This page was translated from Romanian with the help of Claude (claude.ai), an artificial-intelligence assistant, and may contain translation errors. The reference text is the Romanian one. If you notice a mistake or an unnatural wording and would like to help us, please write to us at corecturi@civicsuport.ro. Thank you.
This guide describes the law in Romania. Documents are filed in Romanian; the translation is a courtesy, and the legally binding text is the Romanian one.
Every citizen has the right to write to a public institution to ask for something, to report a problem, to complain or to propose a solution. That is a petition. The right is written into the Constitution, it is free, and the institution is obliged to answer you in writing, within the deadline.
Below you will find the steps, in order, from writing the petition to what you can do if you get no answer. Each step says what to do, where, what you need, what it costs and how long it takes, and underneath, the law it rests on.
In short: write the petition with your name and address, send it to the institution that deals with the problem, keep the registration number and wait for the answer for at most 30 days (45 if the institution extends the deadline and informs you). If you get no answer, you have remedies.
Step 1 — Work out what kind of request you are making
What to do: Before you write, choose the right law. The deadline for an answer and the remedies depend on it.
What you want What kind of request it is The law Deadline for an answer To ask for something to be resolved, to report a problem, to complain about something or to propose something Petition (request, complaint, notification or proposal) OG nr. 27/2002 (Government Ordinance No. 27/2002 on petitions) 30 days, extendable by at most 15 days To obtain information or a document that the institution already holds (a contract, a decision, a budget) Request for information of public interest Legea nr. 544/2001 (the Freedom of Information Act) 10 days, at most 30 if you are informed within 10 days To challenge an administrative act that harms you (a mayoral order, a decision, a permit) Prior complaint (plângere prealabilă), before going to court Legea nr. 554/2004 (the Administrative Litigation Act) 30 days A notification and a complaint are also petitions. The law says that a petition means “the request, complaint, notification or proposal” addressed in writing to an authority. So a notification about a pothole in the road or a complaint about a civil servant follows the same rules and the same deadlines as any other petition.
The “administrative complaint” under Legea nr. 544/2001 is something else. You file it only after a request for public information has been refused or left unanswered (see step 8).
Where: Nowhere, for now.
Documents: None.
Cost: 0 lei.
Time: A few minutes.
Legal basis: OG nr. 27/2002 privind reglementarea activității de soluționare a petițiilor (on regulating the handling of petitions), art. 2, art. 8 and art. 9, legislatie.just.ro; Legea nr. 544/2001 privind liberul acces la informațiile de interes public (on free access to information of public interest), art. 7 and art. 21, legislatie.just.ro; Legea contenciosului administrativ nr. 554/2004 (the Administrative Litigation Act), art. 7, legislatie.just.ro; Constituția României (the Constitution of Romania), art. 51, legislatie.just.ro.
Step 2 — Write the petition
What to do: Write the petition down, on paper or as an email. To be taken into account, it must contain:
- your surname and first name;
- your contact details: the postal address or email address at which you want the answer;
- the institution you are writing to;
- what happened: briefly, clearly, with the place and date, if relevant;
- what you are asking for: a solution, a check, a specific measure;
- the date and your signature.
Attach copies of the documents or photographs you have. Keep the originals.
Anonymous petitions are not considered. A petition without a name and without identification details is filed away without action. The only exception, since December 2024, are petitions about sex-based harassment or moral harassment, which are examined even without a name.
The petition is made in your own name. The Constitution says that citizens petition “only in the name of the signatories”. A legally constituted association may petition in the name of the members it represents.
Where: At home.
Documents: OG nr. 27/2002 does not require you to attach a copy of your identity document; your name and contact details are enough. If an institution still asks you for the copy, ask it on what legal basis it does so.
Cost: 0 lei. The right of petition is exempt from fees.
Time: Usually an hour.
Legal basis: Constituția României, art. 51 alin. (1)–(3), legislatie.just.ro; OG nr. 27/2002, art. 1, art. 2 and art. 7 (amended by Legea nr. 296/2024), legislatie.just.ro.
Step 3 — Choose the right institution
What to do: Send the petition to the institution responsible for the problem. A few pointers:
- local roads, street lighting, waste collection, green spaces, urban planning, local taxes: the town hall (primăria);
- county roads, hospitals and county services: the county council (consiliul județean);
- the lawfulness of the acts of the town hall or the county council: the prefect's office (instituția prefectului);
- pollution: the environmental guard (garda de mediu) or the environmental protection agency (agenția pentru protecția mediului);
- public order: the police (poliția);
- consumer protection: ANPC (Autoritatea Națională pentru Protecția Consumatorilor, the National Consumer Protection Authority);
- national problems: the relevant ministry or the Government.
