Abstract: On March 16, 2020, the President of Romania issued the first Decree on the establishment of the state of emergency in Romania in order to prevent and combat the spread of the Covid-19 virus. The first emergency measures with direct and immediate applicability provided in Annex 1 to the Decree cover several fields of activity: public order, economic, health, money and social protection, justice, foreign affairs, etc. The state of medical emergency has generated a major and unprecedented shock to the global and Union economies. This paper aims to analyze the main effects that the pandemic crisis situation has on competition rules and how they can be adapted to help overcome the effects of the crisis. Undertakings are thus facing exceptional challenges due to the COVID-19 crisis and may therefore have to resort to various forms of cooperation.

Keywords: competition; economic crisis; cooperation between undertakings; Covid-19.