Romanian Government Approved Unitary Pension Law Principles

The first principle is oneness, according to which the state will set up and guarantee the system based on the same laws. The system will cover every professional category, and the pension will be computed based on contribution’s amount and time span.

The second principle is compulsoriness, meaning legal and natural persons are obliged to take part in the public system, as social insurance rights are correlated with the fulfillment of obligations.

Another principle concerns contributivity and provides that social insurance funds will be set up on the basis of contributions owned by legal and natural persons who take part in the public system.

The principle of equality will ensure non-discriminatory treatment as regards rights and obligations to all participants in the public system, enforcing the point that all pensions will be computed in the same manner for all employees. The principle of repartition says the funds will be redistributed for the payment of obligations to the public system. The principle of social solidarity says participants in the public system are under obligations and enjoy rights to prevent, limit or remove social risks provided by law. The principle of autonomy is based on the stand-alone management of the public system, taking into account its accordance with laws on classified information, by using insurance houses separate from structures which are under the effects of those laws.

The occupational principle, which will be set by the Private Pensions Supervision Commission, states that the introduction of additional occupational pension systems is mandatory. This new principle will allow any social-professional category to set up an additional pension system, with the manner of contribution, calculation and management to be fixed later through law.

“Every professional category is able to create occupational pensions. For instance, police officers, teachers, public servants and people in the military can contribute to this system and, ultimately, there will be two pensions. Still, there is a possibility that not all systems will have the financial resources to implement occupational pensions,” state adviser on labor matters Mihai Seitan said last week.

He also said a study of the impact of the new law on budget resources will be conducted.