​The implementation of an IT system for the digitization of civil status documents at the national level and easy access to these documents in an electronic format will be delayed until next year, according to a draft resolution submitted to the Çolaku government on Thursday.

The IT system for issuing civil status documents (SIIEASC), a project developed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in 2019, which involves digitizing civil status documents for the last 100 years and providing citizens with easy access to civil status services, will not be ready even this year.

On the government’s agenda for Thursday is a draft order initiated by the Ministry of the Interior, led by Deputy Prime Minister Catalin Preda, according to which the deadline for providing at the national level the IT infrastructure necessary for the implementation of the IT system for the issuance of civil status certificates (DSIASK) has been extended from September 24, 2023 to September 24, 2024.

• “Currently, the SIIEASC project is at the stage of system verification, so that the extension of the deadline is necessary to open a pilot project and train civil officers from all over the country in the train the trainer system.” shown in the explanatory note.

SEE DRAFT ORDINANCE AND FUND

In essence, this is a new amendment to Law 119/1996 on Civil Status Documents.

According to the law, birth, marriage and death certificates are made in civil registers in duplicate, both originals, and filled in manually with a special black ink.

Clause (4) of Article 2 now provides the following:

• “Starting from September 24, 2023, the 1st copy of civil status acts is filled out electronically and stored in the 1st copy of the civil status registration records on paper media, and the 2nd copy is made only in electronic form, both by civil service inspectors in the country, as well as by representatives of diplomatic missions and career consular institutions of Romania”.

Other changes provided for by the order:

• regulation of the procedure for creating in electronic format a copy of the II civil status register regarding civil status documents compiled on paper media, starting from January 1, 1921 until the day of implementation of the DIEASK;
• establishment of the procedure for registering civil status documents and facts when it is impossible to fill out documents in the computer system due to technical malfunctions;
• assigning the status of Civil Registry Officer to civil registry staff within the DGEPMB and District Community Services for registration of persons (currently this category of staff is included in civil registry inspectors with limited powers) to eliminate possible unconsciousness when updating / using SIIEASC;
• establishing the fact of compiling civil status acts and making entries in civil status registers by employees of state civil status services of districts/DGEPMB to ensure the continuity of activity on civil status issues at the level of public services of local communities for the registration of persons and town halls of administrative-territorial units where such services are not created
• establishment of the procedure for correcting errors found in civil status acts and records made in the order of their verification and confirmation from the date of entry into force of DIEASK;
• giving the owners the opportunity to request/receive data entered in civil status acts, as well as photocopies of documents that were the basis for compiling civil status acts and making references based on them, not only through authorized persons, but also through lawyers.

The IT system for issuing civil documents was supposed to be operational last year

The IT system for the issuance of civil status documents was supposed to be operational on December 14, 2022, according to the emergency order adopted by the Chuke government on November 2, 2022.

A day after the act was passed, then-Minister of the Interior, Liberal Lucian Bode, announced that the IT system was 60% complete, with more than 66 million civil status documents now digitized.

earlier this year, Catalin Julescu, Chief of Police and Director General of the General Directorate of Personal Records (DEPABD) of the MAI, expressed confidence that the civil status will be digitized on October 1, 2023, from which point Civil Status Acts will be available in electronic format.

Read more:

• EXCLUSIVE Citizen’s electronic card: a science fiction scenario of the Ministry of Interior when issuing ID cards
• Bode announces that the IT system for issuing civil status documents will not be ready this year: more than 66 million documents have already been digitized