Government Ordinance No.

119/1999 regarding the internal control and the

preventive financial control, republished
CHAPTER I
General Provisions
Article 1
Scope of the Ordinance
This ordinance regulates the internal control and the preventive financial control
at public entities and as regards the use of public funds and the administration of
public patrimony.
Article 2
Definitions
For the purpose of this law, the terms and phrases hereinafter are defined as
follows:
a) legal commitment: any act having a legal effect from which an obligation
concerning public funds or public patrimony results or might result;
b) conformity: the characteristic feature of an operation, of acts or administrative
facts produced within a public entity to correspond to the policy expressly
incurred in the respective area by the public entity or by its superior authority,
according to the law;
c) preventive financial control: activity by which the lawfulness and the
regularity of the operations concerning public funds or public patrimony are
verified, before their approval;
d) internal control: the ensemble of the control forms exercised at the level of
public entity, including the internal audit, established by the management,
according with its objectives and with legal regulations, in order to ensure the
administration of funds in an economic, efficient and effective way; it includes,
also, the organisational structures, the methods and procedures;
e) delegated controller: civil servant of the Ministry of Public Finance, who
independently exercises attributions of delegated preventive financial controller,
according to this ordinance;
f) commitment credit: maximum amount of expenditures that can be committed,
during the budgetary exercise, within the approved limits;
g) budgetary credit: the amount which is approved in the budget, representing
the maximum limit up to which payments can be ordered and performed during
the budgetary exercise and/or from previous exercises, for multi-annual actions,
respectively the maximum limit up to which payments from the budget for the
other actions can be committed, ordered and performed;
h) cost-effectiveness: minimising the cost of allocated resources, in order to
reach the estimated results of an activity, maintaining the corresponding quality
of these results;

i) effectiveness: the degree of accomplishing the programmed objectives of an

activity and the relationship between the projected effect and the effective result
of the respective activity;
j) efficiency: maximising the results of an activity, in relationship with the used
resources;
k) public funds: amounts allocated from the State budget, local budgets, State
social insurance budget, special funds budgets, State Treasury budget,
autonomous public institutions budgets, budgets of public institutions financed
partially or totally from State budget, State social insurance budget and special
funds budget, as the case may be, budgets of public institutions financed totally
from own revenues, budget of funds from external credits contracted or
guaranteed by the State and whose reimbursement, interests and other costs are
ensured from public funds, non-reimbursable external funds budget, external
credits contracted or guaranteed by local public administration authorities,
internal loans contracted by the local public administration authorities, as well as
from public institution budgets financed partially or totally from local budgets;
l) inspection: verification done on the spot, in order to find out eventual
infringements of lawfulness and to take measures to protect the public funds and
public patrimony and for repairing the prejudice produced, as the case may be;
m) public entity: public authority, public institution, company/national society,
autonomous administration, trade company where the State or a territorialadministrative unit is the major shareholder, being a legal person, which
administers/uses public funds and/or public patrimony;
n) public institution: Parliament, the Presidency Administration, ministries,
other specialised bodies of public administration, other public authorities,
autonomous public institutions, as well as the institutions subordinated to them,
regardless of the way they are financed from;
o) lawfulness: characteristic feature of an operation to respect all legal
provisions that are applicable to it and that are in force when such an operation is
performed;
p) operation: any action having a financial impact on public funds or on public
patrimony, regardless of its nature;
q) opportunity: characteristic feature of an operation of adequately serving, in
given circumstances, the fulfilment of some objectives of the assumed policies;
r) credit ordinator: the person entitled by law or having a delegation under the
law to order and to approve operations;
s) public patrimony: all the rights and duties of the State, territorialadministrative units or their public entities, achieved or incurred by any title; the
rights and the duties of the State of territorial-administrative units refer both to the
goods belonging to the public domain, as well as to those belonging to the
private domain of the State and of the territorial-administrative units;
t) the person appointed to exercise the own preventive financial control: the
person within the specialised compartments, appointed by the manager of public
entity to exercise the own preventive financial control, or the person who is
performing this attribution based on a contract, under the law;

