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Parliament of Romania
Law no. 350/2005 published on Official Gazette no. 1128 from 14.12.2005

ON THE CONDITIONS OF NON-REFUNDABLE FINANCING FROM PUBLIC
FUNDS ASSIGNED FOR GENERAL INTEREST NON-PROFIT ACTIVITIES

The Parliament of Romania adopts the present law,
CHAPTER 1
General provisions

SECTION 1
Object
Art.1
The present law has the aim of setting the prin ciples, general framework and the procedures
for assigning the non-refundable subsidies from the public funds, as wel
l as the means of
contesting the act or the decision of the fina ncing bodies which apply the procedures of non-
refundable subsidies.
SECTION 2
Definitions
Art. 2
In compliance with the present law, the terms and expressions below have the following
meaning:
a) profit driven activity – activity driving a direct profit for a natural or legal person
b) contracting authority – any public institution, as defined by the Romanian
Constitution, including the body of judges, as well as any national or regional
public interest institution, which has the quality of loan manager, according to the
law;
c) beneficiary – the applicant whom the non-refundab le subsidy contract is assigned
to, after the public project sel ection procedure being applied;
d) eligible expenses – expenses which are taken into consideration for the non-
refundable subsidy.
e) non-refundable subsidy contract – contract concluded, by the law, between a
public authority, referred to as financing authority from now on, and the
beneficiary
f) non- refundable subsidy – financial allowance from the state budget, social
security budget, specia l funds budgets, State Treas ury budget, local budgets,

extra-budget financed public bodies, external financial aid granted to Romania or
to the public institutions, or external loans contracted or guaranteed by the state or
by the local public administration bodies, as well as internal loans contracted by
the local public administration bodies;
g) public funds – amounts assigned from the state budget, social security budget,
special funds budgets, State Treasury budget, local budgets, extra-budget financed
public bodies, external financial aid granted to Romania or to the public
institutions, or external loans contracted or guaranteed by the state or by the local
public administration bodies, as well as internal loans contracted by the local
public administration bodies
h) applicant – any natural or legal person with non-profit activity which submits a
project proposal
SECTION 3
SCOPE
Art. 3
1) In order to take part in the proce dure of assigning non-refundable subsidy, the
applicants have to be non-profit natural or legal persons – associations or foundations
set up according to the law, or religi ous denominations, admitted by the law.
2) The provisions of the present law are a pplicable to any contract assigning non-
refundable subsidy from the public funds, excepting the ones funded from external
non-refundable funds.
3) The legal regime set by the present law for the non-refundable subsidies is not
applicable to the special disaster interven tion funds and aid for the disaster victims
and do not damage the procedures set up by special laws.
4) Non-refundable subsidies are granted neither for profit making activities, nor for the
activities regulated by the Law no. 182/2002 on classified information’s protection,
with the subsequent modifications.
5) According to the present law, no non-ref undable subsidies will be granted for
activities which imply developing the infrastructure of the applicant, except the case
it represents an essential element of the project.

SECTION 4
Principles of assigning non-re fundable subsidies contracts
Art. 4
The principles which set the basis for gr anting the non-refundable subsidies are:
a) free competition, respectively providing the c onditions for the natural or legal person
carrying out non-profit activities to become, in accordance with the law, an applicant;

b) the efficiency of the public funds use, re spectively the use of the competing system
and the criteria which make possible the ev aluation of the proposals and the technical
and financial specifications for assign ing the non-refundable subsidy contract;
c) transparency, respectively provi ding to all those interested the information regarding
the enforcement of the procedure for assi gning the non-refundable subsidy contract;
d) equal treatment, respectively the non-discri minatory enforcement of the selection
criteria and criteria for a ssigning the non-refundable subsid ies contract, so that any
natural or legal person which carries out non-profit activities has equal chances to
being assigned the contract
e) exclusion of the overlapping, meaning that th e same activity aiming the same general,
regional or local interest ca nnot benefit from the assignment of more that one non-
refundable subsidy contract from the same financing authority;
f) non-retroactivity, respectively excluding the possibility of assigning non-refundable
subsidies to an activity already under way of being carried out or already completed
at the date when the financing contract was concluded.
g) co-financing, meaning that the non-refundable subsidie s must be completed by a
contribution from the beneficiary, of at least 10% from the total value on the
financing.

