Constitution of Romania
Revision of the Constitution
- The Constitution of Romania of 1991 was amended and completed by the Law No. 429/2003 on the revision of the Constitution of Romania, published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, No. 758 of 29 October 2003, republished by the Legislative Council on the grounds of article 152 of the Constitution, with the updated denominations and the renumbered texts (Article 152 became, in the republished form, Article 156).
- The Law No. 429/2003 on the revision of the Constitution of Romania was approved by the national referendum of 18-19 October 2003, and came into force on 29 October 2003, the date of the publication in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, No. 758 of 29 October 2003 of the Decision of the Constitutional Court No. 3 of 22 October 2003 for the confirmation of the result of the national referendum of 18-19 October 2003 concerning the Law on the revision of the Constitution of Romania.
- The Constitution of Romania, in its initial form, was adopted in the sitting of the Constituant Assembly of 21 November 1991, was published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, No. 233 of 21 November 1991, and came into force after its approval by the national referendum of 8 December 1991.
- Constitution - 1991
- Major provisions of the Law for the revision of the Constitution
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CONSTITUTION OF ROMANIA
Law for the revision of the Constitution of Romania:
- it establishes the appropriate Constitutional framework and the juridical grounds for Romania’s Euro-Atlantic integration; it harmonizes its provisions with the main regulations of the European Union; it stipulates the right of Romanian citizens to elect and to be elected in the European Parliament;
- it includes the principle of separation and balance of the legislative, executive and judicial powers;
- it consecrates the unity of the Romanian people and the solidarity of the Romanian citizens as bases of the State;
- it guarantees equal access of men and women to public positions and dignities;
- it stipulates the right of the parties to a fair, impartial trial, held within a reasonable lapse of time;
- it stipulates that detention awaiting trial is ordained by the judge and only during the penal trial for 30 days at most; this period can be extended with at most 30 days at one time, but it cannot exceed 180 days;
- it turns the Supreme Court of Justice into the High Court of Appeal and Justice, according to the tradition of the Romanian judiciary system;
- it institutes the patrimonial responsibility of the State for prejudices caused by judicial errors of any nature, and
- it stipulates the responsibility of the magistrates who exercised their function in bad faith or gross negligence;
- it increases the role and the importance of the Higher Council of Magistrature as the warrant of the independence of justice and it includes representatives of the civil society in its composition;
- it places the activity of penal investigation of the judiciary police under the direction and oversight of the public prosecutor offices attached to the courts of law;
- it stipulates that the State shall grant social scholarships to children and young people coming from underprivileged families and to those institutionalized;
- it guarantees free access to the values of national and world culture;
- it acknowledges the right of any person to live in a healthy environment;
- it eliminates compulsory military service;
- it stipulates the guarantee and the protection of private property, whoever the owner; nationalization and any other measures of forced transfer of assets to public property on political, social, ethnic, religious or other grounds, are strictly forbidden;
- it stipulates the setting up of a national policy of equal opportunities for disabled persons;
- it enhances the role of the Advocate of the People (Ombudsman), whose term of office shall be of 5 years instead of 4; the Ombudsman shall have the right to notify directly the Constitutional Court on the unconstitutional character of laws;
- it sets up a clearer division of the legislative competences of the Chambers of Parliament in order to speed up the legislative activity and eliminate the stages of mediation and divergence;
- it lowers the number of citizens that can promote a bill from 250,000 to 100,000;
- it restricts parliamentary immunity to the votes or political opinions expressed in the exercise of office;
- it lowers the age limit of candidates for the Senate to 33 years;
- it extends the term of office for the President of Romania to 5 years and stipulates the right of the President to notify the Constitutional Court in order to solve the judicial conflicts of constitutional nature between public authorities;
- it restricts the possibility for the Government to adopt emergency ordinances to exceptional situations whose regulation cannot be postponed, and it stipulates the obligation to motivate the emergency status of the ordinance within its contents;
- it eliminates the possibility for the Parliament to annul the decisions of unconstitutionality of laws adopted by the Constitutional Court.
Postal address
Palatul Parlamentului, str.Izvor nr.2-4, sect.5, Bucharest, Romania