u) operation project: any document by means of which the performance of an

operation is sought, in the form prepared for its approval by the competent
authority, under the law;
v) regularity: the characteristic feature of an operation to fully observe all the
principles and methodological and procedural rules applicable to the respective
category of operations.
Article 3
The objectives of the internal control
The internal control has the following general objectives:
- the accomplishment, at a certain quality level, of the attributions of public
institution, established accordingly to their own mission, in conditions of
regularity, cost-effectiveness, efficiency and effectiveness;
- the protection of public funds against losses due to error, waste, abuse or fraud;
- the observance of law, regulations and managements decisions;
- the development and the maintenance of some collection, storage, process,
updating and disclosure systems of data and financial and management
information, as well as some systems and procedures of adequate public
information through periodical reports.
Article 4
The duties of the head of public institution in the area of internal control;
the requirements of the internal control
(1) The head of the public institution must ensure the elaboration, the approval,
the application and the improvement of the organisational structures, the
methodological rules, procedures and evaluation criteria, in order to satisfy the
general and specific requirements of internal control.
(2) The general and specific requirements of internal control are, mainly, the
following:
a) general requirements:
- ensuring the accomplishment of the general objectives provided at the article 3,
by a systematic evaluation and maintaining at a level considered as acceptable
of the risks associated to the structures, programmes or operations;
- ensuring a collaborative attitude of the management and executive staff, this
one having the duty to answer at any moment to the managements requirements
and to support effectively the internal control;
- ensuring the integrity and the competence of the management and executive
staff, the knowledge and understanding by these of the importance and role of
the internal control;
- establishing the specific objectives of the internal control, so that these to be
adequate, comprehensive, reasonable and integrated into the mission of the
institution and into its overall objectives;
- surveying in a continuous way by the management staff of all the activities and
the accomplishment by the managements staff of the duty to act in a corrective

manner, prompt and responsible, as many times as infringements of the

lawfulness and regularity in performing some operations or in realising some
activities in a non-economic, inefficient and ineffective way are found;
b) specific requirements:
- reflecting the organisation of the internal control in written documents, all the
operations performed by the institution and all the significant events, as well as
the registration and keeping in an adequate way of documents, so that these to
be available promptly, in order to be examined by the entitled persons;
- immediate and correct registration of all the significant operations and events;
- assuring the approval and performance of the operations exclusively by the
persons special entitled in this sense;
- separation of the attributions regarding the performance of operations between
persons, so that the attributions of approval, control an registration to be
attributed to different persons, in an adequate measure;
- assuring a competent management at all levels;
- assuring the access of resources and documents only by the persons who are
entitled and responsible as regards their use and keeping.
Article 5
Sound financial management
(1) The persons who manage public funds or public patrimony shall have the
duty to achieve a sound financial management by assuring the lawfulness,
regularity, cost-effectiveness, efficiency and effectiveness in using public funds
and administering public patrimony.
(2) The Ministry of Public Finance is the authority of specialised central public
administration that has the responsibility to elaborate and implement the politics
in the financial management area. The Ministry of Public Finance guides
methodologically, coordinates and surveys the sound financial management in
using public funds and in administering the public patrimony.
CHAPTER II
Provisions on the Preventive Financial Control
Section I
General Provisions on Preventive Financial Control
Article 6
Scope of the Preventive Financial Control
(1) The scope of preventive financial control is represented by the operation
projects which refers mainly to the following:
a) budgetary and legal commitments;
b) the opening and allocation of budgetary credits;
c) changing the allocation by quarters and by sub-divisions of the budgetary
classification of approved credits, including by credit transfers;

d) ordering of expenditures;
e) performing cash collections;
f) construction of the public revenues as refers to authorising and setting the
cash titles;
g) reduction, reprogramming and cancelling cash titles;
h) construction of the own resources of the European Union representing
Romanias future contribution to this body;
i) reduction, reprogramming and cancelling cash titles;
j) sale, pledging, concession or lease of property belonging to the private domain
of the State or of the territorial-administrative units;
k) concession or lease of property belonging to the public domain of the state or
of the territorial-administrative units;
l) other type of operations, established by order of Minister of Public Finance.
(2) Depending on the specific traits of the public entity, its manager can decide
on exercising preventive financial control also on other types of operation
projects than those set out in paragraph (1).
Article 7
Content of the Preventive Financial Control
The preventive financial control consists of a systematic check of operation
projects subject to it under article 6 in respect of:
a) lawfulness and regularity;
b) compliance with the limits of budgetary credits or commitment credits, from
case to case, established according to the law.
Article 8
Organisation of the Preventive Financial Control
(1) The Ministry of Public Finance is the authority coordinating and regulating the
preventive financial control for all public entities.
(2) The preventive financial control is uniformly organised and exercised by the
competent authorities according to the provisions of this ordinance and of the
normative acts issued for its enforcement.
(3) The preventive financial control is organised and exercised in the following
forms:
a) own preventive financial control, at all public entities and for all operations with
financial impact on public funs and on public patrimony;
b) delegated preventive financial control, through delegated controllers of the
Ministry of Public Finance, at the main credit ordinators of the State budget, State
social insurance budget, as well as of any special fund budget, at the National
Fund and at the implementing agencies of Community funds, as well at other
high-risk public entities.
(4) The preventive financial control will be gradually integrated into the sphere of
managements responsibility, process which has to be finalised by the date of
Romanias accession to the European Union, as the management control will

