On Thursday, the Constitutional Court unanimously recognized the exception as unconstitutional and established that the provisions of Art. 31 par. (3) the third sentence of Law no. 273/2004 regarding the adoption procedure are unconstitutional.

Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR)Photo: AGERPRES

“In essence, the Court ruled that within the framework of the procedure for opening an adoption, the child’s natural parents should enjoy the right to protection, a fundamental right guaranteed by Art. 24 of the Constitution,” said the CCR press release, News.ro reports.

Thus, the difference in the legal interpretation contained in the criticized text of the law – according to which in a situation where the biological parents could not be found, their reference is made by publication, without a court order on the appointment of a guardian from among the lawyers of the bar – has no significance objective and reasonable justification, establishing discrimination based on the aspect of the right to protection, which contradicts both the provisions of Art. 16 para. (1) The Constitution, theses on the prohibition of discrimination, as well as the provisions of Art. 24 of the Constitution regarding the right to defense.

“Since the thesis regarding the prohibition of discrimination contained in Art. 16 para. (1) of the Constitution, a specific constitutional remedy in the event that discrimination is recognized as unconstitutional is – in the case of natural parents who could not be found and whose citation was made public – the provision of relief consisting of, in a court order on the appointment of a guardian from among lawyers of the bar. Also, in the procedure for opening an adoption, in order to ensure the effective right to the protection of birth parents who could not be found and were summoned by announcement, the legislator should have provided that the remuneration due to the special guardian is borne from the state budget, this amount cannot be collected from the birth parents – parties in the procedure for opening an adoption,” the source said.

The decision of the KKR is final and binding.