In brief
- The victims of the events in Bucharest of 13-15 June 1990 come under the State Secretariat that already handles the files of the revolutionaries and of the former political prisoners. Government Decision no. 838/2026 rewrites Article 1, Article 3(b), Article 4(1) and Article 9 of the decision setting up the institution and adds a dedicated department to its organisation chart. This is the sixth category of beneficiaries managed by the same institution, 36 years and four months after the events of June 1990.
- For anyone who already holds a certificate or an allowance, or has a file being processed, no procedure changes. The decision does not touch the conditions for granting rights, does not require applications to be lodged again, does not reissue certificates and changes neither the time limits nor the documents. What it alters is the institution’s powers and its organisation chart, not people’s entitlements.
- The maximum number of posts stays at 35, excluding the dignitary and the posts in his cabinet, and the decision applies from 1 January 2027. Article II(1) takes over the date from Article 10 of Law no. 137/2026, so 72 days pass between publication and application. Staff are to be appointed to the new structure „în termen de minimum 30 de zile” (within a minimum of 30 days) of that date, wording that sets a threshold rather than a deadline: 31 January 2027 at the earliest.
Published: Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 881 of 21 October 2026, pages 4-6
Who it concerns: the victims of the events in Bucharest of 13-15 June 1990 and their families, the revolutionaries of December 1989, those who fought in the anti-communist resistance, the former political prisoners, the people affected by the Brașov revolt of November 1987 and by the one in the Jiu Valley, Lupeni, in August 1977, their associations, the staff of the State Secretariat, the pension houses and the other central and local public institutions that pay out these rights
Takes effect: from 1 January 2027, not from publication. Article II(1) provides that the decision enters into force on the date laid down in Article 10 of Law no. 137/2026, and that article fixes 1 January 2027
The institution that keeps the register of revolutionaries’ certificates, of the files of former political prisoners and of the rights paid out under them takes on a sixth category of people for whom it answers: the victims of the events in Bucharest of 13-15 June 1990. Government Decision no. 838/2026, published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 881 of 21 October 2026, at pages 4-6, amends the 2014 decision on the organisation and functioning of the State Secretariat for the recognition of the merits of those who fought against the communist regime, the State Secretariat for short, whose acronym is SSRML.
The amendment has five points and one annex. The article describing the institution is rewritten so as to cover the new category and the act that grants it rights, Law no. 137/2026. The role of State authority, meaning the power to issue approvals, to coordinate, to monitor and to check how the other institutions apply the law, is extended to the same category. The list of powers, thirteen in all, from point (a) to point (m), is replaced as a block, and each of them now also names the victims of June 1990. The article on cooperation protocols with ministries and local authorities is supplemented with the new law. Finally, the organisation chart is replaced by one in which a new department appears, for the recognition of the rights of the victims of the Mineriad of 13-15 June 1990, the violent crackdown on the Bucharest protests of those days.
For someone who already has a file with the State Secretariat, a certificate or an allowance, the conclusion is short: nothing changes. The decision does not touch the conditions under which a right is granted, does not introduce new documents, does not require applications to be lodged again and does not cancel anything issued so far. There is no transitional provision anywhere in the text affecting files under way, for the simple reason that the text does not touch the procedures. What changes is the map of the institution and the list of things it is entitled to do.
For someone who wants to lodge an application as a victim of the events of 13-15 June 1990, the decision says where to go, namely to the State Secretariat, and the day from which the institution has the power is 1 January 2027. The date is not written out in figures in the decision: Article II(1) ties it to Article 10 of Law no. 137/2026, published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 574 of 13 July 2026, and there the entry into force is fixed at 1 January 2027. Between the day the decision was published and the day it applies, 72 days pass.
What it changes in practice
The main effect concerns competence. From the date the decision enters into force, the State Secretariat has a legal basis to receive, process and follow up the files of the victims of the events in Bucharest of 13-15 June 1990, just as it does for the other five categories. This is not a declaratory competence: it unfolds across all thirteen rewritten powers, from dealings with the associations and the right of legislative initiative through to the database of beneficiaries and the monitoring of the rights actually paid.
The second effect is a single register. The power under Article 4(1)(h), running the database, now also covers the new category. In practice, no parallel register comes into being: the June 1990 files go into the same system that holds the revolutionaries’ certificates and the political prisoners’ files. For someone who qualifies under two categories, that means one institution to deal with, not two.