ensure the elimination of risks in administering the public funds; the

accomplishment of this level will be evaluated by the internal audit of the Ministry
of Public Finance.
Section II
Provisions on Own Preventive Financial Control
Article 9
Organisation of the own preventive financial control
(1) Public entities, through their managers, shall have the duty to organise their
own preventive financial control and the evidence of the commitments in the
accounting compartment.
(2) The managers of public entities shall have the duty to establish the operation
projects subject to preventive financial control according to article 6, the justifying
documents and their flow chart, complying with legal provisions.
(3) The evidence of the commitments shall be organised, kept, updated and
reported according to the methodological norms approved by order of the
Minister of Public Finance.
(4) The Ministry of Public Finance shall also organise its own preventive financial
control for the operations related to the State Treasury budget, operations related
to the public debt and other operations that are specific to the Ministry of Public
Finance.
(5) The own preventive financial control shall be exercised through endorsement
by the persons working in the specialised compartments, appointed in this sense
by the manager of public entity. The appointment act shall also include the
competence limits in exercising the own preventive financial control. The persons
appointed to exercise these activities shall be other than those who initiate the
operation submitted to endorsement.
(6) The appointment, dismissal, suspension from office or replacement of staff
carrying out the own preventive financial control activities shall be done by the
manager of public entity, with the approval of the superior public entity, and with
the agreement of the Ministry of Public Finance, in the case of public entities
where the function of main credit ordinator of State budget, State social
insurance budget or any special fund budget is exercised. The persons
appointed to exercise the own preventive financial control must have the
professional competencies required by this activity. They shall observe a specific
code of professional norms elaborated by the Ministry of Public Finance, which
shall include the conditions and the unitary criteria that public entities must
respect in case of appointment, dismissal, suspension from office or replacement
of the staff carrying out this activity.
(7) By internal decision of the manager of public entity, the persons appointed to
perform the own preventive financial control may benefit of an incentive for
complex work up to 25% applied to the gross basic monthly salary.
(8) The evaluation of the activity of the person carrying out own preventive
financial control activities shall be done by the manager of the public entity, with

the agreement of the public entity which endorsed the appointment, on a yearly
basis through scores, based on the information included in the internal public
audit reports and in the Court of Accounts reports, as the case may be.
(9) The Ministry of Public Finance shall draft methodological norms on the
general framework of attributions and performance of the own preventive
financial control. Also, the Ministry of Public Finance shall endorse the specific
methodological norms on the organisation and performance of the own
preventive financial control elaborated by the main credit ordinators of the State
budget, State social insurance budget or any other special funds budgets, as well
as for the operations of the National Fund and of the implementing agencies
managing Community funds.
(10) The Ministry of Public Finance shall coordinate the training system of the
persons appointed to perform the own preventive financial control.
Article 10
Own Preventive Financial Control Visa
(1) The operation projects that fully meet the requirements of lawfulness,
regularity and compliance with the limits of approved budgetary credits or
commitment credits, from case to case, which were granted the own preventive
financial control endorsement, shall be the only ones submitted for endorsement
by the credit ordinator.
(2) The own preventive financial control endorsement shall be exercised by the
signature of authorised persons, who are competent in this sense under the
provisions of this ordinance, and by applying their personal seal.
(3) In order to grant the own preventive financial control endorsement, the
operation projects shall be presented accompanied by the appropriate justifying
documents, whose lawfulness and accuracy shall be certified by the signature of
the heads of the specialised compartments, who initiate the respective operation.
(4) The heads of the specialised departments provided for in paragraph (3) shall
be responsible for the accuracy, regularity and lawfulness of the operations
whose justifying documents they have certified. The own preventive financial
control endorsement obtained on documents containing inaccurate or false data
and/or which subsequently turn out to be illegal does not exonerate from
responsibility the heads of the specialised departments who drafted such
documents.
(5) The persons who are entitled to perform the own preventive financial control
shall be responsible, according to the law, for their guilt, for the lawfulness,
regularity and compliance with the limits of approved budgetary credits or
commitments credits, from case to case, as regards the operations for which the
own preventive financial control endorsement has been granted.
(6) If, according to legal provisions, operations need to be endorsed by the legal
department, the operation project shall be submitted to the own preventive
financial control, bearing the endorsement of the head of the legal department.
The persons who are entitled to perform the own preventive financial control may
request the opinion of the legal department whenever they consider it necessary.

