Disability reassessment: two missed summonses cost the disability classification

A disability certificate can now be re-checked through a hospital admission, and the outcome may go as far as the loss of every entitlement and the repayment of the costs. The Ministry of Labour, Family, Youth and Social Solidarity has approved the procedure under which the National Institute for Medical Expertise and Work Capacity Recovery (INEMRCM) carries out medical assessments at the request of the National Authority for the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (ANPDPD). The order has 3 articles and an annex with 33 articles, plus three forms, and rests on art. 90³ para. (9) of Law no. 448/2006. Decisions taken at the end of this procedure can be challenged within 30 days, in administrative litigation, and the applications are exempt from court stamp duty, whose constitutionality the Constitutional Court has just confirmed.

The procedure does not apply to everyone. It concerns only those situations in which the Higher Assessment Board for Adults with Disabilities, which operates within the structure of the Authority, decides to reassess a person in three cases: on the basis of the recommendations issued after an inspection ordered by the labour minister or by the president of the Authority, by acting of its own motion, or following a referral from an interested public institution. Even then, the procedure is triggered only if the reassessment reveals discrepancies or inconsistencies regarding the classification by degree and type of disability.

The Higher Board is the body that rules on appeals against the certificates issued by the assessment boards in the counties and in the districts of Bucharest. What is new is that, where in the course of ruling on an appeal it finds that the law was not observed at the initial assessment, it may act of its own motion and itself start the reassessment, along the same route.

The full rules of operation of this board, including the procedure for challenging the degree of disability, were approved separately by ANPDPD Order no. 784/2026.

What it changes in practice

The first effect is the appearance of an administrative route with precise deadlines. The Higher Board requests the assessment file from the county board, which is required to make it available within 5 working days of the request being registered. The documents are uploaded and stored in electronic format. After examining the file, the Higher Board either issues the reassessment decision or establishes, with reasons, that a reassessment is not warranted, in which case it sends a reasoned reply to the institution that made the referral.

The second effect concerns the summons. The person is called to the Institute’s premises in Bucharest, at 22 Panduri Road, district 5, by letter with acknowledgement of receipt, on a date that cannot be more than 45 days after the reassessment decision was issued. The assessment may involve admission to one of the clinical wards, for medical examinations, functional explorations and laboratory tests. The Higher Board may also request a psychological examination.

The third effect is the harshest one and needs to be read carefully. If the person does not attend, the Institute informs the Authority, and a second summons is sent to the person, on a date no later than 45 days from the moment the Higher Board took note of the failure to attend. If the person does not attend the second time either, the Higher Board issues a decision refusing classification by degree and type of disability. The procedure provides no exception for well-founded reasons for not attending.

The fourth effect is the loss of validity of the existing documents. The disability classification certificate, the individual rehabilitation and social integration plan and its annex cease to be valid on the very date the Higher Board issues its decision granting or refusing classification. Art. 15 of the procedure also provides for a third possible outcome, the decision confirming the classification, which art. 16 does not list among those that end the validity of the certificate. Where classification is refused, the director of the county directorate for social assistance and child protection orders, by administrative act, the cessation of the right to social assistance in the form of social benefits and services.

The fifth effect is the repayment obligation. If the assessment at the Institute disproves the clinical form or the stage of the diagnosis set out in the medical documents in the file, and the Higher Board issues a decision refusing classification, the person is required to repay the Authority the value of the costs of the assessment and hospitalisation, their own and, where applicable, their companion’s. The Authority notifies the amounts due, and if they are not paid the rules on the recovery of claims apply. In the same situation, the Higher Board may notify the criminal investigation bodies and the College of Physicians of Romania.

The sixth effect concerns who pays. The costs of the medical assessment and of communicating the report are borne by the state budget, through the Authority. The costs of the medical services and the expenses per day of hospitalisation are those approved by Order no. 163/2026 of the president of the National House of Public Pensions. Travel to the Institute is not covered, however: the procedure states explicitly that it will not be borne by the Authority, with a single exception, people unable to travel, for whom the directorate arranges the transport.

What has changed compared with the previous situation

Until now, art. 90³ para. (9) of Law no. 448/2006 provided that the procedure was to be laid down by order of the labour minister, but the order was missing. In practice, the Higher Board had the legal basis to send a person for a medical reassessment through the Institute, without any rules on how this is done: who issues the summons, within what time, what happens if the person does not attend, who pays, what forms are used. Order no. 1.135/2026 fills that gap.

What appears now, as written rules, and did not exist before, are the deadlines. Five working days for sending the file. No more than 45 days until the scheduled date, for each of the two summonses. A maximum of 15 days for the medical report to be sent from the Institute to the Higher Board. Another 15 days for additional clarifications, if something is missing from the report. Five working days in which the county board has to communicate the decision it received to the person. Thirty days to lodge a challenge.

Also new is the financial mechanism between the Authority and the Institute. The Institute issues a monthly cost statement, accompanied by a summary schedule setting out the surname, given name and personal identification number of each person assessed, the services invoiced and the days of hospitalisation. The cost statement is communicated within 30 days of being issued, and the Authority pays within 30 days of registering it. If the Institute has not carried out an investigation that was requested, yet it appears on the summary schedule, the right to payment is extinguished by operation of law, without any further formalities; if the amount had already been paid, the Authority may ask for compensation through a similar service.

The liability of those who carry out the initial assessment is also clarified. The sanction for classification in breach of the medical, psychological and social criteria approved by joint Order no. 2.300/1.457/2025 already existed, in art. 100 para. (1) letter h) of Law no. 448/2006, and the procedure restates it. What it adds is that a mere proposal for classification made in breach of the criteria may also be sanctioned, if it produced legal effects or benefits of any kind for the person assessed or for those close to them, and if it is established that it was committed with fault by the members of the complex assessment service for adults with disabilities, the unit that prepares the file for the assessment board.

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