The Romanian Chamber of Deputies has adopted the Lustration Law on Wednesday, May 19, a project which has made a five-year long legislative tour. According to Romanian news agency Agerpres, the decision was voted through nominal call, with 203 favourable votes, 40 against and 12 abstentions. The Lustration Law was adopted by the Senate in April 2006 and the Chamber of deputies had to be the decisional forum in this case.

The legislative proposal was initiated in June 13, 2005, by four PNL deputies and senators - Adrian Cioroianu, Mona Musca, Eugen Nicolaescu, Viorel Oancea.

The project received a favourable rapport from the Judicial Commission and from the Human Rights Commission on April 27, after being blocked in the commissions for over a year.

The procedure accelerated after several meeting of the Deputies' Chamber Speaker Roberta Anastase with 21 December Association President Teodor Maries, who gave up his hunger strike after being assured the law will be passed by the Parliament.

The Lustration Law entails a temporary ban on access to certain public roles and positions for people who were part of the power structures and the repressive apparatus during the communist regime anytime during March 6, 1945 to December 22, 1989, according to Mediafax. These categories cannot candidate and cannot be designated for public roles and distinctions for five consecutive years.

Among the persons on who the law will impact are the persons who used to have a leading role assigned by the former Romanian Communist Party (PCR) and those who were members of the State Council and Ministers' Council, who used to be secretaries, first-secretaries or who activists for the propaganda apparatus; those who were chief of Romanian diplomatic or consular missions overseas. The same category also feature former commandments, chief inspectors or inspectors-second-in-command, political detention centre commandants and party secretaries.

They cannot be elected or designated for a period of five consecutive years from the date the law is enforced for public roles and distinctions, such as state president, senator, deputy, CSM member, local and county councillors, presidential or state councillors within the Presidential Administration, Government members, Constitutional Court judges, the People's advocate, CA member or Central Bank executive board member, member of any other public bank, CA and AGA member of national authorities, national companies, president or vice-president of ICCJ, general prosecutors, National Integrity Agency member.

Whiting 30 days from the date the law comes into force, persons holding a public role need to submit to their employee a handwritten statement declaring whether they might fall under the incidence of the Lustration Law.