In brief

  • Through this law the state recognises four categories of victims of the Mineriad, the violent crackdown on the Bucharest protests of 13-15 June 1990: the survivors of those who died, the injured, those who were arrested and those who were held in police custody.
  • Anyone who obtains the certificate is entitled to a monthly allowance of 5,000 lei, indexed each year for inflation, plus free treatment and medicines, a burial plot, retirement five years earlier, tax exemptions and free transport.
  • The law enters into force on 1 January 2027, and the files are to be lodged with a new department inside the State Secretariat for the recognition of the merits of those who fought against the communist regime.
Act: Law no. 137/2026
Published: Official Gazette of Romania (Monitorul Oficial) no. 574 of 13 July 2026
In force from: 1 January 2027

Thirty-six years after the demonstrators in University Square were beaten by miners and by the security forces, the Romanian state is writing into law a status and an allowance for those left with the consequences. Law no. 137/2026, published in Official Gazette of Romania no. 574 of 13 July 2026, grants 5,000 lei a month, indexed annually, to those who can prove they were victims. This is the third major reparations law in the family of statutes over which the Constitutional Court has repeatedly been asked to say who is covered and who is not. It follows the law for the 1989 revolutionaries, where the Court recently upheld the cap on the allowances, and Decree-Law no. 118/1990 for those persecuted on political grounds.

Article 1 of the law does not mince its words. It states that the events of 13-15 June 1990 have remained in Romanian history as a black page, in which the peaceful demonstrations in Bucharest against the Government were brutally repressed by the security forces, with the help of the miners. This is the wording of a legal act, not of a textbook, and it sets the legal premise for the whole law.

The text applies automatically to no one. Every person concerned has to lodge a file, with official documents, before a new committee, and recognition is granted individually, by decision.

What it changes in practice

Four legally recognised statuses come into being. Article 2 lists them: survivor of a person who died during the events; person who was injured; person who was arrested as a result of taking part in the actions; person who was held in police custody for the same reason. All four carry the same rights.

The allowance is 5,000 lei a month and it is indexed. From the second year after it is granted, the amount is increased annually, automatically, by the inflation rate published by the National Institute of Statistics for the previous calendar year, and the indexation applies from January. The money comes from the state budget, through the budgets of the Ministry of Labour, Family, Youth and Social Solidarity, the Ministry of National Defence, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Romanian Intelligence Service, and it is paid out through the pension houses.

The rights do not stop at money. The holder of the certificate has free access to treatment and medicines in the facilities of the Ministry of Health, of Defence and of Internal Affairs, including in spa resorts, free access to all medicines through the family doctor, a burial plot granted in ownership free of charge, a five-year reduction in the standard retirement age, with no penalty, on condition of a contribution period of at least 15 years, exemption from tax on one dwelling and the land that goes with it, free urban transport and 12 free return rail journeys a year, in first class.

The family shares in the transport entitlement. Within the limit of those 12 free journeys, members of the holder’s family may travel as well, and the free travel also covers the companion of a person with a disability rating or of a person who, for medical reasons, needs a companion.

The sums are not taxed and they do not block other entitlements. The law says expressly that the rights granted are not treated as income, are not taxed and do not affect the granting of other rights. For someone already receiving a pension or a disability allowance, that matters more than the amount itself.

A new administrative structure is set up. Within the State Secretariat for the recognition of the merits of those who fought against the communist regime installed in Romania between 1945 and 1989, a Department for the recognition of the rights of the victims of the Mineriad of 13-15 June 1990 is created, with a committee made up of the state secretary, as chair, and four members drawn from the staff of the institution.

There is also a list of exclusions. The law does not cover those already compensated by the Romanian state following court proceedings, those who were part of the apparatus of repression, state security and police or who carried out political policing, those who held leadership positions in the Romanian Communist Party, those who were members of the Council of the National Salvation Front, and persons declared by final judgments to have been collaborators or officers of the Securitate.

What has changed compared with the previous situation

Until this law, the victims of the June 1990 Mineriad had no status of their own. Anyone seeking compensation had to go to court under the general law, and the criminal case on the Mineriad went year after year without a final outcome. Reparations for communist repression were covered by Decree-Law no. 118/1990, and those for the December 1989 Revolution by Law no. 341/2004. June 1990 fell between the two: too late for the first, too early for the second.

Law no. 137/2026 fills that gap, but it does so on a pattern that is already familiar: a certificate issued by a committee, a standard-form attestation sent to the pension houses, a monthly allowance paid through the public system. It is exactly the mechanism used for the 1989 revolutionaries, with the difference that here the amount is set directly in the law, at 5,000 lei, and indexed automatically for inflation, instead of being tied to an indicator that can be capped through the budget law.

