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LAW No. 356 of 10 July 2001
on the employers’ organisations
EMITTER: THE PARLIAMENT OF ROMANIA
PUBLISHED IN: THE OFFICIAL GAZETTE OF ROMANIA No. 380 of 12 July 2001

It must be specified that the only text which shall produce legal effects is the text in the
Romanian language.

CHAPTER I
General provisions

ART. 1
The employers’ organisations are autonom ous organisations of the employers, without
a political character, set up as private la w legal persons, without patrimony purpose.
ART. 2
Within the meaning of the present law, the employer is the registered legal person or
the natural person licensed according to the la w, managing and using capital, irrespective
of its nature, for the purpose of obtaining profit under conditions of competition, and
which employs paid work.

CHAPTER II
The setting up, organisation and f unctioning of the employers’ organisation

Section 1
The setting up and organisation

ART. 3
(1) The employers’ organisation shall be set up per economic activities and organised
per sections, divisions, bran ches and at national level.
(2) A number of at least 15 registered legal persons or natural persons licensed
according to the law may constitute an employers’ organisation.
(3) Employers’ organisations may also be set up with a number of at least 5 members
in the branches where they hold over 70% of the production.
(4) The employers’ organisations may set up their own territorial organisational
structures, with or without legal personalit y. The territorial organisational structures
without legal personality sh all carry on their activity on the basis of the employers’
organisation status which they belong to.
ART. 4
(1) The employers organisations may be set up as unions, confederations or in other
associative structures.
(2) Two or more employers’ organisations may constitute employers’ organisation
unions or federations.
(3) Several employers’ organisations uni ons or federations may be associated as
employers’ organisation confederations.
(4) The employers’ organisations sha ll carry out their activity based on their own
statute and regulation, according to the provisions of the present law.

(5) The employers’ organisation confederations which are representative at national
level, according to the law, may be set up as a body representing the employers’
organisations, having its own statute and organisation and functioning regulation, for the
unitary representation of the employers’ organisation movement at national and
international level.
(6) The employers’ organisations shall ha ve the right to affiliate to international
organisations.
ART. 5
The dignitaries, as well as the pers ons holding management positions in the public
administration structures may not belong to the management bodies of the employers’
organisations.

Section 2
The statute

ART. 6
The manner of setting up, organisation, functioning and dissolution of an employers’
organisation shall be regulated by the st atute adopted by its members, with the
observance of the legal provisions.
ART. 7
(1) The statute shall include, under th e sanction of nullity, at least the following
elements:
a) the denomination of the employers’ organisation, the headquarters and, as the case
may be, its own territorial structures , with or without legal personality;
b) the object of activity and the purpose;
c) the initial patrimony, its size and struct ure, the subscriptions, as well as other legal
financing sources;
d) the rights and obligations of the members;
e) the management bodies;
f) responsibilities;
g) the dissolution and liquida tion of the employers’ organisation.
(2) The legal personality of the employe rs’ organisation shall be obtained according to
the law on the associations and foundations ; the application for granting the legal
personality shall be accompanied by the setting up report, the authenticated statute, the
chart including the adhesions, the proof of the existence of head office and of the
financial means necessary with a view to carrying on the activity.

Section 3
The rights and obligations of the employers’ organisations

ART. 8
The employers’ organisations shall repres ent, support and defend the interests of their
members in the relations with the public author ities, with the trade unions and with other
legal and natural persons, depending on their activity object and purpose, both at national
and international level, according to thei r own statutes and in accordance with the
provisions of the present law.

