A Government ordinance adopted on Monday, March 30, allows citizens to file requests to all public institutions online, and sign them electronically, Sabin Sărmaş, the president of the Authority for the Digitalization of Romania, announced.

He called the ordinance “the most important measure concerning digitalization in the last years.”

The ordinance was adopted in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, as public authorities are stressing the importance of social distancing.

Public institutions need to have platforms to receive documents as they are compelled to receive the online requests and answer them.

“The context of the Covid-19 pandemic showed us once again how important technology is when it comes to public services for citizens. It showed us that technology can help us save lives. I believe that today, with the help of an emergency ordinance of only six articles, the Orban Government adopted the most important measure concerning digitalization in the last years,” Sărmaş said, quoted by News.ro.

Once the ordinance is published in the Official Gazette, public institutions and authorities are compelled to publish online the procedures they will use to receive documents from citizens.

“There are institutions which today own platforms that allow the sending of such documents, there are institutions which will receive access to online platforms to receive documents; for instance, all the documents for requesting the technical unemployment benefits will be submitted exclusively online, signed electronically, through a platform that the Government will make available to the Labor Ministry,” he explained.

The institutions that have not yet developed such platforms can receive documents by email and will receive the support of the Authority for the Digitalization of Romania to develop their online services, Sărmaş also said.

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