Article 11
Separation of powers
The person performing the own preventive financial control must not be involved,
through his/her office duties, in carrying out the operation that is subject to the
own preventive financial control.
Section III
Provisions on the Delegated Preventive Financial Control
Article 12
Organisation of the Delegated Preventive Financial Control
(1) The delegated preventive financial control shall be organised and exercised
by the Ministry of Public Finance through delegated controllers.
(2) The Minister of Public Finance shall appoint, for each public institution where
the function of credit ordinator of the State budget, State social insurance budget
or any special fund budget is exercised, one or several delegated controllers,
depending on the volume and complexity of the activities performed by the public
institution concerned. The Minister of Public Finance shall also appoint one or
several delegated controllers for operations carried out through the State
Treasury budget, for operations regarding the public debt and for other
operations specific to the Ministry of Public Finance. The delegated controller
shall be appointed by order of the Minister of Public Finance.
(3) By means of methodological norms approved by the Minister of Public
Finance the following are established:
a) the types of operations whose projects shall be subject to delegated
preventive financial control;
b) the value limits, by types of operations, above which the delegated preventive
financial control shall be carried out;
c) the justifying documents which must accompany various types of operations;
d) the way in which the delegated preventive financial control must be carried out
for each type of operation.
(4) The types of operations subject to delegated preventive financial control and,
as the case may be, the value limits corresponding to them can differ from one
public institution to another.
(5) The delegated controllers shall exercise the delegated preventive financial
control endorsement on the operations projects previously endorsed by the own
preventive financial control of the public institution.
(6) The delegated controllers shall carry out their activity at the headquarters of
the public entities where they were appointed. The public institutions provided for
in paragraph (2) shall ensure to the delegated controller(s) the working premises
and necessary equipment, as well as the cooperation of the own staff,
particularly of the staff appointed to exercise the own preventive financial control,
for a smooth performance of functions of the delegated preventive financial
control.

(7) In case of temporary absence from office of a delegated controller, the

Minister of Public Finance shall appoint another delegated controller to fulfil the
attributions of the first controller, during the his absence.
Article 13
Endorsement of Delegated Preventive Financial Control
(1) The operations which, according to Article 12, paragraphs (3) and (4), are
subject to the delegated preventive financial control, shall be submitted for
approval by the main credit ordinator only accompanied by the endorsement of
the delegated preventive financial control.
(2) The delegated preventive financial control endorsement shall be granted or
denied in writing, on a standard form, and shall bear the signature and personal
seal of the competent delegated controller.
(3) The persons entitled to perform the delegated preventive financial control
shall be responsible, according to their guilt, for the lawfulness, regularity and
compliance with the approved limits of budgetary credits and commitment
credits, as regards the operations for which they granted the visa.
(4) Before issuing a denial of endorsement, the delegated controller must inform
in writing the credit ordinator with regard to his intention and to specify reasons
for refusal.
(5) If the credit ordinator presents arguments, in writing, in favour of carrying out
the operation for which a denial of endorsement is envisaged, the delegated
controller, before formally registering such a refusal, may ask for a neutral
opinion on the case. In order to formulate a neutral opinion, a commission shall
be constituted ad-hoc by decision of the chief financial controller.
(6) The neutral opinion shall be accounted for and formulated in writing and shall
have a consultative role, the final solution being the exclusive competence of the
authorised delegated controller, according to the principle of the independent
exercise of the attributions of delegated preventive financial control.
Article 14
Duration of the Delegated Preventive Financial Control
(1) The delegated preventive financial control shall be carried out within the
shortest time possible, allowed for by the actual duration of the necessary
checks, so that it shall not affect the smooth and timely performance of the
operation whose project is subject to the delegated preventive financial control.
(2) The maximum period for granting or, as the case may be, refusing the
delegated preventive financial control endorsement, shall be of a maximum of 3
working days after submission of the operation project, accompanied by all
justifying documents.
(3) The period provided for in paragraph (2) shall be suspended from the time of
notification set out in article 13, paragraph (4) until an answer is received from
the credit ordinator. The suspension period shall also be applied for the period of

time necessary to formulate the neutral opinion, which cannot be extended to

more than 3 working days.
(4) In special circumstances, the delegated controller shall be entitled to extend
the period provided for in paragraph (2) by 5 working days at the most, based on
a justifying report that the controller shall be bound to send to the chief financial
controller and to the main credit ordinator, for their information.
Section IV
Provisions on the Delegated Controllers
Article 15
Function of Delegated Controller
(1) The delegated controller shall be a civil servant, employed by the Ministry of
Public Finance. The number of delegated controller positions shall be decided
upon by the Minister of Public Finance, depending on the needs, within the limits
of the approved annual budget and of the total number of posts.
(2) A person employed as a delegated controller shall have an economic or a law
degree, and at least 7 years of experience in the field of public finance.
Applicants for the position of delegated controller shall submit their criminal
record, as well as information and credentials, indicating that they have an
appropriate professional and moral standing to meet the requirements for that
position.
Article 16
Incompatibilities
(1) The delegated controllers must not be the spouses, next of kin or in-laws up
to the fourth degree, included, of the credit ordinator to whom they are appointed.
(2) The delegated controllers shall be forbidden to exercise, directly or through
intermediaries, trade activities, as well as the participation in the management or
the board of trade or civil companies. They must not act as legal experts or as
arbitrators designated by the parties in an arbitration case.
(3) The delegated controller position shall be incompatible with any other public
or private office, except for didactic posts in high education institutes.
(4) Delegated controllers must not be members of political parties and must not
undertake public activities of a political nature.
(5) The delegated controller who finds himself/herself in one of the situations
described in paragraphs (1) - (4) must immediately inform in writing the Minister
of Public Finance and the Chief Financial Controller.
Article 17
Duties of the Delegated Controller
(1) The duties of the delegated controllers are mainly:

