest offshore gas development in the Black Sea, we have been involved in the aftermath of the largest Romanian privatization) and we have gone the extra mile to understand the importance of the environmental aspects as part of large transactions (e.g. mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures or business transfers) – where environmental liability always surfaced as a hotly debated topic. In this context we became acquainted with the international investors’ concerns related to domestic environmental aspects: due to its industrialized economy and rather loose environmental focus in the second half of the last century, many Romanian industry branches are nowadays facing high sensitivity on the investors’ part when it comes to historical pollution. But using creativity and building on the support from several exceptional specialists in the central environmental bodies as well as on the learnings from similar projects (i.e. outside the Romanian borders), our team managed to close some of the largest Romanian clean-up projects.

Our lawyers have dealt with a large variety of waste management matters (including packaging waste, waste water sludge and sewage sludge, rubber waste, wells abandonment or management of radioactive waste), historical pollution and remediation as well as environmental incidents (and related  procedures to be implemented/ observed in with such situations). We have been involved in criminal liability cases triggered by environmental accidents and we have assisted clients in the Romanian courts as well as in international arbitration proceedings (specifically on environmentally related issues).

Environmental permitting is one of our key strengths as we are well familiar with the regulatory mechanisms, legal gaps/ grey areas of the legal framework; we have cooperated with environmental authorities both on a central level as well as on a regional, we have provided support to the competent authorities in drafting environmental normative acts, we have transposed European Directives into the national legislation and we have developed a network of international collaborations enabling us to provide practical interpretations of European normative acts).

During our previous projects, we have laid the foundation of several partnerships with reputable environmental expertize companies/ certified technical consultants. Therefore, if required, we can obtain through our existing partnerships, a deep practical understanding of technically sensitive issues (falling outside the legal sphere) enabling us to identify aspects and come up with interpretations others may not see and, eventually, optimally serve our client’s interest.