CHAPTER II
Procedures for assigning the non-refundable subsidies contracts
SECTION 1
General provisions and rules
Art. 5
Assigning the non-refundable subsidies is excl usively done upon public project selection, a
procedure which allows assigning a contract of non-refundable subsidy from public funds,
through a selection made by a commission, by respecting the principles provisioned on art. 4.
Art. 6 The procedure of project se lection includes the following stages:
a) publishing the annual schedule of non-refundable subsidies assignment
b) issuing the participation announcement
c) registration of the candidates
d) transmitting the documents
e) presenting the project proposals
f) checking the eligibility, registration and fu lfillment of the financial and technical
capacity
g) evaluation of the project proposals

h) communication of the results
i) conclusion of the non-refundable subsidy contract(s)
j) publishing the announcement of assigning the non-refundable subsidy contracts
Art. 7
The projects include information on the aim, specific objectives, activities, added costs,
results aimed at, all being ev aluated on strict indicators, chosen on a justified basis.
Art. 8
The competitive evaluation of the projects is don e according to the general evaluation criteria
provisioned by the present law, as well as the specific evaluation criteria issued by each
financing authority.
Art. 9
Any natural or legal person with no patrimonial object, carrying out non-profit activities
meant to support the accomplishment of general, regional or local public interest objectives
has the right to take part, in accordance to th is law, in the procedure for assigning the non-
refundable subsidy contract.
Art. 10
Assigning the non-refundable subsi dy contracts is done within the limits of the public funds
allotted to the programs annua lly approved in the budgets of the financing bodies.
Art. 11
The planning and execution procedures of th e non-refundable subsidies’ funds ceiling, the
procedures of assignment of the non-refundable subsidies contracts, the non-refundable
subsidies contracts concluded between the contr acting authority and the beneficiary, as well
as the budget expenditure reports on non-refundable subsidies are public interest information,
in accordance with the provisions of the Law no. 544/2001 on the free access to public
interest information.
Art. 12
(1) For the same non-profit activity, a beneficiary can only contract one non-refundable
subsidy form the same contracting authority during the fiscal year.
(2) IN case one beneficiary c ontracts, during the same year, more than one non-
refundable subsidy from the same contrac ting authority, the financing level cannot
exceed one third of the total public funds allotted to the programs annually approved
in the budget of the respec tive contracting authority.
(3) In order to participate in the selection procedure, the applicants must fill in a
declaration on their own responsibility, proving that they fulfill the requirements from
paragraph (1) and (2).
Art. 13
The eligible expenses can only be paid upon si gning a non-refundable subsidy contract, if the
expenses are just and appropriate and were contracted during the execution of the contract.

Art. 14
(1) The number of participants in the projects selection procedure is not limited
(2) The contracting authority must repeat the pr oject selection procedure in case there is
only one applicant.
(3) In case after the procedure being repeated again only one applican t submits a project
proposal, the contracting authority has the right to assign the contract to this
applicant, in accordance to the law.
SECTION 2
Transparency and publicity
Art. 15
(1) The financing bodies set their own annual pr ogram of non-refundable subsidies, in
accordance to the present law, having it advertised in the Official Gazette, Part VI, in
no more than 30 days from the approval of the contracting authority’s budget.
(2) The annual program can include one or more project selection sessions.
(3) Advertising the annual program in the Offi cial Gazette, does not bind the contracting
authority to carry out the respective selection procedure.
Art. 16
(1) The contracting authority has the obliga tion to publicly announce its intention of
assigning financing contract s. The participation announcement must be published in
the Official Gazette, Part VI , a central daily newspaper on the website of the regional
or general interest contract ing authority, respectively in at least two local daily
newspapers and on the website of the local contracting authority.
(2) In order to ensure a maximum transparenc y, the contracting authority will publish the
participation announcement also through other national or international mass medias.
The participation announcement must mention the number and the date of the Official
Gazette which advertised it, according to the provisions of paragraph (1) and will
only include the information published in the Official Gazette, Part VI.
Art. 17
The general or regional interest contracting authority has the obligation to transmit for
publication, to the Official Gazette, an announ cement of non-refundable subsidy assignment,
no later then 30 days from th e contract conclusion date.
Art 18
(1) At the end of the budget execution, the cont racting authority has the obligation to
draw up a report on the non-refundable s ubsidies contracts concluded during the
fiscal year, stating the fina nced programs, their benefici aries and the results of the
contract.
(2) The report will be published in the Official Ga zette, Part VI, as well as on the general
or regional interest cont racting authority’s website.
Art. 19

