I. LEGAL GROUNDS

1. The Constitution of Romania

Appointment and Role (Art. 58)

(1) The Advocate of the People shall be appointed for a term of office of 5 years, in order to defend the natural persons’ rights and freedoms. The Advocate of the People’s deputies shall be specialized per fields of activity.

(2) The Advocate of the People and his/her Deputies shall not perform any other public or private office, except for teaching positions in higher education.

(3) The organization and functioning of the Advocate of the People shall be regulated by an organic law.

Exercise of Powers (Art. 59)

(1) The Advocate of the People shall exercise his powers ex officio or at the request of persons aggrieved in their rights and freedoms, within the limits established by law.

(2) It is binding upon the public authorities to give the Advocate of the People the necessary support in the exercise of his powers.

Report before Parliament (Art. 60)

            The Advocate of the People shall report before the two Parliament Chambers, annually or at the request thereof. The reports may contain recommendations on legislation or measures of any other nature for the defence of the citizens’ rights and freedoms.

Sittings of the Chambers (Art. 65)

            (2) The Chambers may also meet in joint sittings, based on the regulations passed by a majority vote of the Deputies and Senators, in order:

            i) To appoint the Advocate of the People.

The Powers of the Constitutional Court (Art. 146)

The Constitutional Court shall have the following powers:

(a) to adjudicate on the constitutionality of laws, before the promulgation thereof, upon notification by the President of Romania, one of the presidents of the two Chambers, the Government, the High Court of Cassation and Justice, the Advocate of the People, a number of at least 50 deputies or at least 25 senators, as well as ex officio, on initiatives to revise the Constitution;

·        Regulation on the organization and functioning of the People’s Advocate institution, republished in the Official Gazette of Romania, 1^st Part, No. 922, from October 11, 2004;

·        Law No. 554/2004 on the administrative procedure, published in the Official Gazette of Romania, 1^st Part, No. 1154, from December 7, 2004;

·        Law No. 170/1999 approving the affiliation of the People’s Advocate institution to the French speaking Ombudsmen and Mediators Association, published in the Official Gazette of Romania, 1^st Part, No. 584, from November 30, 1999.

 

II. LEGAL DESCRIPTION

 

The People’s Advocate Institution

 

·        its purpose is to defend the rights and freedoms of the individuals in their relations with the public authorities;

·        is a public authority, autonomous and independent from any other public authority;

·         has its own budget which is an integral part of the State budget.

 

The People’s Advocate

·        in the exercise of his/her power, the People’s Advocate shall be no substitute for any other public authorities;

·        can not be subjected to any imperative or representative mandate, no one can compel the People’s Advocate to obey any instructions or orders;

·        the People’s Advocate activity has public nature, but at the request of persons whose rights and freedoms have been infringed or due to well-grounded reasons, the People’s Advocate may decide upon the confidential character of his/her activity;

·        the People’s Advocate exercises his/her duties ex officio or upon complaints lodged by aggrieved persons.

 

III. ORGANISATION

 

The institution is led by the People’s Advocate, who is appointed by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate in joint plenary session, for a 5-year term, which can be renewed only once.

The People’s Advocate is elected from among the public personalities who meet the appointment requirements laid down for the Constitutional Court judges.

The People’s Advocate is assisted by Deputies specialized on areas of activity, appointed by the Standing Bureaus of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, following their nomination by the People’s Advocate and with the opinion of the Legal Committees of the two Chambers of Parliament.

The People’s Advocate is assimilated to the Minister, and the Deputies of the People’s Advocate are assimilated to the Departmental Chief from the Parliament personnel.

The People’s Advocate deputies shall carry out their activity in the following areas of specialization:

a)      human rights, equal opportunities for men and women, religious cults and national minorities;

b)     children rights, family, youth, retired persons, disabled persons;

c)     army, justice, police, penitentiaries;

d)     property, labour, social security, taxes and duties.

