Law to provide for equal treatment in occupational social security

An emergency ordinance passed in June 2007 has enabled the Romanian government to regulate the principle of equal treatment for men and women in occupational social security schemes. In doing so, the government has transposed Directive 96/97/EC into national law, which trade unions and European Commission experts had requested in January 2007. In compliance with the ordinance, any provisions in the national legislation that are in conflict with the principle of equal treatment will thereby be eliminated.

Implementing principle of equal opportunities

Since 2000, the principle of equal opportunities for women and men has been the focus of several initiatives and regulations in Romania.

In 2002, the government passed Law No. 202/2002, which provided for equal opportunities for men and women for the first time in Romania. In 2005, the National Agency for Equal Opportunities for Women and Men (Agenţia Naţională pentru Egalitatea de Şanse între Femei şi Bărbaţi, ANES) was established with the aim of integrating the gender equality perspective in national policies and programmes.

Through ANES, the Ministry of Labour, Family and Equal Opportunities (Ministerul Muncii, Familiei şi Egalităţii de Şanse, MMFEŞ) cooperated with non-governmental organisations to develop equal opportunities-related policies in the form of a National Strategy for Equal Opportunities for Women and Men for the period 2006–2009 and a General Action Plan for its Implementation. The latter was approved by a government decision in March 2006.

Equal treatment in occupational social security schemes

Romania’s accession to the European Union (EU) on 1 January 2007 entailed the amendment of any legal provisions contrary to the principle of equal treatment for men and women in the entire national legislation, since the acquis communautaire had to be transposed as of the accession date.

One area that required new regulations was that of equal treatment for men and women in occupational social security schemes, in order to transpose Council Directive 86/378/EEC, amended by Directive 96/97/EC, into Romanian law. The European Commission (EC) experts had set a deadline of 1 July 2007 for the amendment of all provisions contrary to the principle of equal treatment, in order to avoid any infringement proceedings. Romania’s government was quick to react by passing Emergency Ordinance No. 67/2007, transposing the aforementioned directive in its entirety into national law; this thereby eliminated any form of direct or indirect discrimination based on gender criteria with regard to the retirement age, length of contribution, length of service, and formula for calculating and setting the pension amount.

In compliance with this new regulation, occupational social security schemes, which are meant to complement or replace provisions of the public social security system, have been drawn up and applied according to the principle of equal treatment. Applying this principle will therefore eliminate all contrary provisions from regulations controlling different social security schemes, namely: the law on the status of parliamentary civil servants; the law on state pensions for military personnel; the law on the status of judges and prosecutors; the law on the status of auxiliary personnel in courts of law; the ordinance on the pensions system for diplomatic and consular personnel; and the law on pensions for the national police force. It is planned that these amendments will be implemented by 30 September 2007, so that the principle of equal treatment may come into effect by 31 December 2008; otherwise the provisions will become inapplicable.

An exception to this principle is the social security scheme for self-employed persons.

Nevertheless, following these regulations, trade unions voiced their concern over gender discrimination in the pensions reform (RO0702079I).

Commentary

It remains to be seen what will happen to the public pensions schemes. Currently, several schemes show significant inequalities and discrimination not as much in relation to gender, but more with regard to the schemes themselves in terms of professional status and the time when a person entered the public pension system. In all likelihood, such discrepancies have and will continue to trigger reactions on the part of the trade unions.

Constantin Ciutacu, Institute of National Economy