(1) The Official Gazette has the obligation to publish the announcements and the report
mentioned at art. 15 – 18, in no more than 12 days from their registration.
(2) If, in case of emergency, the contracting au thority speeds up the procedure of projects
public selection, according to art. 20 paragr aph (2), The Official Gazette has the
obligation to publish the part icipation announcement in no more than 5 days from its
registration.

SECTION 3
Deadline for project proposal submission

Art. 20
(1) The financing authority has the obligation to set and include in the participation
announcement the deadline for the proposals submission. This must not be earlier
than 30 days from the announcement publication.
(2) If, in case of emergency, respecting the term mentioned at paragraph (1) would create
a prejudice to the contracting authority, it has the right to speed up the project
selection procedure, by reduc ing the number of days, but not to less than 15 days.
(3) In the case described at paragraph (2), the contracting authority has the obligation to
include in the participati on announcement the reason for reducing the term mentioned
at paragraph (1).
(4) The contracting authority has the right to extend the submission term of the project
proposal, with the condition that the new d eadline is publicly announced, at least 6
days before the expiration of the initial deadline, to all applicant who received, in
accordance to the present law, one copy of the documents for the project draw up and
presentation.

SECTION 4
Eligibility, registration, techni cal and financial capacity

Art. 21
(1) Will face the exclusion from the procedure for assigning the non-refundable subsidy
contract, as being un-eligible, any appli cant in one of the following situations:
a. hasn’t paid its tax obligation to the state budget and social security budget
b. provides false information within the documents submitted
c. makes a severe professional mistake or ha sn’t paid it’s obligations assumed in
another non-refundable subsidy contract, if the contracting au thority can prove
these allegations
d. it is a subject of liquidation procedure or it is already in a state of liquidation
or termination, according to th e legal provisions in force.
e. does not submit the declaration mentioned at art. 12 paragraph (3)
(2) The contracting authority has the right to ask the applicants to submit documents
proving their eligibility as provisioned at paragraph (1), as well as edifying
documents, proving their registration as a legal person or any other documents of
registration/certification, according to the legal provisions in Romania.

(3) As for the natural persons, carrying Romanian or foreign citizenship, with no
patrimonial activity, the cont racting authority has to consider the documents as
required for the eligibility in his/her country of residence.
(4) The provisions on technical and economic-fina ncial capacity from art. 32 and 33 from
the Emergency Ordinance no. 60/2001 on public procurement, approved with
amendments by Law no 212/2002, with the subsequent amendments, are also
applicable.

SECTION 5
Documents for the project propos al drawing up and presentation

Art. 22
(1) The financing authority has the obligations to prepare the documents needed for the
drawing up and presentation of the project proposal, which has to include, at least:
a. general information of th e contracting authority
b. minimal qualification requirements and the documents needed for proving
these requirements
c. terms of reference
d. instructions on the deadlines which mu st be respected and the formalities
needed to be carried out
e. information on the criteria used on assigning the non-refundable subsidy
contract
(2) The terms of reference contain characterist ics of the projects, referring the scope,
specific objectives, the activities needed to be carried out and the criteria of results
evaluation
Art. 23
(1) Any natural or legal person w ith no patrimonial scope who obtained, in accordance to
the present law, one copy of the docum ents needed for the drawing up and
presentation of the project proposal, has the right to demand and receive further
clarifications from the contracting authority.
(2) The contracting authority has the obligation to transmit an answer to any clarification
request, but only if received at least 6 da ys before the project proposal submission
deadline.
(3) The contracting authority has the obligation to send the answer to the clarifications
request at least 4 days before the project proposal submission deadline.
(4) The financing authority has the right to fill in, on its own initiative, for clarifications,
the documents for the offer drawing up and presentation and it has the obligation to
communicate to all applicants any such filling in. Sending the information must
respect the terms mentioned at paragraph (3)

SECTION 6
Project proposal drawing up, presentation and evaluation

Art. 24

(1) The applicant has the obligation to draw up the project proposal, in accordance to the
provisions of the documentation needed fo r the project drawing up and presentation.
(2) The technical proposal is drawn up in accordance to the requirements included in the
terms of reference, so th at it would provide all the information needed for the
technical evaluation.
(3) The financial proposal is drawn up so that it would provide all the information needed
for the financial evaluation.