The third effect concerns oversight. The role of State authority under Article 3(b) allows the State Secretariat to check how central and local public institutions, and other legal persons, observe the rights granted. Extended to the victims of June 1990, it provides a concrete tool where a town hall, a pension house or a supplier refuses a benefit laid down by law. Without that extension, a refusal would have remained strictly a matter between the citizen and the institution refusing.
The fourth effect is a legal instrument: Article 9, as rewritten, allows cooperation protocols to be concluded with ministries, with the specialised bodies of central and local public administration and with other public institutions having powers under the application of the law, and the list of acts for which protocols may be concluded now includes Law no. 137/2026. A protocol is made by the will of two institutions, not by a fresh decision, so the payment and verification circuit can be put in place quickly, if the will is there.
The fifth effect falls on the people who work in the institution. The organisation chart is replaced, and staff are appointed to the new structure by order of the state secretary, within the time limits laid down in the Administrative Code and the Labour Code for each category of staff, but also, the text says, within a minimum of 30 days of the entry into force of the decision, that is no earlier than 31 January 2027.
What has changed compared with the previous situation
Until this amendment, the 2014 decision, republished in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 734 of 24 August 2018, defined the institution by reference to five categories: the revolutionaries of December 1989, those who fought in the anti-communist resistance, the former political prisoners, the people affected by the anti-communist workers’ revolt in Brașov in November 1987 and those affected by the revolt in the Jiu Valley, Lupeni, in August 1977. The rewritten text adds a sixth, the victims of the events in Bucharest of 13-15 June 1990, and adds it everywhere, not only in the opening article.
The second thing to change is the list of acts that define the categories. Article 1(2) listed Law no. 341/2004, known as the Law of Gratitude, Law no. 221/2009 on convictions of a political nature and Decree-Law no. 118/1990 on the rights of persons persecuted on political grounds. The list now gains Law no. 137/2026 on granting rights to the victims of the events in Bucharest of 13-15 June 1990. The same addition appears in Article 9 and in the power under point (m), on projects financed from non-repayable European funds.
The third thing to change is the organisation chart. The new structure has three divisions, Revolutionaries and Fighters in the Anti-Communist Resistance, Economic Affairs and Legal Affairs, twelve units, two advisory boards marked with an asterisk, the dignitary’s cabinet and, as a new element, a department for the recognition of the rights of the victims of the Mineriad of 13-15 June 1990. The maximum number of posts is 35, excluding the dignitary and the posts attached to his cabinet. The annex is reproduced in facsimile, that is photographed from the original rather than set as text.
The fourth change, a quieter one, is a clarification in the power under point (e): programmes and projects in the field of competence, financed from the State budget and from European funds, are to be promoted „prin compartimentul de specialitate” (through the specialist unit). The wording moves an activity onto a particular structure without naming it.
What has not changed deserves saying just as firmly. Not one criterion for granting any right has changed, nor any time limit for deciding an application, nor any document needed in a file, nor any avenue of appeal. Nor has the maximum number of posts changed, which stays at 35 with one category of beneficiaries more.
Advantages and disadvantages
What it improves
- The new category goes to an institution that is already running, with an archive, a database and a registry unit, not to a body that has to be built from scratch.
- The department for the victims of the Mineriad appears in the organisation chart as a structure of its own, not as a line tacked onto the end of an existing unit.
- The register stays single: the power concerning the database also covers the new category, so two registers for the same people do not come into being.
- The role of State authority is extended, so a refusal by a town hall or a pension house can be examined by the State Secretariat, not merely challenged by the person in their own name.
- Article 9 allows cooperation protocols for Law no. 137/2026, so the payment and verification circuit can be arranged without a further piece of legislation.
- The power covering scientific research and documentation also covers the events of 1990, which matters where the evidence is missing from the old files.
- For current beneficiaries no new obligation arises: no applications to lodge again, no certificates to reissue, nothing to redo.
What remains a problem
- The date of application, 1 January 2027, is not written out in figures in the decision; it sits in Article 10 of Law no. 137/2026, so the reader has to open another act to find out when this one applies.
- The time limit for appointing staff is a minimum of 30 days, that is a floor with no ceiling: appointments cannot start before 31 January 2027 and no day obliges anyone to have finished them.
- The ceiling of 35 posts stays unchanged for six categories of beneficiaries, and the text does not show where the staff of the new department are to come from.
- None of the thirteen powers is given a time limit for deciding an application, so the individual gains no guarantee as to how long it will take.