The second substantive difference is that the law lays down a deadline for processing. The documents are sent by post, with acknowledgement of receipt, within 60 working days of the date the application is lodged, and within 45 days of the decision to grant it the attestations reach the pension houses. These are deadlines written down, not administrative practice.

The third novelty is the possibility for a third party to contest a recognition. Anyone who considers, on the basis of evidence, that a certificate has been issued to someone else in breach of the law may file a challenge within 30 days of the notification or the publication of the decision to grant it. It is a safety valve against fabricated files, but also a predictable source of litigation.

Advantages and disadvantages

What it improves

  • Recognition comes with an explicit legal characterisation of the facts in the text of the law itself, which counts in law, not only symbolically.
  • The allowance is fixed in the law and indexed automatically for inflation, so it does not depend on an annual budget decision.
  • The rights are not taxed, are not treated as income and do not block other social benefits.
  • The deadlines for processing and for forwarding the files to the pension houses are written into the law, in figures, rather than left to the discretion of the institution.
  • The right of a third party to contest a recognition granted unfairly protects the credibility of the whole list.
  • The date of entry into force, 1 January 2027, leaves real time for the implementing rules and for setting up the committee.

What remains a problem

  • The law does not say from what date the deadline for challenge starts to run for an applicant whose request is refused, because nowhere does it regulate the issuing and the notification of a refusal decision.
  • The third-party challenge has no addressee provided for in the law: it does not say who rules on it, or under what procedure.
  • The files call for official documents from thirty-six years ago, and the law provides no alternative procedure for the cases in which the archive no longer exists.
  • The certificates and the attestations are published on the website of the institution, so the list of victims by name becomes public, without the law saying which data are displayed.
  • The tax exemption for a car covers only hycomat or hidramat vehicles, that is, adapted ones, even though the law makes none of the four statuses conditional on a disability.
  • The committee has five members, all from the same institution, with no outside member, for a process of historical recognition that is bound to be contested.

Practical advice

  1. Do not lodge the file before 1 January 2027 and, above all, before the implementing rules appear. They are approved by Government decision within 30 days of the law entering into force and they set out the templates of the certificate and of the standard-form attestation, plus the issuing procedure.
  2. Start looking for the documents now. The law calls for official documents issued by the competent bodies, authorities or institutions, and obtaining a clinical observation sheet or an attestation from the archive of a hospital or of a police unit takes months, not days.
  3. For the status of survivor, prepare a legalised copy of the death certificate and the documents proving the family relationship, plus the papers showing that the death occurred during the events of 13-15 June 1990.
  4. For the status of injured person, the essential document is proof of hospital admission and of the injuries suffered as a result of the assaults. Add any document showing the date, the place of admission and its causes.
  5. Every file calls for two passport photographs and a sworn statement that you are in none of the situations of exclusion under Article 3. The statement is not a formality: the law provides for civil or criminal liability for the truthfulness of the documents submitted.
  6. Keep proof of the date of lodging. The 60 working days within which the institution has to send you the documents run from it.
  7. If your application is refused, you have 30 days to bring an action before the administrative court, under Law no. 554/2004. Do not wait for an amicable settlement, the deadline is running.
  8. Bear in mind that the allowance is paid through the competent pension house, not through the state secretariat. The standard-form attestation reaches it within 45 days of the decision to grant.

Frequently asked questions

From what date can applications be lodged?
The law enters into force on 1 January 2027, with the exception of Article 9(2), which entered into force three days after publication. The department and the committee are organised through a set of rules approved by order of the state secretary, within 30 days of the law entering into force.
How much is the allowance and who pays it?
5,000 lei a month, indexed annually for inflation from the second year after it is granted. The sums are borne by the state budget, through the budgets of the Ministry of Labour, Family, Youth and Social Solidarity, the Ministry of National Defence, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Romanian Intelligence Service, and they are paid by the pension houses and by the sectoral pension houses respectively.
Is the allowance taxed?
No. The law provides that the rights granted are not treated as income, are not taxed and do not affect the granting of other rights.
What documents are needed?
It depends on the status applied for. Common to every file: the standard application form, a copy of the identity document, two passport photographs and the sworn statement on the situations of exclusion. To these are added the specific official documents: the death certificate and proof of survivor status, proof of hospital admission, or proof of deprivation of liberty or of coercion.
Who cannot benefit from the law?
Those already compensated by the Romanian state through court proceedings, former members of the apparatus of repression, state security and police or those who carried out political policing, holders of leadership positions in the Romanian Communist Party, members of the Council of the National Salvation Front and persons declared by final judgments to have been collaborators or officers of the Securitate.
What do I do if my application is refused?
The law provides for an action before the administrative court, under Law no. 554/2004, within a maximum of 30 days of the date the refusal decision is received.
Can someone else contest my recognition?
Yes. Anyone who considers, on the basis of evidence, that in another case the provisions of the law were not complied with may file a challenge against the decision to grant, within a maximum of 30 days of its notification or publication. The challenge has to contain the identification details of the person filing it, the acts or facts contested and the supporting documents, otherwise it is void.
Does retirement five years earlier apply to anyone?
The law provides for a reduction of 5 years in the standard retirement age, with no penalty, by way of derogation from the legislation on the public pension system, on condition of a contribution period of at least 15 years.