Art. 25
(1) The nature project proposal is firm and bi nding from the content point of view and
must be signed by the applicant or by a person legally empowered by the applicant.
The budget stays firm during the execution of the entire contract of non-refundable
subsidy contract.
(2) The applicant has the obligati on to state the price in lei, in the financial proposal

Art. 26
Submission, modification or withdrawal of the project proposal can only be done in
accordance to the art. 42, 43, 45 and 48 – 50 from the Emergency Ordinance no 60/2001,
approved with modifications by the Law no 212/2002, with its subsequent amendments.

Art. 27
The contracting authority has the obligation to set up, for each contract of non-refundable
subsidy, an evaluation comity, in accordance to art. 51 paragraph (1) and (2), art. 53 and 54
from the Emergency Government Ordinanc e no 60/2001, approved with approved with
modifications by the Law no 212/2002, with its subsequent amendments.

Art. 28
Project proposals evaluation is done by applying accordingly the provisions of chapter VI,
section 4 from the Emergency Government Ordinance no 60/2001, approved with approved
with modifications by the Law no 212/2002, with its subsequent amendments.

SECTION 7
Criteria for assigning the non-refundable subsidy

Art. 29
(1) The selection criteria for assigning the non-refundable subsidies must make possible
the evaluation, with competitive and competit ion rules, the applicants’ capacity to
finalize the activity proposed for financing.
(2) The criteria for assigning th e non-refundable subsidy contra ct must make possible the
evaluation of the qualities of the proposals and the technical and financial
specifications, published in the participations announcement.

Art. 30
The contracting authority has th e obligation to mentions in the participation announcement
and in the project proposal’s draw up and pr esentation documents, the criteria on which the

contract is assigned; once set, the criteria cannot be changed during the entire procedure of
assignment of the non-refundable subsidy contract.

Art. 31
(1) The project(s) decided as winners are those which get the highest score and which are
shown by the calculation scheme as the mo st advantageous from the technical-
financial point of view.
(2) The calculation scheme mentioned at paragr aph (1) is set by considering, together
with the budget, different criteria of pr oposal evaluation, depending on the nature of
each non-refundable subsidy contract. These cr iteria have to be clearly defined by
each contracting authority, through the draw ing up of specific norms which have to
be in a strict connection with the contract ’s nature and which, after being set, cannot
be changed during the applic ation of the procedure for the assignment of the non-
refundable subsidy contract.
(3) The contracting authority has the obligati on to mention in the offer draw up and
presentation documents the evaluation criter ia for the project proposal, as well as the
detailed calculation scheme wh ich is going to be applied.

SECTION 8
Means of communication

Art. 32
(1) Any communication, request, information, no tification provided by the present law
must be sent as a written document
(2) Any written document must be registered when transmitted or received
(3) Any written document must be confirmed as being received, except the documents
which, themselves, confirm receiving a document
(4) Written document can be transmitted by one of the following means:
a. mail
b. telegram
c. telex
d. fax
e. electronic

Art. 33
(1) The contracting authority or the applicant who sent the documents by one of the
means mentioned at art. 32 paragraph (4) letters b-d has the obligation to send the
respective documents in no more than 24 hours as letters as well, by mail
(2) In case the written documents are electronically transmitted, they will be subject of
the laws on electronic signature, so that th ey will fulfill the conditions for proof and
validity of a juristic fact

Art. 34
The contracting authority has the obligation to no t discriminate the applicants from the point
of view of the means of communication used by them for transmitting or receiving
documents, decisions or other communications.

