Oana Bucsa

Oana’s expertise spans a broad range of competition law and FDI matters, including antitrust investigations, sector inquiries conducted by the Romanian Competition Council, merger control and FDI screening, competition compliance programmes, and strategic advice on the competition law aspects of clients’ commercial activities.

Antitrust investigations

Oana has been involved in several landmark antitrust cases across diverse sectors, including IT, financial services (banking and insurance), retail, energy and utilities, tourism, real estate, agribusiness, paints and coatings and film distribution.

She has advised clients in proceedings concerning alleged anticompetitive conduct, including bid rigging in public and private tenders, exchanges of commercially sensitive information, and agreements and concerted practices relating to the coordination of pricing, resale price maintenance and market allocation.

She has successfully represented clients in challenging the Competition Council’s findings in investigations concerning alleged bid rigging and facilitation of pricing coordination between competitors.

Oana advises clients throughout all stages of antitrust investigations, from dawn raids and internal investigations prompted by the Competition Council’s preliminary concerns, through to preparing responses to requests for information (RFIs), developing defence strategies and representing clients throughout the proceedings.

In addition, she has significant experience in challenging the Competition Council’s sanctioning decisions before the courts, effectively presenting complex factual and economic issues within the applicable competition law framework.

Merger control

Merger control is also a core area of Oana’s practice. She has obtained merger clearance for transactions across a wide range of industries, including logistics, office and retail real estate, credit brokerage, paints and coatings, infrastructure design, IT&C distribution, banking, FMCG, pharmaceuticals and shipbuilding.

She regularly advises clients on control assessments, joint ventures and ancillary restraints, including non-compete obligations, non-solicitation clauses and supply arrangements.

FDI screening

Since the introduction of Romania’s FDI screening regime, Oana has advised clients on FDI assessments and filings, both as standalone mandates and in the context of domestic and cross-border M&A transactions.

Competition compliance programmes

Oana has designed and implemented numerous competition compliance programmes for clients operating in the pharmaceutical, construction materials, agribusiness, banking, FMCG and meal voucher sectors.

Her experience includes conducting internal competition audits, preparing tailored compliance manuals and delivering competition law training programmes.

Competition compliance advisory

Throughout her career, Oana has advised clients on the competition law aspects of distribution systems and related contractual arrangements, commercial policies, including pricing and discount schemes, joint purchasing arrangements, consortium agreements, and procedures for the selection of commercial partners.

Competition compliance support for industry associations

Oana has extensive experience in advising industry associations on competition law issues arising from their activities, including the preparation of position papers and legislative proposals, the development of codes of conduct, the review of association initiatives, as well as the assessment and structuring of data collection processes.

Sector inquiries

Oana has advised clients in numerous sector inquiries conducted by the Romanian Competition Council across a wide range of markets, including construction materials, software licensing, real estate, insurance, pharmaceuticals and banking.

Her experience includes assisting clients with responses to requests for information and coordinating interactions with the authority.

Legislative and regulatory reform

Oana has extensive experience in assisting clients and industry associations with legislative and regulatory reform initiatives, including the drafting of legislative proposals and position papers, as well as engagement with public authorities throughout the legislative process. Her experience covers a broad range of regulatory areas, including consumer protection, payment services and meal voucher schemes, unfair trading practices in the agri-food supply chain, motor third-party liability (MTPL) insurance, environmental legislation and tax legislation.

Professional contributions

In addition to her client work, Oana is actively engaged in the legal and business community, regularly speaking at specialised conferences and webinars, and authoring articles and commentaries on developments in competition law and FDI screening.

Clients value Oana for her pragmatic, business-oriented approach and her ability to deliver strategic advice on complex competition law matters.