Commission for European Integration of the Romanian Parliament

Joint Parliamental Committee European Union (the XVIIIth reunion, , 7-8 April 2005)

Subject:

“ Implementation of the administration and judicial reforms. Fight against corruption and organized crime.

Rapporteurs: Anca BOAGIU, deputy, vice-president of CIE (coordinator) Sorin Cristian DUMITRESCU, deputy ECKSTEIN Kovacs Peter, deputy Vlad Gabriel HOGEA, deputy Antonie IORGOVAN, senator Marian Jean MARINESCU, deputy Nicolae-Vlad POPA, senator

In the last year, the activity of Romania‘s preparation to join the European Union comprised the improvement of state institutions, so that the implementation of the Acquis communautaire to be realized according to the commitments assumed by Romania, avoiding the application of the safeguarding clauses.

For this, the legislative framework was finalized, necessary programming documents were adopted, and the institutional framework in the essential fields was developed in order to insure the good development of state institutions’ activities: a) Increase in efficiency of the public, central and local administration; b) Increase in efficiency and insuring the independence of the judicial system; c) Improvement of the mechanisms for the fight against corruption; d) Increase in efficiency for the fight against organized crime.

All this activity developed in an accelerating manner in the last half of 2004, and in the first quarter of 2005.

Until now, all commitments from the negotiation dossier on chapter 24 – Justice and Internal Affairs (JAI) have been fulfilled.

CPM: Implementation of the administration and judicial reforms. Fight against corruption and organized crime. 1 Commission for European Integration of the Romanian Parliament

a) The increase in efficiency of the public, central and local administration

Since Mai 2004, the Romanian Government’s strategy regarding the acceleration of the public administration reform1 was adopted. Following agreement concluded with the European Commission, three domains have been identified, for which significant progresses are provided for in this period: - Decentralization and deconcentration of public services; - Increase in efficiency in public function; - Improvement of the public policies formulation process.

The Law governing the decentralization was adopted in 20042, regulating: - The principles and criteria based on which the decentralization is carried out; - The cooperation manner between the local public administration authorities; - Introduction and regulation of the financial balance principle and of the principle of coordination between administrative and financial decentralization.

The key-element of the deconcentration process, namely the transfer of the Prefect position among public officers, is to be realized in 2006, according to the Law regarding the Prefect’s institution, adopted in 20043.

The deconcentration process was completed by the elaboration of certain normative acts, through which the responsibilities were transferred from the central administration to the local public authorities, responsibilities such as the identity cards issuing, passports evidence, civil protection and defense against fires, Community Police.

The National Public Officers’ Agency continued the institutional development process in order to elaborate and coordinate policies of human resources management in the public function system. The analysis of this processes by experts of the European Union SIGMA program, led to the efficiency of the activity4 and to the approval at the end of 2004 by Government Decision, of a new Regulation of the Agency.

The Agency continued to implement the training programs of officers, and continued to monitor the implementation of the Public Officers’ Conduct Code5.

In Mai 2004, the National Administration Institute signed the cooperation memorandum with the Germen Company InWent. The Project "Adaptation of the central level of the public administration from Romania to the structures of the European Union" is developed by the German company in partnership with the Institute for European Policy – Berlin, National Administration Institute, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry for European Integration, Ministry of Administration and the Interior, and is supported by the German Federal Government, represented by the Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

1 GD no 699/5.05.2004 2 Law no. 339/12-07-2004 3 Law no. 340/12-07-2004 4 Strategy regarding the unitary remuneration system of public officers. The Guide regarding the individual performances evaluation. The Guide regarding carrier development in public office 5 adopted by Law 7/2004

CPM: Implementation of the administration and judicial reforms. Fight against corruption and organized crime. 2 Commission for European Integration of the Romanian Parliament

The PHARE project « Development of the operational capacity of the National Administration Institute» includes the development of the training capacity, the elaboration and implementation of training modules, implementation of the concept “training of trainers” which will finally lead to the transformation of the Institute into an excellence center, integrated in the national education network.

Following these activity improvement efforts, the quality criteria necessary for the ISO 9001 certification of INA have been met, the certificate being issued at the end of 2004.

b) Increase in efficiency and insuring the independence of the judicial system

The basic legislative framework has been modified in 2004 following the adoption of the new Romanian Constitution, by adopting: the Judicial Organization Law6, the Law regarding the Magistrates Status7 and the Law regarding the Superior Magistracy Council8 (SMC).

A series of administrative measures have been taken in order to increase efficiency, transparency and independence of the justice act: since March 1st 2005, the random distribution of cases is operational for all courts in the country. The financing sources for the electronic endowment of the courts have been provided for.