- The list of acts in Article 1(2) does not include the legislation covering those who fought in the anti-communist resistance, although they remain a separate category, with a unit of their own in the organisation chart.
- The annex is reproduced in facsimile, so the organisation chart is not searchable text, and the exact names of the structures are hard to cite correctly.
- The two advisory boards are marked with an asterisk in the chart, without the published text explaining what the mark means.
- The act contains no provision on prioritisation, although most of the beneficiaries are elderly.
Practical advice
- If you already hold a certificate or an allowance, or have a file being processed at the State Secretariat, do nothing. The decision asks you for no paperwork and changes no procedure for you.
- If you want to lodge an application as a victim of the events in Bucharest of 13-15 June 1990, keep 1 January 2027 in mind: that is when the State Secretariat gains the competence, because Article II(1) of the decision takes over the date from Article 10 of Law no. 137/2026.
- Lodge the application with a registration number, on paper at the registry or electronically, and keep the proof. The registry and public relations unit features in the new organisation chart and is the way in for a file.
- Check beforehand whether the right you are claiming is established by the State Secretariat or paid by the pension house or another institution. The Secretariat coordinates and oversees, but it does not pay everything.
- If a public institution refuses you a right or a benefit recognised by law, write to the State Secretariat and invoke its role as a State authority under Article 3(b): that is what gives it the power to examine the refusal.
- If you belong to an association of revolutionaries, of former political prisoners or of the victims of June 1990, ask for a cooperation protocol to be concluded on the basis of Article 9. It is the only instrument the act offers without waiting for a further decision.
- If you work at the State Secretariat, watch for the state secretary’s order appointing staff to the new structure: it comes after 1 January 2027 and no earlier than 31 January 2027, and the act sets it no deadline, only the 30-day threshold.
- Make a note of the Official Gazette of Romania (Monitorul Oficial) reference, Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 881 of 21 October 2026, pages 4-6. You will need it for any application in which you invoke the institution’s competence.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to lodge any application again if I already hold a revolutionary’s certificate?
When does it apply from?
What exactly does „the victims of the events in Bucharest in the period 13-15 June 1990” mean?
Where is the file for June 1990 lodged?
Will new staff be hired for the new department?
What does „within a minimum of 30 days” mean?
Do the amounts of the allowances change?
What happens to files being processed on the date of entry into force?
Can I ask the State Secretariat to step in if a town hall refuses me a benefit?
Does the decision affect the associations of revolutionaries and of former political prisoners?
Errors and inconsistencies in the published text
- Article II(2). The text says that staff are appointed to the new structure „în termenele prevăzute de” (within the time limits laid down by) the Administrative Code and the Labour Code, but also within a minimum of 30 days of the date of entry into force of this decision. A minimum period is not a period for performance but a prohibition on acting sooner, and the act sets no ceiling. Two opposite conclusions can be drawn from the same sentence: that appointments must be made within 30 days, or that they cannot be made within 30 days and may be postponed indefinitely. What is more, the two reference points pull against each other: the time limits in the Administrative Code and the Labour Code for each category of staff are periods within which the appointment is made, and here a threshold is laid over them that may run beyond them. With the date of entry into force known, the consequence is plain: the rights of the victims of the events of 13-15 June 1990 run from 1 January 2027, while the department that administers them cannot have a single member of staff appointed before 31 January 2027, with no day against which any later delay could be measured.
- Article I point 1, Article 1(2), read together with Article 4(1)(i). Paragraph (2) closes the list: the categories of persons „sunt cele la care se referă prevederile” (are those to which the provisions refer) of four acts, Law no. 341/2004, Law no. 221/2009, Decree-Law no. 118/1990 and Law no. 137/2026. None of the four is, judging by its own title as reproduced in the act, the legislation covering those who fought in the anti-communist resistance, although they are listed as a separate category in paragraph (1) and appear in ten of the thirteen powers, and indeed have a division and a unit of their own in the organisation chart. That the list is incomplete is acknowledged by the act itself: point (i) speaks of „alte reglementări legale aplicabile luptătorilor în rezistența anticomunistă” (other legal provisions applicable to those who fought in the anti-communist resistance). A reader in good faith cannot establish from the decision which act defines one of the six categories the institution administers.