a) to carry out the delegated preventive financial control on the operation projects
of the main credit ordinator, according to the appointment order and to the
methodological norms approved under this law;
b) to surveillance of the organisation, keeping, updating and reporting of the
evidence of the commitments;
c) to present monthly reports to the chief financial controller, on the current
situation of commitments made, on the endorsements granted, on the situation of
the intentions to deny endorsement and of the endorsement denials, on
formulating endorsements with a consultative character, as well as specific
aspects of carrying out the financial operations;
d) to formulate endorsements with a consultative character, at the request of the
main credit ordinator to whom they are appointed, or at the request of the
Minister of Public Finance, or out of an own initiative, with regard to conformity,
cost-effectiveness, efficiency or effectiveness of some operations or of draft
normative acts;
e) to monitor and guide methodologicallly the own preventive financial control;
f) to draft proposals and projects for the improvement of preventive financial
control;
g) to participate in the activities of the delegated controllers body;
h) to fulfil other duties, set out by order of the Minister of Public Finance.
(2) The delegated controller must not share his opinion on the opportunity of
operations that are subject to the delegated preventive financial control.
(3) The delegated controller must fulfil his attributions in good faith and in full
responsibility. For actions carried out in good faith and in exerting his/her
attributions, without going beyond his/her competence, the delegated controller
cannot be sanctioned or changed from office.
(4) The delegated controller shall carry out his functions independently. He/she
can directly inform the Minister of Public Finance of the special situations that
occurred in his/her activity and in no way he/she can be forced to grant or deny
the endorsement of the delegated preventive financial control.
(5) The delegated controller must keep the State secret, the trade secrets and
the confidentiality in respect of the facts, information and documents that come to
their knowledge in the line of duty.
(6) The delegated controllers performance shall be assessed annually through
scores, given on the basis of information contained in the annual reports on the
performance of delegated controllers, reports drawn up by the internal audit
structures of the Ministry of Public Finance and reports of the Court of Accounts.
The annual scores received by each delegated controller shall be kept on record
throughout his/her term of office. The Minister of Public Finance shall
immediately dismiss a delegated controller whose performance is assessed as
poor or who gets a satisfactory score for three years in a row.
(7) The delegated controllers shall be liable for any irregularity in respect of their
duties, according to the provisions in force.
Article 18
Professional Grades and Payment of Delegated Controllers

(1) Depending on the professional performance attested by the scores awarded

as a result of the annual assessment and depending on the length of service, the
delegated controllers shall be categorised in the professional grades I, II and III.
The minimum requirements and the conditions of promotion from one
professional grade to another shall be established by order of the Minister of
Public Finance.
(2) The basic salaries shall be set out by the law on the payment of civil servants,
through assimilation with the function of financial controller from the structure of
the Court of Accounts, respectively for grades I, II and III.
(3) The chief financial controller shall receive a management allowance whose
amount shall be equivalent to the one received by a general director in the
Ministry of Public Finance, while his deputies shall be entitled to receive an
amount similar to that earned by a director in the Ministry of Public Finance.
(4) Until the law on the payment of civil servants shall be applied, the basic
salaries, increases and other salary rights of delegated controllers shall be
maintained at the level established before the coming into force of the
Government Emergency Ordinance no. 160/2000 on the payment of financial
controllers working in the Court of Accounts, according with the provisions of
paragraph (2) and with the assessment of the professional individual
performance.
Article 19
Body of Delegated Controllers
(1) The body of delegated controllers shall be organised as a distinct unit within
the structure of the Ministry of Public Finance, both at central and territorial
levels, and includes all the delegated controllers.
(2) The body of delegated controllers shall mainly ensure:
a) the application and development of the advanced principles and practices of
good financial conduct;
b) the collaboration and professional exchanges among delegated controllers;
c) the collaboration and professional exchanges with other relevant internal,
external and international structures.
(3) The body of delegated controllers is headed by the chief financial controller.
(4) The chief financial controller shall have two deputies whose attributions are
established by order of the Minister of Public Finance, at the proposal of the chief
financial controller.
(5) Also within the structure of the Ministry of Public Finance, and subordinated to
the chief financial controller there is a specialised directorate which shall provide
the necessary methodological and informational support for the Delegated
Controllers Bodys activity and whose attributions shall be established by order of
the Minister of Public Finance, at the chief financial controllers proposal.
(6) The chief financial controller and his/her deputies shall be appointed by
Government Decision for a 6-year term, based on a nominal proposal put forward
by the Minister of Public Finance, after interviewing 6 applicants nominated from

