In the Government meeting, an Emergency Ordinance was approved, which aims to amend Emergency Government Ordinance no. 67/2023 regarding the establishment of a temporary measure to combat excessive price increases for certain agricultural and food products.

Considering the upcoming winter period when household utility expenses increase, and taking into account the fact that during the winter holidays there is an increased need for consumption, especially in terms of food purchases, it was deemed necessary to extend the period of application of the provisions of Emergency Government Ordinance no. 67/2023, which establishes a temporary measure to combat excessive price increases for certain agricultural and food products, for an additional 90 days.

The normative act amending Emergency Government Ordinance no. 67/2023 includes an expansion of the list of agricultural and food products with the following items: ground meat, garlic, rice, tomato puree, sponge cake, margarine, yeast, sour cream, and pears.

Another newly introduced measure in the normative act pertains to agricultural and food products that enter Romania and are not subject to further processing or slaughter. In these cases, the maximum commercial markup is 5% over the purchase price, to which direct and indirect expenses as stipulated by the Order of the Minister of Public Finances no. 1.826 from December 22, 2003, for the approval of Clarifications regarding certain measures regarding the organization and management of management accounting are added. These products include oil, sugar, flour, cornmeal, pork, chicken, beef, for packaged quantities exceeding 5 kg or 5 liters.

Furthermore, the Emergency Ordinance adopted provides some clarifications regarding the limitation of the settlement commission to a maximum of 2%, which can be applied by issuing units of meal, gift, and social vouchers, including those issued through the Support for Romania Program, regardless of the method of voucher issuance, electronic or paper, and their type.

According to the new provisions, this measure applies to all agricultural and food products that can be purchased with these vouchers, without being limited to the products listed in the annex to this emergency ordinance.