In exercising its powers under the law, the People’s Advocate institution sets up territorial offices, organized, as number, on the territorial criteria of the Appeal Courts of Justice.

At the present there are 12 territorial offices in: Alba Iulia, Bacau, Oradea, Suceava, Brasov, Cluj-Napoca, Constanta, Craiova, Galati, Iasi, Targu Mures and Pitesti.

The Secretary General ensures by delegation the continuity of leadership, the stability of the institution’s functioning and functional relationships within it.

The specialist personnel of the institution, formed of advisers and experts, is considered equivalent to the personnel of the specialist structures of Parliament.

 

IV. DUTIES AND POWERS

 

The People’s Advocate shall have the following duties and powers:

·        to co-ordinate the activities of the People’s Advocate institution;

·        to receive and distribute the complaints filed by persons aggrieved by the public administration authorities through the violation of their civic rights or freedoms and to decide on these complaints;

·        to follow up the legal settlement of the complaints received and to ask the public administration authorities or civil servants concerned to end the violation of the civic rights and freedoms, reinstate the complainant in his/her rights and redress the damage;

·        to sign reports, recommendations and all documents necessary to the well functioning of the institution;

·        to issue opinions, at the request of the Constitutional Court,

·        to refer to the Constitutional Court any case of law unconstitutionality, before the law concerned has been promulgated;

·        to refer directly to the Constitutional Court any objection of unconstitutionality with regard to laws and ordinances;

·        to represent the People’s Advocate institution before the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate and any other public authority, as well as in the relations with individuals or legal persons,

·        to submit reports, once a year or whenever so requested, to the two Chambers of Parliament.

 

V. PETITIONS

1. The acts which are the subject of petitioning

            The public authorities’ administrative acts and facts which violate the constitutional rights and freedoms of natural persons shall be the subject of petitioning.

            The law includes in the category of administrative acts which are the subject of the People’s Advocate activity also those of public corporations (autonomous stage management).

            Refusal by the public administration bodies and belated issuance of the acts shall be considered equivalent to administrative acts.

            Petitions concerning the following acts shall not be the subject of the People’s Advocate activity and shall be rejected without motivation:

·        the acts issued by the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate or by Parliament;

·        the acts and facts of Deputies and Senators;

·        the acts and facts of the President of Romania;

·        the acts and facts of the Government;

·        the acts and the facts of the Constitutional Court;

·        the acts and the facts of the Chairman of the Legislative Council;

·        the acts and the facts of the judicial authorities.

2. Who may petition the People’s Advocate?

Any individual irrespective of his/her citizenship, age, race, sex, political affiliation or religious belief may petition the People’s Advocate.

3. The exercising of the People’s Advocate attributions to defend the citizens’ rights and freedoms may be performed:

·        at request

·        ex officio

4. Conditions for the petitions to be received and examined:

·        must be done in writing and may be sent by mail, email, fax or be submitted personally or by mandatory (who must indicate his full name and domicile) to the Institution headquarter or territorial offices, with the occasion of the audiences, or directly to the registration office;

·        for the well-grounded reasons, the petitioner may introduce his petition orally or through the dispatch service, which will record the petition and fill in the standard forms ;

·        signed by the petitioner;

·        must contain:

o       full information related to the aggrieved person’s identity data (full name, domicile);

o       information about the injustice suffered (rights and freedoms violated, facts invoked and heir description);

o       the name of the administrative authority or the public servant involved;

o       proof of the public administration’s delay or refusal to deal with the petition, under the law, within the established term;

o       the obligatory specification whether the petition is the subject of a case pending a decision or whether it was the subject of judgment;

o       the names of the public authorities to which the case had been referred before;

o       all the relevant documents attached.

·        the petitions are exempted from stamp tax.

5. The situations when petitions cannot be taken into consideration

·        when the issue falls outside the competence of the People’s Advocate;

·        if the petitions are anonymous or are submitted in the name of another person without his/her consent;

·        the petitions are filed after more than one year from the date when the violations occurred or from the date when they were brought to the knowledge of the person concerned;

·        The People’s Advocate can reject, on a motivated basis, the petitions which are patently unsubstantiated.

