Consumer Protection Authority does not know when ordinance on early loan repayment is to be modified

The Government’s intention to modify the Emergency Ordinance on the elimination of the early repayment fee for retail loans, so that the law should not apply to the eight million contracts underway, has stirred up the private sector’s discontent. The reaction of the institutions that promoted the draft law, the National Authority for Consumer Protection (ANPC) and the Competition Council, is feeble, though. The ordinance translates into the Romanian legislation a European Commission directive, stipulating the elimination of the early repayment fee for variable-interest consumer loans and the capping of the fee at 1% for fixed-interest loans. However, the emergency ordinance adopted by the Government goes beyond the community framework and it inclusively applies to current loans, though the European directive targets only the contracts to be sealed. At present, it is not very clear how the ordinance will be modified, as ANPC officials are now in a wait-and-see mood after having strongly promoted the draft law.