among the delegated controllers by the Body of Delegated Controllers in a

plenary meeting, by simple majority. At the date of the plenary meeting, it is
mandatory that the number of the delegated controllers working effectively and
effectively present at the meeting be at least a half of the number of the posts of
delegated controllers, established according to the provisions of article 15
paragraph (1).
(7) One person cannot serve more than one term in office as chief financial
controller; also, one person cannot serve more than one term in office as deputy
financial controller.
(8) The chief financial controller shall mainly have to:
a) sustain, before the Minister of Public Finance, the Government and other
authorities, as the case may be, the solutions identified in the exercise of his/her
function by any of the delegated controllers;
b) organise the information system and monitor the actual and timely exchanges
of information among delegated controllers;
c) quarterly present to the Minister of Public Finance reports on the activity of
delegated controllers, the situation of the intentions to deny endorsements or the
endorsement denials, as well as the important aspects regarding the use of
public funds;
d) ensure the formulation of neutral opinions, as provided for in article 13,
paragraph (5);
e) organise and monitor the collection, processing and statistical recording of
information on the delegated preventive financial control activity and carry out an
assessment of such activity;
f) order measures for the enforcement of the advanced principles and practices
of good financial conduct in the delegated controllers activity and for turning their
proposals and contributions to best account to the development and
improvement of standards in the field;
g) ensure the methodological guidance in the field of preventive financial control;
h) submit to the Government, by the end of the first quarter of the current year,
an annual report for the previous year on the activity of delegated controllers; the
report must include, among other things, an analysis from the perspective of
previous years of the way of solving cases in which the delegated preventive
financial control endorsement was denied, as well as proposals to improve the
financial legislation;
i) elaborate the National Report on the preventive financial control, which it has to
present for Government debate;
j) assess the performance of each delegated controller and propose to the
Minister of Public Finance the annual scores to be assigned;
k) carry out other duties, set through Order of the Minister of Public .
Section V
Endorsement denial Situations
Article 20
Endorsement denial

(1) The person entitled to exercise the preventive financial control endorsement
shall have the right and the obligation to deny the preventive financial control
endorsement whenever, as a result of verifications, such a person considers that
the operation project subject to the preventive financial control does not meet the
conditions of lawfulness, regularity and compliance with the budgetary credits or
commitment credits, limits that are required for granting the preventive financial
control endorsement.
(2) Any endorsement denial shall have to be in all cases motivated in writing.
(3) The persons who are entitled to exercise the preventive financial control
endorsement shall be bound to keep the evidence of the operation projects for
which the preventive financial control endorsement was denied.
Article 21
Authorising the operations for which the preventive financial control
endorsement was denied
(1) An operation for which the preventive financial control endorsement was
denied can be carried out by the credit ordinator on its own responsibility, only if
by this the approved budgetary commitment is not exceeded. The credit ordinator
may decide the carrying out of the operation only based on an internal decision
act in a written form through which he/she can dispose, on his/her own
responsibility, the carrying out of the operation. A copy of internal decision act will
be sent to the public internal audit compartment of the public entity, as well as to
the delegated controller, from case to case.
(2) In all cases in which, as a result of the preventive financial control
endorsement denial, the managers of the legal persons order that, in the
conditions of the present law, the operation be carried out on their own
responsibility, the person appointed to conduct the own preventive financial
control shall have the duty to inform, in writing, the Romanian Court of Accounts,
the Ministry of Public Finance and, as the case may be, the higher body of the
public institution, only in this case this person being exonerated from
responsibility.
(3) For the operations also submitted to the delegated preventive financial control
exercised by the Ministry of Public Finance, the own preventive financial control
endorsement denial shall make that the operation project cannot be submitted to
the delegated preventive financial control. In such conditions, the credit ordinator
shall ask a consultative opinion from the delegated. The credit ordinator shall
analyse the delegated controllers point of view expressed in the consultative
opinion and shall decide in the conditions provided under paragraph (1).
(4) In all the cases in which, as a result of an endorsement of the delegated
financial control, the heads of the legal persons dispose, under the terms
provided by this ordinance, the performing of the operations on their own
responsibility, the delegated controller shall have the duty to inform, in writing,
the Court of Accounts and the Ministry of Public Finance.

