Romanian Constitutional Court Regulates Adoption Procedures

The Court made this decision following the appeal of a man who could not do anything about his daughter’s adoption until he was able to prove his paternity. 

 

Following debates, the Court noted that eliminating natural parents’ consent on the adoption from the content of legal provisions, which is expressly regulated in the European Convention regarding adoptions, represents an incongruity according to article 20, section 2 of the Constitution, between the domestic laws and a treaty on human rights and fundamental liberties, in which case, the Constitution stipulates that international regulations are a priority.

 

Thus, the Court decided on March 20 that the provisions of article 35, section 2, letter "i" of Law 273/2004 are unconstitutional and go against article 20 of Constitution with respect to article 5 – section 1, letter "a" and article 9 – section 1 of the European Convention regarding adoptions, in so far as they fail to stipulate taking into account the natural parents’ consent in court when solving the adoption request.

 

On November 13, 2007, the Timisoara Court of Appeals – the civil section- notified the Constitutional Court on the exception on unconstitutionality of provisions of article 15, section 1 and article 35, section 2, letter "i" of Law no.273/2004 on the legal status of adoptions.