You can write to a central or local public authority or institution, to the decentralised public services of the ministries, to national companies and corporations, to companies of county or local interest and to autonomous public enterprises (regii autonome).
Parliament and the President have their own rules for handling petitions. You will find them on their websites: cdep.ro, senat.ro, presidency.ro.
Where: On the institution's website you will find the address, the email and the opening hours of the registry office.
Documents: None.
Cost: 0 lei.
Time: A few minutes.
Legal basis: OG nr. 27/2002, art. 2 and art. 15^1, legislatie.just.ro.
Step 4 — Send the petition
What to do: Choose how to send it:
- at the registry office: take the petition in two copies; one stays with the institution, and the registration number and date are written on the other for you;
- by email: the law expressly accepts petitions sent by electronic mail; write to the institution's official address;
- by post: send a registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt, so that you have proof of the date it arrived.
Every institution must have a public relations department that receives, registers and follows up petitions and sends out the answers.
Where: At the institution's registry office, to its official email or to its postal address.
Documents: The petition and the copies of the documents.
Cost: 0 lei at the registry office or by email; the postal rate for a registered letter.
Time: One day.
Legal basis: OG nr. 27/2002, art. 2 and art. 6 alin. (1), legislatie.just.ro.
Step 5 — Keep the registration number
What to do: Ask for and keep the registration number and date. The deadline for the answer runs from this date, and you need the number if you follow up or complain.
- At the registry office: the number is written on your copy.
- By email: ask, in the message itself, to be told the registration number. If you do not receive it within a few days, follow up. Keep the email you sent.
- By post: keep the acknowledgement of receipt.
Where: At the institution.
Documents: The copy with the number, the confirmation email or the acknowledgement of receipt.
Cost: 0 lei.
Time: On the spot, at the registry office. For petitions sent by email or by post, the law obliges the institution to register the petition, but does not set a deadline for telling you the number. If you do not receive it within a few days, phone or write to the registry office and ask for it.
Legal basis: OG nr. 27/2002, art. 6 alin. (1) and art. 8 alin. (1), legislatie.just.ro.
Step 6 — Wait for the answer within the deadline
What to do: The institution must answer you within 30 days of registration, whether the solution is favourable to you or not.
- Extension: if the problem requires a more thorough investigation, the head of the institution may extend the deadline by at most 15 days (in the energy and natural gas sector, by at most 30 days), but must inform you beforehand.
- Repeated petitions: if you send several petitions about the same problem, you receive a single answer. An identical petition sent after the answer is filed away without action.
- Impartiality: if you complain about a particular person, the petition cannot be dealt with by that person or by one of their subordinates.
- The answer is signed by the head of the institution (or by whoever is authorised) and by the head of the department that dealt with the petition, and it must state the legal basis of the solution.
Where: The answer comes to the address or email you gave.
Documents: None.
Cost: 0 lei.
Time: 30 days; at most 45 (or 60, for energy and gas) if you were informed of the extension.
Good to know: Failure to meet the deadlines is a disciplinary offence for the civil servant at fault.
Legal basis: OG nr. 27/2002, art. 8 alin. (1), art. 9, art. 10, art. 11, art. 13 and art. 15 lit. a), legislatie.just.ro.
Step 7 — If the petition reached the wrong place
What to do: Nothing. If the institution does not deal with your problem, it is obliged to forward the petition, within 5 days of registration, to the institution that does, and to inform you.
The 30-day deadline starts again from the date the petition is registered at the competent institution. If you receive such a notice, write down the new institution and ask it for the registration number.
Where: The institution informs you in writing.
Documents: The forwarding notice.
Cost: 0 lei.
Time: 5 days for forwarding, then another 30 days for the answer.
Legal basis: OG nr. 27/2002, art. 6^1 and art. 8 alin. (2), legislatie.just.ro.
Step 8 — If you get no answer or the answer is not right
What to do: You have several options. Choose the one that fits your situation.
a) Go back to the head of the institution. Write to the mayor, the director or the minister: give the registration number, the date and the fact that the deadline has passed. Ask for the answer and, if you wish, for a disciplinary investigation of whoever is responsible for the delay. Failure to meet the deadlines is a disciplinary offence.
b) If it was a request for public information (Legea nr. 544/2001):
- file an administrative complaint (reclamație administrativă) with the head of the institution within 30 days of learning of the refusal; the answer to the complaint comes within 15 days;
- or file a complaint with the county court (tribunal), administrative litigation division, within 30 days of the expiry of the deadline for an answer. The complaint is exempt from court stamp duty.
