The government wants to impose sanctions for local authorities that do not pay with priority amounts for thermal energy supply, according to a draft Government Emergency Ordinance.

The contraventions will be sanctioned with fines ranging between 50,000 lei and 100,000 lei, and the evaluations and application of the fines will be done by the bodies with control attributions of the Ministry of Public Finance.

“This normative act proposes to ensure the continuity of the operation of the centralized heat supply service of the population in the cold season 2020, by regulating a legal solution in the sense of fully ensuring payments for thermal energy provided from public funds, according to law, and / or advance payments paid by local public authorities based on agreements justifying advances for natural gas consumption,” the project states, according to financialintelligence.ro.

Thus, the amounts due must be transferred with priority to special, escrow accounts.

”The transfer by the public administration authorities of the funds from the local budgets, provided in par. (3), granted in accordance with the law and/ or the collection by the economic agents producing and/ or distributing thermal energy of the amounts from the beneficiaries of thermal energy and of the funds from the local budgets, in accounts other than those of “Escrow” type constitute contravention and is sanctioned with fines between 50,000 lei and 100,000 lei, if they were not committed in such conditions as to be considered, according to the criminal law, crimes. The report of the contraventions and the application of the fines are made by the bodies with control attributions of the Ministry of Public Finance.”