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OFFICIAL BULLETIN OF ROMANIA
OFFICIAL BULLETIN OF ROMANIA
Year XIII – No. 780 of Friday, December 7, 2001
GOVERNMENT OF ROMANIA
EMERGENCY ORDINANCE
Regarding the amendment of Emergency Ordinance No. 121/2001 concerning the
temporary suspension of all procedures regarding international adoptions
According to article 114 paragraph 4 of the Constitution,
The Government of Romania passes the following emergency ordinance:
One Article. – The Government Emergency Ordinance No. 121/2001 regarding the
temporary suspension of all procedures concerning international adoptions,
published in the Official Bulletin (Monitorul Oficial) of Romania, Part I,
No. 633 of October 9, 2001, is amended as follows:
1. Article 1 is amended with a new paragraph, paragraph 2, with the following contents:
“The applications for adoption of Romanian children filed by a foreign individual or family, or by an individual or family with Romanian citizenship and with the domicile or residence abroad, which were registered with the courts at the time the present ordinance went into effect, will be
processed according to the regulations in effect at the time they were filed.”
2. Following article 1, five new articles will be introduced, articles 11 -15, with the following contents:
“Article 11. – Waiving the provisions set forth in article 1, in exceptional situations, imposed by the child’s superior interest, at the proposal of the National Authority for Child Protection and Adoption and with the favorable recommendation of the General Secretariat of the Government, the Government may approve forwarding of applications for international adoptions to the
competent courts.
Article 12. – For the purpose of requesting the approval of the Government mentioned in article 1*, by waiving the provisions set forth in the Government Emergency Ordinance No. 25/1997 regarding adoptions, with its subsequent amendments, the National Authority for Child Protection and Adoption analyses the applications for adoption of Romanian children filed by a foreign individual or family or by an individual or family with Romanian citizenship and with the domicile or residence abroad, registered with the Secretariat of the Romanian Adoption Committee.
The National Authority for Child Protection and Adoption verifies the fulfillment of the conditions set forth in article 7 paragraph (1) letters c) and d), article 11 paragraphs (2), (3), and (4), and article 13 of the Government Emergency Ordinance No. 25/1997, with its subsequent amendments, and requests from the public services specialized in child protection, respectively from the individual or family who wishes to adopt, the documents mentioned in article 12 paragraph (5) letters a), b), and d), and the home-study regarding the child mentioned in article 18 paragraph (5) of the same emergency ordinance. Also, the National Authority for Child
Protection and Adoption requests from the specialized public services the statement of the parent(s), in authentic form, relinquishing the child for adoption by an individual or a family mentioned in article 1.
The file, which contains the confirmation of fulfilling the terms and the documents set forth in paragraph 2, are forwarded to the General Secretariat of the Government for favorable recommendation and for requesting the approval of the Government to forward the application for adoption to the competent court.
Article 13. – After approval by the Government, the National Authority for Child Protection and Adoption forwards immediately to the competent court the application for adoption accompanied by the file mentioned in article 12 paragraph 3.
Article 14. – The court will issue its decision based exclusively on the documents submitted by the National Authority for Child Protection and Adoption, on the tenth day from the date of registration of the application for adoption.
If the hearing of the application is postponed, the next court date set by the court cannot be beyond 10 days.
The hearing of the application is done with the summoning of the National Authority for Child Protection and Adoption, of the individual or family who wishes to adopt, and with the attendance of the prosecutor.
The ruling of the court may be appealed within three days from the date it was passed.
Article 15. – Within three days from the date the court decree granting the adoption is final and irrevocable, the National Authority for Child Protection and Adoption issues a certificate, which attests that the adoption is done according to the provisions imposed by the Convention for
Child Protection and Cooperation in the Field of International Adoption, signed in Hague on May 29, 1993, and ratified by Law No. 84/1994.”
PRIME MINISTER
ADRIAN NASTASE
Countersigns:
Minister for Coordination of the General Secretariat of the Government
Petru Serban Mihailescu
National Authority for Child Protection and Adoption
Gabriela Coman, State Secretary
Bucharest, December 6, 2001
No. 161
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