- Article I point 3, Article 4(1)(e), read together with the annex. The power says that programmes and projects financed from the State budget and from European funds are promoted „prin compartimentul de specialitate” (through the specialist unit), in the singular and without a name. In the replacement organisation chart there are two structures that could be the one meant: the revolutionaries and programmes unit, and the research and European programmes and projects unit. On top of that, point (m), which concerns precisely the drawing up of projects financed from non-repayable European funds, points to no unit at all. Two neighbouring powers about the same funding point one to an unidentified unit and the other to none, and the act does not allow it to be established which structure answers for what.
Editorial analysis
The act is, at bottom, an administrative tidying-up done properly: a new law created a category of beneficiaries, and the Government took it to the institution that handles all the other categories, instead of inventing a parallel body. The decision is sound and shows in the detail, from the extension of the database to the possibility of protocols under Article 9. The chronology also shows a certain calm: Law no. 137/2026 was published on 13 July 2026, the organisational decision came 100 days later, and application begins on 1 January 2027. The problem lies in what the decision does not do: it does not write out in figures the day on which it applies, although that day exists, and it puts no staff behind the department it creates.
The figures say this more clearly than the text. The organisation chart contains three divisions, twelve units and one new department, that is sixteen working structures, plus a secretary general and a deputy secretary general. The maximum number of posts is 35, excluding the dignitary and the cabinet. Subtract the two general management posts and 33 posts remain for sixteen structures, a little over two posts each on average. For a unit holding the beneficiaries’ archive, for one handling administrative litigation or for the department taking on a whole category of files, two posts are not a team, they are one person and their stand-in during leave. With one category of beneficiaries more and the same ceiling of 35, the decision adds nothing and does not say where the staff are to be found, so the new department will be made out of what already exists.
The second ratio that catches the eye is between the time limits the act imposes and the ones it allows itself. For the citizen, the decision sets no time limit at all: not one of the thirteen powers comes with a period for deciding an application, with a period for replying or with a duty to inform. For the administration, the only time limit in the whole act is a floor, 30 days before which appointments cannot be made, with nothing above it. So the only period the act guarantees anyone is the institution’s right not to hurry. Counted on the calendar, it looks like this: the decision is published on 21 October 2026, it applies from 1 January 2027, that is 72 days later, and the first member of staff can be appointed to the new department on 31 January 2027. Throughout the first month in which people are entitled to lodge applications, the structure receiving them may still be on paper. For someone seeking recognition 36 and a half years after June 1990, that month is not an organisational detail.
There is one further detail that shows how the work was done. The annex with the organisation chart is reproduced in facsimile, and from it one can see that the two advisory boards carried, in the original, a note marked with an asterisk, a note that does not appear in the published text. In a chart to which a new structure has just been added, losing the note that explains the status of the boards is not a problem of law, but it is a problem for anyone trying to find out, from the Official Gazette of Romania, who can hear them when they lodge their file.
What should be changed
- Replacing the 30-day floor with a maximum period. The wording „within a maximum of 30 days” would turn the same figure from a licence to delay into an obligation, and the structure would have to be staffed by 31 January 2027, not from that day onwards.
- Writing the date of entry into force out in figures in the text of the decision itself. The date exists, 1 January 2027, but it is to be found only in Article 10 of Law no. 137/2026, published three months earlier. An amendment to Article II(1) spelling out the day would spare every beneficiary and every official a search through another issue of the Official Gazette of Romania.
- Completing Article 1(2) with the act governing those who fought in the anti-communist resistance. The list would be whole again, and the holder of a certificate in this category would learn from the decision on what basis their file is processed.
- Naming the unit in Article 4(1)(e) expressly, with the same name it bears in the annex. The uncertainty between two units with „programmes” in their names would disappear and it would be possible to establish who answers for a European project.
- Expressly increasing the number of posts along with the sixth category, or showing the redistribution. With 35 posts unchanged, the new department will be staffed from other structures, and the act ought to say from which, rather than leaving the choice to the appointment order.
- Publishing the annex in text form as well, not only in facsimile, together with the note marked by an asterisk. The organisation chart would become citable with accuracy, and the status of the advisory boards would be clarified from the official source.
- A time limit for replying to elderly applicants, even one of the order of 30 days. It would be the only provision in the act producing a direct effect for the beneficiary rather than for the organisation chart.
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. 881 of 21 October 2026, pages 4-6 16 pages PDF, 136 KB the act starts on page 4
Open the official PDFDownload the PDF
The viewer is not shown on small screens. Use the buttons above to open or download the file.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For specific situations, consult a licensed attorney or tax advisor.