In the Official Gazette (Part I) no.297 of 7 April 2023 was published the Emergency Ordinance (OUG ) no. 21/2023 on the status of the professional cultural worker.
Thus, the Executive has adopted, by URGENT ORDINANCE, the Statute of the Professional Cultural Worker, thus fulfilling milestone 345 of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).
According to a recent press release of the Ministry of Culture, the draft normative act was elaborated within the framework of Reform 3 – Reform of the financing system of the cultural sector, Component 11 – Tourism and culture and aims at maximizing the creative potential of cultural workers and keeping them active on the labour market, as well as developing the cultural and creative sectors and increasing their economic contribution.
Therefore, EMERGENCY ORDINANCE 21/2023 regulates the legal and fiscal regime applicable to professional cultural workers, the measures to support and develop their professional career and the forms of their collective organisation.
In order to be registered as a professional cultural worker, the applicant must have earned, in the tax year preceding the application for registration, at least 50% of the income subject to income tax, as defined in Title IV “Income Tax” of Law No. 227/2015 on the Tax Code, as amended and supplemented, cumulatively, from:
a) income from the assignment of copyright or related rights;
b) self-employed activities of the category listed in the Annex;
c) individual fixed-term employment contracts for cultural and cultural-related activities, which have expired by the date of submission of the application for registration.
It should be noted that the calculation defined above does not include income obtained by the individual from the exploitation of copyright or related rights acquired by assignment or inheritance, nor from the assignment of copyright for scientific works or computer programs.
Together with the application for registration as a professional cultural worker, the applicant who has obtained, in the previous fiscal year, income from intellectual property rights is obliged to submit an affidavit of compliance with the conditions of the previous paragraph..
The professional cultural worker is defined as the author or performer, as defined in Law no. 8/1996, republished, with subsequent amendments and additions, and/or the natural person carrying out a supporting or auxiliary cultural activity, among those listed in the annex, who have registered as such for tax purposes for a period of three years.
In order to be registered as a professional cultural worker, the applicant submits, at any time during the year, an application to the register administrator, together with the tax documents proving that the 50% threshold of income from cultural activities has been reached and, where applicable, a declaration on his/her own responsibility regarding compliance with the above-mentioned conditions, accompanied by a declaration on his/her own responsibility regarding the reality and authenticity of the information submitted.
The tax supporting documents are the income certificate for the previous fiscal year, issued by the National Tax Administration Agency, or the last single income declaration submitted in the previous fiscal year and, if applicable, the administrative act authorizing the activity, including its CAEN code, issued by the National Trade Register Office, and/or the income certificate issued by the employer, with explicit mention of the position held and the employer’s field of activity.
The employer’s field of activity, in the situation provided for in Article 3 paragraph(1) letter (c) – income from individual fixed-term employment contracts for cultural and cultural-related activities, which have expired by the date of submission of the application for registration – must fall within the category of those provided for in the Annex, namely:
1.Fields of cultural activity and activities auxiliary and supporting cultural activity – CAEN Rev. 2:
5811 Book publishing activities
5814 Publishing activities of magazines and periodicals
5911 Motion picture, video and television programme production activities (including film archives) and television programme (television series, documentaries, etc.) or television advertising activities
5912 Motion picture, video and television programme post-production activities
5913 Motion picture, video and television programme distribution activities
5914 Motion picture projection
5920 Sound recording and music publishing activities
7410 Specialized design activities
7430 Written and oral translation activities (interpreters) (except those covered by Law No 178/1997, as subsequently amended and supplemented)
7021 Public relations and communication consultancy activities
7490 Other professional, scientific and technical activities (except for: activities of consultants, in fields other than architecture, engineering and management – with a focus on the cultural field -, activities carried out by agents and agencies on behalf of individuals, usually involving obtaining engagements in films, theatrical or other entertainment productions or sports attractions and placement of books, plays, works of art, photographs, etc. with publishers, producers, casting agencies and artistic representation, literary agents)
8230 Activities of organising exhibitions, fairs and congresses
8552 Cultural education (foreign languages, music, theatre, dance, fine arts and other fields)
9001 Artistic performance activities (performances)
9002 Support activities for artistic performances (performances)
9003 Creative activities
9004 Theatre management activities
9101 Library and archive activities
9102 Museums activities
9103 Operation of monuments, historical buildings and other places of tourist interest
- Cultural management and cultural project management activities, education through culture, film education, cultural dissemination, film/visual arts/performing arts curating, stunt work, cultural festival production activities, specific technical activities for offline and online cultural production.
The application shall be submitted, physically or electronically, to the registry administrator and shall be approved or rejected within 30 days of submission.
egistration as a professional cultural worker is valid for a period of three consecutive fiscal years, starting from the date of registration in the register.
At the end of three fiscal years, the professional cultural worker may apply for an extension of the registration, provided that at least 50% of the income subject to income tax, as defined in Title IV “Income tax” of Law no.227/2015, as amended and supplemented, achieved during this period, as an annual average, comes from activities carried out as a professional cultural worker.
If the condition provided for in the previous paragraph is not met, the natural person has the right to apply for registration as a professional cultural worker in the following year, subject to the condition of achieving, in the tax year preceding the application for registration, at least 50% of the income subject to income tax.
The extension of the registration is valid for a period of three consecutive years and can be requested whenever this period expires, under the conditions of this Emergency Ordinance.
The extension of registration shall be requested at least 60 days and not more than 120 days before the expiry of the period of three consecutive tax years, and the extension shall begin to run from the date of expiry of that period.
The request for extension includes the registration number in the register and is accompanied by the income certificates corresponding to the period in which the natural person was registered as a professional cultural worker, issued by the National Tax Administration Agency.
The registration of the professional cultural worker is suspended by right due to the Tax Administration:
a) maternity leave;
b) parental leave for children up to the age of 2 years or, in the case of a disabled child, up
to the age of 3 years;
c) leave for the care of a sick child up to the age of 7 or, in the case of a disabled child, for
intercurrent illnesses, until the child reaches the age of 18;
d) paternity leave;
e) leave for temporary incapacity for work;
f) holding public office for the duration of the term of office;
g) individual employment contract, for cultural activities as defined in this Emergency
Ordinance, for a fixed term.
In the cases mentioned above, the professional cultural worker is obliged to notify the register administrator and the National Tax Administration Agency of his tax domicile of the situation of legal suspension, within 15 days of its occurrence, the suspension being noted in the register from the date of registration of the communication.
Failure to comply with the obligation entails the termination of the registration of the professional cultural worker, starting from the date on which the cause of suspension occurred.
The duration of registration shall be extended by the period of suspension.
The termination of the cause of suspension shall be communicated to the register administrator and to the National Tax Administration Agency of his tax domicile within 15 days from the moment it occurred.
During the period of suspension, the professional cultural worker shall not be entitled to the rights established by the collective agreements nor to the rights provided for in this Emergency Ordinance.
Legal basis:
- OUG 21/2023 on the status of professional cultural worker
- http://www.cultura.ro/