 

6. Procedures for dealing with the petitions

·        Inquiries - The People’s Advocate has a right to carry out his/her own inquiries, to ask the public administration authorities to produce any information or documents which may be necessary for the conduct of the inquiry, to hear and to take depositions from the officials of the public administration authorities and from any civil servant who may supply information required for dealing with the petition.

·        Recommendations - In the exercise of his/her powers, the People’s Advocate issues recommendations which cannot be subject to either parliamentary or judicial control. By his/her recommendations, the People’s Advocate notifies the public administration authorities of the unlawful character of the administrative acts or facts.

·        Special reports - Where, during the course of his/her inquiries, the People’s Advocate finds gaps in legislation or serious cases of corruption or failure to comply with this State’s legislation, he/she submits a report on his/her findings to the Chairmen of the two Chambers of Parliament or to the Prime Minister, as appropriate.

·        Dispatcher’s office - There is a dispatcher’s office on the premises of the People’s Advocate, where people can phone daily, between 10.00 hours a.m. and 2.00 hours p.m., on telephone number 312.71.34. Outside the mentioned hours, all notifications are recorded on the answering machine.

·        Audiences - Audiences are given by the specialist staff of the institution. At request, people can be received in audience by the People’s Advocate and his/her deputies, according to the regulations on the organization and functioning of the Institution, as republished:

- To the Institution head office in Bucharest, no. 3, Eugeniu Carada street, sector 3, Telephone: +40 21 312.49.39; +40 21 312.94.76; +40 21 312.94.62, Fax: +40 21 312.49.21;

- To the territorial office in Alba-Iulia, 14 Regina Maria street, Alba-Iulia, Tel./fax: +40 258-813.865;

- To the territorial office in Bacău, 5 Nicolae Bălcescu street, Bacău, Tel./fax: +40 234-572.472;

- To the territorial office in Oradea, 2 Mihai Eminescu street, Oradea, Tel./fax: +40 259-440.535;

- To the territorial office in Suceava, 15 Petru Rareş street, Suceava, Tel./fax: +40 230-520.622;

- To the territorial office in Braşov, 3, Enescu Square, Braşov, Tel./fax: +40 268-471.100;

-  To the territorial office in Cluj-Napoca, 18 Moţilor street, Cluj-Napoca, Tel./fax: +40 264-591.561;

- To the territorial office in Constanţa, 51 Tomis Blvd., Constanţa, Tel./fax: +40 241-550.544;

- To the territorial office in Craiova, 1 Alexandru Ioan Cuza street, Craiova, Tel./fax: +40 251-418.707;

- To the territorial office in Galaţi, Marea Unire Blvd., Galaţi, Tel./fax: +40 236-320.010;

- To the territorial office in Iaşi, 189 Sărăriei Street, Iaşi, Tel./fax: +40 232-219.111;

- To the territorial office in Târgu-Mureş, 17 Aleea Carpaţi, Târgu-Mureş, Tel./fax: +40 265-211.082;

- To the territorial office in Piteşti, 1 Vasile Milea Square, Piteşti, Tel./fax: +40 248-211.101;

- To the territorial office in Ploieşti, Bulevardul Rebublicii St., no.2-4, intrarea F, camera 59, Ploieşti, Tel. +40244-593.227;

- To the territorial office in Timişoara, B-dul Revoluţiei 1989, no.17 (building of the County Council Timiş), Timişoara Tel. +40256-220.321

 

 

 

VI. THE ADDRESS AND WEB SITE OF THE PEOPLE’S ADVOCATE INSTITUTION

 

The address of the People’s Advocate institution is the following:

3 Eugeniu Carada St., sector 3, Bucharest

Telephone: +40 21 312.94.76; +40 21 312.94.62

Fax: +40 21 312.49.21

Internet: http://www.avp.ro

E-mail: avp@avp.ro