SECTION 9
The canceling of the procedure for the assignment of the non-refundable subsidy contract

Art. 35
The contracting authority has the right to can cel the application of the procedure for the
assignment of the non-refundable subsidy contr act, under the conditions provided at Chapter
VI, section 7 from the Emergency Gove rnment Ordinance no 60/2001, approved with
approved with modifications by the Law no 212/2002, with its subsequent amendments.

CHAPTER III
Conclusion, execution and termination of the non-refundable subsidy contract

Art. 36
(1) The termination and the execution of the non-refundable subsidy contract is done
by
respecting the Emergency Government Ordinance no 60/2001, approved with
approved with modifications by th e Law no 212/2002, with its subsequent
amendments.
(2) Once the non-refundable subsidy contract is terminated, the beneficiary has the
obligation to sign a declaration of im partiality as shown in the annex.

Art. 37
(1) The contracting authority and the benefici ary can set in the non-refundable subsidy
contract that the payments to the benefi ciary are made in installments, depending on
the stage the contract is in and the due expenses, according to the possible financial
risks, the duration and the evolution of the financed activity or depending on the
internal set up or functioni ng costs of the beneficiary.
(2) The contracting authority will not pay the last installment to the beneficiary, before
validating the final activity report and the financial report, which the beneficiary is
obligated to submit to the premises of the contracting authority in no more than 30
days from the termination of the activity.
(3) The validation is done in no more than 30 days from the submission of the final
activity report and th e financial report.
(4) The contracting authority may reserve the right to check on the beneficiary both
during the execution of the contract and af ter the report validation, in order to
complete the non-refundable subsidy file , but no later than 3 months from the
expiration of the term me ntioned at paragraph (3)
(5) The provisions of art. 75, 76, art. 77 paragraph (1), art. 78 and 79 from the
Emergency Government Ordinance no 60/2001, approved with approved with
modifications by the Law no 212/2002, with its subsequent amendments are
adequately applicable to the non-refundable subsidies from the public funds.

Art 38
(1) When, for carrying out the contract provisi ons, the beneficiary purchases, from non-
refundable public funds, goods or services, the procurement procedure is the one

from Emergency Government Ordinance no 60/2001, approved with approved with
modifications by the Law no 212/2002, with its subsequent amendments.
(2) The non-refundable financing contracts will stipulate, under the sanction of nullity,
the Accounts Court as having the capacity to control the finances of the non-profit
activity unfolding under the public funds.

CHAPTER IV
Appealing

Art. 39
The rules and decisions which determine or are the result of breaking the present law can be
appealed on the grounds of art. 80 – 83, art. 85 – 91 and art. 93 – 96 from the Emergency
Government Ordinance no 60/2001, approved with approved with modifications by the Law
no 212/2002, with its subsequent amendments

CHAPTER V
Contraventions and sanctions

Art. 40
The provisions of art. 98 – 101 from Em ergency Government Ordinance no 60/2001,
approved with approved with modifications by the Law no 212/2002, with its subsequent
amendments are applicable to the non-refundable subsidy contracts financed from public
funds.

CHAPTER VI
Transitory and final provisions

Art. 41
The provisions of the present law are completed accordingly with the provisions of
Emergency Government Ordinance no 60/2001, a pproved with approved with modifications
by the Law no 212/2002, with its subsequent amendments

Art. 42
The present law shall come into effect in 30 days from the date of its publication in the
Official Gazette, Part I.

The present law was adopted by the Romanian Parl iament in compliance with art. 75 and art.
76 paragraphs (2) from the Romanian Constitution.

Bucharest, December 2, 2005
No 350

ANNEXA

DECLARATION OF IMPARTIALITY

Shall be considered as a conflict of interests, any situation which hinders the beneficiary at a
certain moment to act in compliance with the ob jectives of the contracting authority, as well
as the situation when the objective and impartia l execution of the duties of a person involved
in implementing the project might be compromise d from any reason: family related, political,
economic or any other interests common to the someone else’s.
The undersigned, as a natural person or empower ed to represent the applicant organization,
regarding the execution of the pr oject, I obligate myself to take any precautionary measures
needed for avoiding any conflict of interest, as defined above and I obligate myself to inform
the contracting authority on any situation which produces or might produce such a conflict.

Name and surname:
Position:
Signature and stamp: