Romanian Mothers May Receive RON350 Stipend For Childbirth Instead Of Trousseau – Draft Ordinance

Evaluations carried out by public authorities showed there is difficulty in finding a supplier who can provide all the products which make up a newborn’s trousseau. Authorities are currently unable to provide this package for children born after December 31, 2009. The Government decided in 2006 to provide the monetary value of the trousseau for children born between January 2007 and December 2009.

The act’s initiators said that at the moment there only two social programs which support families with newborn children: the trousseau and allowance for newborns, which is granted for the first four live births, according to Law no. 416/2001 regarding the minimum guaranteed income.

„Since administrative expenses are doubled because of the two programs, there is a need to implement a single allowance, to be granted to all newborn children, repeal the articles of Law no. 416/2001 providing for an allowance for newborn children, as well as the methodological norms for the application of Law no. 416/2001, approved through Government Decision no. 1010/2006, and repeal Law no. 482/2006,” the normative act’s explanatory note says.

The allowance is to be granted a single time for each newborn, as long as the request is submitted 12 months after its birth, at the latest. The allowance may be granted even if the child was stillborn or died after birth.

Foreign citizens or stateless people also have the right to the allowance. If the birth has been registered in another state, the allowance will only be granted if the parents reside in Romania and their birth certificates were issued by Romanian authorities.

After the request has been submitted and analyzed, the mayor of the mother’s town or village of residence must decide to grant the allowance (or not), through a written order.

„An estimated 205,000 children will be eligible for the childbirth allowance. According to the National Statistics Institute’s data, around 65,900 families support four or more children, and from the Labor Ministry’s administrative data, the difference between those who receive the newborn allowance and those who receive the newborn trousseau is about 20,500 children, therefore providing the childbirth allowance in the same amount for all children does not entail additional budgetary expenses,” the explanatory note says.

The funds required for the childbirth allowance will come from the state budget, through the budget of the Ministry of Labor, Family and Social Protection.

The emergency ordinance’s provisions will be applied starting with children born in 2010. In the case of those born before January 1, 2010, allowance and trousseau rights will be honored according to the laws in force at the date of the child’s birth, but no later than October 31, 2010.

According to the document, in the interest of the emergency ordinance’s implementation, instructions will be issued, approved through a Labor Ministry order.

The draft emergency ordinance will be available for public debate until January 15.