(5) The documents regarding the operation projects submitted to the preventive
financial control, which have not yet been endorsed, can be approved only on the
credit ordinators own responsibility.
(6) The operations made on the credit ordinators own responsibility shall also be
registered in an account out of the balance sheet.
CHAPTER III
Common provisions
Article 22
Operational measures
(1) The Ministry of Public Finance shall carry out inspections as many times as
there is information of some infringements of the lawfulness or regularity in
performing the operations, in the sense of the this ordinance.
(2) The Ministry of Public Finance shall carry out inspections in all the cases in
which a chief accountant has notified about the performance of operations on the
credit ordinators own responsibility, without having the endorsement of
preventive financial control.
(3) The Ministry of Public Finance shall start the inspection in all public
institutions, when informed by the head of their internal public audit structure
about the occurrence of illegal operations which bear the endorsement of
delegated preventive financial control, situation resulted from the performance an
internal audit mission.
(4) The inspections shall be carried out by persons from the structure of the
Ministry of Public Finance, based on a internal order issued by the Minister of
Public Finance, or by the persons delegated in this sense by the Minister of
Public Finance.
(5) The internal order provided under paragraph (4) shall mandatorily specify the
purpose and the objectives of the inspection, the person or the persons
appointed to carry out the inspection.
(6) The public institutions shall have the duty to ensure the access of the
representatives of the Ministry of Public Finance to all the documents, data and
information relevant for the purpose and the objectives of the inspections, to the
goods which are the object of the controlled operations, as well as in the spaces
where these goods, documents and information are found.
(7) The organisation of the inspections and the establishment of the general
attributions in their performance shall be approved by Government Decision, and
the detailed attributions, the informational flow and the working methodology
shall be approved by order of the Minister of Public Finance.
(8) In the case in which, following the inspection, the infringements of the
lawfulness which produced damages on public funds or public patrimony are
found out, an inspection report shall be made. A complaint can be formulated
against the inspection report within 15 working days from the date the inspection
report has been made known. The complaint shall be submitted to the body that
carried out the inspection. The complaints shall be solved by a motivated

decision within 30 working days from the date of their registration. The decision
shall be definitive. If, by solving it, the complaint has been rejected, the
inspection report shall become an execution title and shall be sent for execution
to the fiscal body in whose territorial area the appellant has the domicile. An
action against the decision can be formulated at the Court of Appeal in whose
territorial area the appellant has the domicile, within 15 working days from its
communication, according to the Law no. 29/1990 of administrative litigation, with
further amendments.
(9) In the situations in which the performance of some deeds designated by law
as contraventions has been found out, a contravention report shall be made.
Article 23
Special measures
If, through an agreement, treaty or other such external financing documents,
specific measures of financial control are provided, the Government is authorised
to issue, upon the proposal of the Ministry of Public Finance, decisions
notwithstanding this ordinance.
Article 24
Dispositions regarding the autonomous administrations, State owned trade
companies and trade companies which benefit from exclusive or special
rights
The appointment of the chief accountants of autonomous administrations, trade
companies in which the State or a local public administration authority owns
more than 70% of the number of the votes in the Shareholders General Meeting
and of trade companies which benefit from exclusive or special rights assigned
by a public institution shall be made with observance of the unitary conditions
and criteria approved by order of the Minister of Public Finance. The dismissal,
suspension or replacement of the chief accountants of these autonomous
administrations and trade companies shall be made only with the approval of the
head of public institution under whose coordination the autonomous
administrations functions, which exerts, in the name of the State or of a local
public administration authority, the rights of shareholder in the trade companies
where the State or a local public administration authority own more than 70%
from the number of the votes in the Shareholders General Meeting or who
attributed to the trade companies exclusive or special rights.
Article 25
The delegated preventive financial control of high risk operations
By order, the Minister of Public Finance can also decide on the performing of
delegated preventive control by delegated controllers on the operations financed
or co-financed from public funds, of other public institutions than those provided
under article 12, paragraph (2) or of legal persons of private law.