Errors and inconsistencies in the published text

  • Article 6(1)-(4). The deadline for challenge runs from an act the law does not regulate. Paragraphs (1) and (2) describe what happens exclusively „după admiterea cererii”, after the application has been granted: a certificate and a standard-form attestation are issued and sent by post within 60 working days. Paragraph (3), however, sets the start of the 30-day deadline at „comunicarea deciziei prin poștă”, the notification of the decision by post, and paragraph (4) at „data primirii deciziei de respingere”, the date on which the refusal decision is received. No provision of the law provides for the issuing of a refusal decision, for its notification, or for a deadline within which the institution has to issue it. An applicant whose request is not granted cannot establish, from the text of the law, when the period in which the right can be defended begins to run.
  • Article 6(5) and (6). A remedy with no body to rule on it. Paragraph (4) sends the challenge of the applicant expressly to the administrative court, under Law no. 554/2004. Paragraph (5) creates, in parallel, the right of a third party to contest a decision to grant, but it does not say to whom the challenge is addressed, who rules on it and within what deadline. Paragraph (6) imposes formal requirements on it and the penalty of nullity, requirements specific to an administrative complaint rather than to a court application, where nullity is governed by the Code of Civil Procedure. From the same text one can arrive, in good faith, either at the conclusion that the complaint is lodged with the state secretariat, or at the conclusion that it is brought directly before the court.

Editorial analysis

The law does something the Romanian state put off for thirty-six years: it names what happened in June 1990 and attaches a financial consequence to the naming. The choice to fix the allowance directly in the law, at an amount expressed in lei and indexed automatically for inflation, is sounder than mechanisms tied to indicators that can be capped each year through the budget law, as happened with the 1989 revolutionaries. Likewise, the deadlines written in figures, 60 working days for processing and 45 for forwarding the attestations, are an improvement on the usual practice of reparations laws.

The weakness of the law is procedural, not one of intent. The part that describes what happens when an application is granted is drafted with care. The part that describes what happens when it is not, or when someone contests a grant, is sketched in two paragraphs that contradict each other in form and leave uncovered exactly the moment at which a person needs clear rules. In a reparations law, where almost every file depends on incomplete archives, refusals will be numerous and litigation unavoidable.

The second substantive problem is proof. The law calls for official documents on events that took place in 1990, at a time when records were kept badly and, in places, deliberately incomplete. There is no alternative route: no witness statements, no present-day forensic examination, no presumptions. Anyone who cannot find the paperwork is left outside, whatever happened to them.

What should be changed

  • Express regulation of the refusal decision. The law should provide that an application is settled by a reasoned decision, notified within the same 60 working days, whatever the outcome. Without that, the 30-day deadline under Article 6(4) has no starting point, and a refusal by silence has no remedy.
  • Designation of the body that rules on the challenge of a third party. The choice between the state secretariat and the administrative court should be made in the law, with a deadline and with the effect on a certificate already issued. Otherwise the same challenge will be dismissed as inadmissible on both routes.
  • An alternative route of proof for the files with no archive. Recognising a status on the basis of a full body of evidence, including witnesses and expert examination, where the official document can no longer be obtained, would turn the law from one that applies to those with documents into one that applies to the victims.
  • A limit on what is published on the website. Publishing the certificates and the attestations in full means exposing medical and detention data. Publishing a list with the names and the status recognised would provide the same public scrutiny, at a far smaller cost to the person concerned.
  • Aligning the car tax exemption with the real beneficiaries of the law. The restriction to hycomat or hidramat vehicles is taken over from the legislation on persons with disabilities and leaves the right without effect for most of the four categories, which are not defined by invalidity.
  • Opening the committee to members from outside the institution. A historian designated by an institute researching the communist regime and a representative of the associations of victims would give recognition decisions an authority that five employees of the same state secretariat cannot give on their own.

Original text of the legal act

The text below is reproduced in Romanian, the official form of publication.

The full text, as published in the Official Gazette of Romania

Official Gazette of Romania no. 574 of 13 July 2026 16 pages PDF, 101 KB the act starts on page 11

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This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For specific situations, consult a licensed attorney or tax advisor.