At the end of March 2005, the Strategy for Reform in the Judicial System and the Action plan for its implementation have been updated and approved9.

The strategy focuses on granting independence to the justice and insuring transparency and the quality of the justice act, while increasing the efficiency and responsibility of the judicial system.

Measures for the adjustment of the judicial system to the demands of cases involving minors are requested, to correspond to the European standards regarding the observance of children rights.

The reform of the judicial system also focuses on the alignment of the detention conditions to European standards, with the strict observance of human rights. For this, the elaboration of a long-term plan is foreseen for the construction of new detention houses and for the renovation of the existent detention spaces. On the same note, the process of demilitarization of the Prisons’ administration system shall be continued.

The plan comprises precise actions and terms for the application of the Strategy, including: implementation of the Magistrates Deontology Code, regulation of the incompatibility between a SMC member quality and the leading positions within Courts and Prosecutor’s offices, responsibility of the Magistrates for exercising their function in bad faith or severe negligence, modification of the Civil and Criminal Procedure Codes, reduction of the judicial procedures, unification of the judicial practice.

The High Court of Causation and Justice elaborated the Plan for reduction of overdue file load and introduced it in the National Strategy for reform of the judicial system.

6 Law no. 304/28.06.2004 7 Law no. 303/28.06.2004 8 Law no. 317/1.07.2005 9 GD no. 231/30.03.2005

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Following enforcement of the European Convention in the field11 the protection of crime victims was insured by Law10. The organization and function Regulation for the National Office for Witness Protection has been elaborated12.

A series of normative acts are in the elaboration’s stage by the Ministry of Justice, and are to be presented before the Legislative in the fist half of 2005, as follows: reduction of the number and size of Military Courts following the legal decrease in their competency, amendment of the legislation regarding the fight against fraud and fiscal evasion and the increase of alternative methods for solution of litigations (mediation). c. Improvement of the mechanisms for the fight against corruption

The Supreme Council for Country Defense included the fight against corruption in the Romanian National Security Strategy, corruption being considered a risk factor to national security.

The independent audit regarding the results and impact generated by the national anti-corruption strategy 2001-2004, was elaborated.

The government approved March 30th 2005, the National multi-annual Anti-Corruption Strategy (NAS) and the respective Action Plan, which include also the conclusions and recommendations of the abovementioned audit13.

In the 3 primary fields, SNA comprises 10 objectives, among those: the reduction of the number of structures with attributions in the fight against corruption, strengthening of the institutional capacity of National Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (NAP) and the celerity increase in the criminal investigation and criminal process.

The implementation of the Strategy and of the Plan shall be supervised by the Council for NAS implementation coordination, under the authority of the Prime Minister, and in the coordination of the Justice Minister; the evaluation shall be carried out annually in November.

Following the changes brought by law in 200414, the territorial services of the NAP have the competence to develop complete investigations, independently from the central structure, fact which generated benefic effects on the efficiency. Through the same normative framework, the sphere of the dignitaries and professionals who can be investigated by NAP was expanded with the Vice-president of the Legislative Council, Vice-president of the Competition Council, Deputies of the Ombudsman (People’s Advocate), local councilors (and the Mayor) and lawyers.

At the end of 2004 the minimum competency threshold for NAP rose from 10.000 € to 100.000 € regarding the value of the prejudice and from 3.000 € to 5.000 €, regarding the sum or value of the good which is object of the corruption offences. Still, for high ranking officials, such as Members of Parliament and Government, the NAP competency is full, irrespective of the value of the prejudice or of the object of the offence.

11 Strasbourg, 24 November 1983, also the recommendation regarding victims position in the criminal trial R (85)-11 10 Law no. 211/2004 12 GD no. 760/14.05.2004 for the approval of the Status for application of the Law no. 682/2002 regarding witness protection 13 GD no. 232/30.03.2005 14 GEO no. 103/16.11.2004

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Within the 6th objective from NAS, in the Action Plan measures are proposed referring to the consolidation of NAP independence and reorganization, periodical analysis of NAP activity, and the activity of the General Prosecutor of NAP, determining certain clear procedures of co- operation between NAP and all other structures with attributions in the fight against corruption, as well as the elaboration by the NAP of an annual report regarding the result of its activity.

