"The Chamber's constituency in the city of T. Măgurele will cover the counties of Teleorman, Muşcel and Argeş."
By the union of Moldova and Wallachia in 1859 and the implementation of significant reforms—such as the secularization of monastic estates, rural law, and the organization of administration, justice, the army, education, and the church, along with the mandatory introduction of the metric system and the Latin alphabet in place of the Cyrillic—all carried out during the reign of Alexandru Ioan Cuza, it can be said that the foundations of the modern Romanian state were laid.
As Romania was an agrarian country, Cuza and his closest advisor, Mihail Kogălniceanu, deemed it necessary to take measures to organize and stimulate commerce and industry. Consequently, following a report prepared by Mihail Kogălniceanu, who served as Minister Secretary of State at the Department of Internal Affairs, Agriculture, and Public Works, Cuza promulgated the Law for the Establishment of Chambers of Commerce and Industry on September 30, 1864.
Here's the translation of the historical text, maintaining its formal tone:
By the grace of God and the national will, Prince of the United Romanian Principalities;
To all present and future, greetings;
Upon the report of Our Minister Secretary of State at the Department of Internal Affairs, Agriculture, and Public Works under No. 7255;
Having seen Our Decrees, with No. 1363 from last year and No. 989 from the current year;
On the basis of Article 3 of the Law on Chambers of Commerce;
We have decreed and do decree:
Art. I. The circumscriptions of the Chambers of Commerce are established as follows:
The circumscription of the Chamber in the city of Severin shall comprise the counties of Mehedinți, Romanați, and Gorj.
The circumscription of the Chamber in the city of Craiova shall comprise the counties of Dolj, Vâlcea, and Olt.
The circumscription of the Chamber in the city of T. Măgurele shall comprise the counties of Teleorman, Muscel, and Argeș.
Alexandru Ioan I
Following the War of Independence in 1877-1878, a period of economic progress ensued. In agriculture, the number of farming machines increased, and the cultivated area expanded, thus boosting the quantity of agricultural products destined for the market, even though peasants were still obligated to lease land from landowners or tenants. Animal husbandry continued to grow. Similarly, industries multiplied and diversified. All these factors led to the expansion of trade, an increase in the number of merchants, and the need for new regulations in the field.
As a result of this economic progress, the role of the chambers of commerce and industry grew, and there was a clear need for a law to reorganize them, especially given that the country's borders had undergone some changes.
By the grace of God and the national will, King of Romania,
To all present and future, greetings;
Upon the report of Our Minister Secretary of State at the Department of Agriculture, Industry, Commerce, and Domains, under No. 45113;
Having considered the law on chambers of commerce,
We have decreed and do decree:
Art. I. The circumscriptions of the chambers of commerce and industry, as well as the number of members for each circumscription, divided by the counties they comprise, are hereby fixed as follows:
Carol I
"1925: Name and headquarters of the chamber – Pitești, component counties – Argeș, Muscel and Olt, number of members – 30"
After the formation of the Romanian Unitary National State on December 1, 1918, the country's internal economic, social, and political situation changed. Immediately following the unification, the unified Romania had to contend with the aftermath of wartime destruction, before entering a period of stabilization, followed by genuine economic progress. This economic progress was accompanied by the modernization and standardization of the legislative system across the entire country. Consequently, there was a felt need to reorganize the chambers of commerce and industry, a goal achieved through the law of May 12, 1925, and its implementing regulations of June 2, 1925, which were further modified on July 10 and August 8, 1925.
The new law introduced many significant changes regarding the organization of the chambers, as well as the practical implementation of their assigned responsibilities.
This law stipulated that "Danubian ports, county capitals, shall each have a chamber of commerce for the county to which they belong." Thus, the port of Turnu-Măgurele, being a county capital, established its own separate chamber starting January 1, 1926, separating from the Pitești Chamber.
Starting in January 1927, Olt County also separated, leaving the Pitești Chamber composed solely of the Argeș and Muscel counties.
Less than four years after the 1925 law was implemented, practical experience necessitated its organizational modification. Thus, on February 14, 1929, a new law for the chambers of commerce and industry was promulgated, with its implementing regulations published in the Official Monitor on April 26, 1929.
The communist regime abolished the county chambers at the beginning of 1949, with the exception of the Bucharest Chamber. Their duties were taken over by the "county commercial departments" and the staff became employees of the Ministry of Commerce.
The Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Romania functioned until the beginning of 1949, when they were abolished, by Decree no. 74 of February 25, 1949, with the exception of the Bucharest Chamber and the mixed ones. Article 1 of the decree specified that their duties would be taken over by the “county commercial departments”. The assets – according to article 3 – would pass to the state and be assigned to the Ministry of Commerce and Food, in agreement with the Ministry of Finance. Furthermore, in article 4, the decree indicated that the liquidation, handover and termination of the chambers’ management “would be carried out according to the norms to be established by the decision of the Ministry of Commerce and Food”. And article 5 referred to the staff of the chambers, who “become employees of the Ministry of Commerce and Food”. The organization and activity of the Trade Register were modified based on Decree no. 179 of July 13, 1950, which in art. 11 states: "The Itinerant Trade Law of 1884, the law for the establishment of a trade register, published in the Official Gazette no. 84 of April 10, 1931, with subsequent amendments, the Decree-Law of February 24, 1941 for the regulation of trade, published in the Official Gazette no. 46 of February 24, 1941, law no. 250 for the amendment and completion of some provisions of the Law for the establishment of a trade register of April 10, 1931, published in the Official Gazette no. 159 of July 15, 1947, as well as other provisions contrary to this decree, are repealed".