ART. 9
In the drawing up of the draft statutory instruments on the activities of the employers’
organisations the initiators shall request beforehand the written and motivated advisory
opinion of the representative empl oyers’ organisation structures.
ART. 10
With a view to achieving the purpose for which they ha ve been set up, the employers’
organisations:
a) shall represent, promote, support and defend the economic, technical and legal
interests of their members;
b) shall act for the absolute freedom of action of the employers for the purpose of
developing and making their activity more efficient;
c) shall promote the fair competition, acco rding to the conditions of the law, for the
purpose of ensuring equal opportunities for each one of its members;
d) shall be consulted by the Government at the initiation, draw ing up and promotion of
the programmes for development, restructuri ng, privatisation, liquidation, economic co-
operation and shall participate in the structur es for the co-ordination and administration
of the programmes with the European Union;
e) shall designate, according to the c onditions of the law, representatives in the
negotiation and conclusion of the collective labour contracts, in other treaties and
agreements in the relations with the public au thorities and the trade unions, as well as the
tripartite structures of ma nagement and social dialogue.
ART. 11
(1) The employers’ organisations sha ll provide for their members information, the
facilitation of the relations between these, as well as with other organisations, the
promoting of the management progress, consulting and specialised assistance services,
including in the field of training the labour force.
(2) The employers’ organisations shall be authorised to provide any other services
required by their members, with the observance of the law.
ART. 12
(1) The drawing up of the statutes, of the organisation and functioning regulation, the
election of the management bodies, the orga nisation of the administration and of the
activity shall be the attributes of the employers’ organisations.
(2) The members of the elected manage ment bodies of the employers’ organisations
shall be protected by the law against all forms of discrimination, conditioning, constraint
or limiting of the exercise of their functions, under the sanction of the penalties provided
by the law.
ART. 13
The employers’ organisations may address to the competent public authorities
proposals for the legislation in the fields of employers’ organisations interest.

Section 4
The patrimony and financing of the activity

ART. 14

The movables and immovables which belong to the employers’ organisations may only
be used in their interest a nd according to the purpose for which they have been set up by
the law.
ART. 15
(1) The employers’ organisations may acquire, according to the conditions provided by
the law, free of charge or for a consider ation, any kind of movables or immovables
necessary for the achievement of the pur pose for which they have been set up.
(2) The representative confederations and federations of the employers’ organisations
may receive for tenancy, based on a motivated request, immovables or spaces from the
state housing fund, which they sh all use as head offices and for which they shall pay a
rent calculated according to the provisions re garding the dwellings. In order to build their
own head offices the representative confed erations and federations of the employers’
organisations may receive in concession or may rent lands from the private property of
the state or of the administrative-territorial un its. The rental or concession shall be carried
out by an administrative act issu ed by the competent authority.
ART. 16
The employers’ organisation, according to th e conditions of the law and of its statute,
may:
a) grant assistance and mutual credit to its members;
b) edit and print its own publications;
c) set up and manage, in the interests of its members, units of culture, education and
research in the field of the activity of th e employers’ organisation, economic and social,
commercial units, as well as its own bank for th e financial operations in lei and in foreign
currency.
ART. 17
(1) The economic and financial activity of the employers’ organisations shall be carried
out according to their own income and expenditure budget.
(2) The sources of the incomes of the employers’ organisations shall be: matriculation
fees, subscriptions, contributions for the fund destined to the negotiation of the collective
labour contracts and special activities, donations, sponsor ings and other incomes,
according to the statutes a nd to the laws in force.
(3) *** Abrogated
(4) The incomes of the employers’ organisa tions are destined to the achievement of the
purposes for which they have been set up a nd they can not be distributed to their
members.
————
*) Paragraph (3) of Article 17 was abr ogated by Article 298 of the Fiscal Code, the
Law No. 571/2003, published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, No. 927 of 23
December 2003.

CHAPTER III
The reorganisation and dissolu tion of the employers’ organisations

ART. 18

In case of reorganisation of an employers’ organisation the situation of the patrimony
shall be settled by its management bodies or, in case of disagreement, by the competent
court, according to the law.
ART. 19
In case of dissolution of an employers’ organisation its patrimony shall be divided with
the observance of the provisions of the statute and of the common law in the field.
ART. 20
(1) Within 15 days from the dissolution the head of the employers’ organisation or the
liquidators of the patrimony are obliged to re quest to the competent court to make the
mention of the dissolution.
(2) After the expiry of the 15-day period any person concerned may request the
competent court to operate the me ntion provided in paragraph (1).

CHAPTER IV
Final and transitory provisions

ART. 21
(1) Within 6 months from the date of pub lishing the present law in the Official Gazette
of Romania, Part I, the em ployers’ organisations which unt il that date obtained legal
personality shall submit to the competent co urt the new statute in accordance with the
provisions of the present law.
(2) The non-observance of the provisi ons of paragraph (1) shall bring about the
suspension of the representation right beginning with the date following the expiry of the
6-month period.
ART. 22
On the date of coming into force of the present law the Government Decision No.
503/1991 on the employers’ organisations of th e autonomous regies and of the trading
companies with fully state-owned capital, pub lished in the Official Gazette of Romania,
Part I, No. 175 of 26 August 1991.

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