The bill that provides for the creation of the necessary national mechanisms for the exchange of information with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security via an IT platform developed and administered by the Home Affairs Ministry cleared on Tuesday the Chamber of Deputies in a vote of 240 in favor and two abstentions.The regulatory act modifies and complements Law No. 158/2019 on a dedicated set of measures for the implementation of the Agreement between the Government of Romania and the Government of the United States of America for enhancing cooperation on preventing and combating serious crimes, signed on October 5, 2015 in Washington D.C., as well as other regulatory acts.The bill is intended to create an automated workflow with the Department of Homeland Security, which will allow the national point or points of contact designated by the American and the Romanian side to automatically search fingerprint data in the national Automated Fingerprint Identification System through the computer-assisted platform, as well as in the similar identification systems on the American side, as well as the transmission of personal data and additional information, in case of a match.The Romanian Police General Inspectorate, the General Border Police Inspectorate and the General Inspectorate for Immigration are designated national contact points for conducting automated inquiries for the purpose of preventing, detecting and combating serious crimes under the cooperation with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.The bill also includes provisions aimed at the protection of personal data processing."Should information relevant for the prevention and combat of terrorism be received during the data exchange arising from the occurrence of a dactyloscopic data match, the point of contact structures of the Home Affairs Ministry (MAI) that received the information have the obligation to transfer it within shortest time, but no later than 72 hours, to the Romanian Intelligence Service, as the national authority and point of contact for liaison with the American side in the field of preventing and combating terrorism," the regulatory act states.With a view to the implementation in the field of terrorism prevention and combat, of the Agreement between the Government of Romania and the Government of the United States of America for enhancing cooperation on preventing and combating serious crimes, signed on October 5, 2015 in Washington D.C. and ratified by Law No. 189/2017, the MAI structures designated as national contact points cooperate with the Romanian Intelligence Service, as the national authority and point of contact for liaison with the American side in the field.The additional information received from the American side on the occasion of the data exchange produced by the occurrence of a dactyloscopic data match following a query of the database is stored on the IT platform for a period of 3 years and is used by the Romanian Police, the Romanian Border Police and the General Inspectorate for Immigration for the purposes provided for in the agreement.The Chamber of Deputies is the decision-making body on this matter.
Participation in cultural education activities continues to be limited, with the main barriers being difficult access, insufficient knowledge, and cost, the recently released Cultural Consumption Barometer 2024 shows. The report showed that many Romanians still associate culture with entertainment rather than with personal development or furthering their knowledge. The need for relaxation dominates in cultural […]
Roughly 84% of Romanians say that the pace of the state’s digitalization is slow or very slow, according to an Edge Institute & AtlasIntel study presented at the Digital Governance Summit 2025, which took place on Tuesday, November 25, at the presidential palace in Bucharest. The survey aims to capture the way citizens relate to […]
Romania’s Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) issued a negative opinion on the new bill regarding magistrates’ pensions. The move is only the latest development concerning a heated issue that led to tensions between the executive and the judiciary branch. CSM’s opinion is consultative, and the government led by Ilie Bolojan can still take responsibility for […]
Romania took the presidency of the Central European Initiative (or CEI) on Wednesday, November 26, according to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE). The organization is a regional intergovernmental forum established in 1989, following the fall of the Berlin Wall. It gathers 17 Member States in Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe […]
Trade between Romania and Poland continues to grow, with annual bilateral exchanges in goods now valued at more than EUR 12 billion, according to figures presented by the Polish-Romanian Bilateral Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PRBCC). The data was released during a reception in Bucharest marking Poland’s Independence Day and Romania’s National Day. Polish investments […]
As Romania moves closer to implementing the EU Pay Transparency Directive, local employers are preparing for one of the most consequential shifts in workplace regulation in over a decade. The directive, set for transposition by June 2026, introduces strict new rules on salary disclosure, pay reporting, and equal-pay verification, aiming to close persistent gender gaps […]
