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1. Existence of a National Youth Law

2. Scope and contents

3. Revisions/updates

Existence of a National Youth Law

Romania has a Youth Law: Law no. 350/2006, adopted by the Parliament and published in the Official Journal of Romania on July 27^th 2006 (Lege nr. 350 din 21/07/2006 Legea Tinerilor).  The law is available online (in Romanian) on a web platform developed by the Ministry of Justice to make publicly available the Romanian legislation.

Scope and contents

Summary

The Youth Law (Legea Tinerilor, Law no. 350/2006) is the main document that sets the youth policy framework in Romania. The document is clarifying the terminology defining the age of young people (14-35), the youth activity as well as the responsibilities of central and local authorities in the field of youth policy.

The Youth Law also defines the youth non-governmental organisations in Romania: organisations having young people as members (over 50%) or organisations aiming at supporting and promoting rights of young people.

A special section of the Youth Law is dedicated to financing the youth activities in Romania. The local and county authorities have to create a special fund for youth activities, and they have to support youth groups and youth NGOs by providing spaces (if the local infrastructure exists) for youth projects. 

Rights and obligations of young people

According to the principles set in Article 4 of the Youth Law, young people have the right to:

• be part of the decision-making processes, especially when the decisions affect them
• participate in public life and taking individual responsibility
• be beneficiaries of support and counselling regarding their education, their economic and cultural life
• participate in education, instruction and professional training
• access information and the information technology
• volunteer for any cause they choose or participate in mobility projects
• be beneficiaries of programmes promoting intercultural dialogue and combating racism, xenophobia and intolerance

According to the law:

• the state authorities are responsible for developing programmes that would ensure the social inclusion of young people 
• the state authorities are stimulating the youth entrepreneurship initiatives through offering financial support and guaranteeing their right to consultancy services to start-up a business especially to the rural youth and to youth coming from geographically isolated areas.
• young people have the right to access the resources of the public libraries, 
• vulnerable young people have free access to university education. 
• the state structures have to provide opportunities for talented young researchers.
• Young people enrolled in formal education are entitled to free medical services.
• Young people and young families are entitled to family planning services as well as to preferential bank loans and priority to social housing. 
• the state authorities must develop programmes aiming at preventing and reducing the consumption of alcohol and drugs and they have to offer medical treatment and to promote the social reinsertion of young people suffering of addictions. 
• the relevant stakeholders in the field of youth and justice are to offer young offenders and young people that were part of educational and medical restorative programmes support for their social and professional reinsertion.

Key policy domains

The law establishes rights and facilities for young people in several domains:

• Education
• Culture
• Research
• Health
• Economy (facilities for young entrepreneurs)
• Housing
• Employment
• Volunteering

However, as provided by the law, the key policy domains relevant for the youth policy field and defined by the Youth Law are the following:

• Youth participation - all the youth policy measures, and development programmes are to be developed with the participation of young people.
• Intercultural dialogue and combating racism, xenophobia and intolerance.
• Social inclusion and employment.
• Youth participation to education and cultural life.
• Youth Volunteering.

Target groups

The Youth Law targets all young people, with a special attention to vulnerable young people. For this target group the law provides several rights: especially housing, access to free education, access to educational counselling, employment counselling, access to health and family planning.

One article of the law targets young entrepreneurs, providing special support for them from the state institutions.

Revisions/updates

No important revisions took place since the adoption of the law in 2006.

In June 2022 a new Youth Law was adopted by the Romanian Parliament, as provided by the information published by the Chamber of Deputies, after a debate that started in 2018. However, the new Youth Law has been under constitutional revision by the Constitutional Court between July 2022 and February 2024. As a result of the Constitutional Court Decision from 14 February 2024, the Parliament will revise the new Youth Law before a final vote for its adoption.