RomaniaGovernment Ordinance 137/2000, prohibition of discrimination on grounds that include handicap in services and access to goods and facilities
Ordonanța Guvernului nr. 137/2000 art. 2 alin. (1), (3) și (4), art. 3, art. 20, art. 26 și art. 27 privind prevenirea și sancționarea tuturor formelor de discriminare
archived copy
Read from a public archive copy, not the publisher directly. The publisher does not serve this page to automated readers, so a direct fetch was not an option here; how we access sources. Archived 2026. Publisher's page: https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/24129In force.
A disability discrimination rule binding public and private bodies.
- Instrument type
- an act of a legislature
What it requires
- Government Ordinance 137/2000 sets no technical accessibility standard for a website or app; it prohibits discrimination on grounds that include handicap by any natural or legal person, public or private, as regards public services or other services and access to goods and facilities (Arts. 2(1) and 3).
- Do not apply an apparently neutral provision, criterion or practice that puts persons with a handicap at a disadvantage compared with others, unless it is objectively justified by a legitimate aim and the means are appropriate and necessary (Art. 2(3)).
- Do not engage in conduct, active or passive, that by its effects unjustifiably disadvantages a person, group or community, or subjects it to unfair or degrading treatment, compared with others; it attracts contravention liability (Art. 2(4)).
- If a person presents facts from which discrimination can be presumed, expect to have to prove that the principle of equal treatment was not breached (Art. 20(6)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
If you get it wrong
Private right of actionYes
Penalty structure
Article 26(1) fines the contraventions of Article 2(2), (4), (5) and (7), among others, from 1,000 lei to 30,000 lei where the discrimination concerns a natural person and from 2,000 lei to 100,000 lei where it concerns a group of persons or a community. The amounts are the wording of Article 26(1) in the republished text on the Legislative Portal.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Minimum
- 1,000
- Currency
- RON
- Fixed cap
- 100,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The National Council for Combating Discrimination, the State authority in the field of discrimination (Government Ordinance 137/2000, Article 16)
Settledness
- As of
- Open questions
- Does Article 2(3) or 2(4) of Government Ordinance 137/2000 require the website or mobile application of a private provider of services to meet an accessibility standard, and has the National Council for Combating Discrimination or a court so held?
What this law does
Article 3(c) applies Government Ordinance 137/2000 to all natural or legal persons, public or private, as regards public services or other services and access to goods and facilities. Article 2(1) defines discrimination as any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference on grounds that include handicap.
Article 2(3) treats as discriminatory an apparently neutral provision, criterion or practice that puts certain persons at a disadvantage on the grounds in Article 2(1), unless it is objectively justified by a legitimate aim and the means of reaching that aim are appropriate and necessary.
Article 2(4) provides that any active or passive conduct that by its effects unjustifiably favours or disadvantages, or subjects to unfair or degrading treatment, a person, group or community compared with others attracts contravention liability, unless it falls under the criminal law.
Article 26(1) fines the contraventions of Article 2(4), among others, from 1,000 lei to 30,000 lei where the discrimination concerns a natural person and from 2,000 lei to 100,000 lei where it concerns a group of persons or a community. Article 26(3) applies the sanctions to legal persons as well.
Article 27(1) lets a person who considers themselves discriminated against ask a court for damages and for the restoration of the situation before the discrimination, free of judicial stamp duty and without first referring the matter to the National Council for Combating Discrimination.
Article 20(1) lets a person who considers themselves discriminated against refer the matter to the National Council for Combating Discrimination within one year of the act or of the date they could have learned of it. Article 20(6) puts on the person against whom a referral is made the burden of proving that the principle of equal treatment was not breached, once the person concerned presents facts from which direct or indirect discrimination can be presumed. Article 31 brings the ordinance into force 60 days after its publication in the Official Gazette.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app ships a consumer interface.
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