1990 - The Romanian Government adopted Decree Law No. 139 of 1990 on the re-establishment of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry
2007 - The Chamber System in Romania is regulated by Law no. 335 of 2007 on the Chambers of Commerce in Romania, supplemented by Law no. 39/2011
On July 16, 1990, in the meeting room of the Argeș County Prefecture, representatives from industrial, commercial, and service enterprises (state and cooperative), financial and banking institutions, state administration, research institutes, as well as private producers and traders (a category then just emerging), all gathered to establish the Argeș Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI Argeș).
The legal foundation for the revival of chambers of commerce and industry in Romania is Decree-Law no. 139 of May 11, 1990, adopted by the Provisional Council of National Unity, a transitional legislative body from the initial months following the December 1989 Revolution in Romania.
This normative act adopts some of the advanced organizational principles of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CCI) in Romania during the interwar period, as well as many of the defining characteristics of Anglo-Saxon and mixed-type chambers of commerce, which are based on the voluntary membership of their constituents.
In addition to these, the law also enshrines the non-governmental and autonomous nature of the CCI, its legal personality (obtained through government recognition), the decentralization of powers for approving organizational and operational statutes, the return to the chambers' historical attributions from the interwar period, and the obligation of state authorities to support the fulfillment of the CCI's purpose.
According to Article 1 of the law, "merchants, legal entities, and natural persons can establish, in county seats and in the Municipality of Bucharest, autonomous organizations aimed at promoting the interests of their members, for the development of commerce and industry, in accordance with the requirements of the market economy" (only one chamber was established in each county).
Territorial chambers can establish cooperation, association, or affiliation relationships with the CCI of Romania. Association (affiliation) confers the status of ex officio member of the CCI of Romania. Members of the CCI of Romania can also be natural and legal person merchants, again based on the principle of voluntary adherence.
The county chambers of commerce and industry in Romania were recognized as legal entities by Government Decision no. 799 of July 23, 1990, signed by the then Prime Minister, Petre Roman (40 chambers). CCI Ilfov was established in 1998, as a consequence of administrative-territorial reorganization.
The names under which they were registered, some of which underwent subsequent modifications, reflect three variants: "Chamber of Commerce and Industry" (e.g., Argeș, Bihor, Gorj, Prahova), "Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture" (e.g., Arad, Alba, Brăila, Buzău, Teleorman, Timiș, Tulcea), and "Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Navigation" (e.g., Constanța).
Within the territorial chambers of commerce and industry, trade register offices were created, and within the CCI of Romania, the National Trade Register Office (Law no. 26 of November 5, 1990), where all merchants (producers, traders, service providers, banks) are legally required to register, and where all subsequent changes to statutes and constitutive acts are recorded.
The call for the constituent assembly of the Argeș Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI Argeș) came from the Provisional Council of National Unity (CPUN) Argeș, the administrative authority leading the county in the initial months following the December 1989 revolution. This initiative was substantially supported by a task force comprising directors Ion Bădescu (National Bank of Romania – Argeș branch), Ion Căpățînă (Pitești State Commercial Enterprise for Metal-Chemicals), and Boris Coliceanu (Pitești Wholesale Textile-Footwear Commercial Enterprise). Ion Bădescu would later become the first president of the county's new chamber of commerce.
Supporting the timeliness of this initiative, the then president of CPUN Argeș, research engineer Călin Visarion Chirilă, issued a summons through the press and directly for July 16, 1990, at the meeting hall of the Argeș County Prefecture. This summons invited representatives of industrial, commercial, and service enterprises (state and cooperative), financial and banking institutions, state administration, research institutes, as well as private producers and traders—a category then just emerging—to approve the statute and establish CCI Argeș. He personally attended the event.
The public summons was accompanied by an article titled "What the Argeș County Chamber of Commerce and Industry Will Be," signed by the head of the Constitutional, Legal, and Human Rights Commission within CPUN, Sorin Vișinescu, who would be appointed as the chamber's general secretary at the constituent assembly.
Fifty-five state, cooperative, and private enterprises, banks, and institutions responded to the summons, approving the statute and thus building one of the main pillars of the market economy: the chamber of commerce and industry, headquartered in Pitești, Vasile Milea Square, no. 1, in the administrative palace of the Argeș Prefecture.
In December 1990, the first letters of intent and introductions of CCI Argeș and Argeș's economic potential were sent to CCIs in Yugoslavia, Germany, the Netherlands, Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Austria, Belgium, France, and to other county chambers within Romania.
The Argeș Trade Register Office, the only department within the CCI benefiting from a special organizational law, took over the operational mechanisms (registration of merchants, modifications regarding shareholders, capital, headquarters, name, emblem, goodwill, etc., business information, balance sheets, and others) that this body possessed before World War II, according to the law of April 10, 1931.
The Office benefits from methodological coordination from the National Trade Register Office, leading to the unification of practices, fees, and solutions provided to merchants' requests.
Whether or not they are members of CCI Argeș, economic agents are offered specific services that complement the extensive registration and information activities provided by the Trade Register Office, the economic missions and business partnerships organized by the Department of International Relations and European Integration, or the fairs, exhibitions, and other promotional actions.
The Legal Department, Public Relations, and Litigation, along with the branches of CCI Argeș, handle several thousand cases annually concerning commercial information and documentation for the establishment of commercial companies or the modification of their constitutive acts, with the volume of operations exceeding the national average.
Beyond its involvement in judicial reorganization and bankruptcy processes for merchants, and thousands of lawsuits related to their obligations to register with the Trade Register Office, CCI Argeș, through its legal department, conducts an extensive campaign to popularize and explain commercial normative acts. This is done through permanent columns in the chamber's publications, free informational bulletins available to the public, participation of jurists in debates and commentaries in the print media, on radio and television, and through legally substantiated responses to hundreds of letters and complaints addressed by merchants.
