With the latest amendments to the Law on electronic documents, electronic identification and confidential services, which are published in the Official Gazette No. 03/2025, citizens will finally be able to obtain or download and print documents in electronic form, and they will be valid as originals, as if they had obtained the documents from a competent institution over the counter.
With the introduction of these amendments, any public branch or legal entity to which an electronic document is delivered in printed form, can check its validity by scanning a code in the lower right corner of the printed form of the electronic document – a QR code, which contains the location where the original of the electronic document can be obtained. The QR code actually represents the original seal of the institution issuing the document.
This entire digitization procedure is prescribed in the Law on electronic documents, electronic identification and confidential services, and within 90 days of the entry into force of these legal amendments, the by-laws will also have to be adopted.
The amendments to the Law on electronic documents, electronic identification and confidential services, which were published in the Official Gazette No. 03/2025, also provide for high fines for non-compliance with the law, which fines range from 5,000.00 to 15,000.00 euros.
The implementation of the Law on electronic documents, electronic identification and confidential services will be monitored by the Inspectorate within the Ministry of Digital Transformation, which will be competent to act upon reports from citizens if their printed electronic documents are not accepted by an institution, and it will also have the competence to impose fines if it determines a violation of the law.