Approved by the Government. Fines of up to 100 thousand lei or jail for fake social media accounts

Unlawfully presenting oneself under a false identity or assigning such an identity to another person, including by registering and/or using accounts on social media platforms, phone numbers and access cards, could be punishable by fines from 25 thousand lei to 100 thousand lei or imprisonment from 6 months to one year, in both cases with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or to carry out certain activities for up to five years.

The Cabinet of Ministers approved on Wednesday 7 June amendments to the Criminal Code and the Contraventions Code. According to the Ministry of Justice, the draft decision is aimed at “remedying legislative shortcomings which in practice make it difficult to interpret and apply the rules of criminal law and to strengthen an effective system of rules in the area of the state’s punitive policy, adapted to social requirements and realities”.

At the same time, the Government decided that the illegal presentation under a false identity or the attribution of such an identity to another person, through the fabrication and/or fraudulent use of an identity document from the national passport system, ID card, permit, diploma, certificate, extract, criminal record, a payment account, car registration numbers, insurance policies, or any other act or means by which a certain quality is claimed, in order to induce or maintain in error for the purpose of producing a legal consequence, could be punished with fines from 125 thousand lei to 500 thousand lei or with imprisonment from 6 months to 3 years, in both cases with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or to exercise certain activities for up to 7 years.

Representatives of the Ministry of Justice claim that the draft law will allow, among other things, “to avoid situations where persons who have committed crimes are released from criminal liability because the statute of limitations has expired, either on the grounds that the time limit is insufficient to bring them to criminal liability, or on the grounds of delay in the examination of the case by the parties to the proceedings”.

The draft law is to be considered by Parliament.