Article 26
Miscellaneous Provisions
The provisions of this ordinance shall also apply to other legal persons than the
public institutions, if such legal persons manage public funds under any title
and/or manage public patrimony with respect to the management of public funds
and of the public patrimony in question.
CHAPTER IV
Contraventions and Sanctions
Article 27
Contraventions
The following deeds shall be considered contraventions and shall be punished,
unless committed in such conditions as to be considered offences under the
penal law:
a) failure by the head of public entity of the obligation to organise the own
preventive financial control and failure to point out the commitments, according to
the provisions of article 9, paragraph (1);
b) failure to comply with the obligation to set up the projects of operations
submitted to the preventive financial control, as well as the failure to point out the
commitments, according to the provisions of article 9, paragraphs (2) and (3);
c) presenting for endorsement to the credit ordinator the operation projects
without the preventive financial control endorsement;
d) failure to meet the deadline provided for in article 14, paragraphs (2)-(4);
e) non-observance of the provisions of article 17, paragraph (5);
f) issuing an endorsement denial without motivation, according to article 20,
paragraph (2);
g) non-observance of provisions of article 21, paragraph (2);
h) non-observance of provisions of article 21, paragraph (5);
i) non-observance of provisions of article 21, paragraph (6).
Article 28
Sanctioning the contraventions
The contraventions set out in article 27 letters (a), (b), (d) (i) shall be
sanctioned with a fine of 30,000,000 ROL to 50,000,000 ROL, while the one set
out under letter (c) with a fine of 10,000,000 ROL to 20,000,000 ROL.
Article 29
Establishing contraventions, setting and applying fines, means of appeal,
updating the level of fines
(1) The establishing of contraventions and the application of sanctions shall be
made by:

a) the persons having inspection attributions from the Ministry of Public Finance,
for the contraventions provided for in article 27;
b) the financial controllers belonging to the Body of Delegated Controllers, for the
contraventions provided for in article 27, letters (a) and (h).
(2) The level of fines provided for in article 28 shall be updated by Government
Decision, depending on the inflation rate.
(3) The fines provided for as sanctions for committing contravention set out in
article 27 can be applied to both natural and legal persons.
(4) Complaints against the report on establishing contraventions and applying the
sanctions, drafted according to the competencies established under paragraph
(1), can be made within 15 days from the date of submitting or communicating
the report. The complaint, accompanied by a copy of the report on establishing
the contravention, shall be submitted to the body where the agent is employed,
according to the provisions of Government Ordinance no. 2/2001 on the legal
regime of contravention, approved with modifications and completions by the
Law no. 180/2002, with subsequent modifications. The complaint, together with
the file of the case, shall be immediately forwarded to the law court in whose
district the contravention has been made.
CHAPTER V
Final and Transitory Provisions
Article 30
Appointment to the position of delegated controller of the persons holding
the position of financial controllers in the structure of the Court of
Accounts
(1) The persons who, at the date of the publication of this ordinance, hold the
position of financial controller within the preventive financial control section of the
Court of Accounts, shall have the right to be appointed, starting with 1 January
2000, at his request, in the position of delegated controller, directly at the
professional grade held in the structure of Court of Accounts, and without job
contest, but only if the respective person:
- submits the request to be employed as delegated controller in the structure of
the Ministry of Public Finance, within 15 days from the date of the publication of
this ordinance;
- is not in any of the incompatibility situations provided for in article 16;
- has not been sanctioned, on the whole period of time he exercised the function
of financial controller in the structure of the Court of Accounts.
(2) The ceasing of the attributions of the Court of Accounts in the area of
preventive financial control, as it is regulated by the provisions of article I, points
3,4,10,11 and 21 of the Law no. 99/1999 regarding some measures for the
acceleration of economic reform, shall become effective starting with 1 January
2000.
Article 31

Measures for appointing the first chief financial controller and his deputies
(1) The appointment of the chief financial controller and his deputies, according
to the provisions of the article 19 paragraph (6) shall be done until 29 February,
2000, but not earlier than 31 January 2000.
(2) By the date of the enforcement of the provisions of paragraph (1), the chief
financial controllers attributions shall be exercised by a person empowered for
this purpose by order of the Minister of Public Finance.
Article 32
Exceptional measures
In order to ensure the preventive financial control on the operations of public
institutions and units which have the quality of Implementing Agency, according
to the Financing Memoranda concluded by the Government of Romania with the
European Commission, as well as on the operations of National Fund, the
Minister of Public Finance shall appoint a delegated controller for each
Implementing Agency and for the National Fund.
Article 33
Measures of preparation for the enforcement of this ordinance
The Ministry of Public Finance shall initiate and co-ordinate the necessary
measures of preparation for the enforcement of this ordinance; for which the
Minister of Public Finance issues orders and, as the case may be, submits draft
decisions to Government approval.
Article 34
Ordinance entering into force
This ordinance enters into force on 1 January 2000, with the following
exceptions:
a) the provisions of the Articles 15, 16, 18, Article 19 paragraphs (1), (2) and (5),
Articles 30 and 33, which enter into force from the date of publication;
b) the provisions of the art. 31 paragraph (2) and article 32, which will enter into
force 30 days from the date of publication.
Article 35
Abrogations
On the date of entering into force of this ordinance, Article 2, Article 5, letter a),
and other provisions regarding the public institutions from the Law No. 30/1991
regarding the organisation and functioning of the financial control and of the
Financial Guard, published in Romania's Official Gazette, Part I, No. 64/March
27, 1991, shall be abrogated.