The legislative measures for regulating corruption prevention and combat comprised in the 2004 and 2005: - The introduction of the criminal responsibility of the legal person (body)15, according to the requirements of the UNO Convention against corruption16; - Ratification17 of the Additional Protocol18 to the Criminal Convention of Europe’s Council regarding corruption; - Elimination of immunity for former ministers regarding the criminal investigation19; - Modification of the income and interest statements forms, to insure a better transparency of income, as well as to facilitate transparency and research in the field of conflict of interests20;

At the level of other state institutions, an intense activity occurred for the prevention and fight against corruption, as follows: - at the level of the Ministry of Administration and the Interior: continuing testing of integrity and corruption resistance, by the General Department for Information and Internal Protection (GDIP) of MAI21, through which the risks and vulnerabilities regarding the attraction of committing corruption acts by the MAI officers6 is evaluated; at the middle of 2004, the General Inspectorate of the Romanian Police developed numerous training actions and public awareness actions regarding the prevention and fights against corruption; - at the level of the Financial Guard: the salary level was adjusted according to the attributions and responsibilities specific to the Inspector’s position ; - at the level of Customs Authorities: the elimination of corruption causes as especially desired by adopting the Conduct and Discipline Code of the Customs Personnel, and its strict observance was monitored continuously.

In the last year, an important place was occupied by the prevention and fight against fraudulent use of funds placed at the Romania’s disposition by the European Union. In this sense, the institutional framework was supplemented by: - Establishing the Department for control and monitoring of transparent use of Community funds, organized within the Cancelary of the Romanian Government; - Granting to the Romanian Court of Accounts the competence to verify the correct use of financial means from ISPA and SAPARD programs22.

15 Law no. 301/28.06.2004 – New Penal Code 16 Ratified through Law no. 356/2004 17 Law 260/12.06.2004 18 Adopted in Strasbourg on 12th of May 2003 19 GEO 3/2005 20 GEO14/2005 21 from 2003 until April 2004, 307 integrity tests were completed, in 30% of the cases vulnerabilities and the committing of corruption deeds was determined

22 GEO no. 22/17.03.2005

CPM: Implementation of the administration and judicial reforms. Fight against corruption and organized crime. 5 Commission for European Integration of the Romanian Parliament d. Increase in efficiency for the fight against organized crime

The government adopted the programmed documents necessary for the fight against organized crime as follows: - Strategy for the fight against organized crime in the period 2005-2007; - National strategy for prevention of criminality in the period 2005-2007; - National Action Plan for the prevention and fight against human traffic23; - National Action Plan for the prevention and fight against traffic with minors24; - National Anti-Drug Strategy 2005-201225; - Measures plan regarding the intensification and efficiency of actions for the fight against illegal migration and cross-border criminality;

The amended Schengen Action Plan continued its implementation.

The Multi-annual investment plan was elaborated and approved, which focuses on the considerable acceleration of the efforts regarding the modernization of the equipment and infrastructure at the green and blue borders, and in the Customs points, as well as on the continuity of the risk analysis capacity increase, to insure a high level of control and supervision of the future external borders of the European Union. In the same sense, at the end of 2004, a personnel recruitment plan was elaborated, and until the present day, 700 agents and police officers, of the 4.438 necessary, were employed.

The National Office for prevention of human traffic and protection of its victims was created, precursory organism of the National Agency for prevention of trafficking in human beings. In the same sense, the National Center for receiving returned minors and four operational centers for receiving victims of human traffic were established in the areas next to the borders mostly affected by this trafficking: Iasi, Timis, Mehedinti and Satu Mare.

Within the Public Ministry, the Department for Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism Offences was established by law26.

The co-operation plan between the General Inspectorate of the Police and the General Inspectorate of the Constabulary27 were elaborated, as well ad the Conception regarding reorganization of public order structure from the Romanian Constabulary.

23 GD no. 1216/2004 24 GD no. 1295/2004 25 GD no. 73/2005 26 Law no. 508/2004 27 Order of Ministry for administration and internal affairs no. S/2/2650/10/03/2005

CPM: Implementation of the administration and judicial reforms. Fight against corruption and organized crime. 6 Commission for European Integration of the Romanian Parliament

In the last year, the legislative framework was supplemented according to the Romanian commitments and following exigencies of the European Union, the relevant programming documents have been elaborated and approved by Government decisions, and the human resources ar now growing and improving their activity.

Thus, the state institutions are ready to insure the efficiency of the implementation act of the Acquis communautaire, as well as to fight against criminal phenomenon which may affect the legality and efficienty of the government act, according to the requests and standards of the European Union.

Information sources:

a) Official answers transmitted to the European Integration Commission on:

- The point of view transmitted by the Ministry of Justice; - The point of view transmitted by the General Prosecutor’s Office; - The point of view transmitted by the Ministry of Administration and the Interior; - Situation of the commitments in the negotiation chapter 24 (JAI) transmitted by the Ministry for European Integration; - Situation of the commitments in the Negotiation dossier - chapter 24 (JAI) transmitted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

b) Official documents available on the websites of:

- Senate and Chamber of Deputies; - Ministry of Justice; - Ministry of Administration and the Interior; - Ministry for European Integration; - National Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office; - National Agency of Public Officers.

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