On 11 March 2024, the Romanian Senate adopted a draft law amending Government Ordinance no. 99/2000 on the trading of products and services, which, if it comes into force, would mean that shopping centres will be obliged to install first aid points for the provision of emergency medical assistance.
The types of traders affected by these changes include shopping centres, commercial parks, hypermarkets, supermarkets and any other sales structure with a surface area of more than 2,000 square metres used for specialised and non-specialised trading and selling food and/or non-food products.
The proposed first aid points will have the following characteristics:
- they will be set up, depending on the surface area occupied by the trader in question, such that there is one first aid point for every 2,000 square metres.
- they must be equipped with an emergency medical care kit allowing the staff working there to provide medical assistance until an ambulance arrives.
- they will be equipped with one or more defibrillators, depending on the surface area of the trader.
- the staff working at such first aid points must have completed secondary school-level education or higher and be trained in the provision of first aid.
Traders affected by this amendment who fail to comply with the obligation to set up first aid points may be subject to fines of between 2,000 lei to 4,000 lei.
This amendment has not yet entered into force, with the draft law currently being under debate in the Chamber of Deputies.
Source: Draft Law, PL-x no. 165/2024, on the modification and expansion of Government Ordinance no. 99/2000 on the trading of products and services.
