Global Indicators of Regulatory Governance

Romania has implemented Law no. 52/2003 (commonly referred to as Law 52) on transparency in decision-making in public administration. According to Law 52, the public administration authorities have the obligation to publish an announcement of proposed legislation on their websites, display the proposed legislation at their headquarters in a publicly accessible place, and relay the proposed legislation to the central or local media. The public administration authorities also send the draft of the proposed regulation to all persons who have filed an application to receive information relating to the draft (e.g. Ministry for Public Consultation and Social Dialogue - http://dialogsocial.gov.ro/).

http://www.sgg.ro/legislativ/

http://dialogsocial.gov.ro/

Law No. 52/2003 on Decisional Transparency in Public Administration.

Apart from the publication of the normative acts, there is a legal obligation for the sponsor of the bill to publish explanatory notes that include reasoning for the legislation, as well as elements of impact assessment.  

Law No. 52/2003 on Decisional Transparency in Public Administration

According to Law No. 52/2003 on Decisional Transparency in Public Administration, the first stage of the consultation process is to solicit comments and proposals from the public.

http://consultare.gov.ro/

http://gov.ro/ro/guvernul/organizare/ministere

If the regulations have an impact on businesses, consultations with business associations, unions and other groups are specifically required.

It is not yet a standardized and common practice but some ministries and agencies publish the comments. (http://dialogsocial.gov.ro/2017/05/8582/)

Law No. 52/2003 on Decisional Transparency in Public Administration, Art. 6, para. 2-6

The Ministry for Public Consultation and Social Dialogue through the portal http://dialogsocial.gov.ro/.

Whenever a public debate on a regulation takes place, there is a legal obligation to report back on the consultation. If the public debate is not organized, there are still cases in which ministries and regulatory agencies are required to provide justification for not including comments in the updated version of the draft proposals, usually for primary legislation.

The public authorities elaborate and file the minutes of public meetings. When considered necessary, public meetings can be recorded. The minutes are displayed at the headquarters of the relevant public authority and posted on its website.

http://www.just.ro/

According to the law, there are exemptions which normative acts should not undergo an impact assessment process.

http://sgg.gov.ro/new/politici-publice-si-programe/documente/

The Law no. 52/2003 on Decisional Transparency in Public Administration; Government Decision no. 775 of 2005; Government Decision no. 523 of 2016; Government Decision no. 1361 of 2009.

http://www.sgg.ro/legislativ/

http://www.just.ro/

The law states that all regulations need to have an explanatory note and a soft impact assessment. The problem is that, despite the legal requirements, the quality of the explanatory notes is still very bad.

http://legislatie.just.ro/

Official Gazette of Romania

It can be accessed in the electronic or print form. (http://www.monitoruloficial.ro/)

The individuals/parties that consider themselves affected can address to the relevant administrative agency but, if their petition is not considered or answered, they can also address to the Administrative Court and to the Ombudsman.

There is a general recommendation in Law 24/2000 regarding the norms for elaborating regulations (Art 17) - When drafting new legislation the initiator should abolish regulations/parts of regulations that are not applicable anymore. But the law doesn't provide a periodical revision and, in practice, the initiators are not proactive in revising the opportunity of maintaining certain regulations.