c) The People's Advocate (Avocatul Poporului, the Romanian ombudsman). You can write to them if a public administration authority has violated your rights, including by delaying or refusing to deal with your petition. The petition must be in writing, must not be anonymous, must state which right was violated and by whom, and must prove the delay or refusal (for example, with the registration number and date). The deadline is at most one year from the violation or from the date you learned of it. The petition is exempt from court stamp duty. Website: avp.ro.
d) The administrative court. The law treats an institution's failure to answer, within the legal deadline, a request concerning a right or legitimate interest of yours as equivalent to an administrative act. In this case, a prior complaint is not mandatory. The action is filed:
- at the county court (tribunal) for local and county authorities, at the court of appeal (curtea de apel) for central ones;
- within 6 months of the date on which the deadline for an answer expired.
The court stamp duty is 50 lei for an application to annul an act, to recognise a right or to have a document issued. The court is suitable above all when the petition concerned a right of yours (a permit, a certificate, a payment), not a mere proposal. A case can be brought only by someone who shows that a right or legitimate interest of theirs has been violated. If the petition contained only a proposal or a notification of general interest, ask a lawyer's opinion before going to court.
Where: At the institution, at the People's Advocate or at the court, as the case may be.
Documents: A copy of the petition, proof of registration (number and date), the answer received, if any.
Cost: 0 lei for the administrative complaint, for the complaint under Legea nr. 544/2001 and for the People's Advocate; 50 lei court stamp duty for the administrative court action; the lawyer's fee, if you choose to work with one.
Time: 15 days for the answer to the administrative complaint; court cases take from a few months upwards.
Legal basis: OG nr. 27/2002, art. 4 and art. 15, legislatie.just.ro; Legea nr. 544/2001, art. 21 and art. 22, legislatie.just.ro; Legea nr. 35/1997 privind organizarea și funcționarea instituției Avocatul Poporului (on the organisation and functioning of the People's Advocate), republished, art. 16–18, legislatie.just.ro; Legea nr. 554/2004, art. 2 alin. (1) lit. h) and alin. (2), art. 7 alin. (5), art. 8 alin. (1), art. 10 alin. (1) and art. 11 alin. (1) lit. c), legislatie.just.ro; OUG nr. 80/2013 (Government Emergency Ordinance No. 80/2013 on court stamp duties), art. 16 lit. a), legislatie.just.ro; Constituția României, art. 52, legislatie.just.ro.
Short model petition
To: [Name of the institution]
[Address of the institution / official email address]Petition
I, the undersigned, [surname and first name], residing at [address] (or: with the correspondence address [address / email]), pursuant to art. 51 of the Constitution of Romania and to Government Ordinance No. 27/2002 on regulating the handling of petitions, address to you the following petition.
What happened: [Briefly describe the problem: where, since when, what you have observed. For example: “On [name] street, between numbers [x] and [y], the street lighting has not worked since [date].”]
What I am asking of you: [State clearly what measure you are asking for. For example: “Please check the situation and order the street lighting to be repaired.”]
Attached: [list of documents or photographs, if any].
Please inform me of the registration number of the petition and send me the answer within the deadline set by art. 8 of OG nr. 27/2002, to [postal address or email].
Date: [date]
Signature: [signature]
A petition with many signatures
How signatures are collected. On a list under the text of the petition, each signatory writes their surname, first name, locality or address and signature. They can also be collected online, but the institution receives a petition only when someone actually files it there, with the list attached. The signatories' names and addresses are personal data: tell them clearly who is collecting them, what they are used for and to whom you give them, and do not use them for any other purpose (Regulation (EU) 2016/679, eur-lex.europa.eu).
What legal value they have. Legally, a petition with a thousand signatures is still a petition. The institution has the same obligations as for one with a single signature: to register it, to examine it and to answer within 30 days, with the legal basis. The signatures do show, however, that the problem concerns many people, and they give weight to the request, especially in the press and before elected officials. The Constitution says that a petition is made “in the name of the signatories”: each person signs for themselves.
What they do not guarantee. The number of signatures does not oblige the institution to do what it is asked. There is no threshold above which a petition becomes binding. If you want a local council to be obliged to debate a proposal, use the local citizens' initiative, which has its own rules and thresholds (see the guide “How a citizens' initiative works”).
Legal basis: Constituția României, art. 51, legislatie.just.ro; OG nr. 27/2002, art. 2 and art. 8, legislatie.just.ro.
What this guide does not say
The guide does not replace a lawyer's advice, especially before going to court, where deadlines are short and easily missed. It does not cover petitions addressed to Parliament, the President or the institutions of the European Union, which have their own rules, nor criminal complaints. The deadlines above are the general ones; some special laws set others, so check the current law on legislatie.just.ro.