Better Regulation Practices across the European Union 2025

Romania

Overview

Romania has gradually developed its regulatory policy since the early 2000s. While Law 24/2000 on drafting legal acts first introduced regulatory impact assessment (RIA), the requirements have been refined recently. According to Government Decision (GD) 443/2022, all draft laws and regulations are required to be accompanied by an explanatory note, which describes the rationale and likely impacts. GD 443 introduced proportionality through a set of criteria to identify complex and significant rules for which in-depth RIA is required. Nevertheless, implementation challenges remain, with the quality of explanatory notes varying and limited capacity within the administration to carry out RIAs. Law 52/2003 requires ministries to publish all draft laws and subordinate regulations for comments on their websites. In addition, methodological norms were adopted in 2022 to increase the transparency in decision making through standardisation of procedures. However, the minimum period for submitting comments remains only 10 days. Romania publishes yearly reports on the performance of its RIA system and consultation practices.

GD 443/2022 also introduced an ex post evaluation system for existing emergency ordinances, requiring public authorities to evaluate their effectiveness and efficiency. Further ex post evaluations may be conducted on an ad hoc basis at the request of the Government and based on its priorities. However, implementation is challenging, as capacity and the practice for ex post evaluation is lacking within the administration.

The General Secretariat of the Government, located at the centre of government, takes a leading role in co-ordinating regulatory policy. In 2022, the Consultative Council for the Impact Assessment of Normative Acts, an independent scrutiny board, was established to perform oversight on primary and secondary legislation to be adopted by the Government, including on the quality of RIAs and ex post evaluations. In addition, the Group for Assessing the Economic Impact of Normative Acts on SMEs – located within the Ministry of Economy, Energy, and Business Environment – is in charge of ensuring the quality and coherence of regulation affecting SMEs.

Indicators presented on RIA and stakeholder engagement only cover processes carried out by the executive, which initiates approx. 39% of primary laws in Romania. When initiated by parliament, public consultations are required for all primary laws and RIA for major primary laws.

In focus: Recent developments and next steps

Since 2021, Romania has introduced the “digital by default” principle, proportionality in RIA, the annual roadmap for RIA and evaluation reports, the “one-in, one-out” rule and a framework and methodology for ex post evaluations. As next steps, Romania should consider increasing the consultation period, and develop strategies to encourage the systematic implementation of the existing RIA framework, ex post evaluation, and ensure the quality of associated outputs.

Indicators of Regulatory Policy and Governance (iREG): Romania

Note: The more regulatory practices as advocated in the OECD Recommendation on Regulatory Policy and Governance a country has implemented, the higher its iREG score. The indicators on stakeholder engagement and RIA for primary laws only cover those initiated by the executive (39% of all primary laws in Romania). Transparency is one of the four dimensions that underpin each of the composite indicators on stakeholder engagement, RIA and ex post evaluation. The transparency score presents the aggregate of that dimension across the three indicators. More information can be found in the Reader’s Guide.

Source: OECD Indicators of Regulatory Policy and Governance (iREG).

Romania: Regulating for…

People	Identify likely distributional effects when designing rules
	Assess impacts on different age groups when designing rules
	Assess impacts on social groups when designing rules
	Provide mechanisms for the public to give feedback on existing rules ▲
Planet	Assess impacts on the environment when designing rules
	Assess the social costs of carbon emissions when designing rules
	Assess the social costs of carbon emissions when reviewing rules
	Focus on environmental sustainability when reviewing rules ▲
Future	Address innovation-related challenges when designing rules, e.g. with increased agility or flexibility ▲
	Co-ordinate cross-government to identify regulatory issues related to innovation ▲
	Use data-driven approaches to monitor the impacts of rules ▲
	Address innovation-related challenges when reviewing rules ▲
Effectiveness	Identify a process for assessing progress in achieving regulatory goals
	Base inspection and enforcement activities on risk criteria ■
	Have regulation or policy on risk-based inspections ▲
	Identify unintended consequences of rules

All primary laws/ ▲ Yes ■ Required ● Yes, there is a regulation and a policy

Major primary laws/ ● Yes, there is a regulation

Some primary laws/ ■ Not required but allowed ● Yes, there is a policy

Never/ ▲ No ■ Not allowed

Note: The data reflects Romania’s practices regarding primary laws initiated by the executive.

Source: OECD Indicators of Regulatory Policy and Governance (iREG) 2024.